Yeah, it might be a popular choice for a fleet car but does it make the car (any car really) worse? In all respect, I can't see where you're heading with this, Mike.
The condition of Opel isn't good at the moment and I do hope this new Astra will get them to the right path and be at least the second best car in the segment (with Golf securing the 1st place as always). I've read, though, that sales of the Insignia have gone up this year which is surprising given the fact that it's kinda old and, be honest, not that well accepted...?
I would have to think pretty hard to come up with a car that I want to get ASAP and is not a sports/lux model... Maybe I'm nit picking but the word "desirable" has no place in there. You can't really have a desirable, little hatchback that needs to do everything just right and be sold to million people around the world.
As for Autocar and biased journos, well, from the UK I read only evo and occasionally Pistonheads. I don't know how's it with AutoExpress and others there, but every major outlet in every country is biased towards the country's major manufacturer - French, Germans, Czechs... Tis a big problem these days.