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Opel Astra and Black Snow

When the Red Sedan Opel Astra left the assembly line, he did not even assume that in the first few months he had to survive so much. First, the car traveled along the roads of St. Petersburg along the snow porridge between huge snowdrifts, which for some reason no one cleaned. And with the advent of spring, the car faced new problems: pits, dust and black snow.

Yes, yes, with black snow. At the end of March and even at the beginning of April, he could be found on any street of the cultural capital. Indeed, throughout the long winter, the authorities of St. Petersburg could not organize timely snow removal (it was removed only from the main highways, and even then not too active). As a result, the tractors simply dumped snow collected from the roadway to the side of the road. And from above all this was covered with dirt, dust, particles of soot with everything that flies in our atmosphere. As a result, the snow became black. In theory, it had to be urgently collected and bury somewhere, as is done with radioactive waste. Indeed, according to ecologists, the number of harmful substances in such snow exceeds all the permissible norms hundreds of times ... Of course, no one was going to export this snow, it melted, the poison was absorbed into the soil (they say, plants can now be planted only when soil change) And the children ate it. They ate, the kids love to eat cold snow. Especially black.

With the advent of spring in St. Petersburg, not only snow, but also asphalt came down. Pits, soil failures, correctness began to appear in completely unexpected places, and we are talking about really large potholes, falling into which you can easily damage the suspension or break through the wheel. And, the worst, bad in St. Petersburg, it seems, all the roads, even those that have recently been repaired (according to preliminary estimates of officials, the treatment is now needed by 70% (!) Streets in St. Petersburg). The failures were even on the recently built ring, according to which people were used to traveling at speeds at 100-120 km/h and faster. As a result, dozens of cars were left without wheels, officials say that trucks that took out snow were to blame (you remember that the snow fell unexpectedly in December), as well as groundwater. They, they say, got up and began to erode the foundation of the tracks. In general, nature is to blame.

And to count on the fact that in the coming days the roads will be repaired is not worth it. The city simply does not have enough money, and builders are unlikely to have time to cope with all the work. And if they have time, then you should not count on high -quality repairs. So Petersburg returned for a long time in the era of bad roads and this is very sad.

Against the background of this horror, the main characteristic of the machine was not at all the power of the motor or controllability, but elementary smoothness. After all, no supercar handling could save from endless pits and broken asphalt. And in such conditions of operation, an increased road clearance came in handy. After all, if the clearance intended for Europe is only 130 mm, then in Russia sold in Russia it is already 155 mm. Moreover, in this case it is about the distance from the ground to the lower point. And the additional 25 mm in St. Petersburg was very welcome. Although it is still necessary to compete with SUVs and jumping around borders with a great eye on the back of the car at the sedan is very large.

In addition to a worthy road clearance, it should also be noted smoothness. Of course, thick winter tires of the dimensions of 205/55 R16 were contributed, but the suspension itself worked out for conscience. She allowed to move confidently in St. Petersburg. In order to experience unpleasant blows, it was necessary to get into a large hole at a very decent speed. But if you take care of the car a little, then the potholes' passage was reflected in the cabin only a small nozzle that did not irritate at all. Of course, Astra-Sedan’s premium cars are still very far from comfort, but for class C cars in European classification, it’s not bad at all! Although Astra's comfort provided only when driving at moderate speed. At 90-100 km/h, the passage of joints and potholes was reflected by unpleasant shocks.

Astra also pleased that she very decently keeps the straight line when driving along the correct asphalt (there are also plenty of such roads in St. Petersburg). Due to the elongated wheelbase, the sedan copes well with such asphalt, although, of course, it is not worth counting on a miracle in this case. Faster than 100 km/h in such conditions, it is better not to go.

In the spring, the previously revealed problem of sedan has no appliances here has no devices for opening-covering. After moving along the streets, the entire back of the car is covered with a thick layer of dust or dirt (in March-April the St. Petersburg roads were either dusty or dirty), and when the driver opens the trunk, his fingers are sure to get dirty. And then when it comes time to close the lid, the hand gets dirty for the second time. And it is very annoying. In addition, it turned out that getting things out of the far corner of the trunk is not so and just trousers in this case, in this case, the bumper necessarily wipes. Some kind of trunk-mugger turns out. Although its sizes must be paid tribute. The trunk here is really big.



 

A source: Auto.mail.ru