German car maker Opel has only been in Australia since September 2012 and in its early days seems to be struggling to be noticed by local buyers. But the newest edition to the local Opel family is likely to change all that.
OPC (Opel Performance Centre) is the Opel equivalent of our own HSV organisation — and Holden Special Vehicles is certainly one of the best-known automotive names in this country.
Opel and Holden are, of course, both divisions of the giant General Motors organisation.
The Opel OPC that’s undoubtedly going to make the biggest impression on Australian eyes is the Astra coupe. We spent several hours in it on a rainy Sydney during the drive program for the official media launch. There’s little doubt that we brightened up the day for many others caught in the same traffic jams. Eyes of drivers, passengers and pedestrians alike swivelled as the shapely German coupe met their gaze.
Astra OPC is powered by a four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine developing 206kW of power and 400Nm of torque.
There’s far more to this OPC than simply the brilliant body styling and drivetrain. It has brakes, suspension and seating to match.
Heavy-duty track work at Sydney Motorsport Park showed the hot German coupe to have huge amounts of grip and to be simple to chuck around. Great fun.
But wait, there’s more. OPC modifies a whole range of vehicles. Being imported to Australia in this first batch of hot Opels are a Corsa OPC.
Finally comes the Opel Insignia OPC. The fascinating thing about the Insignia is that its 2.8-litre V6 turbo-petrol engine is built in Australia; it’s then shipped Europe to be incorporated into the OPC.
Insignia performed pretty well during our track testing.
Developing 240 kW of power and 435 Newton metres of torque, the V6 drives through all four wheels.
We have extensively tested both the Astra and Insignia variants and came away impressed not only with their high-performance credentials but also the way their suspensions remained supple and their tyres reasonably quiet on rough and ready back roads. Steering is precise and fast and provides excellent feedback.
Prices start at $28,990, not including government or dealer delivery charges.
