Style-led city car gets revised, UK-specific steering tune to correct its flaws
When we first drove the new Vauxhall Adam, due in UK showrooms next March, we weren’t happy. The ride seemed lumpy and the engine thrashy and old-tech, but the big mismatch was between electric power steering that seemed at once ponderous and unpredictable, and a sporting ride quality (our Slam-spec test car was on sports suspension and 18-inch wheels) that surely demanded crisp, intuitive steering.However, Opel-Vauxhall is fast developing a tradition for retuning the electric power assistance of its cars for the UK market (its biggest in Europe). And following our adverse reaction and others, this is what it firmly decided to do.In co-operation with Opel chassis engineers, Vauxhall chassis guru Gerry Baker conducted some wide-ranging tests to set the car up in a way that would please local customers. The setting was signed off “weeks ago” on some pretty narrow and badly surfaced roads around Vauxhall’s Millbrook proving ground, and Autocar was allowed to try it.
Style-led city car gets revised, UK-specific steering tune to correct its flaws
When we first drove the new Vauxhall Adam, due in UK showrooms next March, we weren’t happy. The ride seemed lumpy and the engine thrashy and old-tech, but the big mismatch was between electric power steering that seemed at once ponderous and unpredictable, and a sporting ride quality (our Slam-spec test car was on sports suspension and 18-inch wheels) that surely demanded crisp, intuitive steering.However, Opel-Vauxhall is fast developing a tradition for retuning the electric power assistance of its cars for the UK market (its biggest in Europe). And following our adverse reaction and others, this is what it firmly decided to do.In co-operation with Opel chassis engineers, Vauxhall chassis guru Gerry Baker conducted some wide-ranging tests to set the car up in a way that would please local customers. The setting was signed off “weeks ago” on some pretty narrow and badly surfaced roads around Vauxhall’s Millbrook proving ground, and Autocar was allowed to try it.