Holden Astra 2005 review

She's got beautiful curves and a great rear for a wagon and, let's face it, a wagon's backside is normally its downfall. But the wagon has worked hard on its appearance and has been given a good workout to match it with its competitors.

Despite looking like a spacecraft – and that's probably not helped by its silver-grey colour – my first impression was "a classy chick".

Of course, like the rest of you, I have been captivated by the SUV market. Heck, I even went out and bought one last month.

Wagons? Well, they remind me of the '80s, when cashed-up parents arrived in their "stylish" wagons at primary school, while my mum's whistling Datsun 180B could be heard kilometres away.

In the '90s, they took a back seat – excuse the pun – to sporty coupes, or any car that was red.

In the '00s, they are fighting hard to maintain their spot in the starting line-up.

Enter the Astra Wagon. It rides on the sporty Astra reputation but adds something – space. There's plenty of it, in the front, in the back seat and even in the cheeky rear. This new member of the Holden family is also practical. That's the new buzz word when you become a mother. "Practical" replaces "chic" and "style" is superseded by "comfort".

The Wagon doesn't necessarily excite the driver, but more satisfies her. It's good on the juice, has not one but three anchor points for the baby seat, has durable seat covers and plenty of room.

Storage, on the other hand, is lacking. Don't get me wrong – there is storage, but it's your basic kind. Zipping around in the city, I cranked up the stereo with the buttons on the steering wheel – conveniently placed for us girls who don't have time to muck around. Squeezing her body into the perfect parallel city car park was quite easy, although the back-seat headrest obscured the rear view.

Still, I'm not fussy – that's probably why the Motoring Editor threw the wagon my way. Most of the other girl-torquers would have scoffed at it. And that, too, was probably the challenge for Holden's marketers.

Seriously, how do you draw attention away from the in-vogue compact 4WDs?

What about putting two naked people, wearing nothing but dorky sneakers, in the TV campaign? Would that grab your attention?

Barely.

Love it, Leave it

Holden Astra four-cylinder, 2.2-litre manual wagon

Love it

Roomy

Lights remain on for 30 seconds after you take the key from the ignition

Easy-to-use gear shift on the manual version

Leave it

Only front automatic windows on the CD version

Lack of storage

Touch-sensitive indicators