Opel has entered the city car segment with the introduction of its funky, all-new Adam. The Adam certainly has all the looks and personality to go head-to-head with the two main established chic city cars, the Fiat 500 and MINI. Both the Fiat 500 and the MINI have a strong heritage which they can use to increase sales of their new, more modern siblings. Opel on the other hand are starting fresh with the Adam, thanks to its cool styling and a vast personalisation programme it’s capable of challenging the opposition.
Our test car was finished in ‘James Blonde’ yellow, which certainly would be more appealing to the fairer sex, it’s just one of 12 exterior colours customers can choose from. The Adam’s fresh looks and compact dimensions make it ideally suited for city driving. Powering it is a 1.4-litre petrol engine which produces 100hp, sufficient for the city commute and also capable of motorway drives too. The Adam drives proficiently, nevertheless it wouldn’t have the dynamic handling and responsiveness that the MINI offers, the vast majority of customers will never be putting the car’s chassis to the test around town and therefore not notice the difference.
The Adam is all about styling and customisation, I doubt you’ll ever see two Adams with the same specification in existence. There are in excess of 60,000 exterior and 80,000 interior combinations, so each customer can personalise their Adam. There are three main trim specifications on offer, Jam, Glam and Slam, not your usual EX, TX and SE idioms. The entry-level Jam variant is competitively priced at just €14,995, it’s generously equipped too, with 16” alloy wheels, air conditioning, Bluetooth connectivity and cruise control all included. The Glam model (€16,995) benefits from ‘vintage’ alloys, a sunroof and LED daytime running lights. Our test car was the range-topping Slam Adam, notably the same price as the Glam, it features 17” alloys, a two-tone roof, climate control and sports suspension. There are of course the obligatory choice options available, our pick off the list is the Intellink infotainment system. It’s quite literally a bargain in our eyes at just €350. For this spend your Adam comes equipped with an integrated 7” colour touch screen multimedia system, complete with smartphone integration.
The interior has a good sense of space on offer, although rear seat headroom is slightly restricted for anyone tall. The quality of the fit and finish is top notch, with a German quality feel to all the switch gear. Apart from the brash colour of our test car, we thoroughly enjoyed driving the Adam, especially around town where parking is effortless. There’s a city button too, this lightens the power steering so you can manoeuvre into a tight spot.
The Adam is fresh and exciting, it will give Opel some well-deserved attention and more importantly boost its sales figures, both in Ireland and across Europe.
