THE VAUXHALL Astra Sports Tourer is a first-rate family or company car with enough acceleration to bring a broad grin to the face of its driver.

The Sports Tourer is based on new lightweight vehicle design, with the added attraction of new powertrains and a host of state-of-the-art technology.

Notably, this vehicle is also a success story for manufacturing in the north of England, with the Astra contract securing 2,000 jobs into the next decade at the Ellesmere Port plant in Cheshire after management, unions and workers joined forces to win a long-term deal and a £140 million investment from GM.

To add further weight to this British success story, the Astra range was designed by a team led by Brits Mark Adams and Malcom Ward.

The latest generation Sports Tourer has similar dimensions to the outgoing model, but offers much more space for passengers and luggage.

On a couple of longer journeys with my family, comfort and space was available in abundance in the highly-adjustable sports-style front seats. Meanwhile, the children in the rear seats had oceans of space to enjoy thanks to an extra 28 millimetres of legroom in the new vehicle. If necessary, the new Sports Tourer can take up to three child seats in the rear, underlining its family-friendly credentials. The boot is also very big with the potential to become even bigger with the rear seats down.

The car is based on new lightweight architecture, with a more lithe and aerodynamic body and weight-optimised engines making it 190kg lighter than its predecessor. It is also the most aerodynamically efficient estate car built by Vauxhall.

The new Sports Tourer features a range of fuel-efficient petrol and diesel powertrains. For example, the new diesel engine with 110PS achieves 83.1mpg while only emitting 89g/km of CO2.

All diesel units have a displacement of 1.6 litres – including Vauxhall’s top-of-the-range BiTurbo engine, tested here.

And the engine on the test vehicle certainly provided excellent performance and power generation. What came as a pleasant surprise was the way in which the power was available from an unusually low base on the rev counter. Indeed, you only need to hit the 1,500rpm mark and you’ll find impressive power at your disposal.

The car’s responsiveness is down to two-stage turbocharging, with a small variable geometry turbine turbocharger meaning there’s hardly any so-called turbo-lag in the lower rev range, before a larger turbocharger takes over more and more as engine-speed increases. The ready availability of such power is something that becomes quite addictive and you’ll certainly notice the difference when its not there.

It’s clear that some clever engineering must have taken place when you realise its performance is almost identical to its 2.0-litre predecessor.

In terms of handling, the vehicle felt stable and agile in the corners, helped by the lightweight chassis, finely honed suspension, brakes and steering. All in all, the Sport Tourer is very engaging and fun to drive.

If you like technology, then the vehicle also has a few impressive tricks up its sleeve. For the first time on a Vauxhall, the boot can be opened without a touch or a remote control. In combination with ‘Keyless Entry and Start’ a simple kick under the rear bumper is enough to open the tailgate. A further kicking motion under the bumper will close the tailgate.

The Sports Tourer also has first-class connectivity thanks to Vauxhall’s clever OnStar system, launched in the summer of 2015. It is one of the cutting-edge service and safety features which turns the car into a powerful 4G/LTE Wi-Fi Hotspot, enabling up to seven devices to be connected to the car network.