Is it me or....

[KevinA4quattro]

is the handbrake in the new Astra a really dumb design?

I had a new Astra as a hire car over the weekend and the handbrake lever overhangs the surround for the gear lever. When you press the button and release the handbrake you end up rapping your knuckles on the surround. The clearance is less than 1 cm and the lever overhangs by about 1 cm as well.

Was the hire car badly put together, or, are they all like this?

(Perhaps I must be a gorilla if I rapped my knuckles )

[MGZRod]

Audi A3 with arm-rest = Nightmare.

Arm rest down you bend your wrist horribly to use it, arm rest up, you hit your elbow.

[elliotff]

I have a 2008 (58) focus and the handbrake is the other side of the arm rest to me ?

[Astra Dan]

Sounds like you're lucky you haven't got a stupid electric one.

[djt100]

If the indicators and wiper stalks are still as bad on these as my old vauxhall then this is no surprise. Why mess with something that works !

[KevinA4quattro]

elliotff said:

I have a 2008 (58) focus and the handbrake is the other side of the arm rest to me ?

Base model Astra, no armrest and it was LHD (in Europe).

[CurvaParabolica]

MGZRod said:

Audi A3 with arm-rest = Nightmare.

Arm rest down you bend your wrist horribly to use it, arm rest up, you hit your elbow.

I share your pain brother. Had 2x A3s as hires recently; the second one I parked up at my dad's, put the handbrake on as far as it would come up before hitting the arm rest and got out. 30 minutes later I go out to see the car 30 feet from where I left it, trouser-browningly close to a 6 foot ditch The handbrake hadn't come on properly and it had rolled back. Luckily it hadn't picked up enough momentum to hop over the verge!