GM has had a mixture of both good times and bad in India. Its debut car the Astra set a benchmark for its build quality, reliability and the feel it provided to its occupants though at a high cost of ownership and fuel efficiency(US petrols were never really frugal, wot say?). Then, GM intended to enter the mid size segment and launched the Corsa. The car, despite having the same reputation for its workmanship and build, was under powered, low on fuel efficiency and spares cost a bomb.
Ultimately GM stopped selling both. The Chevrolet brand took off well due to its existing brand value in the market and its initial models, the Tavera and the optra(a rebadged Daewoo) sold decent numbers and GM was back in business. The optra looked good( and still does) and the performance isnt bad either. Being a Daewoo, spares too arent over the top and the car is pretty good overall and has been doing reasonably well but for one snag.
The lack of a diesel engine and when GM did rectify that, what an engine. 119PS doesnt sound all that great for a car which intends to take the segment leader Octavia head on but 32kgm, now that some turning force. You really need to drive it to experience it. I did and I m floored.
It all happened like this. On a bright sunny day this month, I rode down to check out the new Pulsar 220(review posted else where) and Sundaram Motors was next door so I couldnt stop myself from peeping over. Well, I parked my P150 and entered to be greeted by a Metallic Blue Optra Magnum LT at the door. The car was being delivered and was on its way to its first drive into the world outside. Trust me folks, one look at the car and the poise it maintains especially from its front three quarters is enough to send you drooling.
Its not very butch but decent front end, muscular fenders, the rising waistline and those neat alloys give it a, ahem, corporate look.
I strolled in near a second display piece and opened the driver door. The way the door opened made it obvious that GM-DAT, who incidentally have designed the engine for this car, are trying all out to break from their Korean roots and to achieve the build standards at par with the current of German and American standards.
Once inside the airy cabin, you begin to feel the amount of attention paid to most places, and, the lack of the same to a few. Well, lets get the good things first. The biege interiors are a welcome departure from the sober black ones found on the Octy and the instrument binnacle too seems be more legible without the Skoda gizmos of fuel consumption, distance to the nearest stop etc. The legroom at the rear too, was not a compromise which again is an edge over the Octy whose main competition this car intends to be, atleast in the diesel segment.
The flaws, for one, the steering wheel is too bland, too dark and looks like a common bin part from the Spark. Its good in size, falls to hand and the horn boss is good but it doesnt seem to match with the bright interior. Same with the gear lever which atleast should have had a chrome insert or two to make it look livelier. Even the Indica Turbo has a leather wrapped gear stick as an option.
Apart from these, the build, the door sounds, the switchgear clicks and the pedals feel they will last long and the customers should be happy with the improvement seen over the prev gen Optra in this area.
Ok now, time to get going. 20 mins of product introduction and a mandatory form signing session later, I was in a similar car with the driver sitting beside me and the sales guy at the back. I m used to wearing seatbelts and could help smile at the puzzled look on the driver’s face when he saw me putting it on. Rolled up the windows, started the car in neutral, put on the a/c and engaged first. Something happened to me in a long long time. No, no thrust of accleration, no burst of speed as I was taxiing out of the showroom parking lot, the thing stalled on me. I was perplexed. Where was the 32kgm?, or was it 23?
We will soon come to know.
While executing the three point turn at the showroom owing to multiple cars parked there, two things were very obvious. The good power steering and bad visibility especially behind the car. You see, this car happens to have a bigger rear bumper than most of its breed and in inch to inch Bangalore traffic, this can be a hitch.
Any way back on the road crawling at 20 kmph and trying avoid scratching my mirrors from other bikers and auto wallahs who somehow seem to flex their vehicles into shapes of "S, Z" and all such letters between cars and buses......Whew.......where is 32kgm?
The car was in 3rd gear and was not complaining at all even with the a/c running. But then step on the right pedal and nothing much happens as well. Suffice to say the car is as boring as a....hmmm lemme think.....a fiesta or a Safari at low speeds and traffic where is **32kgm?
*We came to a signal and then had to take a U turn to the next signal which was at the other end of this 100 ft sparsely populated straight road and I did it.
At 1800rpm in 2nd gear I floored the accelerator pedal and the car moved to 1900, 1950, 2000, 2100and then Whoooooooosh......the front wheels were spinning like a pair of propellers, the car pinned me to the seat and was moving like a Jumbo jet on the runway when taking off. This was stupendous and I was enjoying every moment of it much to the Aghast faces of the driver and the salesman who were holding on to their dear lives. With no traffic and a good straight road, I was doing 120kmph by the time I realised that we had almost reached the next red light.
Time for the braking test then. I braked and the car came to sure stop with no surprises, no drag and no hint of wavering from its line.
Then it was back to the 20kmph traffic crawl to the showroom while basking in the average a/c and so so sound system from Alpine.
All ears here..........