The Vauxhall Cascada looks good, is well engineered and undercuts several key rivals. Whether it has the badge to succeed in a notoriously badge-conscious sector of the market is of course another thing, but if rear seat practicality is part of your decision-making process for a car of this kind, then here’s one that’s difficult to ignore.
As any chassis engineer knows, lopping the top off a car is the preferred way to make it handle like an unroadworthy charabanc. That’s why the best convertibles are those which have been designed from the outset to have no roof, and have all of the requisite stiffening in place. That’s certainly the case with the Cascada, which is 43 per cent stiffer torsionally and ten per cent more resistant to bending forces than the Astra TwinTop, Vauxhall’s last open-topped car.
Vauxhall’s HiPerStrut front suspension is standard across the Cascada range. The system separates damping and steering functions, reducing torque steer, while also improving steering feel and cornering control. In addition to this, the Cascada’s electric power steering module is mounted direct to the rack for greater feel and precision. Also available across the Cascada range is FlexRide, Vauxhall’s fully adaptive chassis control system, which automatically adapts to suit driving style and prevailing road conditions, or can be over-ridden with one of three driver-controlled modes.
The Cascada scores straight off the bat by looking the part. People buy these sorts of vehicles to look and feel good about themselves and so styling is key.
A large convertible lends itself to a low sleek look, but not all four-seat cabrios ultimately escape the dumpster look. The Vauxhall thankfully does. At 4697mm long and 1840mm wide (excluding mirrors), the Cascada is surprisingly big.
With the top down, it has a clean profile, with no roof-top cover disturbing the car’s silhouette aft of the steeply-raked A-pillar. It’s also elegantly proportioned when the hood’s up, thanks to a nicely contoured hood shape and a sharply raked rear screen.
The Vauxhall Cascada looks to have virtually all the ingredients to guarantee success at the affordable end of the executive convertible segment. It looks good, the finish seems very polished and it’s got some solid engineering underneath the pretty lines.
At least Vauxhall has given it every chance. It not only undercuts rival models from Audi, BMW and Mercedes substantially on price as you’d expect but it also provides what is, in many ways, a better all-round package into the bargain, one that includes more rear seat legroom and extra equipment.
You could even say it’s better looking. If all that’s not enough, then it’s hard to see what more the Griffin brand can do to win the hearts and minds of convertible buyers.