New Tigra........?

[XTR]

Why aren?t all cars sold in Britain coupe-cabriolets? We hold a notorious affection for open-top motoring, yet with drizzle and misery always lurking behind the next cloud, closed-top snugness has to be a priority. Well now Vauxhall has cottoned on too, and joins the deluge of dinky drop-tops with the new Tigra.

The Tigra will take on the Peugeot 206CC directly in the tin-top convertible stakes, but will also have to contend with theNissan Micra CC, Ford Streetka and Smart Roadster. Set for unveiling at the Geneva show in early March, the Tigra will be available with a choice of two engines.

Cheapest will be the 1.4-litre 90bhp version, followed by a 1.8-litre 125bhp model. The Tigra is a two-seater, and the metal roof drops vertically into a slot between the boot and seat backs when lowered.

The new car will be built in France, and Vauxhall will hope to exceed the 37,374 output of the previous Tigra. Presumably a large proportion of customers will be women ? if only someone could come up with a more masculine coupe-cabrio, we could all enjoy the sun and rain as nature intended.

[Russ]

i bloody hate cabriolets, but this is smart.

same front end as the new astra? and looks a bit nippy an all.

[walibe]

i bloody hate cabriolets, but this is smart.

same front end as the new astra? and looks a bit nippy an all.

Certainly the same styling. New Vauxhalls are getting more and more sexy by the year.

[Russ]

yup, the new corsa's look bloody lovely.

[gobbo]

Hmm, looks good. Just a shame about Vauxhalls racing heritage

[[GSV]Trig]

Yeah its a real shame about the racing heritage...

Bloody rusty arched Voxoils never win anything...

Oh no wait a sec.....

[unrealrocks]

Meh - don't like this one, probably because I liked the Tigra just how it was

[5lab]

metal roofed jobs wiegh a tonne. 126bhp will lead to poor performance

[Russ]

you what???

honestly 5lab mate 126 break in a car that ways buggar all wont lead to poor performance, unless you class good accell and a 130ish top speed as poor.

[gobbo]

Hmm, the 206CC? Metal roof, fair few BHP, pretty s****y performance. Smae goes for the 307CC and the Megane CC. Think all are around 10 seconds to 60, which for a sporty cabroilet is slow in my books.

[Russ]

but there all french motors

it will be a bit weighty due to the roof mechanism but its vauxhall, it'll be more than decent in my view.

[5lab]

nagh i still think its performance is going to be shocking.. you'd be supprised just how bad the metal roofs are for weight. id gamble on an 11 second 0-60 time

[Howard]

My mum has a Tigra and she loves it. She is thinking about getting a new one when it comes out though, possibly.
I hope she does, as it looks considerably smarter than the current one

And 90/125 BHP will actually go quite far on a car of this size. My mum's one is like 70BHP or something iirc, and it is rather nippy.

The power to weight ratio of that car looks to be fairly big, cos the car looks fairly small!

[Angus]

you what???

honestly 5lab mate 126 break in a car that ways buggar all wont lead to poor performance, unless you class good accell and a 130ish top speed as poor.

You're forgetting that whereas a conventional soft-top weights next to nothing, the new folding tin tops wight more than a normal plain roof.

hence the sluggish performance.

can't remember if i read it/ saw it on tv but the new megane and 307cc were described as poser cars rather than sports cars.

lets hope the tigra is a bit better

[gobbo]

I think it was on Top Gear angus.

They were described as being fashion accessories that went from cool to uncool in record times. Same as Puma/Tigra et al imo

[5lab]

its for the best really, lets face it, they're only going to be driven by women, and we shouldnt really trust them with fast cars