While trying to dust of some rust of my German, I came across this article from Auto Zeitung Magazine. I used google translator in the link, which is not the greatest translator as you can see , but gives a fair idea of what the magazine is talking about.

Road Test Clicky (Translated)

The cars tested were

1. Alfa Romeo Spider 3,2 JTS V6 24V

2. AUDI TT Roadster 3,2 quattro

3. BMW Z4 3.0si Roadster

4. Mercedes SLK 350

5. Nissan 350Z Roadster

6. OPEL GT (AKA SATURN SKY)

7. Porsche Boxster

And no prizes for guessing that GT finished last. I was expecting it to at least trump the 350Z and the Alfa, but it was slaughtered.

Their main complaints were:

GT has the smallest interior

The available trunk volume is limited

The safety equipment is poor

Cheap interior plastics

Poor ergonomics

5 Speed Transmission- Which is moronic and makes the car thirsty and the lack of 6-speeds

Not so good handling

Things working in its favor

Price, Cheaper than most of those.

Design and style and

lightest of the bunch.

Before the auto magazines, start complaining the Kappas as all show and no go, GM needs to act fast and fix them NOW before the things go overboard and what will be left is a eulogy of a good car that could have been better.

Uh. They tested this against a 350 and they point out the Opel's poor interior?

For all the analysis, there seems to be little verbage to qualify those scores. The SLK's air conditioner rates a 41/50 while the GT's rates 27/50? What does that even mean?

I mean really, they're comparing. a SATURN with a BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Porsche? It should have been honoured to even be invited to the test. Next up, The Cobalt goes up against the 3-series, C-class, Audi A4, Alfa 159, Jaguar X-type, Lexus IS350 and just to be fair, the Cadillac BLS.

Lets see who wins.

I mean really, they're comparing. a SATURN with a BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Porsche? It should have been honoured to even be invited to the test. Next up, The Cobalt goes up against the 3-series, C-class, Audi A4, Alfa 159, Jaguar X-type, Lexus IS350 and just to be fair, the Cadillac BLS.

Lets see who wins.

Well if Cobalt doesn't win, then the media is bias.

But seriously... Compared to the select list of competitors above, the Opel should finish near or at the bottom. However, it beat the Boxter!

Well if Cobalt doesn't win, then the media is bias.

But seriously... Compared to the select list of competitors above, the Opel should finish near or at the bottom. However, it beat the Boxter!

No really. It is bias. It's stacking the deck. It's really easy to say "american cars suck" when you stack comparison tests like this. They've been doing it to the CTS and Lincoln LS since they came out. The Lincoln LS is bigger than a 5-series and yet they STILL would compare it to a 3-series in the auto rags and knock it for less nimble handling than the BMW. Well DUH! It's 18 inches longer and 900lbs heavier!* Lincoln is supposed to somehow overcome physics?

*numbers pulled out of my ass.

Firefox translated it for me, the placement is

TT

SLK

Boxter

Z4

350Z

Alfa

GT

Well it's a 22K car, what do you want? Maybe they should test it against Bugatti Veyron! :rotflmao:

"I mean really, they're comparing. a SATURN with a BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Porsche? It should have been honoured to even be invited to the test. Next up, The Cobalt goes up against the 3-series, C-class, Audi A4, Alfa 159, Jaguar X-type, Lexus IS350 and just to be fair, the Cadillac BLS."

Well it's a 22K car, what do you want? Maybe they should test it against Bugatti Veyron! :rotflmao:

The Opel GT is the Sky Redline, not the regular one.

The Opel GT is the Sky Redline, not the regular one.

But wait, he can't be wrong! He works at the plant that makes the Opel GT!

But wait, he can't be wrong! He works at the plant that makes the Opel GT!

Ummm, I just assumed you knew it was 22K Euro-Dollars and was just an average. Do the conversion, it comes out to about 29K USD. Do you always act this way?

Edited April 25, 200718 yr by Pontiac Custom-S

On the whole, the GT has been getting good and fair press overseas. In general, they love the performance but complain about stroage space. Another German magazine said that the GT is the perfect weekend fun car.

Also, don't forget that Opal has only recently started overcome it's "Opa Opal" image. The GT should help a lot like the Sky and Solstice have helped build image here in the States.

This is just like testing a base $49K Corvette against cars like

the Gallardo, Ford GT(40), BMW Z8, Viper & Aston Martin DB.