Friday 19th July 2013

Vauxhall Calibra: Time for Tea?

It's a Top Gear review that's actually a review! Because it's old Top Gear...

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Remember when Top Gear was a genuine consumer programme offering actual advice on new cars? Before new Top Gear and the internet, it was probably quite a valuable resource for prospective buyers. Apparently some people read reviews printed on paper too.

But we thought it was about time 20th century TG was revisited; and who better to illustrate pre-Stig Top Gear than Chris Goffey? Knowledgeable, accurate and interminably dull, the man is as beige in personality as his outfit suggests.

Not coming to a Chris Harris vid soon...

Actually, that's a little unfair. That's how car reviews were, and his facts on the Vauxhall Calibra tested here are genuinely of some interest. Did you know that infamous 0.26cD drag figure only applied to the 8v cars? Opt for a 16-valver and it rose to 0.29cD, nearly the same as the Cavalier on which it was based...

This video even covers practical things like the boot loading lip, the iffy ventilation associated with its streamlined shape and the stodgy handling. Nothing blows up, nothing collapses (well, the seat ratchet comes off) and the Calibra is given quite a thorough going over. It doesn't even go that sideways. Everything is very proper and it's all rather strange, if also quite intriguing.

Plus, if it makes the Calibra look quite cool (it's not just us, right?), there should be one on show at this weekend's Sunday Service...

 

 

[clubsportguy]

Love the video like Top Gear should be !!! Someone needs to get Chris Harris/Chris Evans and maybe a female petrolhead like Carol Vorderman on a programme!!!