Holden Astra AH wagon 2006 review

Holden has not played this game for more than 20 years since the departure of the long gone but not forgotten Gemini station wagon.

Whatever the defining reason, Holden is now in the small car wagon game again playing against the likes of Toyota's Corolla and the competent Mitsubishi Lancer equivalents.

For to-ing and fro-ing and any space needs it remains truly compliant and practical.

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• Holden Astra 2006 review

But for all these pass marks there is one area where it falls flat on its belly.

There's no damn room to put a decent cup of coffee.

Aside from the square bin in between the two front seats there is nowhere to put a drink without its contents being spilt and changing the texture and possibly colour of the interior trim.

For such a practical little wagon how have the interior designers got that side of things so wrong?

This is just such a disappointment in a car which has centre rear lap sash seat belt and head restraint and child anchor points in the back, safety and comfort in spades but no bleedin' cup holders or precious little useable storage compartments to speak of.

What a tragedy.

It is a let down because it kind of takes the gloss off what is essentially a comfortable, smart, tight, quiet and tractable little package.

The Belgium made AH wagon comes off a tidy platform and its neat chassis exudes the performance of the tried and proven hatchback Astras.

Its 1.8-litre engine mated to the four-speed automatic, a $2000 option, falls a little short when you start adding people and luggage weight to the equation.

It loses a lot of the spark it has when laden and becomes a bit of a lazy bones.

That and the lack of worthwhile storage bins/cupholders are the main gripes over a wagon which is arguably the classiest looking in its segment.

The automatic transmission used here has probably come to the end of the road.

One cog less than it should have, a tendency to clunk into gear sometimes and less-than-adequate ratios leave it way short of a halfway decent box.

Out on the open road the auto is fine as it labours along in fourth without a worry in the world.

It's when the auto needs to start doing its stuff that there seems to be a hiccup.

Fuel economy on this three-week test hovered somewhere between 8-9litres/100km so it's not what you would call a quiet little drinker by any stretch.

The AH wagon could be a brilliant little family carriage if it had a contemporary automatic gearbox and useable storage compartments other than the daft moulding to place (certainly not hold) a cup on the inside and the skinny map pocket slots in the front door trims.