SATURDAY/SUNDAY - Not every Saturday starts with a flight across Europe to Monaco, to pick up a bunch of interesting cars and help drive them over the Alps in time for the opening of the Geneva show, but this one did.
This was Vauxhall’s ‘Griffin Greats’ tour, run for the past few years and designed to alert hacks to the excellence of current Vauxhalls (notably the Adam Grand Slam and the Mokka with its new 1.6-litre Whisper diesel) and also to their ancestors (three Cavaliers, a Chevette HS and a Viva GT).
I’ve rarely learned so much on so many fronts in a couple of days’ driving. The Adam turned out to be one of those nippy, firm-suspended little cars that’s comfortable for hours. The Mokka diesel is refined, as much so as the 2.0-litre Insignia diesel in which photographer Stan Papior and I circled Europe a fortnight ago.
But the big surprises were the old cars. The Chevette’s handling was, even in modern terms, superb. The Cavaliers were much more modern and easy to drive than I expected. The Viva GT’s ride was so supple that I’m seriously considering launching a ‘Bring Back the 13in Wheel’ campaign.
It all served to make the point – without a syllable of blarney – that Vauxhall needs us to understand: these are good cars and have been for many years.
MONDAY - Into Geneva just in time to see Volkswagen’s Passat be voted 2015 Car of the Year. This is the third year the decision has been announced in Geneva, and the wisdom of the move was obvious: you can tell an event’s going well when the TV cameramen start fighting one another for good locations.
Some were disappointed about the Passat’s win, but it’s an excellent car, and the man from VW made a heart-warming speech. It was obvious he and his colleagues knew this was the award that counted, out of the ever-expanding clutter of car-gongery, and it is.
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Marv
Would love to buy a cheap RX-8, but......
I think I'll go for an early mk3 MX-5 instead.
"Why is http://www.nanoflowcell.com not getting more media attention? It could be the future... Now!"
sirwiggum
" excellence of current
And then you go on to mention the "Adam", a slow selling MINI wannabe, and a "Mokka" one of these "me too!" crossover items that every manufacturer is foisting upon us.
Bring back the eras of mk3 Cavalier, Calibra, Manta, Carlton, Royale. INTERESTING cars!
scrap
Steve - feel free to put your
Moparman
Always an underdog
scrap
Moparman wrote:The trouble
I had a Corsa courtesy car for 2 weeks last year and it was hateful. Bad driving position, bad ride, ugly inside and out, poor drivetrain. And I like small cars normally.
They've replaced with a heavy facelift, not an all-new model. It might be good enough for some but not for me.
As for the rest, why would you buy an Astra, Insignia, Mokka etc unless it was way cheaper than the opposition. Adam or a Mini? Not even close.
si73
scrap wrote:Moparman wrote
Why buy an Astra or Insignia? Why not?
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