Truck Articles

Every now and again along comes a car that surprises you, and sometimes that’s a really nice thing!

This is the case with the Opel Zafira. From the exterior it looks a lot like a whole swag of other family type people carriers, same sort of general shape, size and on paper specs. Yet here is a car that’s larger than the sum of its parts.

What’s it drive like? Now here’s the good stuff. Despite the shortage of stand out styling, the car drives like a good one. First off there’s the engine, also found in the Vectra. The power delivery is lively and invigorating. Even fully laden there’s plenty of grunt and the revs zip up the range with an urgency that completely belies the size of the vehicle and the design parameters.

The Zafira’s driving position is as expected; multi adjustable and allows that high and commanding view point which suits the vehicle and will appeal to a lot. Seats are comfortable and supportive and the overall view of the equipment from the driver’s seat is pretty satisfying with everything being where you’d expect it to be.

It would have been nice to see the column mounted stereo controls found on other cars in the range fitted here also. Giving the Zafira an engine without matching it to good handling would be a tragic shame, and I’m pleased to report that things are well looked after in that department. As said the chassis is based on the Astra, and as a result looks like the car sits quite low to the surface. Whoever Opel gave the task of weighting the steering to, had a good feeling on the relationship between what you want, and what you need. Light and accurate without divorcing the driver from the sensation of turning the wheels, which some power steering systems do, the Zaf’ is happy to do the parking lot spin or the bung it in and bang it on. In fact you can be forgiven for driving the thing in a manner that makes a mockery of the design purpose.

In terms of outside visibility, the Zafira wins bonus points, and it’s clear that the big H has put a lot of thought into keeping things like the ‘A’ pillar as narrow as possible, in so doing maximizing observation opportunities. There’s a fair bit of storage space elsewhere, and some useful little compartments including one strategically placed to catch the change that falls out of your pocket and ends up under the seat supplementing the kids pocket money. As for fuel usage, well all that down changing and performance has a cost, and even though the car slips into neutral when stationary to save fuel, as well as preventing strain on the drive line, the best I could get was 8.1 km/l (12.3l/100km). Did we love it? The answer to that is a yes.

It’s a well-rounded and practical package that puts some of the driving experience back into a class that could be as dull as coal. Try it and see if I’m right.

Search VW Polo for sale for the car of your dreams. or a Skoda Octavia for sale

Feb282011

Tags: auto, car, cars, mobile, transportation, Trucks, vehicles

Trackback URI | Comments RSS