I've read a couple of magazines where they put the Astra against the new Golf GTI, Megane 225 etc and they all said the Astra is a better car to drive. But they also said the Golf is easier to live with. Much the same as a Scooby and an Evo. One is more capable at driving, the other is more suited to "everyday" driving. It all depends on what you look for in a car. I prefer cars to be driven rather than the car driving you.
The only negative thing I can remember about Top Gear with the Astra is that it suffers from torque steer but you're bound to get that with all that power just going through the front wheels.