It was fine up to about 130 km/h but wandered at anything more.

Which reminds me – are there any Holden drivers out there that could put a review or two on this site? Just curious.

36mpg is just awesome. This would be a great replacement for our 1st gen CR-V 5 spd.

You might call it boring but it is no worse than our aged CR-V which at 166K miles has been a very, very useful if somewhat unrefined vehicle due to slow acceleration, road noise, and engine noise. Note that it has never been underpowered or slow on the interstate but it might not meet the expectations in ride, speed, power, noise, etc for a certain portion of the American buying public.

Next time I want something as good and useful as our beloved CR-V but with slightly better mileage. It gets a reliable 26 mpg these days tank after tank but we want something that gets 30 mpg or better. The Zafira’s 36 mpg would be even better and a stick would be welcome.

GM might think they might not be able to sell these to the aversge American and they might have trouble b/c the average consumer is so fickle. Wants mixed up with needs. That said Honda sold alot of those unrefined CR-Vs and Elements but Honda went the extra mile and made their products last.

I think this review might simply suffer from an author with a differnt set of expectations in a vehicle. It’s not a bad vehicle – it just doesn’t meet what he likes in a vehicle. Get me a Zafira in TN or send me to England and I think my review would read differntly.

I hope the Zafira comes to a Saturn dealshership near us. I’ll certainly give it a close look in about 40K more miles.

I agree completly with the forgetable part. Its a boring, slow, people mover. But believe it or not, I’ve taken my mother, one of my brothers, a couple of his friends, my wife and my daughter on a 3 hour trip to the beach, complete with a mountain pass, and the thing just moves people with ease.

Mine is also a ‘CD’ model, which is the top of the line model sold where I live. Top of the line for a 2002 Zafira includes (don’t laugh): automatic transmission, dual air conditioners (one for the rear passengers with separate controls),a cassette radio with steering wheel controls and 4 airbags.

And of course, its ‘coal’ inside :)

The Ford S-Max is actually a class above the Zafira in Europe, and is actually a fair bit larger, so comparisons between the two aren’t really valid. One might compare the Ford Focus C-Max to the Zafira.

That was my understanding, too. But the thing is, there’s plenty of pricing overlap between the Zafira and S-Max (the same could be said of the 3-Series and 5-Series, of course). But also, with the Zafira available with 7 seats, it’s tough to compare it to the 5-seat only C-Max.

I think these types of vehicles will catch on in North America once gas prices go back up and stay there. Like other posters have said, the Mazda5 is VERY popular in Canada. It is really a shame that GM didn’t have the foresight to bring a competitive car like the Zafira over while it was still fresh. If GM did decide to bring this over now, it would already be dated, much like the current Astra. I don’t think the problem with the Astra is that there isn’t enough advertising or awareness, it is that the product looks and feels dated compared to newer vehicles. Hasn’t the current Astra been around in Europe since 2003-2004?

This car reminds me of the Pontiac Vibe. It might have the same handling.

I should clarify: “weak” as in “doesn’t have GM’s dealer network or infrastructure”.

Kia and Mazda are tiny next to GM, yet both have carved out a niche for themselves in a way that GM should, but hasn’t, managed to do with Saturn. GM has products, like the Zafira, that could compete in that space and would get them traction in the urban, higher-margin markets they fail in right now, but for whatever reason they don’t seem to want to try.

Where I am you can’t move without seeing a 5 or Rondo, and it’s more noticeable the nearer to Toronto you get: all Civics, Matrixes and Mazda3s. Even the Astra is starting to move, albeit slowly and in spite of GM’s best efforts to hamstring the thing.

Over the last (3rd) quarter, in the Grand Traverse region of (northwestern lower) Michigan, the top selling new vehicles have been:

1. Kia Optima
2. Chevrolet C/K pickup
3. Kia Rio
4. Kia Sportage
5. Saturn Vue
6. Honda CRV
7. Hyundai Sonata
8. Chrysler Town & Country
9. GMC C/K pickup
10. Kia Spectra.

Amazing, no?

Take Mazda, for example. They cannot charge 20% more for the 6 wagon over the sedan, and there’s a limit to what people will pay for the 5, but they can charge the moon for the CX-7 and CX-9. That Mazda even sells the 5 amazes me, because there are suits at Mazda NA who are probably twitching about lost CX-9 sales. In this respect, Mazda is quite forward-thinking: in bad times, people still want frugal people-movers.

Saturn has the same problem: the Zafira (and Meriva, and Aura/Vectra wagon/hatch) would cannibalize Outlook (and Vue) sales, and would do so for lower margins. And GM is nothing if not a slut for high-margin cars. Never mind that the Zafira, Meriva and Vectra wagons would give Saturn a reason to exist, would allow GM to concentrate on the Traverse and Malibu, and would give them entries in a space that, in North America, is dominated by weak players (Mazda, Kia, VW).

More power than a microbus but sounded like a tractor. Steering column tilted as if I were driving a BUS.

My poor left leg about cramped up until I couldn’t stand it (couldn’t figure out what the matter was initially). Then it dawned on me – while I initially learned on a stick shift in 1973, I hadn’t really had one for ages. And the clutch pedal on my rental Zafira was about as “light” as driving a Duece And A Half Dodge truck back in the Air Force days…

They build this in Brazil (with flex-fuel gas/E85 four cylinder engine no less) – and obviously this would provide for a lower price-point.

Question is – will GM survive long enough to get any to your neighborhood Saturn dealer? Will they even try? I doubt it and seriously doubt it.

No go out and get an Alfa wagon!

Or not. Despite the 159 being beautiful, it’s a mostly GM spec chassis, as are many of the engines. In fact, if you choose the diesel, you’ll basically get the same one as this Vauxhall has (because GM robbed Alfa’s JTDs and paid a couple of billion for it eventually). Anyway, the 159 is too heavy and doesn’t drive like an Alfa. Alfa acknowledged that and is considering cutting the model cycle of the 159 short.
You could drive an older 156 though. Or the new Mito. Or the Brera/Spider, but then again, that would be the same story as the 159. Best wait for the 149.

http://www.whatcar.com/car-review-equipment.aspx?RT=733&ED=47305

Ingvar: It’s quite common as a taxi I guess, although here in Newcastle more than half the cabs I see are Skoda Octavias.

I very much want something like this that is fun to drive. Maybe the 240-horse engine would do it. Or maybe Ford’s similar S-Max.

Justin, any chance you can go back and do a comparo between the two?

But, you’re saying we shouldn’t bash GM for not bringing this thing in the US, yet they would be trillionaires if they did?

I believe the later, they should (have) put even more euro or asian design elements, even boring, in their NA cars.

I enjoy the early morning car reviews on TTAC, keep up the good work!

Martin

No go out and get an Alfa wagon!

Edit: What was msrp over there?