FREEWHEELINGscotland

..ccoommFebruary, 2012

FreewheelingScotland.com – Driving the way forward

Classy Zafira hasgrown up nicelyClassy Zafira hasgrown up nicely

IT IS CERTAINLY A CASE ofthe good old days are here againat Vauxhall, with some reallygreat products rolling off thecompany’s busy productionlines.Models such as the small Corsa

hatchback, the new British-builtthree and family-sized Astra andthe business-like Insignia repmobile, all did their bit on thesales front last year, to help theminto third, fifth and sixth placerespectively in the 2011 UKleague table.That was enough to help the

Luton-based company put nearlya quarter of a million new carsonto our roads last year.Impressive figures indeed, considering how difficult timeshave been for most car makers.New for 2012 comes yet

another stonker to sport the

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famous Griffin badge in the formof the brand new Zafira Tourer.Not a direct replacement for the

standard Zafira, but one whichwill sit alongside it in dealershowrooms, this newcomer islonger, wider and taller in orderto offer more comfort and all-round room for those sitting inany of the car’s seven seats.And it’s not just your typical

static two-three-two seating formation, for Vauxhall have

given some models seven individual seats, with the middlerow of three capable of beingpositioned into an endless permatation to suit any eventuality.As expected they slide back

and forwards, but the clever bitis that the outer seats can also

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move sidewards while the middle seat can split and fold upto convert into armrests, thuscreating seating that would notbe out of place in the businesssection of any flagship airline.The third row of seats fold from

under the floor of the boot, andwhile they are easier than mostother competitor’s offerings toaccess, most of the time they willbe used by kids or kept underwraps for those very odd occasions.I had the chance to put both the

138bhp 1.4-litre turbo petrol and162-brake two-litre CDTi dieselTourer through their paces alonga mix of twisting, undulatingback roads, fast motorway sections and busy city traffic andfound it hard to make a decision as to which would bemy vehicle of choice.The petrol model in SRi trim felt

a bit more at home on the twistier sections and gave a false

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impression it could leave the oilburner trailing in its wake, butwhile it costs around £2000 lessthan its similar-specificationdiesel stablemate to put on theroad, figures show that its44mpg consumption is no matchfor the 54mpg offered by thediesel.Another consideration would

have to be how the car wouldperform when fully loaded.

With a maximum of 200Nmof torque on tap, thepetrol would be hardpressed against the350Nm pumped out bythe diesel.However, a two-litre

Ecoflex diesel enginewill also be available,and on paper, it looks

like the one to go forthanks to its low119g/km emissions and

fantastic combined fueleconomy figure of nearly 63mpg.For the UK market, Vauxhall

have fine-tuned the ZafiraTourer’s steering to give the driver more feedback. There’salso the option to add Vauxhall’s

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A TA TOUREROURERFlexRide chassis technology to thepackage.This three-mode adjustable

system automatically takes intoconsideration prevailing road conditions, cornering speed, vehicle movements and individualdriving style to provide maximumstability.On the style front, Vauxhall have

done a pretty good job, turning alarge practical people carrier into abit of a looker, with dozes of flairthanks to the use of an amalgumof design cues already seen onthe sporty three-door Astra Coupeand soon-to-be-launched Amperaelectric hybrid.Inside, the cabin oozes quality.

Beautifully put together, the soft-feel plastics, deep pile carpets andwell laid out switchgear make theTourer a more than pleasant placeto be.With nearly half a million Zafiras

already sold in the UK over thepast decade or so, there’s nodoubt this “super-stretched” version can only add to themodel’s overall success.

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VAUXHALL ZAFIRA TOURER SE START/STOPPRICE: £24,005. MECHANICAL: 1364cc, 138bhp petrol engine, driving front wheels through six-speed manual gearbox. TOP SPEED: 126mph. 0-62MPH: 9.9 seconds. CONSUMPTION: Combined 44.8mpg. EMISSIONS: 148g/km. WARRANTY: Lifetime/100,000 miles.

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