Let’s not beat about the bush – the last Astra was a good car, but the compact class includes some very good cars. To my eye, and most others, the new Insignia seemed to set out Vauxhall’s stall for a new generation of cars to compete with the best in class, and perhaps to come out on top. Compare the Insignia to the Vectra and the step up is clear as day.

In the months leading up to the new Astra’s launch on 15th September at the Frankfurt Motor Show, there were rumours, spy shots, sneak peaks, and eventually official pictures of the car, which showed promising signs that the new Vauxhall bloodline was in rude health and giving the Astra a real shake-up. It is the UK’s best selling British-built car. The people that build it do so with pride. We all want it to be good, including me, so I was excited to be at Frankfurt to see the car for myself.

Straight off the bat, it’s definitely a looker. I don’t think I’m alone in finding talk of “design language” a bit of a turn-off. Most of us aren’t designers, and I think outside the design studio and boardroom it’s best to let the design speak for itself. Yes, there are themes to the new Astra, little shapes and contours replicated across and throughout the car, but concentrating on these details too much distracts from an overall appreciation of it.

It’s sleeker and prettier than the last car. Less obvious angles make it easier on the eye, and it genuinely looks like a quality item. A pet hate of mine, the chunky chrome chevron that spanned the boot of the old Astra, is gone. The chrome window surrounds have a matted effect – definitely an upmarket step. Personally I’d like to see that on the grille too for an even more understated look. Understatement can go too far though – the VW Golf is an example of that for me – so it’s good to see the Astra is bold enough to have some character.

Inside the Astra there are lots of gubbins straight from the Insignia: switchgear, gearstick, steering wheel and instruments. Along with the surfaces, they are higher quality components than you might expect to see. There’s an economy of scale at work here, in that making more of the items designed for the Insignia makes them cheaper, so some of them can be picked to fit out the Astra too without charging a premium. Simple stuff really.

A feature of the new interior is ambient lighting around the centre console (and door handles on some models), and white dial backlighting that goes red in sports mode. Purely cosmetic touches usually leave me cold, but in the case of cool lighting, I have to make an exception. It’s a guilty pleasure. Never mind Roxanne, put on the red light.

Much has been made of the new Astra’s rear suspension. Vauxhall have chosen to stick with a torsion beam rather than the independent multi-link setup of some competitors. This keeps costs down, but ride quality shouldn’t be compromised thanks to a new Watt’s linkage system. There was a model of the linkage at Frankfurt that demonstrated how it allows vertical movement of the axle while also bearing 80% of lateral forces. This means softer bushes can be used, easing the ride, reducing interior noise, and thereby overcoming one of the dynamic gripes about the previous model. That’s the gist of all the technical hoopla: it promises to be a good thing. Judging by reports from members of the motoring press given a preview drive, it is a good thing.

The ride has been honed in the UK for our own uniquely, um, unique roads, and the optional FlexRide adaptive damping (also from the Insignia) offers a choice of set-ups for normal driving, motorway cruising and back road blasts. Speaking of which, while the three-door sport hatch won’t be available for a while yet, the 178bhp 1.6 turbo petrol engine from the Corsa VXR will be available in the five-door model from the off. With this engine, 0-60mph will take a snappy 7.9 seconds, while a long-legged sixth gear means relaxed cruising when you want it.

Emissions from the new Astra will be 13.3% down across the range over the old model. I’m especially impressed by the small but punchy 1.4-litre turbo, which produces the same power as the outgoing 1.8-litre car, but 19% less CO2 emissions. Everyone wins. The diesel selection of four engines will start with a 108bhp 1.7-litre unit, though a barely fuel-sniffing 1.3-litre diesel will be available in the ecoFlex model next year, emitting just 109g/km of CO2.

So the new Astra is a big leap forward over the outgoing model in terms of styling, technology and performance. Of course, I haven’t driven it yet, but the important thing is, having seen the real thing for myself, I really want to.