The Vauxhall Cascada harks back to a time when large, elegant four-seater convertibles were a more common sight. Jonathan Crouch reports
BACKGROUND
Put yourself in this position. You're looking for a convertible car but you have a bit of a problem: your children have legs. Don't worry, you're not on your own with this one. It's just that car manufacturers, and to narrow them down a bit, manufacturers of convertible cars, usually cater for children with no legs.
You only have to look in the back of most 'four-seater' convertibles to realise that legs are a thorny issue. Where to put them? They certainly don't fit where they ought to go – the rear footwell. Vauxhall, though, thinks that it has a solution to this issue in the elegant form of its Cascada convertible. If it has, then this could be the kind of drop-top the market's been waiting for.
DRIVING EXPERIENCE
As any chassis engineer knows, lopping the top off a car is the preferred way to make it handle like a charabanc. That's why the best convertibles are those which have been designed from the outset to have no roof, and have all of the requisite stiffening in place. That's certainly the case with the Cascada, whose impressive underbody reinforcement comprises crossed steel bars and strengthened rocker panels.
Vauxhall's HiPerStrut front suspension, first used in the 325PS Insignia VXR, is standard across the Cascada range. The system separates damping and steering functions, reducing torque steer, while also improving steering feel and cornering control. Also available across the Cascada range is Vauxhall's FlexRide chassis control system, which adapts to suit driving style and prevailing road conditions, or can be over-ridden with one of three driver-controlled modes.
A decent selection of powerplants is available. At entry level, a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine produces 140PS and up to 220Nm thanks to an overboost function. There's also the powerful 2.0 CDTi (165PS) diesel engine, also found in Insignia and Zafira Sports Tourer models. But the highlight of the line-up is the 1.6 SIDI Turbo ECOTEC petrol engine, which produces a maximum 170PS from 1,650-3,200rpm and 280Nm of torque, again on overboost. Initially, this engine will only be available with a new, low-friction automatic six-speed gearbox. More powerful versions of both petrol and diesel engines are also in the pipeline.
DESIGN & BUILD
The Cascada scores straight off the bat by looking the part. People buy these sorts of vehicles to look and feel good about themselves and so styling is key here. At 4,697mm long and 1,840mm wide (excluding mirrors), the Cascada is surprisingly big. It's larger in fact than an Audi A5 Cabriolet, let alone anything in the smaller Peugeot 308 or Ford Focus convertible class.
With the top down, it has a very clean profile, with no roof-top cover or visible roll-over protection disturbing the car's silhouette aft of the steeply-raked A-pillar. It's also elegantly proportioned when the hood's up, thanks to a nicely contoured hood shape and a sharply raked rear screen. The fabric roof can be specified in one of three colours, which can be coordinated with one of ten body colours.
The Cascada's cabin mixes the smart functionality of an Insignia's interior with some hand-crafted detailing you might not associate with Vauxhall. The dash roll top includes soft-touch materials with high-quality stitching and the wing-shaped panel flows into the doors and frames the area around each front occupant. The deeply contoured seats are available in a range of embossed fabrics and leathers and customers have the option of ergonomic, Nappa leather-trimmed seats, which can be heated or ventilated.
An Easy Entry system allows access to the rear seats and electric seatbelt arms make securing front occupants less of a stretch. With a minimum load volume of 280 litres with the roof down and up to 350 litres roof up, the Cascada is even reasonably practical. In addition, the 50:50-split rear seats can be electrically released and folded.
MARKET & MODEL
Now that Saab has vacated the automotive gene pool, there's a bit more room for manufacturers to breathe in this sector. A convertible 9-3 was long the prime pick of ladies of a certain age with shopping in the boot and grandchildren occasionally in the back seats. Can the Cascada quietly anoint itself to this role? It just might.
It will undercut the Audi A5 Cabriolet by around £5,000 on price and you can expect quite a significant level of standard equipment and add-on options.
Safety is taken very seriously and there's a rigid steel passenger cell and pyrotechnically activated, spring-loaded high-strength bars which automatically deploy behind the rear seats. These pop-ups are also triggered during other severe impacts, such as when the airbags are deployed.
COST OF OWNERSHIP
The Astra-based engine range should be frugal enough thanks to the usual clever efficiency tweaks that include copious use of stop/start technology. The 1.4-litre 140PS turbo petrol unit should return just over 40mpg in regular use and under 150g/km of CO2. The 2.0-litre CDTi diesel unit with 165PS, meanwhile, should return around 60mpg on a regular basis and in the region of 120g/km.
Residuals, of course, won't be quite up to Teutonic standards, but you'll tend to make that up in a more affordable asking price and lower servicing costs.
SUMMARY
The Vauxhall Cascada looks to have virtually all the ingredients to guarantee success at the affordable end of the executive convertible segment. It looks good, the finish seems very polished and it's got some solid engineering underneath the pretty lines.
At least Vauxhall has given it every chance. It not only undercuts rival models from Audi, BMW and Mercedes, it also provides what is, in many ways, a better all-round package into the bargain. You could even say it's better looking. If all that's not enough, then it's hard to see what more the Griffin brand can do to win the hearts and minds of convertible buyers.
CONTACT DETAILS
For more details, call Pentagon Vauxhall in Derby on 01332 644213 or drop in at its showroom at Pentagon Island (DE21 6HB).
