We took a quick glance again at the license plate on the Vauxhall Astra VXR we unveiled to you in today's Morning Shift and did a double take. Ignoring, for a moment, the 280 HP and 290 lb-ft of torque, this may actually be our new favorite thing about GM's upcoming hot hatch.

The first self-service junkyard I ever experienced was an Oakland outfit called U-Pull-It. Its logo featured a Q*bert-esque alien raygunning parts and the whole outfit was housed in a roofless abandoned factory building. This U-Pull-it in Scotland isn't like that.

Here's a look at the lightly disguised forthcoming Opel Astra GSI fitted with the muscular 240HP turbocharged Ecotec, Sure would make an awesome Buick hot hatch, significantly bringing down the brand's average buyer age. Just sayin' GM, just sayin'. [WCF]

We've already seen the 2010 Opel Astra and its Volkswagen-y nose and a touch of Mazda3 hiney, but this is the first look at the Vauxhall re-badge and a first glimpse at what looks like a handsome Insignia-like interior.

The 2010 Opel Astra sports a new set of 1.4- and 1.6-liter turbocharged engines and sits on the same Global Delta platform as the Cruze and Volt. But will we ever see this tri-Delta here?

Opel's revealed a set of skirt-lifting-like-Lutz shots of the next-generation 2010 Opel Astra by head designer Marc van der Haegen and Laszlo Kreth, the engineering coordinator. As expected, that's not a Saturn.

The Astra hasn't sold well in the States, but that doesn't mean that its Euro-trash cousin can't make a comeback tour. Take a peak at the handsomely-designed 2010 Opel Astra and its agro-counterpart, the GTC.

Now that Google Street View is trickling down the European highway system, it’s time to go on the prowl for fancy cars.