Photo: BBC
Compared to the small family car built at Ellesmere Port in the 1960s and 1970s, the 2015 Vauxhall Viva is like apples next to peaches. Despite the generation gap, the new Viva is a techonolgy-laden five-door hatchback, whereas grandpa Vauxhall Viva was built in saloon, coupe and estate formats.
Essentially a badge engineered 2015 Opel Karl, itself based on the all-new-for-2016 Chevrolet Spark, made former Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond put it in the same bag with classics like the original iterations of the Volkswagen Beetle, MINI and Fiat 500. I am well aware that Hammond is a motoring editor for The Mirror, but comparing the modern Viva to those timeless means of transpiration is perplexing.
Presented by the Hamster as an automotive incarnation, the shortest of the Top Gear trio of likely lads is impressed with the little scalawag. Making an analogy with an old Autocar review of the Viva dubbed “The new small car from Luton,” Hammond pins the tail on the donkey by mentioning the origins of the 2015 Vauxhall Viva - South Korea.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Viva-Karl-Spark trio may be intended for three different markets, wearing different badges, yet they’re assembled in the same production plant somewhere far away in Asia.
On the plus side, Hammond emphasizes in his review that the new Vauxhall Viva was designed on the Old Continent and has been made to the measure of potholed UK roads. Richard is downright won over by the city car's cheap and cheerful character without cutting corners in terms of R&D, ride comfort or fuel economy. He also likes how it drives.
Maybe it has something to do with Oliver, the Opel Kadett he rescued from Botswana a few years ago.
“It steers well and drives as well as you need a small and simple car to. We like simple cars here, and the new Viva is blissfully simple,” Hammond noted in his review of the Viva in The Mirror. Price-wise, Richard says that the Viva has the upper hand over the up!, Citigo and Mii triplets from the VW Group.
Other than the greatest selling point enunciated by the Hamster, the former Top Gear presenter likes that the 2015 Vauxhall Viva doesn’t look like a cheap car though pricing starts at just £7,995.
Okay, but what about the Dacia Sandero - the cheapest new car sold in Great Britain? Despite the 400 quid advantage, Richard Hammond states the obvious, and we are with him on this one 100 percent: “Nobody beats Dacia on price. Excellent turbo three-cylinder engine but beaten on style, cuteness and kit by Viva.”
And on that bombshell, Jeremy Clarkson says that the C7 Corvette Z06 is “not nice to drive.”
Presented by the Hamster as an automotive incarnation, the shortest of the Top Gear trio of likely lads is impressed with the little scalawag. Making an analogy with an old Autocar review of the Viva dubbed “The new small car from Luton,” Hammond pins the tail on the donkey by mentioning the origins of the 2015 Vauxhall Viva - South Korea.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Viva-Karl-Spark trio may be intended for three different markets, wearing different badges, yet they’re assembled in the same production plant somewhere far away in Asia.
On the plus side, Hammond emphasizes in his review that the new Vauxhall Viva was designed on the Old Continent and has been made to the measure of potholed UK roads. Richard is downright won over by the city car's cheap and cheerful character without cutting corners in terms of R&D, ride comfort or fuel economy. He also likes how it drives.
Maybe it has something to do with Oliver, the Opel Kadett he rescued from Botswana a few years ago.
“It steers well and drives as well as you need a small and simple car to. We like simple cars here, and the new Viva is blissfully simple,” Hammond noted in his review of the Viva in The Mirror. Price-wise, Richard says that the Viva has the upper hand over the up!, Citigo and Mii triplets from the VW Group.
Other than the greatest selling point enunciated by the Hamster, the former Top Gear presenter likes that the 2015 Vauxhall Viva doesn’t look like a cheap car though pricing starts at just £7,995.
Okay, but what about the Dacia Sandero - the cheapest new car sold in Great Britain? Despite the 400 quid advantage, Richard Hammond states the obvious, and we are with him on this one 100 percent: “Nobody beats Dacia on price. Excellent turbo three-cylinder engine but beaten on style, cuteness and kit by Viva.”
And on that bombshell, Jeremy Clarkson says that the C7 Corvette Z06 is “not nice to drive.”
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