Vauxhall Tigra Review
Published: 9th July 2005
Vauxhall Tigra
How It Looks - Exterior
The Vauxhall Tigra is an elegant coupe roadster which should appeal to both male and female tastes.
From all angles, with the roof up or down the Tigra retains its aesthetic appeal and Sport models feature a stylish contrasting colour targa roof bar, dark-style headlights and unique cabin trim details.
An optional styling pack is available (from summer 2005) offering a body-coloured front lower spoiler/side sills and boot lip spoiler, 17-inch five spoke alloy wheels with 205/45 R 17 tyres.
Even when stationary, the new Vauxhall Tigra coupe roadster looks incredibly dynamic. Its short overhangs, sloping windscreen, wave-shaped, aluminium roll over bar, muscular sills and tapered sides make the car’s silhouette both sleek and purposeful.
The Tigra’s prominent headlights and large air inlets work with its striking rear end featuring an oval stainless steel tailpipe (on the 1.8 litre model) - accentuating the car’s sportiness even more. This, along with the car’s powerfully moulded wheel arches and broad track, contributes directly to its dynamic appearance. Complemented by trademark Vauxhall design attributes, such as the characteristic crease on the bonnet and a bold Vauxhall griffin within the grille.
How It Looks - Interior
The interior has an air of minimalism but is fully functional. Adhering to the Vauxhall corporate look, everything is logically laid out and easy to use. The alloy ‘look’ dashboard console houses the single slot CD player and the heating controls. The console is capped with the radio/information panel.
The pedals on the sport model are aluminium to give the car that ‘sporty’ look.
On Sport models the Spice/Malta cloth silver/charcoal fabric upholstery is standard and platinum coloured seatbelts are standard with cloth trim only.
We particularly liked the ‘wave’ styled hydro-formed aluminium roll over bar which is anchored to a stable transverse beam located in front of the luggage compartment.
You can check out the range of accessories available for the new Tigra TwinTop online at www.vauxhall.co.uk/accessories
In Car Entertainment and Satellite Navigation
Our test car was fitted with Vauxhall’s CD30 MP3 single slot CD player with RDS radio, and integral four loudspeaker system. It will play back MP3 encoded CD's, so you can write out your own CD's with 10-15 MP3 encoded albums on one disc, quite clever and saves on the cost of an autochanger.
With the roof down the volume had to be cranked up a fair way to hear the system - we were not overly impressed by the sound quality which can only be described as tinny and mediocre.
There is a £750 navigation option and a CD/RDS radio system available with an integrated autochanger for additional £300.
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