Opel Adam review (12/06/2013)
I mention these two cars they are different culturally from the run-of-the-mill city cars, such as the VW Up, the Fiat Panda, the Kia Picanto, the Seat Mii, the Hyundai i20 or the Skoda Citigo. Good and all as these are, they don’t have the individualisation of the Mini or the 500.
It’s a long time since Henry Ford advised potential clients that they could have their new Ford “in any colour as long as it is black,” but Mini and Fiat have made a lot of money making individualised cars.
The ability of buyers to personalise their cars has opened a new world of sales potential, particularly among the younger set.
The latest contender to go after sales in this segment is Opel, and Europe’s arm of General Motors, could certainly do with a shot in the arm, following a prolonged period of poor results, factory closures and union unrest. The recent news that GM was to invest 230m in Opel’s European Product Development Centre, at Russelsheim, must be a relief to the company. It is one of the first positives for Opel in a while.
Potentially, the launch of the Adam, earlier this year, will have a greater impact on Opel’s fortunes than any other factor. This might just be the car to pull the fat from the fire for the company. Not only did I really like the car, but, from my experiences driving the Adam for a week, many other people liked it, too.
These people — and their ages varied greatly — were seeing it in the flesh for the first time and I was pleasantly surprised by their knowledge of the product, and their enthusiasm for it. It was the first time in a long while that happened to me while driving an Opel.
The Adam — named after Adam Opel, the company’s founder — has, as is becoming the norm with smaller cars, been given three rather silly trim-level names: Jam, Glam and Slam. I tried the former. The Jam is the base model, Glam adds a little more, well, ‘glam’, and the Slam is the sporty version. The tester was fitted with the 74 kW (100)bhp, 1.4-litre petrol engine; the others being a 1.2 diesel and lesser-powered, 1.4 petrol.
While the engine is the top-of-the-range and drives very well (for performance figures, see panel), it is the least bothersome choice Adam buyers will make. For salesmen, I can forecast frequent coronary episodes as they grapple with the endless potential colour schemes, alloy wheels, upholsteries and whatever else, while also dealing with customers who know they want an Adam, but don’t know which one. It should be fun.
Customers can make their own Adam and create a car that is unique. For some buyers of a certain age, this might cause brain overload, but, for the younger set, it will involve all sorts of flights of fancy — every one of which can be realised. Another draw, for the younger buyer, will be the appealing multimedia system.
The Adam has been criticised for not having the instant appeal of a Mini or a Fiat 500, but I did not get that feel from the car. The Opel designers have made it an eye-catcher and have distinguished it from its primary rivals; the rest, they leave up to the buyer and, I believe, their reasoning will prove sound. Expect to see lots of Adams in a bewildering cornucopia of colour mixes.
There is not much point telling you about the mechanics of this car, because it won’t matter much to the customers who will buy this car. Sure, it is not as go-karty in handling as the Mini, nor as sporty as the 500, but it is a reasonable driving proposition and relatively comfy, too.
It does not have much space in the rear seats and the boot is pretty small, but I don’t think this will impinge much on the buying public. What will concern them is the cost — not bad by comparison with the opposition — the car’s frugality, and their ability to create something, at a reasonable price, that reflects their personality.
This thing is all about image and style, and, as such, it is a very worthy contender and will do Opel the world of good. That’s something the company could do with right now.
