Ford Tourneo vs Holden Astra

What's the difference?

There’s absolutely no doubt that the van-based people-mover has some distinct advantages over a three-row SUV. The rear seat is bigger, access to it is far better and there’s more luggage space even when all eight seats are occupied. But the Tourneo goes a step or two further with the sliding, swivelling seats that make it one of the most practical and flexible interiors on the market.

True, the driving experience is a bit alien at first, but it’s a case of different, rather than worse. Meantime, the ride is excellent and the performance and economy from the turbo-diesel driveline are both absolutely spot on for this vehicle’s intended purpose.

And perhaps that’s the metaphor for the whole thing: By not trying to be something it’s not, and concentrating on what it needs to do, the Tourneo emerges as a bit of a quiet achiever.

As we said earlier, this type of vehicle concept is never a sure-fire proposition. Parcel vans converted to passenger duties haven’t always worked out. This time, though, it’s different.

The Astra's biggest problem is probably the Holden badge. Despite the company's best efforts, some buyers are wary of the company's longevity and some of the other cars in the range do the Astra no favours - Trax, Colorado and Barina feel cheap, because they are. The Astra isn't cheaply made and holds up very well in excellent company.

Perhaps the biggest revision of the successful Transit Custom formula needed to make the leap from FedEx to Brady Bunch has been to the rear suspension. Where the Transit uses a leaf-sprung arrangement, the Tourneo has switched to coil rear springs. These technically offer much greater ride comfort at the expense of some load-carrying ability. Which is fine, even if your kids are the bigger variety.

The move to powered sliding side doors is a welcome one, but I found out the hard way that the doors will still open a fraction if you push the button while still travelling at low speed. Not sure why that would be, but at least the buttons in question are up front in Adult-Land, not within reach of you-know-who.

The reality is, too, that the Tourneo is destined to run with the air-con on any time you have bodes in the back. That’s because – like a lot of van conversions – there’s no opening side windows beyond the tiny, hinged windows that open an equally tiny amount. This has more to do with the Transit’s basic structure than any desire to oxygen-deprive the young `uns, but as any parent knows, a supply of fresh air on the move is sometimes the only thing between a happy day out and a clean up in Aisle five.

The Astra is a sleek if slightly anonymous-looking thing. Having said that, it's a really nice design that looks more expensive than it is. That's important in this segment. Holden is at pains to tell us it's from Germany (the Astra is manufactured in Poland) and it does look Euro-influenced. Despite its coupe roofline, it's an easy in-and-out proposition but does sit a little lower than, say, an i30.

The odd blacked-out section of the C-pillar takes a bit of getting used to but the sheetmetal is otherwise faultless and well put together.

Inside it's a sea of grey plastic and various shades thereof, but again, it hangs together really well and is a welcome change from the Teutonically angular Golf. The materials are largely reasonable, but for some reason the stalks feel flimsy to touch and use.

The cloth trim is hardy but comfortable and I was grateful for its relative coolness versus what you might expect from the textile leather you're more likely to get at this level.

Here’s where a vehicle like this stands or falls. Because if something like a Tourneo can’t cope with lots of people and their luggage in a single bound, then there’s really not much point to it, is there? I mean you’re not going to buy it for its sporty looks or supercar dynamics, so unless it works brilliantly as family transport, it’s kind of dead in the water. Fortunately Ford seems to have got it right. Mostly, anyway.

That starts up front where the two front seats feel like they’re metres apart. In reality, this huge gap forms a walk-through function for getting access to anything or anyone misbehaving in the second or third row of chairs. But you can’t help wondering what if… What if Ford had ditched the stubby centre console and added a third front-row seat? Wouldn’t a nine-seater be better than eight?

But the seats themselves are comfy and the high-and-mighty driving position gives plenty of vision in every direction. With one exception. And that is when you’re pulling out of a side street on to a main road and need to see what’s coming from the left. Depending on the angle you’re on, the fat frame of the pop-out side window (in the sliding door) becomes a blind spot, especially for taller drivers.

There’s nothing irretrievably wrong with the way the controls are laid out, but they will take some acclimatisation. That goes for the menu system on the touchscreen as well as the column-mounted shifter wand which is about the same size and shape (and in the same place) as a conventional indicator stalk. Tip the lever accidentally and you’ll wind up in neutral, wondering what just happened. The manual-shift mode is also fiddly to use and paddle sifters would be vastly better. Most won’t bother anyway.

The front cabin is home to a shallow lidded bin in the centre console, a deeper bin below that and a couple of charge points. There are also cup-holders in great spots up high in the corner of the dashboard, a shelf across the top of the dashboard and no less than two gloveboxes (the top one is pretty shallow) thanks to moving the passenger’s airbag into the roof lining. Both front doors also feature bins and storage nooks but there’s a fair bit of hard plastic on show, surely a legacy of the Tourneo’s parcel-van DNA.

The Tourneo’s party trick is the way both the second and third rows of seats can be slid to almost any point on a pair of tracks in the floor. The move is simply accomplished via a lever at the front or a rip-cord in the back of the seats, and all three centre-row seats can be moved individually (the third row is split 60:40). The upshot is that you can have all three rows bunched together for a large luggage space, or the rear row pushed right back to form a rear row with huge legroom. Don’t need all eight seats? How about a second row with the two outside chairs in place and the centre one folded forward to expose a work-surface with built-in cupholders.

But it gets even better, because individual seats can be removed to suit the weirdest of loads and the second-row seats even swivel 180-degrees to form a loungeroom on wheels. The kids will be begging you to take them for a drive in this thing.

The seats fold forward, but they don’t tumble. They don’t need to really, and they don’t fold into a bed either. But if you fancy camping in the Tourneo, you can remove both rows of rear seats for a huge flat floor.

The second row is home to storage bins in each sliding door (yes, a door on each side) a pop-put window that opens only about 40mm, temperature controls, air vents and reading lights. The third row, meantime, is not only easily accessed provided the second row isn’t slid all the way back (at which point you wouldn’t be using the third row anyway) but the good news is that the rearmost seat itself is basically three bucket seats with the same comfort levels (high) as the second row. There are also reading lights and a pair of phone pockets and cup-holders in the last row, too. Only the way the track system works and the shape of the seat base means that foot-room is limited to an extent.

With all three rows in place, but pushed as far forward as they can go, there’s a long load area of up to 725mm. But you can also push the second and third rows all the way back and have a cargo area 2622mm long behind the front seats. Maybe the van DNA is a good thing after all.

With all eight seats in place, there’s a minimum of 673 litres of luggage space which can be expanded all the way to a monster 4683 litres with the second and third rows removed.

There’s also a 12-volt power socket and a lighting system in the back, too, although while the side doors are automatic, the tailgate is manual. And you’ll need plenty of real estate to open it, too. Even tall folk will hit the button to open the tailgate, start the strut-assisted opening and then take a step or two back to allow the huge tailgate to rise without clobbering them. An automatic tailgate where you hit the button and run away to a safe distance would be much nicer.

Riding in the front, there's room aplenty for passengers, with good headroom and a well-designed space to maximise what's available. Rear seat passengers do okay as long as the front occupants are being generous, but the seat itself is comfortable and there's even good headroom, despite the falling roofline.

Only the front scores cupholders, with the rear passengers making do with door pockets that might swallow a small bottle. There isn't an armrest or air vents back there either.

There's somewhere for one front occupant to put their phone, a horizontal slot that doesn't like phones with covers or the larger format iPhones or Androids. If your phone does fit (iPhone Xs do, as it happens), it's useful because it's in your eyeline, although a bit untidy if you're plugged into the USB.

The boot starts at a class-compeititve 360 litres, rising to 1210 when you fold the seats down.

The Astra range opens with the R which, typically, you'd expect at the other end of the range with a lot more power, but there you go. You'd think the R+ was even more of a beast, but marketing is an imprecise science... apparently.

R isn't for racing, in our case it was a very bright shade of red. Starting at $23,740 for the auto (you can get a manual for a few bucks less), you get 17-inch alloys, a six speaker stereo, cloth trim, air-conditioning, reversing camera, power windows and mirrors, rear parking sensors, cruise control, auto headlights and wipers, remote central locking and a space-saver spare tyre.

The seemingly tiny screen (it's actually a competitive 7.0-inch unit) runs Holden's 'MyLink' but also has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. For some reason you have to tell it to use those two useful additions rather than the system picking them up through the USB. Mystifyingly the button is marked 'Projection'.  Aside from that, the system works well and sounds alright.

The reversing camera is of limited use - you'll see what's behind you but it's very flattened out and super-grainy.

Because the platform is (mostly) borrowed from the Transit Custom, you get the same driveline. That starts with a 2.0-litre turbo diesel, good for 125kW of power and a useful 390Nm of torque. It drives through a conventional eight-speed automatic transmission and then to the front wheels as a means of keeping the load floor as flat and low as possible.

Ford claims a 2500kg towing capacity with a braked trailer, but on a wet road or damp boat ramp, that’s really going to test the limits of the front wheel’s grip which can be overcome even in the dry if you’re too hasty with the throttle.

The biggest engineering change in the move from Transit Custom to Tourneo has been the switch from leaf springs on the former to coil springs and an independent suspension on the latter. This is all in the name of ride quality and recognises the fact that the Transit will often be called on to cart heavier loads than eight humans.

The whole Astra range is turbo, but here in the cheaper seats it's a surprisingly capable 1.4-litre unit with 110kW and a healthy 240Nm. Power finds the road via the front wheels and a six-speed automatic. It's an otherwise unremarkable technical story, with start-stop to help cut fuel use.

The Astra is rated to tow 750kg unbraked and 1200kg braked.

Ford quotes an official combined fuel consumption figure of 7.4 litres for the Tourneo. Over a few days of running in a pretty broad mix of urban and country work, we saw an average of 8.6 litres per 100km which is still pretty good for a vehicle of this size.

With the standard 70-litre fuel tank, that gives the Tourneo a theoretical combined range of around 900km between fills, but the real-world number says closer to 800km is more realistic.

Don’t forget, either, that running costs will be a little higher than some diesels, as the Tourneo requires AdBlue at regular intervals, in line with its Euro 6 emissions levels.

Holden claims the Astra will drink standard unleaded at the rate of 5.8L/100km on the combined cycle.

Our time with the car, which was a 70/30 mix of suburban and highway, yielded 8.3L/100km, and it's worth noting it was stinking hot for most of the time, so the air-con had to work hard.

The fuel tank is a little on the small side at 48 litres, between five and 10 litres smaller than some of its competitors, like i30 and Golf.

If you haven’t driven a one-box van for a decade or more, you’re in for a treat. Just like the Transit Custom on which this car is based, the Tourneo represents a different experience to that of a conventional car or SUV, but one that is not without merit.

For a start, you sit very high which means a great view out across the traffic. And while the driving position is a little less laid-back than a modern car, once you get used to the almost square steering wheel, neither is it the dreaded sit-up-and-beg of older van designs.

The four-cylinder engine doesn’t make the Tourneo a fast vehicle, but it does give it lots of flexibility thanks to all that turbo-torque being available from just off idle. The eight-speed transmission helps, too, but the real surprise is just how quiet the Tourneo is when on a cruising setting. In fact, it’s almost uncanny how such a big, empty metal box could be so silent, but beyond a little tyre noise on coarse surfaces, the Ford pulls it off. As a result, it’s very relaxed and effortless feeling at freeway speeds.

The other surprise is how good the ride quality is. By swapping the cargo van’s leaf rear springs for coils, the Tourneo suddenly displays a very good match between the front and rear axles in terms of how they work to absorb bumps. You do still get some of the front-seat sensation that you’re sitting over the front axle, but it’s not terrible and the reality is that you simply sitting closer to the axle, not right over it.

For many drivers perhaps the over-riding impression will be of the vehicle’s external size. And, yes, it’s a long and wide piece of equipment, but at least the boxy shape means the corners are easy to place and the huge glass area and driver aids like parking sensors and blind-spot warnings help a lot in the daily cut and thrust.

Things are also improved by the fabulously small turning circle of 10.9m kerb-to-kerb (courtesy of the Transit’s role as an inner-city delivery van) that gives an agility the looks don’t suggest. But there’s a sense that the Tourneo is a little wider in the rear track than the front, as you’ll sometimes find the inside rear tyre finding the lips of roundabouts and suburban gutters.

I'm going to get my biggest gripe with the Astra out of the way first - the driving position is rendered awkward by the pedal placement. Every other part of the driving experience is perfectly fine, with good adjustment in the seat and steering wheel but the pedals are Not Right. The transition from accelerator to brake means a big lift of the right foot rather than a sideways shuffle and that gets boring. Perhaps I'm getting old and my knees are weak, but I ended up left-foot braking for a lot of the time.

On with the show. The Astra's 1.4 litre turbo is a punchy thing, more than vaguely reminiscent of Peugeot's excellent 1.2 in the 308. The six-speed auto isn't quite as well sorted, occasionally lurching a bit on light throttle like a dual-clutch. The pay-off for that is crisp shifts and a positive feel for most of the time.

The thing about the Astra is that it really takes it to its competition from behind the wheel. It feels almost as good as a Golf, i30 and arguably is as good as a Mazda3 thanks to its extra torque and better refinement.

It's very quiet, composed and is good fun if you like that sort of thing. Otherwise, it's streets ahead of the Corolla which continues to sell like it's going out of fashion.

The Astra R+ has six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, reversing camera and forward AEB with a delightfully simple yet effective head-up warning.

The Astra range (with the exception of the lowest-spec R) scored a five-star ANCAP safety rating in November 2016.

Ford offers its standard five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty on the Tourneo. Five years is fair enough, but can’t match the seven years or even more that some of the competition offer. It‘s worth noting, however, that the warranty does match many of the makes and models that will be the Ford’s natural enemies.

Service intervals are 12 months or a very long 30,000km, but it’s unlikely many families will clock up 30,000km in a 12-month period, anyway. There’s no word on capped-price servicing yet, but the mechanically similar Transit Custom has a service plan that limits the cost of each of the first four services to around $500.

The biggest additional running cost for the Tourneo will be the AdBlue additive to control emissions. How frequently you need to top up will be determined by what type of driving you do.

Holden's three year/100,000km warranty includes roadside assist for the duration. You can also extend the warranty by up to three years or to 175,000km, for an extra cost.

Servicing is scheduled every nine months or 15,000km. Holden calls its fixed-price servicing 'Know Your Price' and it applies for the first six services (63 months or 105,000km). The first four services are set at $249 each, and the final three $309.