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| Mazda’s `spot the difference’ game | |||||||||||
| There are changes in the `97 Mazda Astina
- it’s just a case of finding them. After a very subtle `facelift’, the stylish Astina 1.8 emerged looking just like before, apart from new plastic wheel trims that do a good job of imitating alloys, revised trim fabric and some new body colours. Oh, it also acquired a drivers airbag as standard equipment. Having admired those changes for all of 60 seconds, it was a case of getting re-acquainted with a car that last year achieved a 30 per cent improvement in sales (which probably explains why so few changes were made). Astina has always had a discretely sporty feel to the dashboard and oh-so-nice seats - firm but well shaped, they hug the body with an intimacy that offers good support over long distances. They might hug just a little too intimately for persons of larger stature, but our only complaint was that the armrests seemed just a bit short for comfort. The steering wheel is basic plastic, but scores points for comfort and lightness in spite of the airbag, and in addition to having a comfortably long delay on its interior light, Astina also has an illuminated ignition lock. No fumbling in darkness! Tested was the 5-door hatch version, reasonably endowed with interior space and a roomy hatch that is easily loaded over its low lip without turning a shopping expedition into an intensive course of weight-lifting.
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 Facelift? What facelift ? (But did it even need one...)
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| The 1.8 litre litre engine is always willing and eager
to perform with a nice rorty note emanating from under the hood whwn power is called upon,
yet it was equally happy to purr along at 110 on 2750rpm and average fuel consumption of
10.2 L/100m (28mpg) on our test. Noise levels are reasonable apart from a bit of road rumble, surprising as it runs on fairly average 185/65 tyres, yet handling is still closer to sporty than saloon. It has a reassuring knack of sitting flat and controlled in bends, even without the benefit of low-profile tyres - maybe not in the `worlds best’ category, but a competent smaller sedan that does not sacrifice ride comfort on the altar of handling prowess. I had expected to be disappointed with performance as the test car was an automatic, yet it proved quite flexible and user-friendly with smooth shifts and the added appeal of Mazda’s `hold’ mode - fully utilising its capabilities takes a bit of familiarisation, but it can be fun once that is achieved. A nicely finished and well balanced package, the Astina 1.8 has already gained wide acceptance among a diverse variety of motorists. A good many of them happen to be female, and while I would be the last to simply pigeonhole the Astina 1.8 as `a ladies car’, I did encounter one small problem... It proved exceedingly difficult to prise milady’s fingers off the steering wheel so I could hand the test car back to Mazda.
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Nuts-N-Bolts 