Vauxhall’s city car promised to blend
economy, tiny dimensions and funky styling in a package good enough to rival
the Mini and Fiat 500. Did it live up to its own hype?
Can Vauxhall really make a super-desirable
little city car to rival the likes of the Mini and Fiat 500? That’s the
question we set out to answer a year ago when we took delivery of our very own
Adam. An initial road test had revealed it to be merely average to drive, but
perhaps 12 months and 12,000 miles living with one would reveal the true
character of this little car. After all, it’s the character of the Mini and 500
that make them so special.
I was genuinely looking forward to the
Adam’s arrival at my HQ. Earlier in 2013, I’d visited the Adam’s brand manager,
Ian Mitchell, at Vauxhall’s Luton base to seek advice on how to spec one up to
ensure I saw the car in its best light.
The
Adam is devoid of any real character to drive; its rivals all have it in spades
In the end I went for the base Jam trim and
added options on top. Jam trim is absolutely the one to go for, as it comes
with 16in alloys and the comfort chassis as standard, rather than the 17/18in
options and sports chassis of the pricier Slam and Glam trim, which make for an
uncomfortable ride quality.
Engine-wise, the puny 69bhp 1.2-litre
petrol was the only one to go for at the time, as the slightly more potent
1.4-litre options were too gruff and vocal.
Speccing the finer details was a trickier
conundrum. The Adam is billed by Vauxhall as a car with more than a million
possible colour, trim and option combinations, such is its level of
customisation. So you might think the $885 black metallic black paint and $835
White Two Tone Pack (which turned the roof, centre console, wheel details,
interior trim details and exterior mirror housings white) combination I went
for was a boring and safe choice. I still think it looks classy, though, and
should age well — certainly better than some of the more faddish-looking Adams
I’ve seen around.
Large
front overhang helps to engineer a crash structure but makes the car look
awkward
I’d spec all the other options I went for
bar one if I had my time to do it again, the $360 Winter Pack (which included
heated front seats and steering wheel) being the stand-out and the $545
illuminated starlight headliner definitely being the one to miss out, its
novelty value soon wearing off.
A year on, the Adam hasn’t endeared itself
to me as a driving tool. As a steady town car, with good manoeuvrability, it’s
fine. At a basic level, it feels like exactly what it is: a shortened Corsa,
with a steady old engine.
But this segment is not about everyman
driving appeal or going for safe and steady; it’s about zest, zip, character.
It’s impossible to drive a Fiat 500 TwinAir without laughing out loud as you
rev it to the red line, or drive a Mini without nodding your head in
appreciation at how they’ve managed to make it drive exactly the way you think
it will from how it looks.
Masses
of colour options can brighten the Adam's dashboard
That’s not to say it’s all negative for the
Adam. Quite the opposite, in fact. I think the cabin is one of the classiest
out there of any small car; it looks and feels premium and is a doddle to use.
The IntelliLink infotainment/connectivity system is another plus point,
offering an easy-to-use touchscreen and a good suite of smartphone connectivity
options, and all for a rather attractive $465. The lack of rear space and small
boot also didn’t bother me as much as I thought they would when I took
delivery.
So a mixed bag for the Adam, then, and a
‘could do better’. It needs to, as this is a segment as much about a brand and
a way of life than a car, something the Fiat 500 and Mini do so well. I’m not
talking about a brand as a range of cars, more about portraying a lifestyle —
something the Adam and the communication around it don’t do. It’s the sort of
car that tells you it’s cool rather than being cool, a bit cheesy and clichéd
rather than being desirable.
Lots
of glass and a roomy interior make the Adam feel spacious
There are signs the Adam is now finding its
feet; there are visibly more on the road, and Vauxhall-Opel chief Karl-Thomas
Neumann says he has no regrets over the Adam, as it’s increased the ratio of
female to male buyers and has a low average buyer age of 42.
And the light at the end of tunnel could be
very close, as Vauxhall is soon to launch the Adam with a new 1.0-litre,
three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with 113bhp. It promises the
performance and character the Adam has been crying out far, not to mention a
reduction in weight over the front axle that should hopefully improve the
driving experience. We hope it delivers.
