Test Drive Opel Antara since 2007 SUV

Clearance in the big city

The car for the metropolis should be compact, yurik and extremely economical. In Europe, this rule works, but in Moscow auto avolution moves in a different direction. The higher the steering wheel over the road, the more powerful the motor under the hood - the better. The demand for crossovers with large wheels and high ground clearance, which are persistently issued for urban, therefore growing as on yeast. It does not matter that due to the full drive and the worst aerodynamics, such machines burn more fuel than comparable in the dimensional grooves. But in them, you feel at least a member of the road, and not in some wearing rachkom, grated hammers and other large towns in the asphalt.
Focus with lifting. Sneiths in the Ford model line appear cars with a new name. Therefore, the yield of KUGA - a crossover, built based on the IOSIS X concepts of 2006 - should be considered a significant event. The manufacturer tries to push a simple thought: Kuga is a completely new product. Design and content, idea and incarnation - there was nothing similar. The spectacular commercial, which spins on Russian TV channels, calls for consumers to start with a blank sheet. This marketing reception was very effective - in the spring, when the car has not yet managed to go to dealers, Ford has already had a decent number of orders.
In fact, Kuga is not a car designed from scratch. It was created on the same platform that underlies Ford Focus and C-MAX. Yes, and in branded kinetic design is already visible. Spanish headlights, a complex trapezoid air intake and massive wheel arches, we have already seen on S-Max, a tail with a hexagonal glass and a rumped windows line - on Mondeo Wagon. Well, okay, it is its own, native. But it is (even scary to say out loud) and borrowing! Longitudinal firewalls on the hood exactly, like Nissan Qashqai (peeped, in turn, at Porsche Cayenne and Mercedes SL). And with spectacular airlows behind the front wheels Ford designers are a bit late - such elements have long been adorn the EMCI BMW, the second Freelander, Range Rover Sport and even Kuga's opponent on this test.

Maxim Egorov, magazine 5 wheel
Did you have to drive Opel Antara off-road or your test drive passed only in the city?
Well, the off-road, which I went, off-road to call it difficult to the Antara drove it without problems. Its all-time opportunities will be enough to drive through bad roads to the cottage. Further is unlikely.
I will list the criteria, and you will call those as best is Antara. Dynamics, handling, efficiency, comfort, design, capacity, functionality ...
First of all design. More quality of materials. And, probably, all.
Exactly all? Now I understand why Opel dealers complain about the low demand for Antara.
Opel loves for good value / quality ratio, but you can't tell anything about Antara. The car is expensive and at the same time does not reach the standards of its class. The lack of forces in the 2,4-liter model is especially felt.
And who, in your opinion, will buy such cars?
Man of 35-45 years old, with cottages and two children. He has no drive ambitions. He does not like the design of SsangYong, and he wants a courageous car, and not some kind of ladies.
But all this will not write to the shortcomings. I am fully a new car, as a car owner, would rather alarmed than he pleased. Novelty, if it affects the critical machines of the machine, often brings more operational problems at first than any benefits - it's better what is checked by experience and well debugged. As for the design, this is, alas, a common automobile trend. The times passed when the novelty was obliged to look original and authentic. It is much better for sale models that look fashionable, in the spirit of time. It seems to me that next to Kuga you can put a tablet autumn-winter 2009 and there will be no choice from buyers. This is the peak of the season!
Kuga is one of the few cars, acquainted with which is not critical, but in a positive key. The salon is made beautiful and kindly, even with a chance to sportiness. The second row is not close (although I expected that it would be slightly spacious here). The trunk is like a trunk - tidy and spacious womb, and with a double luggage door. Steering wheel, pedals, gear knob - everything spins and moves humanly, clearly, gently and clearly. Even scenery in the cabin is a weak point of almost all cars of this class - do not cause rejection. In short, Kuga is the charm itself. I won't be surprised if someone in this car fell in love with first glance.
There is only one but. The sale of KUGA goes so far only with diesel and mechanical transmission. Those who dreamed of buying a crossover with a powerful gasoline engine and a machine gun are asked to be recorded in the queue now and wait for the beginning of 2009.
Eastern support. Positive energy charged and Antara - the first city crossover in the model series Opel. Strong lines, strong proportions, a lot of chromium - this car looks even more brutally and everywhere than Kuga. Sometime, the company from Rüsselsheim had a rather strong position among manufacturers of SUV and SUVs. The Frontera model, manufactured since 1991, in its segment for several years remained a car number one in Europe and won a lot of new buyers for the brand. Experts, of course, immediately clarify that Frontera is actually a Japanese development. The same medium-sized SUV was produced under the ISUZU brand and wore the name Rodeo, and after the update in 1994 it seemed before buyers and under Honda Passport.
Antara generally too is not a wholly-owned Opel. This crossover has a lot to do with the Chevrolet Captiva, which, in turn, was originally developed by the South Korean design bureau as a GM Daewoo Winstorm. But we must pay tribute to Opel - they are seriously corrected exterior and interior design, applying a style, try out the concept car Opel Antara GTC. The result is a fully European product. Nothing shocking - a functional, well-equipped and a complete car.

Ilya Fischer MAGAZINE Autopanorama
Were you able to ride on gasoline on the European Kuga test drive?
No, there was then still is. Only with a diesel engine, which is already familiar to us from the focus and the C-Max. With it the car goes very fast, with a jaunty drive.
On the controllability, what can you say?
Kuga well rulitsya and generally cool rides. It is more like a passenger car than other crossovers.
Ford said a new word in SUVs?
You know, we were all waiting for something like that, but my answer is likely no than yes. Kuga is a fresh look at crossovers. Not more. In ergonomics remained controversial points.
What exactly?
Ford seat well, not for me they are. Podshtampovka elbow on the window bar. First, think about how convenient! And then you realize that it is harmful superfluous detail.
How popular could be the Kuga with us?
I'm afraid that with such prices it will be difficult to compete with the popular Japanese SUV. Mark Ford is associated with the mass market and implies a democratic price. Although the crossover segment has not yet developed. Such machines must trade smartly.
For a number of characteristics Antara looks better its competitor. There are many options for finishing and packaging. The machine can be ordered with a standard for its class petrol 2.4-liter 140-horsepower engine (the same pattern and got on our test) or with a solid 227-strong six 3.2 liter. In Europe, the Antara is offered also with diesel 2.0 CDTI (at GM are considering the possibility of delivery of such models in Russia). Vehicle equipped with a wheel drive system, which connects through electro differential rear axle when a slip front. Because the system is fully integrated with an anti-lock braking system (ABS) and dynamic stabilization (ESP), it may well be called intellectual. By the way, the same principle of the electronic all-wheel drive is used in the Kuga.
Opel hoped from Antara to leadership in the European cross-segment. The presence of a finished platform and good opportunities for tapping cars on its own landfill allowed Opel to release its model before competitors. But Forah turned out to be small - not passed and years, as VW Tiguan debuted and the French clones Mitsubishi Outlander XL - Peugeot 4007 and Citroen C-Crosser. And now, next to the newest Ford Kuga, Antara and is perceived at all as a thing that is about to come out of fashion.
Veusun and lucky. Among the buyers of crossovers is especially great percentage of people who are not interested in the driver's driver quality. They give any service, comfort, drawers for all small things. For those who look at the car as a continuation of the house, specifically inform that Kuga, and Antara on these criteria are comparable to each other and almost do not lose direct competitors. At first glance, even at the lowest level of configuration, the cars do not look at the poor or empty - the steering wheel in the leather braid, stylish appliances, screwed consoles with buttons. Only with a detailed study of the lists of equipment it turns out that there are no important things in the machines. For example, the standard kit Kuga Trend does not provide for heating of the seats, and Antara enjoy is not allowed by ABS. Of course, for extra charge - any whim: parking sensors, xenon, leather, festive music ... I advise you to immediately decide to the basic price of a fabricated model of a thousand hundred hundred - one hundred and fifty. It turns out a figure similar to the real price.
For the ride qualities of Antara and Kuga - two absolutely different cars. Opel quiet, very soft, prone to rolls (though, to non-critical). The steering is dotted, on sharp maneuvers, this PARC operates as a heavy frame SUV. But on the passenger manner work brakes. The pedals do not need to apply great efforts so that Antara has got up like inserted. There is no sense to discuss the acceleration dynamics of this car, since it is missing - there is only a smooth acclaiming acceleration, accompanied by lazy reverses of the machine. If they dramatically drown gas to the floor, Antara will not be much faster. Motor only gives a portion of angry noise and choles a double portion of gasoline. Therefore, those whose routes run on the roads, where they often have to overtake, I advise you to choose another Antara - or with a handle, or with a much more powerful six under the hood. A combination of 2.4 AT to combat ride does not have.
But Kuga is a completely different matter. It is only a little more tougher, but it goes much hardened, it turns out much sharper on the driving movement. Clear handling allocates it among other crossovers - I can't even pick up comparisons. It seems that our Kuga has the same power in the passport, but three times more acuity than Antara. The only minus of a two-liter diesel engine is a narrow range. In the range from 2000 to 4,000 thousand rpm, it pulls so that only hold on. Out of it - does not pull at all. Of the advantages, I will note good noise insulation and efficiency. If the arrow of the tachometer is to keep in the area of \u200b\u200b1.5-3 thousand, then no more than 9-9.5 liters of diesel foul will be spent on the hundred urban kilometers.
Fordsov managed to make an interior in which simple straightforward forms do not enter into a conflict with cunning curved panels. The dashboard is perceived as a solid array, which is naturally crashed into a wide light center console. The four-spoke steering wheel lies in the hands - the places of grip and in a section, and the form is perfect perfectly. With pedals, I am sure that there will be no problems either. Step and height, magnitude and effort of the course, the smoothness of movements is simply exemplary. I can say the same words and add to the lever of the checkpoint - everything would be such a handle as on Kuga. But there are annoying things. Adjusting the seat up, you feel that it is at the same time thrust and forth. As a result, you have to choose a compromise landing. The management of the standard audio system is not carried out on the steering wheel, but on the bulky knob on the left side of the steering column. The decision is quite comfortable, but the newcomer to deal blindly in the movement does not advise - you can so be angry that the funeral march will play. The inconvenience also delivers the smart straining hatch. Not at all gas stations there are such thin pistols that are in the neck, so you have to remove some kind of funnels from the trunk, and then sniff out in the cabin light amber diesel.
Calm, neutral, tidy lines and forms in the Antara salon do not cause any turbulent enthusias, but it is in such an interior that everything is faster than everything. The dashboard and the center console is not so angular and aggressive, like Astra or Vectra, but is made in the classic opela style. The assignment of each handle is guessing instantly, the position of each button is verified, does not interfere with the control. During ten minutes drive to this car you get used to it as if I went to her all my life. It bribes and comfort and rationality. She holds a lot of baggage. Passengers are also sin to complain. Seats have a sufficient range of adjustments, harsh, but differ in a convenient profile. The air conditioning system is perfect. The quality of the finishing materials fully corresponds to expectations - plastics are not worse than some of some famous pre-brands. The accuracy of the assembly is also at the height - Opel has long been paying special attention to such things, not only at its assembly enterprise in Rüsselsheim, but also in other plants. By the way, the model was on our test drive, was collected in Russia.

Ford Kuga.
Gasoline engine, 6 in a row
Working volume (cube cm) 1997
Power (hp at rpm) 136 at 4000
Moment (nm at rpm) 320 at 2000
The drive is connected complete
Transmission automatic, 6-speed
Length / Width / Height (mm) 4440/1840/1710
Mass Curb (kg) 1540
Maximum speed (km / h) 180
Overclocking up to 100 km / h (c) 10.7
Fuel consumption, city / highway (l / 100 km) 8.1 / 5.4
Price in Moscow from 881,000 rubles.

Opel Antara.
Diesel engine, 4 in a row
Working volume (cube cm) 2405
Power (hp at rpm) 140 at 5200
Moment (nm at rpm) 220 at 2400
The drive is connected complete
Gearbox mechanical, 5-speed
Length / Width / Height (mm) 4575/1850/1703
Mass Curb (kg) 1805
Maximum speed (km / h) 170
Acceleration up to 100 km / h (c) 12.5
Fuel consumption, city / highway (l / 100 km) 13.9 / 7.9
Price in Moscow from 937 900 rubles.

Thank you for helping the organization of filming the representative office of the company Ford (495) 745-9790 and the company General Motors CIS 8 (800) 100-1011.
Text: Ruslan Tarasov
Photo: Andrei Danilov
 

A source: "Autopilot"