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Vauxhall Adam, the smallest Opel car in recent history. Why don’t we see them on the road much? Find out the truth about the Vauxhall Adam as well as the mystery of the ancient mariner, in today’s article.

I remember back in 2013 when the Vauxhall Adam was launched there was a bigger hysteria than when Del cheeses were recalled. Back then, GM beating its chest that the Vauxhall Adam was the ideal car for young people. With over 60,000 possible combinations for the exterior and another 2 billion for the interior, the Adam was the ideal car for first-time buyers.

And what was the reality?

Well, the Adam was essentially a shorter and less practical Opel Corsa D and cost around 13000 euros. Basically, for most young people it made more sense to buy a used Vauxhall Corsa D outright, at half the price. And in the Balalayka states, the first car for 20-year-olds was usually a Golf IV or a Golf V if they were older. Or a Yaris for girls. So the Vauxhall Adam remained a curiosity rather than an instant success.

Theoretically, they should have been neck and neck with MINI Cooper or Fiat 500 and all of them should be thrown together in Tham….somewhere in the accessories sections of Jolidon or Answear shops. But a car coming from the same manufacturer that gave us the Vectra C or the hardworking Astra H, the Adam couldn’t possibly send you thinking about fashion and “lifestyle” and other pompous words used by some office workers who only imagine what young people would look like and who only imagine what they would want and especially what they could afford. In fact, come to think of it, with the money you’d pay for an Adam you could get a nice Vectra C.

Vauxhall Adam Engines

Petrol

• 1.0 Turbo B10XFT of 90 and 115 horsepower – The infamous 1.0 SIDI has issues with the Low-Speed Preignition Detonation system. I know, on the Corsa E it’s the same issue and on the Astra K it’s less common than when you call pizza delivery and they answer on the first call, on a Friday night. I still don’t recommend this engine to anyone.


• 1.2 EcoFlex A12XEL of 69 horsepower  – This behemoth of an engine finally flexes and goes from 68 horsepower to 69 horsepower. I’d buy it just for that “69” to brag about to friends. That’s if I had friends since I drive a 69-horsepower Opel Adam. It still eats coil packs and then stretches its timing chain, but still remains a very cheap engine to maintain.


• 1.4 MPI A14XEL of 87 and 100 horsepower – The 87 bhp version is the most balanced engine in the Adam, but you want the 100 horsepower. It’s part of the same family as the 1.2 engine so it comes with the same issues, but it’s still a cheap car to maintain.

Vauxhall Adam General Issues

• The automatic gearbox…sorry, semi-automatic Easytronic is as good an idea as when I drank 2 liters of beer and shot a 75cl bottle of brandy. I have to admit that for about half an hour I didn’t feel anything until a hammer hit me in the back of the head and I fell asleep. Somehow I woke up the next day in my dorm room, so it wasn’t THAT bad.


• The car measures 1 square meter so the space in the back is microscopic and the boot is non-existent. A reader reported that he once tried to cram a CD into the boot, but couldn’t.


• For those two owners who bought an Adam with a panoramic sunroof, beware of this system that can crack or get stuck or YOU CAN GET ANYTHING TO HURT YOU FOR HAVING A PANORAMIC ROOF NOT HAVING A ROOFTOP LIKE THE REST OF US POOR PEOPLE.

Vauxhall Adam Verdict

As I said in the introduction, with the money you’d pay for an Adam, you could get a Corsa D. Or a couple of Corsa C’s (one to drive, one for parts).  That is if you can find an Adam. I went on Facebook marketplace and there were no models for sale, and on autotrader there were only 4 cars in the whole country. That says something about both our car preferences as european, but also about what the American attempt to make a city car looks like. But at least it’s good-looking, reliable, and cheap to maintain. It’s just that it’s not cheap to buy so I find it difficult to recommend it.

What engines do you recommend? Clearly, the 1.4 naturally aspirated 100-horsepower petrol. Or at least the 87-horsepower one.