Opel Astra GTC test drive since 2011

Chemistry of feelings

On autobahns and mountain serpentines of solar major, we were able to fully enjoy all the delights of the GTC chassis of the new Opel Astra.

The car is increasingly turning into a regular household device as a razor, refrigerator or vacuum cleaner. Of course, life is impossible without them, but they do not cause a flight of feelings. The main thing is that the car does not break and it is comfortable in it. But sometimes everything happens in a completely different way

Two and a half years ago, I decided to change my old Ford Escort, which I learned to ride, for something more presentable. On something that a young man is not ashamed to call for a girl, drive up to the club or just appear at the look. The choice fell on Opel Astra H GTC, the most stylish of all the three -door hatchbacks that existed then. Stylish design, a powerful 140-horsepower engine, a rich Cosmo set with climate control, bi-ksenon, panoramic roof, rear parking sensors and combined leather-twal salon. Who else could offer this in a golf class? In a word, it was love at first sight.

There was time, a journalistic fate allowed to drive powerful Porsche, Ferrari and Bentley, luxurious Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar. After such luxury, any, even the highest quality ordinary car will seem wretched. But not Opel. Neither a heavy clutch pedal, nor hard chairs, nor terrible visibility, nor a lazy motor could cool my ardor. And then he was gone. On September 9 of this year, BMW X6M started from a secondary road and demolished my Astra all the face. My favorite machine saved me from injuries at the cost of my own health

It was not by chance that I told you all this. For me, acquaintance with Opel Astra GTC generation J is not just another test drive of a new car, of which two or three every month. This is an attempt to find new love. Can a yellow bitch become for me the same as all these years of the glass?

Do you like the appearance of the new GTC in photographs? In reality, it is even better! This is no longer erotica, it is light car porn. Each line, every bend, every detail to everything reacted with love. GTC was created according to all the rules of classical design: nothing exists just like that, everything has its own meaning, each line has a beginning and an end. And yet in the new Astra GTC there is no sensation of lightness that was before. Giant wheels hidden into wide arches, as if tearing the car from the inside! On the rear racks a lot of fat, puffy bumper steal swiftness. But still, there is not a single car in the golf class that would be just as beautiful. This is my personal opinion, which, I am sure, are separated by many.

But the design is the only thing that GTC H can argue with GTC J. The new Astra is an outrageous level inaccessible to the predecessor in almost everything. To prove it to you, I will go on points that did not suit me in my car. Clause one: visibility. In a car with a panorama, I felt like a tank commander, in which nothing can be seen or on the sides, but you can enjoy the sky into the open hatch of the tower. Opel answer: the front was added to the rear parking sensors, and the windows in the racks were reduced by dead areas. Clause second: uncomfortable seats. Sports seats, which were already in the base, obviously, came up with disperses from the Gestapo. My back and legs constantly ached, and the skin on the rollers of lateral support crackled already by 50,000 km. Opel answer: Even the basic seats GTC J are much better, but for 20,000 rubles. You can order AGR seats approved by the Association of Germany therapists. These are the only seats in the world with such a certificate. And they are really magnificent! They want to take them from the car to the office or home. The trip really turns into a vacation for the back. Point Third: Suspension. Previously, Astra GTC, whose suspension was tougher than the five -door, made the fifth points of the passengers behind the pain massage. At the same time, the car was very fenced, and the muzzle was demolished under the gas. Opel answer: Hipersstrut. The new GTC does not go at all as you expect from a modest Opel.

We were lucky the day before our arrival at the Mallorca collapsed a hurricane. Sand was inflated with the beaches, stones hit the mountains, and the clutch on the roads almost disappeared. At each braking, I had to be neat. A couple of times, under the chatter, I almost caught up with Astra. In such conditions, avoiding slipping, demolition and parasitic efforts on the steering wheel is unrealistic. But GTC escaped!

The stud, braking, chatter ABS, the second with an excess, turning the steering wheel and gas to the floor, as from sling, shoots to the next bend of the serpentine. Even on the scherbat coating, Astra GTC perfectly realizes every horse force of its motor. It was not by chance that I mentioned the pushing. The fact is that the pedals in the GTC are so conveniently located that this technique of sports driving can be performed without straining.

It is a pity that the truly talented chassis of this machine lacks a worthy motor. Even with the top 1.6 Turbo Astra is openly lazy! I have repeatedly heard from the owners of five -door cars with a machine gun that the car is not going to its 180 liters. With. The GTC broke the hope that at least the situation will change with the manual transmission. Yes, the turbo engine is easily chipped up to 213 liters. S., but after that, the car still does not turn into a hot hatch. Of course, the GTC should not go as fervently as an OPC version, but the new GTC J chassis is already better than OPC H! From this and all the disorder and the desire is greater.

Will I buy a new GTC? So far, only the price stops me. The machine I want costs 1,015,000 rubles. Even for such an Opel fan like me, a bit too much. Did I fall in love? Yes! Honestly, the fact that the answer to this question would be positive, I did not particularly doubt the test drive: one cannot but fall in love with these forms. But I was sure that I would have to write about the fact that love is inexplicable, that sometimes we love, contrary to, that we buy a car, rejecting common sense but I did not have to. Unlike the car of the past generation, this is not the case when they love. And this is the main victory of everyone who had a hand to the new GTC. Bravo!




 

Source: Cars