#02#It was Mercedes-Benz who wowed the world with the folding hardtop equipped convertible-come-coupe over ten years ago now. Desirable and practical, the SLK became one of the most sought after and in-demand models of the time. It was inevitable that rivals would copy the idea and produce their own models, but the extent to which these models have cascaded out is quite amazing.
Here we are a decade later and the rest of the market place has caught up. Almost all manufacturers have, or will soon have, a folding hardtop version of their popular models. Peugeot was the first to spot the niche further down the price range and rolled out the
206 CC, and latterly the
307 CC, but now everyone is in on the game.
From luxury brand to versions of every popular family hatch in a decade is fearsome progress. Here we test Vauxhall's Astra derivative, the TwinTop, but keep your eyes peeled for reviews of similar cars from VW, Volvo and Mazda on the site soon.
The TwinTop wins several prizes in the looks department. The high rear bootlid demanded by the folding roof mechanism is well integrated; only Vauxhall's determination to persist with that chrome strip demeans it slightly. Roof up or down the car looks good, although it looks better topless as you'd expect given its brief. The roof and boot lines are punctuated with the shut lines required by the roof's folding, but this slight scarring is unavoidable.
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As the pictures show, the roof mechanism is a veritable work of genius. Up to fully down takes around 30 seconds at the press of a button and the variety of mechanisms and sequence of whirrings is something to be hold. Several times I stood next to the car and watched the roof in action and chuckled at the attention to detail, accuracy and quality of the mechanism. This obviously comes at a price in terms of boot space (not to mention currency), but the added security, insulation and flexibility have to be considered value for money when you consider the premium over the hatch.
Our test car featured a 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that, strangely for a Vauxhall twin-cam unit, favours torque over power. It's a good foil for laid back cruising and pottering about and is clearly optimised for driving in such ways as it isn't overly keen to rev. Aided by well-spaced ratios selected via a light and accurate shift they give the car a personality that reflects it true purpose - outright pace is traded for a calm and smooth nature.
This personality discourages the driver from pushing on as the manners deteriorate as you do so and a more relaxed driving style is quickly adopted. Roof up, the TwinTop feels much like the
Sport Hatch Astra, albeit with a slight loss of torsional rigidity. The interior is a little dark, but is roomy for four and the quality bears favourable comparison with those of rivals from Ford and Peugeot, if not VW. Wind noise is well suppressed and rattles and creaks from the roof assembly absent over all but the most pronounced irregularities.
Roof down things take a turn for the worse. The composed coupe feel is replaced by a skittish and altogether slightly wobbly nature. In isolation this lack of rigidity would be almost forgivable, but when put into context against a car such as VW's impressive Eos it seems there has been some scrimping in the engineering budget for the TwinTop. Unfortunately the wobbles make themselves felt when driving under normal conditions, never mind when pushing on.
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Shudders through the pedals, steering column and A-pillar are clear to feel and see when driving across ridges or drain covers and mar what would otherwise be a calm and pleasurable experience. The same flex can obviously be felt in hard cornering as well, but putting these issues to one side the car is enjoyable to drive. The thrills of the full open top experience in what is effectively a coupe are marvellous and deeply seductive. This is, in fact, the whole point of the car.
Buyers seeking ultimate dynamic thrills should look elsewhere, but others will be charmed by the looks and the fun of owning such a car. This market niche is rapidly growing as people warm to the idea and convert in their droves, and understandably so.
The Astra TwinTop may lack some structural integrity, but remains desirable nonetheless. It isn't cheap, but then neither are its rivals and the premium over the hatch is clear to see and justifiable as such. Ultimately it falls short of our class benchmark, the VW Eos, but is capable enough to win the hearts of plenty of buyers. We wouldn't blame you if you were one of them.#p##03#
Vauxhall Astra TwinTop UK range overview
- Vauxhall Astra TwinTop 1.6i 16v : £16,995
- Vauxhall Astra TwinTop Sport 1.6i 16v: £17,795
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Vauxhall Astra TwinTop Sport 1.8i 16v: £18,295
- Vauxhall Astra TwinTop Sport 1.9CDTi 16v (150PS): £19,995
- Vauxhall Astra TwinTop Design 1.8i 16v: £18,995
- Vauxhall Astra TwinTop Design 1.9CDTi 16v (150PS): £20,695
- Vauxhall Astra TwinTop Design 2.0i 16v Turbo (200PS): £20,740
