Opel may be at debt's door, but it has still created an impressive range of greener cars. By PADDY COMYN
YOU MIGHT be forgiven for thinking the last thing on General Motors’ mind would be saving the planet, as they have been kind of busy over the last few months trying to save their company.
Much has been written about the mess Opel and its parent company GM have been in over the last year, but in the meantime they have been busying themselves trying to make petrol and diesel engines cleaner, with the final aim of getting rid of them altogether.
In the US, Chevrolet has been working flat-out on the Volt, an extended-range electric vehicle that will come to Europe as the Opel Ampera.
Quite how this would work if Opel is no longer part of GM remains to be seen, but for now it sits proudly on a display stand in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, plugged into a mock charger to illustrate how one day we will all plug in our cars at the side of the road, rather than have to bother ourselves with silly petrol or diesel.
The Ampera is still a couple of years away from production, but Opel is promising a car that, instead of costing €0.12/km to run, will cost just €0.02/km. That is, of course, after you cover your eyes and ears and forget the electricity is coming from a coal mine in Poland.
The Ampera will run for up to 60km on electric power, which we are told is within the range of the daily commute of 80 per cent of Europeans. It will use a small petrol engine as a backup, there if needed and taking over seamlessly, but for the most part, Opel reckons most of us will be able to drive thanks to ESB alone.
While we have brought you an experience of the Chevrolet Volt this week, the Ampera remains undriven for now, so it is left to today’s technology to provide the solutions to reducing how much fuel we use and how much CO2 we emit as motorists. We have seen many manufacturers introduce new low-emission versions of their cars and now Opel has jumped on the bandwagon with EcoFlex.
The formula is familiar enough. Fit a torquey, efficient diesel engine to a car, gear it for economy, fit with low-rolling resistance tyres and you can perform miracles with emissions, making a mockery of tax bands and leaving the Revenue Commissioners further out of pocket from Vehicle Registration Tax.
First up is the Corsa EcoFlex, featuring a 1.3-litre CDTi diesel engine, which thanks to some tweaking and a reduction in weight, as well as a longer gear transmission ratio, now produces just 109g/km of CO2.
The car has been lowered by 20mm, air intakes have been modified and Opel has reduced its weight by 45kg. It is fitted with a five-speed transmission and its 75bhp engine can still manage 170Nm of torque and get the car to a just about license losing 168km/h.
The Astra has also been slimmed down. The three-door, five-door and estate EcoFlex models are capable of returning an impressive 4.5 l/100km while emitting just 119g/km CO2. Yet it still has 100bhp and 260Nm of torque so it isn’t overwhelmed. Thanks to a weight saving of 30kg and, again, some lowering, tweaking of air intake and low-rolling resistance tyres, this car is now a Band A vehicle.
At the top of the range, the new Insignia EcoFlex gives the fleet or large family car buyer similar low emissions with more than decent amounts of power. The 2.0-litre diesel engine puts out 160bhp, which is quite a lot compared to rivals and more than the popular 130bhp Insignia. It also has 380Nm of torque yet puts out 136g/km of CO2 and returns 5.2l/100km. Here, again, the car has been lowered by 10mm to make it more aerodynamic, the gearing has been changed to give better fuel economy and there are new tyres. It isn’t slow either: 0-100km/h takes 9.5 seconds and the top speed is 221km/h.
The Corsa EcoFlex starts at €15,965. With the Astra, there has been a price increase of €100 – it starts at €22,145.
In the case of the Insignia, despite the fact that the changes to the engine and the improved fuel economy and emissions move the EcoFlex version down a tax band, the car increases in price by €200 to €29,995 for the SC 2.0CDTi (but Opel reminds us this will be recouped in the first two years of savings on road tax).
All three of these models are now available to order, with a Zafira that will fall into Band B (with CO2 emissions of 139g/km) to follow later in the year.
How to Improve your eco-driving
AS PART of the launch of the EcoFlex range, which took place at the Millbrook proving ground in Bedfordshire, England, we were challenged to improve our economy driving under the tuiton of some experts.
As we had recently driven a Ford Mondeo to Rome on less than two tanks of diesel, we were feeling confident and over the 10-mile course – of city driving and a high-speed bowl to simulate motorway driving – we returned 7.7l/100km (36mpg) in the Astra EcoFLex.
But on the second round, my instuctor told me to drive differently. I was never to cross 2,000rpm and was told to get up through the gears as efficiently as possible. There was to be no harsh accelerating or braking and I was to coast as much as possible. Over the same distance I saved 11 per cent more fuel, but also reduced my CO2 emissions by 10 per cent. What’s more, I had only taken 54 seconds longer than I had the first time around.