Opel Corsa OPC test drive since 2007 hatchback

Adrenaline

Traffic light Pole Position. I'm in the center, and the neighbors around the edges are never racers. One in the gray family Toyota, the other is completely at the wheel of an asphalt. However, before that I haven’t been the case for a long time, the countdown, synchronous beating of the heart.
 
Intensive start with a light slip, and I score the second in the box! Gas on the floor, and the front wheels break into a frantic slip. It seems that these guys did not even understand what was the matter. Or maybe they thought that I was another crazy street racer? Honestly, it does not bother me at all. Yes, I was not late for an appointment with the president and did not be fleeing from representatives of the military registration and enlistment office. I just succumbed to temptation, a little temptation named Opel Corsa OPC. And those who happened to saddle this compact missile, I am sure, will forgive me my sin.
Under the hood of the baby, the 1.6-liter motor corresponding to her sizes. Small, and with a large gun behind the bosom in Ryusselshaim, a turbine was attached to the engine. The result inspires awe of 192 hp. And 230 nm only for 1200 kg of equipped mass! And also, as in computer races, here you can turn on the acceleration mode, the computer can briefly change its settings, increasing the torque of the engine by another 36 Newtons! True, unlike virtual reality, in life this happens unnoticed by you only feel a slight push. Neither and without additional injections of gasoline, this motor is a hurricane! If you do not forget to keep the momentum, then traction will always be enough from 2000 to 5800 rpm of the moment of the moment, which provides excellent acceptance. For example, from 80 to 120 km/h in the fifth gear can be reached in just 6.7 seconds!
The only minus of the motor is a sluggish response to the operation of an accelerator in the lower revolutions. And all because of the strict modern restrictions on emissions. Therefore, extensions with sharp switching are difficult. But when the arrow of the tachometer begins to rush between 3000 and 7000 revolutions everything falls into place. And there are no doubts about the stated 7.2 from the acceleration to 100 km/h. Yes, today class B pocket missiles can greatly bite many more status and powerful rivals. At the same time, the retribution of the dynamics requires a much more modest motor in the city of the motor eats about 13 liters per hundred, if you do not particularly mock the gas pedal. However, if you put all the money for all the money, it is better to not forget the consumption at home without thinking long, jumping up to 20 liters, and so it remains there. And the tank is small only 45 liters. Two -faced motor.
Until you go, eats like a 1.6-liter. And how will you come - oats for two hundred horses, please! Two hundred horses in such a small box is quite seriously to completely grind the suspension. It became tougher due to new Sachs springs and shock absorbers. The rear stabilizer was fat for 1.5 mm, and the body dropped by 15 mm. The wheels here are optional 18 inches! Behind them are spectacular blue calipers, clamping 308 millimeter disks in front and 264 millimeter behind. The sharp steering wheel (only 2.3 turns from the stop to the stop) is convenient with an active taxiing, however, it does not allow to relax at high speed. However, this car is not for straight lines. Narrow roads with an abundance of turns are her habitat. It is here that Corsa is completely revealed. Light insufficient, almost neutral, rotary gas rotation in the turn of the car rests with both axles, leaving for a smaller radius under the closure of the throttle. At the same time, in order to go into the skid, the Corses must be severely provoked.
The brakes here are also bare nerves. They are ideal when driving quickly each millimeter of the pedal's stroke is reflected in a change in slowdown. True, such jewelry accuracy sometimes bothers in traffic jams. Having rolled over the familiar roads, I stop on a small patch in order to take a breath. As a perfume of my beloved woman, I inhale the smell of hot brakes, heated rubber, and red -hot output. I cool down with the car. And once again lovingly considering her charismatic appearance. Yes, the Opelians pumped their wolf in the full program: a spectacular skirt, gloomy headlights, fog in the silver triangular edges, gills on the sides. Well, a special fetish, this, of course, is elegant mirrors on triangular legs! For the view from the back - the test automatic. Spoiler, a large exhaust pipe in the center. Down with modesty, the size does not matter!
By the way, the Corsa OPC product system was tuned for a long time, trying to give low notes. It turned out perfectly, only the muffler turned out to be so large that it was crowded out. However, only crazy will go to this OPC. I began to rain, and I climbed inside. The main decoration of the RECARO buckets is completely leather on our car. The steering wheel is also from the sports series. But with him the Opelians clearly overdoed it. Why did they make this inconvenient cut from below, and even with a slippery plastic lining? Under what grip these influxes, if they do not allow you to tightly grab the steering wheel? It looks, of course, famously, in a honeyed one, but only for those very racer, for one of which I was accepted at the beginning.
 
Professionals will only please the contrast rim at the top point, indicating the zero position. The gearbox lever is typical for all OPC models, a strange rectangular shape. You can get used to it, but the classic ball would be more appropriate. The strange shape of the steering wheel is compensated by the system with a variable gear ratio of about zero degrees it is 13: 1, and after ninety decreases to 11.8: 1. This is done for convenience in the parking lot. Indeed, the steering wheel has to be intercepted minimally. And you also notice adaptive light when turning, additional side sections in the headlights light up, illuminating the curbs. Yes, the Germans are able to make comfortable cars.
Comfortable in everything. Despite excellent handling, Corsa OPC remains quite comfortable. There is no dental suspension here, the spine is not crumbling on the tram tracks, but, nevertheless, the relief is transmitted in great detail. The Germans carried out the final tuning of the running qualities at Nürburgring, under the leadership of Manuel Reiter, a former DTM pilot. Maybe that's why the suspension was not as hard as the Astra OPC? It even comes to the point that a small diagonal buildup occurs in a walking bend on bumps. But from the trajectory, the machine does not jump, holds it tight to the last.
Having a little more than 30 thousand dollars in your pocket, you can buy, for example, some middle class sedan with a complaint about solidity to ride and inflate cheeks in a tight stream of their own kind. But, fortunately, there are many other opportunities to spend money. Investing them not in eternal values \u200b\u200blike comfort, efficiency and spaciousness, but in emotions! And emotions are expensive. And they pay off doubly. Those guys from the first paragraph most likely thought that I was crazy. I buy this such Corses, my relatives would look at me crookedly. Let me do not care now. I drive up to the traffic light, and inside the countdown begins again, synchronous beating of the heart.

 
 
   
 

Source: Motor magazine [July 2008]