♦ . ♦ 6 0 m o t o r s ! women’s view
Obviously Vauxhall thinks so. Its Antara joins the market at a time when the mass' market makers see it as a cardinal sin not to have a
4x4 in their line-ups. So what of this one? Well,
it looks smart, has lots of MPV-style touches, but unlike its General Motors stablemate, the Chevrolet Captiva, has only five seats. So, of course, have natural
rivals like Toyota’s RAV4, Land Rover’s Freelander and • Honda’s CR-V, so that is not necessarily a problem, partic-. ularly as the Vauxhall has more space inside than any of them. If th at matters and you get the right deal, then this car has enough about it to tempt you away from more established names in this sector. The Practicalities One of the reasons people
buy 4x4s of this kind is to enjoy the high-up driving position, which gives a super view of the road. As you would expect, in this the Antara fails to disappoint.
Off road... but on message! D
OES the world need another soft roader?
More uniquely, however, it is a great deal more practical than most other five-seat 4x4s. With the rear seats folded,
there is 1,420 litres of luggage space available, and even with them in place the Antara is not shy of capacity. The loading aperture is quite narrow, however, the tailgate fitting between the two big rear light clusters. The design is clever in
reducing the perceived bulk of what is a surprisingly spa cious vehicle. Viewed in isola tion, the Antara looks to be about the size of a RAV4 or a Grand Vitara, but the tale of the tape shows that it has a much heftier piece of metal work. For a s ta r t, i t is fully
4,570mm long, compared with the 4,415 of the Toyota and the 4,470mm of the Suzuki. Even comparing it with the Vauxhall Zafira, we find the mini-MPV breaking the tape at just 4,467mm. That figure should be taken with a pinch if salt though, as the Antara has a lot more bonnet than the Zafira and the wheelbases are around
the same. Perhaps engineer ing the Flex7 seating system into the Antara would have been too big an investment. Lumping child seats in and
out was as straightforward as it was ever going to be with this kind of car, and thanks to the excellent all-round vis ibility, parking was a pleas ant experience. All the materials and plas
tics used seem to be reason ably hardwearing and the seats easily passed my fami ly’s “ingrained chocolate” test. Like more recently intro
duced Vauxhall models,the Antara can be specified with the optional FlexFix system, a clever slide-out bike rack, which emerges from under the rear bumper. This was apparently pretty tricky to package in the Antaram thanks to the rear wheels being driven, but Vauxhall has managed it. There are also roof rails fitted that will easily accept a ski box or additional bikes. Behind the Wheel You will not be surprised
to hear that this is yet anoth er 4x4 not really suited to anything other than very light off-road driving. Yes, it has four-wheel drive (don’t
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laugh - not all the 4x4s I test do), but ground clearance is limited, and although it does come fitted with a hill descent function there is no low range transfer case. As with most of its rivals,
for most of the time the Antara runs in front wheel drive mode only, the electro- magnetically operated elec tro-hydraulic clutch sending up to 50% of drive to the back wheels when the going gets slippery. There is a choice between
either an entry-level 138 b.h.p. 2.4-litre petrol unit or the 148 b.h.p. 2.0-litre CDTi diesel, both fitted with a five- speed manual gearbox as standard. Since almost everyone Mil
buy the diesel, that was the one I tried. Prices s ta r t at around £20,000 and there is a choice of E, S or SE trim levels. The diesel is not the qui
etest or the most advanced engine of its type, but it is reasonably rapid in the mid range overtaking zone where you need it to be. Sixty from rest takes under 10 seconds en route to an academic max imum of 112 m.p:h. Drive like this, however,.and you will not get anywhere close to
the quote combined economy figure of 33 m.p.g. Value for money The entry-level price of
£19,955 looks quite attrac tive, which, of course, is what it is there to do. This, unfor tunately, nets you only the entry-level 2.4-litre petrol version that many will want to avoid. A reasonably speci fied diesel model Mil be like ly to bring your purchase close to the £25,000 mark - at which point there is a lot of talented opposition. However, assuming you do
not need the extra people carrying capacity, stick the two cars side by side and there is no doubt as to which you would prefer to drive home in. The Antara just looks right. For that, you can forgive it a lot. Could I Live With One? I f you are interested,
Antara is the equivalent of a verse in Hindustani classical music. What Vauxhall were less keen to tell me was that the name is also used for a prescription drug designed to lower cholesterol.
This car will certainly
relieve the stress felt by hun dreds of Vauxhall dealers across the land who, after the demise of the Frontera, for years had nothing to sell to all to all the people who wan dered in wanting a 4x4. Would I buy one? Well, it is probably as good
as i t needs to be to snag undemanding 4x4 customers like me. If you liked the Frontera, then you will be amazed at the wheel of one of these just how far 4x4s have come.
© 1 i
www.motorstoday.co.uk Automotive Marketing at its bast 0 1 2 8 2 4 4 2 4 6 0 M Automotive Marketing at ita bast road lest ■ M
go and specify it with an ordinary engine. Not if you can afford not to anyway.
Fiat and the jets. I
F you are going to have a family hatchback th a t is anything but ordinary, then you do not want to
And with Fiat’s anything-but-ordinary Bravo, you can probably afford to go large. Which in this case, for petrol cus
tomers at least, means ignoring the entry-level £10,995 89 b.h.p. 1.4-litre motor and opting for one of the turbo charged 1.4 T-Jet variants, which develop either 118 or 148 b.h.p.
By JONATHON CROUCH I t is the latter, badged 1.4 T-Jet 150,
we are looking at here. Even if you go for this faster T-Jet variant, you will still only pay around £13,000. That is around £2,800 less than it will cost you to get 150 b.h.p. in a Ford Focus for example. Only Dodge’s Caliber offers this amount of poke for less, and com paring the beguiling Bravo with one of those is like putting a Ferrari alongside a London bus.
On the road in the 1.4 T-Jet 150, rest HH-- t iPoddeJm* car!] !>j i«>Link COUNTY
ALARMS: Martin
Penning
ton hands over the prize to Janet Bryan.
T110907-1 iL3 i □ 1 6 8 6 4 4 6 4 6 0
www.motoretoday.co.uk Kioforsf^^ fi|j
♦
♦
to 60 takes around 8.5 seconds on the way to a top speed of just over 130 m.p.h. At the same time, you should average around 32 m.p.g. with emis sions of 167g/km. In other words, there is enough here
to justify Fiat’s claim that the T-Jet offers the performance of a 2.0-litre petrol engine with the emissions and economy of a 1.4. Most buyers of this T-Jet variant
will stump up an extra £300 over the Dynamic variant’s £13,995 asking price to get the classy looking Sport
Joy for Janet THIS lucky reader is celebrat-
. ing after winning a fantastic car audio prize. Miss Janet Bryan, of Printers
Fold, Burnley, was presented with the JVC CD receiver and bluetooth set, worth £275, by staff at County Alarms and Audio, Barrowford. Miss Bryan was the winner
of a competition featured in our motors section last month, which was run in conjunction with County Alarms and Audio. She correctly answered the
question "Where would you find County Alarms and Audio?" . The answer was at Higher- ford Mill in Gisburn Road, Bar rowford.
INSTANT CAR CREDIT, DRIVE AWAY IN 1 HOUR ill!© 1 CMlf C m ^ f g © ‘s
YOU CMi M W l IM iS l
Just bring i your driving license, last pay slip and you drive away! Even if you only earn £80/week we will say yes
For those with the ability to pay, even for those refused elsewhere, your past history, we look to the future
8 3© © S P ® S l f We will pay it for you. Any old banger taken in part exchange.
Withnell Car Sales, Bolton Road, Withnell. Easy to find in the roundabout at junction 3 on the M65 between Blackburn & Preston. OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK
Ye5. SiaFisOtsse a n O ’i Z S ^ a©©)! 8 2 ©? &W S SQ S© -33 6 9 anytsEMe
Typical example, cosh price £16850, deposit nil, TYPICAL APR 8.9X (variable! rale will vary op and down subject to status, 36 monthly Installments £59.65 total amount payable £2147.40 licenced credit broker, mittoa details on request.
........
m m - Priwa correct at time of going to p r m Models shown for illustration purposes only. Specifications may not be correct end we take no responsibility for errors. Written quotations on request, subject to status. This advert replaces all previously advertised offers, Tonne end conditions apply. ‘TV. •.
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