I started this over an hour ago - there've been several posts since then.
Putting aside our fairly widely held view of GM (I know, nigh on impossible to do), the Astra is IMHO an excellent car in its own right, when compared with its competitors - Focus, Golf, Octavia, Megane, 308, C4, etc. The family hatchback. It does what it says on the tin, as Ronseal say.
OK, we all know about badge snobbery - see previous threads and posts about BMW etc, but if I was fated to drive an Astra until I fell off the perch I could think of many worse options. I had one of the current Astras for a day when I was having my 9-5 Hirsch suspension fitted a couple of years back and TBF I preferred it all round (apart from the lack of power) than the 9-3SS I'd owned for six months a year or so before.
Those who've seen my profile will know I live near the "Home of the Astra" as the huge sign on the side of the construction building says. I've never worked for/with the company but I know some who do, and by and large they're good people doing a good job, proud of the cars they make. But they all hate they way the financial people run the whole show, with periodic threats of redundancy and plant closure. My friends also decry the misappropriation of the Aero tag, which prompted this thread.
What exactly defines "prestige"? Is it the ability to fool buyers into paying thousands more for what in many cases is the same car under the surface (VAG are the world leaders here) but with a different (and not necessarily better) face and badge? In my view, yes. See the difference in the sales figures for the Ford Mondeo and the BMW 3 series. In many areas the Ford is better than the BMW, but I believe the BMW is the bigger seller. Tha can only be down to buyer perception and the aforementioned badge snobbery.
Unless one drives like a car magazine tester (i.e. generally someone with a superiority complex who thinks he - almost invariably he - is Lewis Hamilton on a day off), then the differences in ride (Audi - ha!), handling and interior comfort (and, I almost forgot, build quality) are almost indistinguishable between a £35k "junior executive" car made in Germany and a mainstream Ford/Vauxhall/VW/Kia/etc simlilarly kitted out and costing £20k. There are just as many horror stories about Mercedes/Volkswagen unreliability as there are about Ford/Vauxhall etc.
Someone mentioned monster depreciation. When I bought my 9-5 back in 2005, it was eight months old with 13k miles on it. The list price was over £28k. I paid less than half that, it'd suffered over 50% depreciation in under a year. Not even the Vauxhall Insignias, pushed out by the dozen at my local dealer, see that loss. Insurance? Compare an Astra and a 9-3 with similar trim and engine power, the Astra is in a lower group.
Bit of a ramble there chaps, but I think most of you will catch my drift. Personally, I'll never have a Ford on my driveway. Too plebian for me.
