We did no braking AT ALL before and/or during the entry of the corner. The ESP would correct our speed and we exited fine and safe. Now it failed for some reason. The ESP could hardly cope and a very very slight 4-wheel sideways slide was set in.
So basically the ESP corrected using barely any brakes causing a slight slide. Unable to brake and correct we went off. If the brakes would have worked we would have made it. What is really wondering is WHY the brakes were not working.. Explaining the situation is rather hard, but it doesn't really matter. What is the odd thing here is the foot-brakes were incorrectly over-ruled. There has to be some control for the driver right ? How on earth is it possible no braking is possible.. I suspect the sensor saw us sliding sideways and gave a X > Speed ==> slip. Then responding by cutting the brakes (think ABS on ice). Falsely here as they could save us.
But what bugs me is why the car did correct as it should in EXACTLY the same situation before. We had sensors on the car that showed prior to the crash we were in the exact same conditions when entering the turn..
In short by the way, the rest of the Astra is fine. This might not be a problem of the car but just these systems in general. IMO it drives ok, just lacks power badly (1.6 tested). On some details it fails, like build quality. Suspension is not bad, short bumps though it sends through too hard. Also steering is kind of vague around the center. On throttle-release there is not even the slightest hint of oversteer. For now my personal conclusion is that it's OK, but nothing more than ok. Boring and nothing special. Not with looks, nor with handling or performance. The Watt-linkage suspension is not as good as hyped about. I suspect just cost-saving stuff turned into marketing-gizmo.