Test drive Opel Zafira 2006 - 2008 Minivan

Family express

A 200-horsepower turbo engine, a six-speed manual gearbox and shock absorbers adjustable in stiffness ... This may begin a description of a charged city hatchback or a compact sportkup. However, we have on the test drive of the compactwane Opel Zafira, which is fully consistent with the indicated data, which promises a very interesting drive.
But this is not the limit, for completely reckless fathers of families, there is a 240-horsepower Zafira ORS, which is rightfully considered the most powerful and fastest compact in the world. But the test we test has only one worthy opponent - Mercedes B200 Turbo. True, it is noticeably more expensive, heavier and only five-seater. Zafira is able to take seven people aboard and deliver them from point A to point B at a speed of up to 240 km/h.
Describing the appearance of Zafira is a fairly simple and boring lesson: the compactwane design is entirely subordinate to functionality. The side racks are straight, and the long roof ends with a large vertical rear door - this is how the maximum volume of the cabin is achieved. The windshield, on the contrary, has a large slope and is taken far ahead - this improves visibility and again creates a feeling of space.
The huge salon is successfully framed in the new branded Opel style with sharp faces. And if you compare the compactiven with Zafira of the past generation, then they have silhouettes, despite the wheelbase elongated to 2703 mm and the body grew up in all directions, are very similar. An optional embossed roof gives some revitalization to the appearance, which provides for additional containers on the ceiling.
 
The Opel Zafira salon is not impressive, although everything is convenient and functional. For greater comfort, I would like to have a free passage between the seats of the first and second row, as is the case in larger mini-wenes, but these are already delights.
The central console is decorated with a silver insert with an integrated radio and a small display. Attention is also attention - they are not fixed in given positions and always return to place. With turn signals, such a scheme does not cause special problems, but you need to get used to the work of wipers, the first time it is not always possible to find the required position. Partly the situation is saved by the rain sensor, but this is an option.
The greatest comfort in the cabin was created for passengers of the second row: the sofa has longitudinal adjustment in a very wide range. Such a layout allows you to vary the space between passengers of the middle and rear row. Moreover, the victims are not required from anyone: the length of the cabin allows you to comfortably place all the riders, the main thing is that the third row passengers are not too long -legged - the pillow is located almost at the floor level. This is inconvenient on the long road, but it allows you to fold the seats flush on the floor, receiving a huge trunk with a volume of 645 liters. A wide average sofa does not add up, it can only be moved to the stop forward and lift the pillow vertically. In a double version, Zafira is capable of transporting up to 1820 liters of baggage.
But these are all the little things. The most important thing is hidden under the hood. The two -liter turbo engine is borrowed from the Saab brand, which, like Opel, is part of the General Motors empire. A similar engine with a capacity of 210 hp You can find on the SAAB 9-3 Aero, and here is a family compactway.
Despite greater power, with inaccurate touching from a place on Zafira, you can stall: a soft but non -informative clutch pedal is to blame. You have to move either to the touch or with the wheelhouse - then the car feels at ease, the benefit of disrupting the front wheels is not at all difficult. The maximum torque of the engine gives out already at 1800 vol./min. And holds him up to the very top. There is no turbocharger at all. If you do not give the tachometer to the arrow lower below the mark of 1,500 r. And after 3500 vol./Min. The driver is waiting for another pickup, which in lower gears can again cause a trunk of the wheels. Fortunately, the stabilization system is quite free and allows you to continue acceleration without misfires.
The gear lever is located close to the driver and allows you to change the transmission in sports quickly. The only thing that can interfere with active ride is the weak vestibular apparatus of riders, including children, based on the essence of the machine, there may well be children. The fact is that when switching and even just when adding or discharging Zafira's gas, it pecks sharply. The rolls in corners are surprisingly not great, but for such stability you have to pay a rigid reaction to small potholes and, as mentioned above, longitudinal tag of the body. I’m afraid that it is better to configure the manageability of a high seven-seater compactwane, created on the relatively narrow platform of the Opel Astra Holf-class hatchback. After all, at the same time, it is necessary to maintain a high body from rolls, to ensure the proper comfort of passengers and high carrying capacity.
The situation of shock absorbers CDC (Continous Damping Control) in the Sport mode is somewhat saved, for which a separate key is provided on the central console. The rolls on the bends are even harder, but it is not possible to fully overcome the irritating sneakers of the body. Even my very trained vestibular apparatus periodically made it known that such riding did not give much pleasure.
It seems that for family compactwane 200 hp. - This is a clear overkill. In addition, significant dimensions do not contribute to active maneuvers in the stream. There are no complaints about visibility, but a long body is difficult to control with frequent restructures. As a result, an impressive accelerated dynamics is lost in a road chaos, not giving any serious advantages in the speed of movement in the metropolis. It turns out that the powerful Zafira is poorly adapted for urban driving, but then why does she need such a fiery heart? Already guessed? Of course, for distant voyage on the highway: here a powerful and tracted motor realizes itself in full, and all six gears that optimize fuel consumption will come in handy. On high -quality asphalt, Zafira accelerates to 200 km/h without much tension: autobahns its element. It’s a pity that there are few good roads in our country.
To match the power of the motor and brakes: they are quite enough to slow down the harder of the machine. The main thing is not to be afraid of the chips of the body, hold the brake pedal, and Zafira will stop even earlier than you expect.
I returned Opel Zafira to a car dealership with mixed feelings. The 200-horsepower turbo engine gives compactwhen with impressive dynamics, but the chassis is not able to realize such a herd under the hood. If the presence of a seven-seater salon is a prerequisite for choosing a car, and gasoline is mixed in the driver’s veins in the blood, then Zafira is one of the few truly quick and inexpensive cars. Only large SUVs like the Mercedes-Benz GL or Audi Q7 can be an alternative to it, but their cost is many times higher than Opel.
If the number of seats in the cabin is not so critical and you just need a spacious car, then it is probably worth paying attention to the Opel Vectra wagon or prestigious Signum hatchback. At a similar price, they have less powerful engines, but a higher class guarantees the best interior decoration and more confident behavior on the road, especially in conditions of long -range voyage, when the high body Zafira is influenced by the side wind.
If you need a powerful powerful and very spacious seven -seater compactway, then Zafira with a 1.8 or 2.2 -liter engine will become a profitable acquisition, the benefit of the price of Opel, despite European origin, remains dollar and affordable.
The basic Opel Zafira with a modest engine of 1.6 liters (105 hp) is estimated at $ 19,990. A version with a 1.8 -liter engine (125 hp) and a mechanical gearbox will cost $ 22,450, for a robotic box Easytronic dealers will ask to pay all $ 450. Zafira 2.2 (147 hp) is supplied only with an automaton and in the top configuration of COSMO, its price is $ 31,000. 200 -horsepower zafira, which visited our test, the same Cosmo configuration with a six -speed mechanical gearbox can be purchased for $ 31 900. Agree, very reasonable prices for an impressive volume of the cabin and a powerful engine.
 
Leonid Pavlov
 
 

 
 

Source: Carclub.ru