The 2012 Geneva Motor
Show is coming to an end soon. But not before mesmerising the crowd with this two-door Astra OPC which is set to arrive in South Africa within the next 12 months. It will replace the old 177kW model that could torque steer all
the way past the 120km/h mark! Seems Opel has worked on this “problem” though, tamed the shrew a
little bit.
Nevertheless, tame
didn’t mean castrating. No sir, it
only means more people are likely to be able to live with the new car on a
daily basis than before when it was still very much niche and highly targeted. With
the new 2.0-litre turbo engine, Opel
has been able to wrangle out 206kW
and 400Nm of torque, making it the most
powerful hot hatch in its class. That class is of course made up of players
like the Renault Megane RS (184kW),
Mazda3 MPS (190kW) and Volkswagen Golf R (188kW). All drive will go to the front wheels via a 6-speed manual gearbox.
One of the things that’s made the Golf GTI so popular that around 40% of all Golf sales are taken by it, is that it comes only as a 5-door in Mzansi. Ford tried offering
the 3-door model alongside its previous Focus ST, but has since decided to go 5-door only on the new model. OPC only comes in 3-door, which will
undoubtedly hamper its sales
progress somewhat. We on the other hand, really dig the coupe 3-door, but then
again, we aren’t the ones dishing out the dollop
for one.
8 comments:
wow!
what a great looking thing
That's a lot of power for they front wheels I must say
I had a 177kw model and it went pretty well but blew the turbo at 98000km so I sold it after fixing it
I am a fan of OPC, but it's dissapointing to see the new shape looks like the Megane RS. The Renault wins though on the overall looks.
i want it.. when in sa?
At Anon: It will be in SA later this year, or early 2013. GM SA hasn't finalised yet.
What a beautiful machine. We wait now for a responce from the slow Golfs...
Post a Comment