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Here's to Opel!
How many of you know that it’s Opel’s 150th year of celebration? There are many cars that have recently celebrated 50 and 100 years but these are spring chickens compared with other car makers like Opel.
Opel started off with sewing machines. They mastered the sewing machine and then moved on to build bicycles. Go to any Opel manufacturing plant, and you’ll still be able to buy conventional bicycles and electrically powered bicycles from the company’s outlets inside of Germany.
Opel got into building cars around 112 years ago. In 1899, Adam Opel and his two sons entered into a partnership with Friedrich Lutsmann to produce cars. In order to build cars, the partnership signed a licensing agreement with Darracq, a French company. Opel built the body, while Darracq powered the car with their two-cylinder engine. What did they call the car? The Opel Darracq, of course!
In 1906, Opel started to build their own cars. It was in 1909 that Opels 4/8 hp model became known as the “Doctor’s car”. The small car’s reliability and durability gave it this name as it was a dependable way of getting about. By the start of World War I, Opel had become Germany’s largest car maker.
Opel has some of the world’s earliest land and speed records for cars. The 1924 record is, perhaps, the most memorable where Frits von Opel was at the wheel of the “Rakete” – a rocket car. Opel’s prowess in building rocket engines saw them involved in designing the first manned rocket aircraft.
Between World War I and World War II, Opel became Europe’s largest car manufacturer, a testimony of how well designed and how popular the Opel cars were for their time. By 1999, Opel had built its 50 millionth vehicle.
Today sees Opel, and its sister brand Vauxhall, actively producing many types of vehicles for over 40 countries around the globe. In 2010 Opel and Vauxhall sold over 1.1 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, enough to gain a 6.2 percent market share in Europe for the year.
Australia has strong links to the Opel car manufacturer. Over recent decades, Holden has used Opel stock for their range of cars in Australia. Yes, Holden still relies on Opel/Vauxhall designs. The Opel Ampera is a stylish medium-sized car with hybrid technology underneath its sleek lines. The Ampera is derived from the Chevrolet Volt and will soon be sold in Australia as the Holden Volt.
Astra and Vectra models, even some of the Commodore models, have Opel designer’s handy work. So, when you think about it, Australia’s car world has been strongly influenced by Germany’s successful Opel/Vauxhall brand.
So here’s to Opel. Happy 150th !
Sat Nav mishap…
Let’s hope the 5 sat navs we are giving away in our Easter competition don’t land the winners in the same sort of trouble as these guys
One Bucket Car Wash
A couple of months ago our newsletter looked at how best to clean your car
We completely overlooked another way, and you need only one bucket of water to do it. What’s more, you never need to clean your car again!
Intrigued? Click here to find out how…..
What Does This Button Do?
Right. You’ve read up all the reviews to find out which set of wheels suits you best. And now you’re down at the car yards and you’re about to take the model you’re interested in for a test drive. While the basics are the same in all cars – you have the steering wheel in front of you, the gear stick somewhere on your left (unless you’re in a left-hand drive car imported from the US or Europe), the accelerator pedal by your right foot and the foot brake down by your left – the layout of the dashboard and the various controls available to the driver vary from car to car. One of the things that you’ll be doing while you’re doing that test drive – and in the first week or so of owning your new car – is finding out where all the controls are and what they do. And what do you do first?
Firstly, how do you get into the car and how do you get started? A lot of new cars these days have Smartkey entry and/or a quick-start function. Some don’t. So this will be the first thing that you have to sort out. However, before you start the car, take a quick look around to see where the handbrake is and where the gear stick is – if you’re test-driving an older car, especially one with a bench seat, you may find these in places you don’t expect. Next, if you’re driving a manual car, take a moment or two to check how many gears the car has – four, five or six – and where reverse is, as some cars want you to push the gearstick to the far left to get into reverse, while others have it on the far right. There has been a horror story about a car reviewer (not me!) test driving some very expensive Alfa Romeo sports car and putting the car into reverse rather than sixth gear while at high speed. Ouch!
OK, so you’ve got started and you’ve backed out successfully – possibly with the help of some rear sensors. Now to get onto the road. To get out of the car yard, you’re going to have to use the indicators. This is where the fun really starts, as some cars have the controls for the lights on the left, while others have them on the right. Most of us put the windscreen wipers on by mistake at least once during that first test drive if our old car had the indicators on the other side. Test drives don’t usually take place in the dark, but when you get your new car home and you want to take the family for a spin in the evening, you are you are going to have to find the lights, and you are going to have to work out where high beam is, and how to turn it on and off.
These are the most important things to become familiar with in a new car – the gears, the brake, the indicators and the lights. But after that, you can start playing with the other odds and ends and finding out how they work. The last time this writer bought a car (a second-hand Honda Accord), the stereo was high on the priority list for a “what does this button do?” session, closely followed by the climate control (I wanted the air con off to save petrol) , and figuring out how to adjust the seats and the steering wheel to suit, especially as I’ve got a completely different driving position from my other half (a situation where a memory function really helps!).
When you’re taking a car for a test drive, you will be able to ask the salesperson for a bit of help, but it’s once you own the car that you can really become familiar with all the bells and whistles and learn how to make them do what you want. Have fun while you’re doing it – it’s all part of the thrill of discovering just how good your new car is.
Level 2, 9 Help Street