Opel Zafira Reviews

The Astra was a star in the House of Holden for years, starting in 1984 with the Australian-made five-door model also sold, with some changes, as the Nissan Pulsar.In 1996 this first Astra was replaced by an Opel-based model from the German division of General Motors that, as the Holden Astra sold here in large numbers until it was replaced in 2009 by the Daewoo-based but later locally-built Holden Cruze.Now the German automobile maker is running its own race in the Australian market. Opel has reclaimed the name, with the latest Astra being launched here in a number of petrol and diesel-powered variants.Topping off the range is the $42,990 Astra OPC 2.0-litre turbocharged three-door hatchback. The hero car, based on the Opel Astra 1.6-litre GTC turbo, ploughs a new sports furrow for the European-sourced hatch.A shopping list of chassis modifications is designed to cater for the significant boost in performance of the hot engine, which produces 206 kW of power and 400 Nm of torque.With the legendary Nurburgring 20.8-kilometre Nordschleife race circuit – the Green Hell – running past the front door of the Opel Performance Center is it any wonder OPC tagged sports cars can be relied on to dish up a wild ride? The Astra is no exception with 10,000 kilometres under race conditions on the track, equal to around 180,000 road kilometres, under its tyres.While the OPC owes much of its exterior styling to the GTC, visual characteristics have been taken to the extreme, with specially sculpted front and rear bumper, side skirts, aerodynamic roof spoiler and twin bumper-integrated tailpipes. Wheels are 19-inch alloys with 245/40 ZR tyres standard fitment. Twenty-inch versions are available as an option.Inside the cabin is a cross between a smart city hatch and a track-day toy. Focus is a flat-bottom steering wheel, its diameter reduced from 370 mm to 360 mm compared with other Astras, making the steering feel even more precise and direct. A stubby sports stick adds to the effect, while alloy-plated pedals incorporate rubber studs for greater shoe grip.There’s no excuse for the driver not to get comfortable, with a quality Nappa leather seat having a manually extendable leading-edge cushion and electric lumbar/side-bolster adjustment providing 18 different seat settings to choose from.Mounted 30 mm lower than in the standard Astra Hatch, both front seats are aimed at giving occupants closer sensory connection with the car’s chassis. With average build occupants up front, rear legroom is adequate; headroom not so accommodating.Under hard acceleration, the Astra OPC sets off to the exhaust accompaniment of a pack of barking dogs out for the kill. A target of travelling at 100 km/h is reached in just six seconds.Thanks to the removal of one of the GTC’s three silencers, there’s a great burble at idle, all emanating from twin parallelogram shaped tailpipes integrated into the rear bumper.Clever technology has cut fuel consumption by 14 per cent over the previous model, down to a combined urban / highway cycle 8.1 litres per 100km, and has reduced emissions to 189 grams per kilometre. However, we used 13.7 litres per 100 kilometres with the test car running around town and 6.9 litres on a motorway trip.To provide a level of racy ride and handling rarely found in a road-going vehicles, engineers have worked their magic, the Astra OPC coming under the ‘spell’ of Opel’s HiPerStrut (high performance strut) system to improve steering feel and help reduce torque steer and FlexRide adaptive damping system.The latter offers a choice of three chassis settings which can be selected by the driver at the push of dash-mounted buttons. ‘Standard’ delivers all-round performance for a range of road conditions, while ‘Sport’ stiffens the dampers for reduced roll and tighter body control.‘OPC’ amplifies throttle response and alters damper settings, ensuring the wheels quickly regain contact with the road after hitting a bump, giving the car a soft landing. This ‘all-singing-and-dancing’ system cheekily announces itself to the driver by switching the instrument backlighting from white to red.Motorsport was never far from the mind of Astra OPC engineers who developed a race-bred limited-slip differential to optimise traction under acceleration through bends or over changing cambers and surfaces.Even with the boosted LSD workings, retuned traction control and electronic stability control, wheel spin was not entirely eliminated with the test car in the wet. Good fun if you’re paying attention, potentially dangerous if you’re not...Simple – sit down, strap in and enjoy the ride. We certainly did.

Opel’s flagship Insignia sedan, hatch and Sports Tourer wagon have received a slew of updates as part of their respective mid-cycle refreshes

The biggest change, according to Carparazzi, is a total rework of the old-fashioned and low-quality interior. The Corsa also gets a new face taken from the baby Adam and there could also be more power when the car arrives here towards the end of the year. Here late this year with little change from current pricing. This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover    

Opel Astra OPC and Ford Focus ST go head-to-head in this comparative review. 

Opel has announced that its Mokka compact SUV is on its way to Australia just a few months after going on sale in Europe. The Mokka will hit showrooms here “in the third quarter of this year”, although Opel won’t be more specific about timing at this stage. But they’ll be out and about on local roads from June – tempting budding spy photographers. Opel Australia’s managing director, Bill Mott says the Mokka will be very welcome Down Under. “We are very excited to bring the Mokka to Australia. This car has already had in excess of 100,000 orders in Europe since launch, and with the Australian SUV segment growing 22 per cent in the last 12 months it is certainly a space we want to be playing in. “We will have a number of Mokkas on the road from next month for local testing.” Opel marketing and public relations head Michelle Lang says engineers will be running a test fleet “for in-depth familiarisation for staff and dealers, prior to the production vehicles arriving. “We are really excited about the early arrival of our Mokkas, and hope to see lots of spy shots of them out on the roads in Melbourne -- hopefully not obscured by torrential rain,” Lang says. We witnessed its global debut of the Opel Mokka at the Geneva Motor Show in 2012 and liked its positive stance and bold lines. It has a sculpted body in keeping with the latest thinking in this fast growing market segment. Opel says Mokka has been given a sporty edge with well-defined lines. However, we have yet to see one on the road so won’t make our final appraisal for a few months. The interior of the new Mokka centres around a wing-shaped instrument panel that blends around the door inserts and the sculpted surfaces in the doors. The Mokka will be launched in Australia with a turbocharged 1.4-litre turbo-petrol engine mated to either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission. This engine is familiar to Australian drivers of the Holden Cruze and is one of our favourite powerplants.  A turbodiesel is an option in the Mokka in other markets and may come to Australia later. In keeping with most SUVs these days it will be available with either front-wheel drive or 4WD. The latter using Opel’s adaptive all-wheel drive technology which should give it some decent ability on unsealed surfaces. Safety has obviously ranked high in the priority decisions during the earliest design stages and life saving features include Opel’s adaptive forward lighting system (AFL+); electronic stability program ESPPlus;  Hill Start Assist; and Hill Descent Control. Second-generation Opel Eye front camera with Forward Collision Alert and Lane Departure Warning functions are the sort of features normally found on expensive upmarket cars. Exactly which of these safety items will be fitted to which Mokka model in Australia is still to be finalised. However, the importer has already stated that reversing cameras will be fitted to every model. The Opel Mokka is a five-star Euro NCAP vehicle. Full specification and pricing for the Mokka will be released closer to launch. Though still a newcomer in Australia, Opel is big in Europe and was the fourth largest automotive brand in that area in 2011, with over 1.2 million vehicles sold. Many Opels with Holden badges (Barina, Astra, Vectra amongst others) have been sold in this country in past decades.  

The Corsa is dowdy and downmarket inside, but there is the promise of improvements in an updated car being tested in Scandinavia.  

The car is a modified version of an old Opel Vectra, sold as a Holden in Australia in the late 1990s. The home video shows the Russians connected servo motors to metal rods to control the steering and gear selection. Although they don't get far, it shows what is possible with modern technology. It turns out the biggest technical challenge was touching the surface of the iPad in sub zero temperatures. The iPad requires the heat of fingertips to adjust controls.  The homemade creation shows what's possible as the world's car makers wrestle with driverless technology. Cars already have the brain power to drive themselves (via cameras, radar sensors and navigation systems). But the industry is trying to come to terms with the legal and safety ramifications. The industry is now working on technology it has dubbed "piloted driving", requiring the driver to intervene at any moment. Some Volvos, Volkswagens and Subarus can already brake automatically in an emergency but the next step in automated driving is at least two years away from showrooms.  Google has been experimenting with driverless cars for several years. Reportedly the only times its automated cars have crashed was due to driver error. This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling  

The recent emergence of Opel in the Australian car market makes for interesting times for small car buyers. The car once sold here as the Holden Barina is back, this time carrying its original name of Opel Corsa.Opel, a division of General Motors since the 1930s, hopes to gain an image that’s European, thereby pushing itself further upmarket than the Asian produced small cars.Made in Germany and Spain, the Opel Corsa offers buyers the chance to own a sporty looking hatch - albeit with less-than-sporty performance. However, it’s a chance to own a European compact hatch at a competitive price.VALUEThere are three variants – Opel Corsa, Corsa Colour Edition and Corsa Enjoy; bright and breezy names to give it a different place in the overall scheme of small cars.Prices start at $16,490 for the Corsa three-door manual and top out at $20,990, plus on-roads, for the Enjoy five-door automatic. Our test car was the latter with manual transmission, which sells for $18,990.The Colour Edition comes standard with a black painted roof, 16-inch alloy wheels and is available in range of bright exterior colours, which are carried through to the interior where the colours and instrument panel patterns create a two-tone effect. A seven-speaker audio can be controlled via steering wheel-mounted controls, while USB connectivity has just been added to Bluetooth with voice recognition plus auxiliary input.Added appeal comes from Opel Service Plus, with the Corsa costing a reasonable $249 for standard scheduled services in the first three years of ownership. Also available is Opel Assist Plus, an Australia-wide 24-hour roadside assistance program for the first three years from registration.TECHNOLOGYThere is a choice of either five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmissions. No choice with the engine, though, just a 1.4-litre producing 74 kW of power at 6000 rpm and 130 Nm of torque at 4000 revs.  DESIGNThe Australian Corsa has been the subject of serious design upgrades recently in a move to give the hatchback more road presence. The lower of the double radiator grilles is expanded, giving width to the front of the car. The Opel Blitz (lightning) badge is incorporated in a sculpted chromed bar, adding to the assured appearance.The Corsa joins the rest of the Opel range by incorporating wing-shaped daylight running lights in the headlamps. Fog lamp units with integrated chrome blade complete the assertive character of the car.Black plastic surroundings and dark material seat coverings give the interior a utilitarian look, the only contrast being a matt silver centre stack panel. Analogue instruments are clear and simple to read, while audio, fuel, air-con and other information is displayed on a screen centrally located on the dashboard.With room for up to five occupants, shoulder space with three in the back is not the best and not up to the legroom, which is ample for the average-sized person. With power front windows only, the folk out back are left to twiddle the window winders by hand.At 285 litres with the rear seats up, cargo space is at a premium. However, fold the backs down and there’s 700 litres and up to a maximum of 1100 litres to take bulky items.SAFETYThanks to a rigid passenger cell with computer-modelled deformation zones and high strength steel sections in the doors, Euro NCAP awarded the Corsa the top rating of five stars for passenger safety.Restraints include two-stage front airbags, dual side airbags and dual curtain airbags. Opel’s patented Pedal Release System and front active headrests are standard throughout the Corsa range.DRIVINGWhile Corsa sets out to put on a sporty face, the performance falls short. Best kept in the upper rev range, the five-speed manual transmission calls out for the extra cog. A six-speed manual would make the car a much livelier, more appealing driving proposition.With a zero-to-100 km/h saunter taking 11.9 seconds, the five-speed manual test vehicle made its way through heavy traffic consuming more than eight litres of fuel per hundred kilometres, while stretching its legs on the highway the Corsa cut an economic dash at six litres per 100km.VERDICTNeat styling gives the Euro Opel Corsa a head up in the affordable car stakes. Anyone wanting more performance from an Opel Corsa – a lot more performance – can opt for the recently introduced Corsa OPC, the acronym standing for Opel Performance Center, which is to Opel models what HSV is to Holden.Opel CorsaPrice: from $18,990 (manual) and $20,990 (auto)Warranty: Three years/100,000kmResale: N/AEngine: 1.4-litre four cylinder, 74kW/130NmTransmission: Five-speed manual, four-speed auto; FWDSafety: Six airbags, ABS, ESC, TCCrash rating: Five starsBody: 3999mm (L), 1944mm (W), 1488mm (H)Weight: 1092kg (manual) 1077kg (auto)Thirst: 5.8L/100km, 136g/km CO2 (manual; 6.3L/100m 145g/km CO2 (auto)

...that's nearly ready for European showrooms. It has a much smoother nose with new lights, bumpers and grille that will also be previewed at the Geneva show.  

Opel’s push for a foothold in Australia just took a turn for the better with the imminent arrival of a trio of performance models from OPC, Opel’s version of AMG. All were refined at the legendary German Nurburgring track where OPC has a test facility.Opel has been tweaking production cars for racing since the late ‘90s and has plenty of motorsport success including the silverware from a DTM, (German Touring Car) championship. But the brand has only been in Australia for about six months and is competing in some of the most competitive segments.OPC gives Opel instant cred’ with motorsport enthusiasts and this will undoubtedly flow on to the general community once the Corsa, Astra and Insignia OPC models hit the road. The Corsa OPC is up against the likes of VW Polo GTi, Skoda Fabia RS and soon, the Peugeot 208GTi and Ford Fiesta ST. Hot competition indeed.Astra OPC runs up against some real heavy hitters in VW Golf GTi (soon to go to a new generation Golf VII series), Renault Megane RS265, VW Scirocco, Ford Focus ST and even Mazda’s wild 3MPS. But the elephant in the room is Mercedes Benz’s new A250 Sport, possibly the best resolved front drive hatch available as of now.Insignia OPC sedan is more of a GT car for relaxed high speed cruising rather than for track days or corner carving. It has no direct competition being right on the luxury tax trigger and offering turbo 2.8-litre V6 power through an auto six speed transmission and all-wheel drive. The engine is courtesy of Holden.All three models hit the value button with generous levels of equipment and some high quality components from the likes of Brembo, Dresder Haldex and Recaro. Corsa OPC goes for  $28,990, Astra OPC is $42,990 and Insignia OPC is $59,990. While the latter occupies its own niche, the other two are right on the money with competitors possibly better when spec’ adjusted.Fixed price servicing is part of the deal as is roadside assist for three years. A clever OPC Power app for your phone adds a whole new element to "bench racing" sessions at the pub, dinner party or barbecue where OPC owners can spruik the talents of their car and, of course, the driver.The app records numerous technical details on cornering, braking, engine power and other info - into your phone. All three rate five star safety under Euro NCAP testing.This is possibly the best fettled of the trio from OPC’s garage and will undoubtedly be the most popular - on looks if nothing else. It’s a hottie - crouched ready to pounce with a powerful broad faced front and pumped out rear end.Astra OPC is a front driver with a healthy 206kW/400Nm output from its 2.0-litre petrol direct injection and turbocharged four banger. The turbo is a twin scroll unit designed for instant response six speed manual transmission only is available.That’s all very nice but the really good thing about this car is the way it steers and handles thanks in part to a front steering system called HiPer strut that places the steering axis away from the drive axis. No torque steer under full acceleration.Coupled with this is aggressive steering geometry that fires the Astra around corners like a race car. Impressive braking is then delivered by large diameter cross drilled discs with dual piston Brembo calipers.Three mode Flex ride offering Normal, Sport and OPC modes is fitted to this and the other two OPC models. It alters calibration for the suspension, brakes, steering and throttle response. A mechanical limited slip diff completes the traction/drive picture.Though a three door, Astra OPC can take five passengers and their luggage at a pinch. Auto stop start eco mode is fitted and the car can get as good as 8.1-litres/100km on premium. Leather, satnav, dual zone climate control auto headlights and wipers, electric parking brake - all included.This cheeky three door baby also heads the power game in its class by a significant margin, rated at 141kW/230Nm (260Nm on overboost) from a 1.6-litre turbo petrol four. Opel knows its market well and offers Corsa OPC with a swag of "branded" components inside and out.It gets Recaros inside, a digital radio, comprehensive instrumentation and subtle body add ons so people know you are driving something "special." It scores climate control, multiple wheel controls, auto lights and wipers, cruise and numerous OPC design touches.The two OPC hatches and the bigger sedan are like chalk and cheese - in every way. This is an auto only model, with all wheel drive and a Holden V6 2.8-litre turbo petrol engine. There’s nothing like it for sale unless you count the VW CC V6 4Motion but it’s more of a luxo-barge than a sporty sedan.Insignia OPC achieves 239kW/435Nm thanks to a range of technologies including direct injection, twin scroll turbo charging, variable cam timing and other trickery. It’s crammed with goodies like the adaptive all wheel drive system, Flexride, rear limited slip diff, 19 or 20-inch forged alloys.Like the other two OPCs, the Insignia has a specifically developed exhaust system to provide both performance gains and better aural quality.Corsa OPC can put away a 0-100kmh sprint in 7.2 seconds and sip premium at a rate of 7.5-litres/100km. Astra OPC nails the 0-100kmh sprint in 6.0-seconds flat, offers prodigious roll on acceleration from all speeds and sips fuel at a best rate of 8.1-litres/100km. Insignia OPC stops the clocks at 6.3 seconds and uses premium at 10.9.We were able to sample the Astra and Insignia OPC cars on the road and on the track and really like the Astra in both environments. The Insignia is pleasant enough but has a big price hurdle to overcome at 60K given Opel has pretty much no profile here at all.That will change over time and with hero cars like the Astra OPC running around. We only did one lap in the Corsa and really can’t comment. It feels pretty quick for a tiddler and looks OK as well as being well spec’d. But the story as far as we are concerned is all about Astra OPC.Is it as good as the Megane and the GTi? Answer, unequivocally yes. It’s a precise instrument spoiled only a tad by the swooshing exhaust that sounds like a vacuum cleaner under maximum throttle. We are sure owners will fix that pronto. It’s a dream to look at and has plenty of kit to keep you comfy and happy.Corsa? Can’t comment sorry. Insignia? Maybe, maybe not. Astra? Yes please.