Fans of fizzy versions of increasingly common micro-machines like the Fiat 500 will be interested to learn that Vauxhall has shoehorned the 140hp 1.4 petrol turbo from the Astra into the diminutive Adam. The resulting Adam S will take a bow at the Geneva motor show next month alongside another interesting derivative: a one-litre version with Vauxhall's first three-cylinder petrol turbo unit.
Is Adam about to grow up and get VXR chestwig?
Adam
was a car hampered from launch at the end of 2012 not just by its name but also an uninspiring pair of four-cylinder engines taken from the Corsa, with which it also shares a platform. We were told back that then there was hope that Vauxhall might turn up the wick, and the Adam S is the first step towards what was hinted could eventually
become a VXR
using the Corsa's 1.6-litre turbo.
There are no performance figures yet for the S but given this adds a whole extra 40hp you're looking at a likely sub eight-second sprint to 60mph. Expect a suitably muscly bodykit and a price tag of around £15,500. The two versions of the 1.0-litre turbo are just as interesting in that they herald Vauxhall's launch of an engine that takes on Ford's tiny Ecoboost three-cylinder.
The direct-injection Ecotec engine is available with either 90 or 115hp and its lightweight aluminum construction (as opposed to iron in the Ford unit) is likely to drop the weight of the Adam to below a tonne. It also gets mated to a new six-speed gearbox weighing 37kg, which Vauxhall reckons is 30 per cent lighter than the units it replaces.
Adam Rocks? Not as an SUV crossover, arguably
Both the S and the three-cylinder engines means the Adam will more effectively compete with the Fiat 500, both in its 135hp
Abarth
form and the two-cylinder TwinAir. It also has to do battle with the much anticipated
new Renault Twingo
with its rear-engine, rear-drive layout and an expected three-cylinder turbo engine of its own.
Also at Geneva will be a sort of SUV-inspired version of the Adam called, no flinching now, Adam Rocks, which will be available with a fabric sunroof that stands in place of a full cabrio option.