Test drive Opel Zafira 2006 - 2008 Minivan

Family unfunperses

Do you think you have two frail family compactwane? As if not. The total capacity of the yolo-balloon couple is 440 horsepower. And such a frisky herd is neither Audi R8, nor Maserati Granturismo, nor even Porsche GT3. The question begs: why is there so much fool? Is it not madness to disperse the mother -in -law of the chest of drawers to speeds at which the planes remove the chassis? However, at one time, Ferrari 195 S also seemed a very powerful car. But by today's standards, he will hardly be faster than the little Peugeot 207.
 
Tired of marriage. Eh, the wrong car was chosen for the chalk of the chase in Hyveu in the comedy Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. For the role of a family single-raising for the spies, Opel Zafira OPC is much better than the fat Dodge Caravan. And the chase at a speed of 230 km/h would look much more spectacular. But how does Hollywood know that in Germany there is Opel Performance Center, where it will turn anything into a racing car, moreover, even compactwhen!
 
Zafira OPC is their hands. 240 hp turbo engine It accelerates the super-flime-car to hundreds in less than eight seconds. Not impressive? Let's count. A service car is gaining some double sports car somewhere in 4 seconds, that is, it spends about two seconds to each soul. And our Zafira 8 seconds up to the same speed accelerates seven souls at once, screaming with fear and happiness. Feel the difference. In general, do not drive the OPC from the left strip of highlighted headlights. You do not want the crew of the jet bus to show you fourteen middle fingers at once.

Andrey Leontyev,
auto TV channel plus
Andrey, did it happen to go to Opel Zafira OPC?
It is on Zafira OPC, but with other models from the Opel sports line I am well familiar.
How is a person who is seriously interested in car racing, say: OPC is a racing or still road technique?
These are normal cars. A little harsh, slightly harsh, but absolutely suitable for daily driving. With refinements, they can be put on the ring. OPC generally manages to make cars with the right balance of sports and road qualities.
Is Zafira also falls under such a characteristic?
Hmm ... I don't quite understand why it is needed at all. It is clear that with such a high center of gravity as a racing shell she will never go. So this is pure marketing. Although at Nyurgurging, I saw with my own eyes the racing Zafira in the German championship in long races. Well, yes, she showed the time that was not unfamiliar, but the audience smiled. And this is also the result.
Zafira OPC has all the primary and secondary signs of the racing machine. On 18-inch alloy disks are low-profile tires, the front end is decorated with a predatory air intake, a small spoiler and a couple of chrome-based pipes of the exhaust system. The salon is surprising not so much by execution (sports buckets, carbon inserts, steel pads all according to street factory concepts), but with capacity and thoughtfulness. The Germans did not even think of acting functionality. Places of the car! The rear seat shifts and folds. The seats of the additional row are cleaned in a few seconds in the underground of the trunk. The Opelian transformation system of the FLEX7 interior in simplicity and genius is comparable to the Kalashnikov automatic machine.
All this is a million two hundred. Of course, the price of OPC steeply flies out of the financial capabilities of the target group for which compactives are designed. But if you look at this car abstractly, without tied to the class, then its cost will be justified. Powerful, roomy, with a non -poor finish, with an active IDSPlus2 suspension, with an advanced multimedia system that has a color screen and GPS. In addition, there are a lot of convenient additions: parking sensors, a transponder central castle (the key should not be removed from your pocket), music control console and additional air ducts for the rear passengers. Show us another car that has all the money listed for that kind.
 
 
Frick-track. If Zafira unconditionally deserves the title of the fastest family compactwane in the world, then the Spanish Freetrack claims the title of the most extravagant. In the editorial office, the nickname Frick Trek immediately entrenched in him. Others look at him puzzled, bulging their eyes. I don’t even know who you need to be the driver of this car, so that the audience pays attention to him, and not his yellow horse. Probably a humanoid from another planet.
The novelty is built on the basis of the five -seater single -combat SEAT ALTEA XL and is positioned as a crossover. The machine received a lifted suspension, a full-wheel drive system with a Haldex coupling, impressive 17-inch wheels and protective plastic overlays around the entire perimeter of the body with spectacular metal inserts, which give Frica the image of a steep rogue. And, I must say, people succeed in metamorphosis and ask: what kind of jeep is this?

Igor Gubar,
magazine Club 4x4
Igor, saw a video on Rutube, where you famously drove Freetrack. And how is he off -road, completely helpless?
Not an all -terrain vehicle, of course, and not even a crossover, a low long front can be dispersed, the motor is not protected from below at all. Rather, it is a transport for distant dachas. You can get out even in bad weather. Haldex works very quickly, electronic pseudotics are thinly configured. The main thing is not to move out of the road, no matter how lousy it is, do not go alone and throw a folding spatula into the trunk.
I understand that the car is small in large shovels. But to go alone, why don't you advise?
And you try to pull it out alone when you get bogged down. Together and three Freetrack is pushed out for one or two. He is light.
How is he on the usual road?
There is a very shura against any Freetrack SUV, he rides like a car, but this is the catch. The center of gravity is increased, there is a risk of putting the car on the ears.
However, this car is very far from the title of all -terrain vehicle. With a stretch, it can be called a city crossover. On a high border stone, you will not be upset to 16.5 centimeters of the clearance in fact only a little more than that of the same Zafira. The size of the suspension moves is modest even on a harmless ditch can be hung. There are no all -terrain lotions in the transmission. Of course, Freetrack has a certain advantage over cars on the lane. On it you can safely hit the road on killed, prostrate roads, but still it should be roads.
By capacity, Freetrack loses: only five places plus a relatively small trunk for a single crew. However, for the transportation of goods, the Spaniard is nevertheless well adapted. The cabin has a lot of niches for small things (there are already four drawers on the ceiling), the rear sofa is made with a sliding and folded in parts.
This car comes to Russia in Stylance, with a gasoline 2.0 TDSI and 6-speed mechanics. There is nothing to add to the standard list of equipment. Everything is: foglights, parking sensors, lighting sensor, tire pressure control, two-zone Climatronic, a complete set of assistants (ABS, TCS, ESP), cruise control, ten airbags, audio system CD/MP3, with an additional AV input and seven-inch retractable ceiling monitor. There are even tables in seats. For surcharge: bixenon and navigation. Now tell me taking into account a powerful turbo engine and all -wheel drive, is a million rubles for such a car expensive?
THE INCREDIBLES. In Zafira OPC, you immediately pay attention to small mirrors. They give an acceptable review only in a horizontal plane. But there are no problems with frontal visibility. The body racks at the German car almost do not overlap important zones. In Freetrack, on the contrary, the mirror is larger, but the front and lateral visibility is worse.
The seats of the backbone provide a typically light landing, its steering column is tuned in height and departure. The driver will have to get used to Opelian motionless steering wheel switches. In Freetrack, you sit in a juper manner. The seats are tougher, but for some reason the side support rollers are less sported. Of the ergonomic anomalies, one can only mention the Pimpochka of the adjustment of the mirrors placed between the front seats. Otherwise, everything is at the level: a cool trunk with two settings, perfectly working steering wheel, a clear and easy move of the gearbox lever. Only the efforts were upset, which must be applied to the steering wheel and pedals. The car is powerful, and the most important controls are facilitated to indecency as if picked up a toy.
Both in the German and Spanish compactwane, the suspensions are quite tough, and noise insulation generally does not seem to be. But to go to Zafira is still a little nicer. Here, noise accompaniment at least pleases with a variety of this, you know, an invigorating mix of spanning wheels and motor rolls. And in the Freetrack salon, only one performer of the noise of the spikes soloes. This howl is decently tiring on the long journey.
On dry pure asphalt, Zafira OPC will win in the dynamics of Freetrack. Opelian water resource and has a pronounced pickup. Acceleration Zafira is a portion of sharp shots forward, which make passengers strain their neck and generally all muscles. The Spaniard engine at low speeds resembles a diesel something grins under his breath, but pulls with calm stubbornness. But in the middle and high range, it becomes very elastic. Freetrack accelerates without strong jerks, easily and at ease.
Zafira OPC loses every chance to break away from the pursuer on a wet or slippery road. Freetrack all-wheel drive is much more efficiently converted by an excess of motor power into meters-seconds. Zafira loses in difficult road conditions and controllability. On the asphalt surface, she stands like a glove, perfectly prescribes steep turns, but it is worthwhile to appear a rut or irregularities, and the car begins to rearrange, it has to be caught. Seat is more predictable and reliable on a gouged road surface. He rides more stable and practically does not scour.
Envy this feeling causes the interior of Zafira OPC even with sophisticated motorists. Recaro sports seats for the driver and passenger have a lot of adjustments and are endowed with powerful elastic support rollers. The sidewalls of the chairs and headrests are sheathed with black smooth skin, and the central part is made of embossed blue material. A similar finish received a sofa of the second row and additional seats hidden under the floor of the trunk. The upholstery of the doors is made of leatherette, but it looks decent. The dashboard is made of very soft to the touch plastic. Under the leather braid of the steering wheel, stifled by a blue thread, there is an elastic layer of the steering wheel turned out to be chubby and seized. Critics are visited by blind frivolous devices and ceiling upholstery, which is unremarkable for anything. But on a global scale, sports style is designed. In the legs, aluminum pedals, on the thresholds of steel overlays with the OPC logo, in the center - a central console, cast as if from metal (in fact, it is made of plastic). There are no obvious miscalculations in ergonomics, except for the handle of the parking brake. This Divais conflicts with any container inserted into the cup holder in the central tunnel.
Against the backdrop of classmates, the Freetrack salon looks not bad here there is no dull, sensed atmosphere, which some family compacts sin. The dashboard has a LCD panel and a bright scarlet, like Audi, illumination. A pair of red LEDs built into the salon mirror provides unobtrusive illumination of the gearbox lever and tunnel at night. Doors and torpedo panels are made of high -quality two types of plastic. From the soft black mass with an unusual texture, the upper part of the dashboard and cockpit in front of the passenger are shaped. The central console and pockets on the doors are made of coffee -colored plastic. The combined upholstery of the seats looks funny for you here and black textiles, and textiles with colored thread, and spectacular in the shape of a leather -aligned insert. So there are no formal claims to the Freetrack interior, the salon is neat, the plastic details are fitted by each other, the material of the seats is pleasant to the touch. But by and large, in the car worth more than forty thousand dollars, you expect to see not a textile salon. Probably, in the hot Spain, the fabric is preferred material for chairs. But in our conditions, the skin is more practical.

Opel Zafira OPC
Gasoline engine, 4 in a row
Working volume (cubic cub) 1998
Power (L.S. at rpm) 240 at 5600
Moment (nm at rpm) 320 at 2400
Front drive
The gearbox is mechanical, 6-speed
Length/width/height (mm) 4503/1801/1625
Equipped mass (kg) 1505
Maximum speed (km/h) 231
Acceleration to 100 km/h (c) 7.8
Fuel consumption, mixed
Cycle (l/100 km) 9.6
The price in Moscow is 1,225,000 rubles.

Seat Altea Freetrack
Gasoline engine, 4 in a row
Working volume (cubic meter) 1984
Power (L.S. at rpm) 200 at 5100
Moment (Nm at rpm) 280 at 1800-5000
The drive is connected full
The gearbox is mechanical, 6-speed
Length/width/height (mm) 4493/1788/1622
Equipped mass (kg) 1409
Maximum speed (km/h) 220
Acceleration to 100 km/h (c) 7.7
Fuel consumption, mixed cycle (l/100 km) 8.1
The price in Moscow is 1,040,000 rubles.

We thank for help in organizing the shooting of the company General Motors CIS (495) 785-1100 and the official Mersedes-Benz dealer Avilon (495) 730-4444.
Text: Ruslan Tarasov
Photo: Andrey Danilov
 

Source: "Autopilot"