CRUZE is dead, long live Astra. Except the Cruze lives on, courtesy of badge engineering, in the form of Holden’s BL Astra sedan.

The sedan tested here is sourced from GM South Korea, meaning the Astra nameplate has returned to the rump of an Asian vehicle for the first time since 1989 – which was when the Nissan Pulsar-based, Australian-made LD Astra was killed off.

Since then, the Astra badge has been affixed to cars built in Belgium, Britain and Poland. The current BK Astra hatch and wagon are respectively Polish and British by birth. Sophisticated, European, dare we say premium?

But does the sedan version live up to the upmarket connotations of its borrowed badge? Read on to find out.