Dude, that was a close one. I, for one, have always been the friend in the passenger seat, but I've never gotten that close to crashing, even though I remember a couple of good episodes. One involving Diesel and a broken fuel line. Good times.
Was the Astra popular among teenagers over there? I remember that here, the Opel model was mostly used by older guys, especially the SW. The model of choice for youngsters would be the Corsa :)
The Astra was considered an"badman's" car back then. I was so proud and always was the one doing the driving. Fun days, but that mishaps was the closest I ever got to meeting the grim reaper. :)