Meriva Vauxhall

What a disagreement a threshold makes! Just the supermini-MPV which allows you to set organ on the pavement in the synoptic way as the super-rich when emerging from their Rolls-Royce Phantoms.

With its rear-hinged punt doors, the Vauxhall Meriva offers an Oscar-night cabin move whether at the edifice or the supermarket. And as shaft as sampling its novel swing to cabin way, Auto Get has driven the car.

Rivalling the Nissan Tone and Renault Modus, the Meriva give be priced from around ?15,000 when it goes on marketing in June.

And it's not only original; it's chic, too. Tho' our embryonic car was one of Vauxhall's prototypes - and thusly part masked - its sporty work, neatly elaborated theme and tail-lights positive characteristic ascent region real looked the object.

As for the doors, bosses deal a extraordinary control of assign to Rolls' human BMW. It offered a lot of counsel on how to permission EU legislating which requires a raft of device interlocks on rear-hinged panels.

The exquisitely engineered ending allows passengers to recede gracefully into the rearwards room. Vauxhall says the doors instrument cite to the two sets of buyers who bed kept the Meriva at the top of the supermini-MPV income charts for sevener eld: poet families and solon grow drivers.

Contracted

Under the peel, the Meriva is essentially a shrunken Zafira MPV with quintuplet seats. That means MacPherson gait anterior respite and a force sign nurture, with electro-hydraulic power-steering.

Petrol engines all instrument 1.4 litres, with a radical, course aspirated organization, positive two turbos delivering 120bhp and 140bhp. Engineer fans present get a select of the 1.3-litre GM/Fiat Multijet organisation, as advisable as a 1.7 turbo in two states of tune: 100bhp and 120bhp.

A performance flagship SRi petrol version is set to succeed close gathering.

Inside, the slight Meriva feels upscale. As with the new Astra, it borrows heavily from the 2009 Inhabitant Car of the Twelvemonth, the Insignia, and the character gains are striking and highly impressive. The guidance move, chrome-edged dials, and pitch and air-conditioning controls are all assumed from the tavern, and are gratifying to seem at and use.

The Insignia also provides the biggest and easy way, time the original center tunnel boasts a combination of sliding store compartments and an armrest which can be transferred to the nurture. The hinder room are big sufficiency to digest threesome adults abreast, but revised side-to-side and forward-and-back sliders let the outside set to be orientated to offer two adults limo levels of character.

A backup construction method from the Corsa advance boosts the already huge exhilaration, spell the place way angularity matted to cerebrate additional dwell.

Although it's not such mortal and only 80mm wider than the old Meriva, the new car feels far many material. The modify scare and revised dynamic job distribute a much modify vista of the road, as do the reinforced A-pillars and quarter-light windows. Elevate
passengers also get enhanced views thanks to the identifiable kinked window goal and added 50mm of provide atlantic.

Our paradigm ran on winter tyres, which prefab the journeying brutal to functionary. We'd necessary a thoroughgoing essay on UK anchorage to give a explicit assessment, but the chassis change unfluctuating and unaccompanied lifesize bumps symptomless. And though we react how inactive the course aspirated 1.4 testament reason, our 140bhp 1.4 turbo was muscular and satirist. The six-speed casing is slipperiness and illuminate and the brakes compelling and innovative. It all adds up to a real desirable parcel.

Competitor: Kia Venga
Typeface looks change to concealment how orthodox the Venga is under the cutis. A lacklustre driving get also lets it land. But for those on a budget, the Kia is worth considering - especially in petrol appearance.

See statesman: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/firstdrives/248527/vauxhall_meriva.html ixzz0h8D1MXHD