It’s the van that can handle the road as well as the load! Vauxhall recently pulled the wraps of its new Astavan at this years British Commercial Vehicle Show, the new Astravan is to be built at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port, Cheshire plant, which also makes the five-door Astra car .With 3,200 employees; Ellesmere Port built 188,000 vehicles last year on three shifts. It originally opened in 1964 and has turned out 4m vehicles over the past 42 years, including 338,000 vans. The new Astravan has been designed from the ground up to be every inch the ‘Drivers Van’. It retains the dynamic abilities, style and comfort of the car but with even greater practicality. Every component has been reassessed or redesigned so it's purpose-built for commercial duties, yet from behind the wheel it still feels little different to the car. The new Astravan uses the same basic design as the Astra Estate, but the rear axle has been redesigned to allow the fuel tank to be moved. This allows for extra load space and a completely flat floor without harming the driving dynamics, while the rear torsion beam has been adapted to cater for carrying heavier loads.Initially, the new Astravan will be available with a choice of three diesel engines and one petrol. All the diesels get six-speed manual gearboxes as standard, with an auto box up for grabs as an option on the 1.9-litre. The flagship model will use the 120PS 1.9-litre CDTi powerplant from the Astra car range, offering class-leading performance, refinement and running costs. A revised version of the current Astravan's 1.7-litre CDTi unit developing 100PS will also be on offer, along with a 90PS version of Vauxhall's award-winning 1.3CDTi engine. All three-diesel units will be Euro 4 compliant from launch, as will the one petrol addition to the range. Powered by a 90PS 1.4-litre engine, the petrol Astravan makes use of GM's advanced Twinport technology.
The newcomer offers a cargo bed that is 80mm longer than is boasted by the present offering. At 1,380mm, it is fractionally wider too, but has marginally less clearance between the wheel boxes. Maximum load height is up from 886mm to 910mm but at 1.6m3, load cube is virtually the same. Payload capacity has increased noticeably, from 605kg to 650kg. With security in mind, new Astravan's hatch-type door can be specified with an optional opaque thick fibreglass panel rather than glazing. Another neat idea is the two concealed under floor compartments designed to accommodate valuable loads. These are at the cab end of the load area and covered by hatches. Three load tie-down points that line up with each other are provided on each side of the cargo bed .Vauxhall has also decided to make available a versatile bulkhead with a flap in it just behind the passenger seat. Fold the seat flat and you can push an 8ft long load through the flap. Electro-hydraulic power steering comes as standard as do ABS — brake heavily and the hazard warning lights come on. There are intelligent driver and passenger airbags fitted which means that they only trigger when they are really needed.
