When you test such a wide variety of cars as we do here at the The Car Enthusiast, it can take a couple of days with a car to get away from comparing it to the last car tested. For instance, even the relatively sporty Peugeot 206 GTi initially felt like a truck having spent a week with the heavenly Lotus Exige. For this reason alone I did not have high expectations for Vauxhall's Astra Sport Hatch, at least not on my first encounter. Well, I did step out of VW's highly rated new Golf GTi after all.

Not long after my first drive in the Astra I rang fellow road tester James Jenkins and with some trepidation announced: "It's better than the GTi." There was silence, then simply a cautious "Controversial" on the other end of the line. I hung up and went back to the Astra for a closer look.

There's no denying that the Astra Sport Hatch is one of the best looking three-door hatchbacks on the market at the moment, especially when you look at the direct rivals such as Ford's Focus and VW's Golf 3-door versions, though the Citroen C4 and Renault Megane are equally idiosyncratic, if not as handsome. On that basis alone the car deserves the "Sport Hatch" tag. Our test car was the SRi version, in a distinctive 'Papyrus' colour, fitted with fantastic 18-inch 5-spoke alloys. The Sport Hatch looks good regardless of colour or specification thanks to the aggressive nose and large headlights, complemented by that coupe-like sloping rear.

Despite the rakish angle of the rear window and roof, the Astra does a good job of sitting four adults in comfort, with rear headroom not as restricted as you might think. Sure, the BMW 1-series accommodates bigger hats, but few immediate rivals can squeeze significantly bigger passengers on board. Surprisingly, it is easier to see over your shoulder out the rear of the 3-door Astra than it is out of the 5-door Golf. Up front, the sports seats are perfectly comfortable, and the leather fitted to our test car (at £1,000) added to the quality air in the cabin. Brightening things up is a silver plastic centre console, which may not be to everybody's taste though we liked it. Complementing this is the use of additional bright silver trim similar to the 'aluminium cube' trim used by BMW. Controls are all well designed, and intuitive to use, with a satisfactory tactility enhancing the experience.

We've sat and driven in the 5-door Astra so none of this comes of a surprise, but that the tactility extended in such depth to the driving controls was. We preferred the lighter, but more feelsome steering of the Astra SRi to that in the Golf GTi; proper feedback and communication with the thread blocks is offered, where the Golf is a little inert. As ever, the engineers had to compromise between feedback and insulation from the road so the Astra's wheel does move around in your hands a little when the front wheels are traversing broken tarmac. For an enthusiastic driver this is quite acceptable. The pedals are well spaced, and despite packing a diesel, heel and toeing is positively encouraged. More on the engine later, but mated to it is a slick and satisfying six-speed manual gearbox.

With an arsenal of controls like this it would be rude not to drive the car on our favourite twisty roads. We're not generally rude. Controversial though my initial comments were, they turned out to be justified. Attack a corner and the Astra just turns in, without any fuss. The nose dives for the apex with only a little body roll. Once the weight is settled on the outside tyres the power can be applied through the corner and out the other side. In the dry at least there is no threat of understeer, with the general stance being neutral to oversteer. We looked closely at some of the more extreme of the cornering shots you see here and it looks like the outside rear wheel is turning slightly to help the car around. You can really feel this from the driver's seat, but it is not at all disconcerting, and even with sharp mid-corner lift-off does not transform into a sudden rear lead slide. If anything it flatters the driver and certainly encourages you to push the Astra's limits in safety. One of the options we tested was the Interaction Driving System-plus (IDS-plus) with Continuous Damping Control (CDC), which is an absolute bargain at only £400. It provides a 'Sport' button on the dash, which not only firms up the steering and chooses a more aggressive throttle map (it's funny feeling the car lunge forward if you turn on Sport while holding the throttle pedal still), but also alters the electronic dampers. Electronic dampers, on a 3-door hatch?! We didn't quite believe it, and as I said, for the price it is a must. The effect? Well, the car undoubtedly corners quicker with Sport mode enabled, but crucially it is even more fun to drive. Despite the torquey nature of the engine the traction control is rarely called into play such is the car's balance. It is worth mentioning that the Astra's stability under hard braking and its resistance to fade were both noticeably better than in the supposedly more driver-focused GTi Golf.

You would be forgiven for thinking that we are reviewing the latest hot hatch here, but do not forget that the test car was powered by Vauxhall's 1.9-litre turbodiesel engine. Its stats include nearly 148bhp and 232lb.ft of torque; modest figures that won't scare many hot hatches. However, we found this unit exceptionally flexible, with effortless go provided by low speed torque, yet it also revved with conviction towards 5000rpm. Noise levels are kept to a minimum in the cabin, though we were disappointed by the level of vibration through the pedals at idle. This engine has another ace up its company car tax-friendly sleeve: fuel economy. In spite of our spirited driving the Astra averaged 40mpg for the week that consisted of more B-roads than motorways. That's impressive.

Which kind of sums up the Astra Sport Hatch really. We didn't expect such a great driver's car waiting to get out. Allied with looks that on one occasion had a couple stopping and walking around the car and oohing and aahing while I stood by, Vauxhall should have a winner on its hands. More encouraging for enthusiasts of the latest generation of hot hatches is that there is a 240bhp turbocharged petrol VXR version not very far away. I pity the next car that we test after that...