Test drive Opel Kadett Sedan 1985 - 1991 sedan

Dynasty

Probably everyone knows about the Korean Corporation Daewoo and its Nexia model. Almost everyone knows that Nexia is produced in Uzbekistan - abroad. And almost no one knows that Nexia is also collected in Rostov in Russia.
 


We decided to restore justice and took three Daewoo Nexia cars for the test - Korean, Uzbek and Rostov production. And they added to them the progenitor - Opel Kadett.
 


How it all began
 

The ancestor of Daewoo Nexia - Opel Kadett at one time was recognized as one of the most popular European cars. Typically, OPEL models have been kept in production for quite some time, for example, Omega has been produced since 1986, and Vectra since 1988 - to this day and only with minor changes.
 

Kadett violated the tradition. It was designed in 1984-1985, and the time of its release was due to the period of the radical change in views on the aesthetics of automobile bodies and the development of new directions in design. In addition, it belongs to the GOLF class, where the tone sets VW, which released the grown Golf-III, so in 1992, holding out on the conveyor only 5 years, Kadett was replaced by the more modern Opel Astra. But only in European factories.
 

Adam Opel AG, as you know, belongs to the General Motors Corporation. She also belonged to half of Daewoo shares. Having launched the production of Kadett in Europe, GM began its release in South Korea. In 1991, Daewoo gained independence from a overseas partner, but did not refuse a still quite modern and competitive machine. Thanks to German origin, good ergonomics and outstanding operational characteristics of Kadett, collected in Korea under the Daewoo Le Man brand, it was quite successfully sold within the country and exported to Europe and America.
 

Later, the car was renamed Daewoo Racer, with it the Koreans managed to occupy the niche of the European market, which was released by Kadett. In 1994, they held restyling and again changed the name, this time on Nexia. In the same year, the car began to be supplied to Russia.
 

Here Nexia quickly had a reputation as a reliable, unpretentious and rather comfortable machine, the consumer qualities of which quite consistent with the operating conditions in the CIS. In anticipation of the termination of the release of this model in Korea (stopped in 1997), the hosts showed interest in cooperation and agreed to transfer production first to Uzbekistan, and then to Russia.
 

Fall will help us
 

After the collapse of the superpower and the acquisition of independence by the majority of the former Union republics, almost all Central Asian states were forced to urgently create their own industry and mechanical engineering. The Government of Uzbekistan at that time put forward three priority directions: oil production and processing, gold production and the creation of national automobile industry. The interests of the country and Daewoo crossed. To build a car factory, a joint venture was created in which the parties invested 50% of capital.
 

The plant was built on the fact that cars on it would be made using no more than 50% of imported parts. Of course, not immediately, but as adjacent industries are created - aggregate, paint, radiator, etc. The motor was not planned, but now there are prerequisites for its creation, and, perhaps, over time they will abandon the import at all.
 

The first car left the assembly line on July 19, 1996. Then it consisted of 30% of local parts. Now, a year later, the share of Uzbek components is 40% and is growing every day. Three models are released - Tico, Nexia and Damas. The design capacity of the plant is 200,000 machines a year, for the first year it is planned to release no more than 100,000, which the leadership explains the phased development of the market and the unwillingness to keep unsatisfied cars on the drives -drives.
 


The Soviet has its own pride
 

Businessmen from the financial and industrial group Doninvest went along the way. Without noise and excitement, without state investment, a small carbon on the basis of the Rostov Krasny Aksai plant was born in capitalistically modestly on the basis of the Rostov factory. They did not invent the bicycle, developing their own mutants, did not chase the prestige of possession of their own brand, simply sent proposals about cooperation around the world.
 

At first, no one reacted, the leaders of the world automotive in the seriousness of the intentions of a small Rostov company did not believe. Finally, through third hands, three hundred sets of various American cars managed to purchase. The story is silent about the initial purpose of these sets, but most likely it was Kit -Car - a sort of set of details do it yourself. They themselves did. And successfully sold. Thus, Red Aksai acquired the status of a car factory, and some large firms began to look closely at it.
 

Of course, the Koreans, the same Daewoo corporation, showed the greatest efficiency. They did not help with money, but they did not insist the Rostovites, but they offered to supply machine tools of Nexia and Espero models. What is a machine kit, readers of our magazine know from the report about the Elaz-GM corporation (motor 6 (14).
 

In 1996, a conveyor replaced the slipway. The volume of production grew from 12 to 100 cars per day. To reduce the purchase price, they increased the number of own installation operations. A year earlier, Aksya was assembling a car of only nine large units, now a machine kit, fragmented into twenty knots, arrives from Korea and Romania. But the salon still comes completely collected.
 

Domestic components in Rostov machines are not used. There are such intentions, but the very first attempt ended unsuccessfully - they wanted to put cast wheels of local production, conducted all the tests, Koreans gave the go -ahead, but it was not possible to convince the manufacturer to improve the appearance of the products. Maybe for the better.

 
In 1996, about 5 thousand cars were assembled. All sold. Apparently, believing in the viability of the plant, the Koreans this year opened their representation there. They help with advice in marketing and advertising, but the capital of the enterprise is still completely Russian. This is good, and not only from the point of view of kvass patriotism - there is complete freedom of maneuver.
 

Now Red Aksai is firmly standing on his feet and is actively expanding - a large automobile enterprise is being built on the basis of the Taganrog combine plant.
 

It is planned that it will work by the end of 1998, and the capacity of the conveyor will be 120,000 cars per year.
 

In addition to Nexia in Rostov, the model is also collected by the class higher - Espero. There are intentions to establish the assembly of completely new Daewoo models - Lanos, Nubira and Leganza, which have just been shown in Europe.
 

Find ten differences
 

So, Daewoo Nexia. The same car, but assembled by different hands and different technologies. So, some differences can be. So we decided to compare the cars made in Korea, Uzbekistan, Rostov ...
 

Getting Uzbek and Rostov Nexia was not working for the test. Some difficulties were with a Korean production machine - the production was stopped. But they also found it. To include in the test of the ancestor - Opel Kadett - it seemed to us so natural that we did it without hesitation. And only then they realized that it would be difficult to compare. All Nexia is new, almost without run, and Kadett is aged. But still they decided to leave him - as a kind of reference point.
 

And here we have four cars. Kadett, of course, we found out right away, but where what Nexia, we decided not to find out in advance. Externally, Daewoo cars differ from Opel not very much. Thanks to the more massive Nexia bumpers, it looks larger and lower than Kadett. The very minor alterations of the hood and the grilles of the radiator gave the car a more modern view with some oriental accent. But the loading opening of the trunk of a German car is much more convenient.
 

Koreans became interested in fashionable beveled rear lights, significantly narrowing the beak of the lid, which made it impossible to place a large -sized object in a huge luggage compartment, and the bumper far -out back does not allow the car, placing the luggage or taking out the spare wheel. Kadett with a vertical line of the connector between the wings and the rear panel of the width of the opening is only slightly less than the width of the body.
 

But it's time and behind the wheel. Started with Kadett. The 1988 car arrived from Germany two weeks before the test. On the speedometer 40,000 km, most likely this is the second circle. Given the age of the car, the run -in began in a gentle mode. But they quickly made sure that the engine and suspension are in excellent condition, and the car is quite capable of withstanding increased loads.
 

The machine is perfectly controlled, has quite decent dynamics and stability in corners. The carburetor engine is adjusted so clearly that with any intensity of pressing the gas pedal, the car accelerates without failures, confidently and stably. The engine is very elastic, you can move in the range of 20-80 km/h in the second or third gear to choose from, in the first case, without spinning the motor to the maximum, and in the second - without stalling with a minimum.
 

The work of the checkpoint - without complaints, the programs are turned on exactly.
 

Kadett came the turn of the first of Daewoo cars. What? At that moment it was unknown. The salon, of course, is richer. The softer contours of the front panel, the devices are larger and are better read, on the right and left of them are convenient keys to turning on the fog headlights, alarm and heating of the rear window. The asymmetric central console is also licked in accordance with modern fashion, but constructively from the Kadett panel does not differ. Otherwise, the interior of the cars is almost identical, only the Nexia has the adjustment of the rigidity of the front seats. And, of course, electric windows and air conditioning. However, on Opel, their installation is also possible, just on our test there was a simple equipment.
 

On the go, Kadett and Nexia seemed the same, the same dynamic properties, the same maneuverability. Nexia’s engine volume for a glass is larger, there is a fuel injection, but the compression degree is noticeably lower, and the horses under the hood were not increased. By the way, the power steering is installed on all Koreans, but the difference in management between them and the German is not felt. Only the suspension of Nexia was a little softer, but we should not forget that Opel was notn.
 

We were transplanted from one Nexia to another, from time to time returning to Kadett - after all, the reference point. So what? Never mind. We did not find the difference in the running qualities of all four cars. Only on one car, the clutch pedal seemed softer than on others. Then they found out that it was Nexia from Uzbekistan, she had a hydraulic clutch, and on other machines - cable.
 

The only difference between Daewoo Nexia of different manufacturers that we found is the color of the bumper. On Uzbek cars, they are unpainted, and in Korean and Rostov correspond to the color of the body.
 

We did not tear off the upholstery, scratch the paint, look for uninvited places on the inner panels, compare the quality of welds and tightening of the nuts.
 

Firstly, no one would have allowed us, and secondly, if something is wrong there, it will manifest itself after 5-10 thousand kilometers. And this is a completely different test, to which we may be back.
 

In the meantime, it remains only to greet the appearance on the Russian market of the same model from two different manufacturers and hope that healthy competition between them will not allow us to lower the quality bar, which is why the consumer will win.
 

Evgeny Romantovsky

 
 
 

Source: Motor magazine [No. 8/1997]