One of the best cars I have ever owned (Vauxhall Calibra)

Member Name: DaggerNelson

Product:	Vauxhall Calibra
Date:	08/07/02 (1325 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks, comfort, Performance and handling, Availability of Parts, Price

Disadvantages: It's still a Vauxhall, No longer made :o(, Quite a few around

Anyone who knows me will doubtless say that I have 3 main interests : football, cars and music.

I spend much of my life in my car. I go to work in my car (sometimes as much as a 2 hour journey each way). I go to football in my car (about a 150 mile round trip for home matches). I listen to music in my car.

To put it simply, I need a car that gets me from A to B as quickly as possible with the minimum of fuss.

It's not quite as simple as that though, I enjoy driving. A lot. By that, I don't mean that I enjoy sitting in a traffic jam on the M25, I mean that I enjoy the sensation of real driving - making brisk headway down interesting and varied country roads and blasting along costal roads in the Summer.

I've had numerous cars - my first was a 1960s Mini Cooper (stolen), I've also owned a 16 Valve Citroen BX (thankfully briefly), a Cavalier 1.6 (Yawn), Nova GSi (Heavily modded and a thril a minute), two Vectras (double yawn), a Fiesta (What can go wrong will go wrong, usually at the most inconvenient time), an Escort (made of tin foil) and a 1969 Lotus Elan +2.

I've always loved cars and, in particular Lotus models, hence my all too brief ownership of the +2.

In 1990, I went to the London Motorshow with my Father and did a double take when I got to the Vauxhall stand. Sitting on a high pedestal was, quite simply, one of the most beautiful cars I had ever seen : A gleaming red Calibra.

Everything about it was perfect - The narrow headlights, the rakish, sweeping shape, the massive (and they are huge) doors, the large alloy wheels with wide tyres. It was an amazing sight. I was in love. I swore that one day I would own one.

The big problem though was my age - I was an 18 year old and insurance companies don't like putting large and powerful sports coupes in the hands of boy racers like myself. I put up with my boring cars and figured that I would never be able to af
ford to buy one, let alone insure it.

A couple of years ago, my beloved Nova went to the great scrapyard in the sky having taken me putting 100,000 miles on it in 3 years. I was fortunate that the company I was working for at the time provided me with a company car - A 2.0i 16 Valve Vectra.

Then, around a year ago, I left the company and needed to buy myself a new car. I went trawling through the Parkers Guide and Autotrader looking for something suitable for not much money.

I was amazed to find that I could afford an early Calibra and duly purchased an H Reg 16V model in Flame Red.

The car was every bit as good as I could ever have hoped. Its road manners were superb thanks largely to the broad tyres and powerful engine. The interior was cloth trimmed and it had no stereo but the electric windows and sunroof were great and the car looked pretty good for a 120,000 miler.

In February, I was able to replace the car and I purchased a 1997 P Reg SE7 in metallic navy blue.

With cream leather, air conditioning, cd player and white dials, the car looks considerably more classy than my old one.

The engine is slightly less powerful and the tyres not quite so wide but this somehow appears to have the opposite effect to that you would expect - The change in the gearing means the car has far more torgue and, if anything, seems somewhat quicker than the earlier model. The improvements to the suspension geometry have also made a huge difference. The car has far more poise on the road than the old model and suffers far less body roll.

The only complaint would be the Grundig CD player supplied - It is not at all impressive and the sound generated is flat to the extreme. I have now replaced the standard unit with a Kenwood unit which is great.

I have twin stepsons who are 12 years old and they both love the car - There is plenty of room in the rear for them and their multitudinous handheld ga
me consoles. The boot is spacious, even when compared to some family saloon cars (The four of us went away for a week in the old one last year without any problems).

Bearing in mind that the Calibra is basically a Cavalier Coupe and shares much of the Cavalier's underpinnings, it is a great car - To my eyes, there is only one "normal" (ie, ignoring Ferarri, Lotus, Maseratti etc.) coupe on the road that comes even close looks wise and that is the gorgeous Peugeot 406 Coupe.

With the exception of the Lotus Elan +2 that I owned, I have never driven a better all round car.

It's just a shame that Vauxhall's latest coupe effort, the Astra Coupe is such an ugly duckling in comparison.

Simply wonderful!

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