GENEVA 2012: OPEL ASTRA OPC MAKES A MARK

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.