SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
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*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.
Published in Weekend Witness Motoring on Saturday July 14, 2012
Indulge your scribe for a moment as he drops his politically correct façade and speaks candidly. While it is truly hoped that many young women with adventure in their veins will buy this car, it is aimed primarily at young males. Now men, if we liken the Corsa OPC to favourite ladies, this would be your sporty girlfriend; the one wearing T-shirt, shorts and sneakers. She occasionally does jeans, but only when it’s cold, because she has long, beautiful, firmly toned legs and she knows they drive you nuts. Are we on the same page? Good.
For the benefit of those not yet initiated, the first sports-oriented OPC was born of necessity. In 1997, Opel Performance Centre wanted to enter cars in the German Clubman motorsport formula and its then-new Astra was the weapon of choice. It just needed some work and a production run for homologation purposes of at least 2500 units.
Transformation began with body changes to improve aerodynamic performance. These in turn provided styling points of difference from the standard Astra. Power came from a two-litre naturally aspirated engine developing 118 kW, fitted into a well-tuned chassis with powerful brakes. This package accelerated from rest to 100 km/h in 8,2 seconds with a top speed of 220 km/h. Apart from being hugely enjoyable, it was competitively priced, providing a unique blend of performance and value for money. The pilot run of 3000 sold out in four months, with buyers clamouring for more. Further generations followed, with the winning formula applied not only to Astras, but Zafira vans and Vauxhall Vectras as well.
The Corsa version was unleashed to a waiting world at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2007. The formula is simple. Take the 1598cc engine from Corsa Sport or Astra GTC Sport and pressurise it just a little more, to bring power up to 141 kW and torque up to 230 Nm. An overboost facility for those moments when you really need them, ups torque to 266 Nm. Make the car sit about 15mm lower than the plain Sport version and rework the body, brakes and suspension. Add proper Recaro seats; they have cutouts at the top so you can fit harness belts should you decide to take this to the track.
In a car weighing 1280 kg this means zero to 100 km/h in 7,2 seconds. Top speed is 225 km/h. Overtaking acceleration from 80 to 120 km/h in fifth takes 6,7 seconds. There is a sixth gear, but fear not, it’s still a performance ratio – no overgearing for “economy” here.
Our test car really looked the part; black paint, darkened rear side windows and back screen, mean rear spoiler, triangular single exhaust centralised in the finned diffuser, black and silver alloys, smoked rear lenses, triple gills on each side of the lower skirt. Very Darth Vader. Very threatening. Very enticing. Get in and wear it. The Recaros hug you into place, the leather-capped gear knob fills your fist and the leather-rimmed wheel with its top centre point clearly marked, fits your hands. No matter where you choose to hold it, there are indentations to fit. It adjusts manually up and down, in and out. There are remote buttons for the sound system, but none for cruise control. It’s purpose-made.
Much the same could be said for other items in this car. Instruments are simple, clear and white-on-black. Three dials are provided for revs, speed and fuel, while a window gives you insight into what’s happening with the odometer and the computer. The pollen-filtered air conditioner is worked with three simple rotary dials while the radio with CD unit is pretty straightforward too. Oddly for a young person’s car, it has only an auxiliary input; no USB. Opel saved a buck on makeup mirrors too. There is just one, for the girlfriend, on the left and it’s unlit.
Where Opel spent more was on safety and handling kit with six airbags, ABS, EBD, BA, hill start assistance, ESP, stability control, cornering brake control and traction control. ISOFix anchorages, autolocking and anti-pinch electric front windows are there too. The back glass is fixed. While we’re back there, you could fit some shorter friends in, but it would be marginal. The front seats co-operate though, sliding forward as you tilt them, to make life easier. The boot is fairly small but the seatbacks fold to reveal more luggage space. There is no spare, just a kit behind a flap on the right of the boot.
It’s the drive that counts, though. The steering is perfectly weighted and it’s quick. Suspension is pleasantly firm. The six-speed manual ‘box is geared for 3200 rpm at 120 in top and roll-on acceleration is massive. It pulls like a Tiger (the tank) in any gear, revs to 6500 and leaves you lusting for more. It holds on through knuckle-whitening bends and snarls at you to try harder. It’s addictive. You could drive economically, but who wants to? If you have to brag about fuel economy, buy an Essentia - OPCs are for real drivers.
We have just one reservation. We think this thing is a touch overpriced. Body panels felt a bit light, facia trim was somewhat iffy and the glove box lid didn’t fit properly. Driving an A1 Sportback a few days later, we almost felt that the Audi was better value for money. Now that’s scary. We do, however, like the idea of young-at-heart women buying the Corsa OPC. Provided they know what they have and drive it properly, we would go with them anywhere.
The numbers
Price: R271 600
Engine: 1598cc, 16V, DOHC, four
Power: 141 kW at 5850 rpm
Torque: 230 Nm between 1980 and 5850 rpm
Zero to 100: 7,2 seconds
Maximum: 225 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 7,9 l/100 km
Tank: 45 litres
Warranty: 3 years/100 000 km
Service plan: 3 years/60 000 km at 15 000 km intervals.
This is a one-man show, which means that road test cars entrusted to me are driven only by me. Some reviewers hand test cars over to their partners to use as day-to-day transport and barely experience them for themselves.
What this means to you is that every car reviewed is given my own personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every car goes through real world testing; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
My articles appear every Wednesday in the motoring pages of The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles most months of the year (press cars are withdrawn over the festive season - wonder why?) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police. Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so I do actually exist.
I am based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, South Africa. This is the central hub of the KZN Midlands farming community; the place farmers go to buy their supplies and equipment, truck their goods to market, send their kids to school and go to kick back and relax.
So occasionally a cow, a goat or a horse may add a little local colour by finding its way into the story or one of the pictures. It's all part of the ambience!
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8