This week I had brief experiences driving two very different cars. The first was a sensible, practical and modern family hatchback. The other was a 1980s, mid-engined, left-handed two-seater from America. As one would expect, both offered very different driving experiences during the brief time I had with the cars.
The first, more sedate car was a new Vauxhall Astra 1.6 Excite, which my friend allowed me to patrol the local cricket club’s car park and playing grounds in. Obviously, I couldn’t push the car to its absolute limit on an out-of-season football pitch or a car park, but I could deduce several conclusions regarding the car.
Firstly, its exterior appearance is spot on. Even though this is a 5 door hatchback, not a coupe-like 3 door, it still has a handsome design with rounded, yet sharp and aggressive lines on the exterior. The 17 inch twinspoke alloys and black colour give the car a very strong and slightly imposing presence, even when parked next to a BMW 6 Series in the same colour, as this Astra was.
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| The Astra's interior has a modern and crisp feel. |
The interior is also aesthetically pleasing. Apart from the slightly dated seats, the sharp lines and swooping curves that arere located all over the dashboard and doors give the car a crisp and modern look. Although the centre console is a little busy, with too many buttons that would be difficult to use during a testing drive, it is certainly a more modern and well built interior than Renault offer with the Megane. The driving position was comfortable, but because the car is quite tall and the seat sits at a high altitude within the car, it never feels like you’re in control of a car that might “Excite” you. However, it was the driving controls themselves that let the car down the most, culminating in a driving experience which certainly contradicts the “Excite” badges on either side of the car.
The electric power steering is weightless and gives the driver little feel and feedback, removing any confidence when entering a high speed turn. The gearbox and clutch too, were extremely smooth with no clunk or scrape to be felt in the hand when changing gear. Personally, I find this a little troublesome too as it is impossible to actually confirm that the next gear is engaged without bringing the clutch up, which results in incidences of missed gear changes. The engine is not the most exciting affair either, but it does have very impressive tug. It felt more like a diesel than a petrol engine and was very peaceful with little engine noise intruding into the cabin. Whilst it might not be the sportiest feeling engine, it is actually very capable at pulling the car up to speed.
On my drive home in the trusty Accord I realised that this particular Astra was conceived with the same aim as my Honda – to cover considerable distances in true comfort. The lightweight steering, strong engine and silk smooth gearbox are perfect for a driver who needs to cruise up and down a motorway, to and from work – the purpose for which my friend uses it most. The sizeable dimensions also allow for serious amounts of luggage to be carried. In reality, this is all that most people demand from a car – safe, economical and comfortable transport that will reliably get them to work and back during the week and to the shops at the weekend. They are not all motoring freaks like myself, demanding a car that corners and accelerates like a Grand Prix car and sounds like a Spitfire.
The second car I drove this week was built with keen drivers in mind. Specifically a driver who demands Ferrari looks and mid-engined thrills at a considerable discount. The car was a red Pontiac Fiero 26M, a mid engined sports car from America, complete with left hand drive, on sale for only £1295. Given that it is almost impossible to find a car in Canterbury for this low a price, I felt it necessary to test drive the car before considering a purchase. The car is powered by a 2.8 litre V6 engine which produces 120 horsepower – pitiful power for an engine of this size. This power is put onto the road by a three-speed automatic. There is no denying that this Fiero was born out of a stereotypically American approach to car production: big engine + light body = fast car. The interior was a typically 80s affair – coarse plastics and grey fabric seats. Oddly the seats come with speakers inside the headrests which help to make an awesome sound system for such an small car. The only aftermarket update to the interior was the mould that had begun to dot itself across the cars ceiling.
However, the Fiero began to impress once I actually began to drive it. The car had a superb amount of push when I flattened the accelerator pedal. The car snarled upwards at the front and the acceleration was intoxicating – a less extreme version of my Gallardo experience two weeks previously. The engine might not be the most powerful, but because most of the car is constructed from fibre glass, it weighs very little, allowing for dizzying acceleration. The dealer admitted that the brakes needed replacing, however a new set which he had bought would be given with the car, meaning I would only have to pay for the fitting. They were horrendously lazy and approaching the first roundabout in the Fiero was quite a frightening experience. The car’s suspension was also very soft and caused serious body roll, especially considering how little this car weighs (just over one tonne).
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| The Pontiac Fiero's styling has an old-school Ferrari-like edge to it, but examples can be found for just £1000 |
I returned to the dealer still considering whether to buy this car. It has issues. It’s left-hand drive, making insurance an issue. It has an automatic gearbox, which doesn’t suit an excitable driver like myself and it’s an American import meaning that parts would be more difficult to obtain when they inevitably need replacing. However, there were also some serious plus points. It’s a red two-seater, mid-engined sports car, which is exactly what any young lad wants on the road and at £1295 it’s well within my budget. It has pop-up headlights which are probably the coolest invention the car industry has ever created and the engine makes a meaty, powerful sound when you accelerate. My heart said yes, but my head said no. What really put me off, though, was the dealer himself, who didn’t seem to want me to drive the car myself and used the F word in every sentence during the test drive. My personal favourite was “f*** me! It’s got some f****ng poke hasn’t it,” while he tore out of the garage in front of other cars. He really didn’t seem bothered whether I bought the car or not and call me old fashioned, but I do like my car salesmen to have some level of manners, personal hygiene and idea of the road laws of Britain.
Unfortunately, the combination of impracticalities and bizarre sales techniques put me off the Pontiac for now. It was a perfect start to my quest for a new car, but I just wasn’t convinced that it ticked all the boxes. Yes, it was an eccentric, exciting and good looking car, but the negatives outweighed the positives. It would be too expensive on petrol, too difficult to insure, too difficult to get parts for and not actually all that fast. I can’t say I’m too disappointed though that my near future mainly consists of test driving sports cars and hot hatches, though.
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