Chevrolet Optra — The sleeping giant awakens

One of the biggest ironies in the local car industry is the fact that the world’s biggest car company — the one with the most mind-bogglingly diverse line of nameplates, brands, models and variants — has one of the smallest market shares here. Sure, General Motors Automobiles Philippines (GMAP) has one of its best-selling vehicles in the U.S. market here (the Chevrolet Silverado), not to mention one of the best-selling brands in Europe (Opel) available locally as well. Still, these vehicles are hardly what one would call mainstream models as far as the typical Filipino buyer is concerned. Ergo, volumes and market share are still very much in the sidelines — until now.

With the recently launched Chevrolet Optra, GMAP finally has a product that can take on the big boys (hello, Civic and Corolla Altis) and bring in the numbers. True, it’s way too early to hail the Optra as the success story of 2003, but a week-long drive revealed enough of GM’s new challenger to make it obvious, at least to this writer, that the Optra won’t be another Chevrolet Cassia, a compact sedan sold locally the past two years in almost negligible numbers.

The Optra is so good, in fact, that GMAP is throwing all its after-sales might behind it: an exclusive free Periodic Maintenance Service (PMS) for the first two years/30,000 kilometers in addition to a solid 3-year/100,000-km warranty.

So what exactly is the Chevrolet Optra? It’s an upsized compact sedan just like the best-selling Corolla Altis. In fact it’s just an inch shorter than the Toyota but is also an inch wider. They even have precisely the same 2600-mm wheelbase. The Optra, however, is lower in height by almost two inches, resulting in a sleeker profile.

Speaking of profiles, the Optra has one of the best- and freshest-looking ones in its class. Much of the credit goes to famed Italian design house and long-time Ferrari designer Pininfarina, to whom GM entrusted the Optra’s aesthetics. While this new Chevy is no four-door 360 Modena, the overall profile is distinctly Italianate.

The lines are bold but the curves are subtle, almost like an Armani suit. The main character line begins at the upper corner of the headlamps and rises all the way to the rear, giving the car a pronounced wedge shape. The hood rises to meet the trunk lid along the same plane. The arc of the roofline is particularly graceful and is best viewed from the rear three-quarter angle.

There are also several styling details that strengthen the Optra’s road presence: large quad crystal headlamps and a deeply sculpted hood, a very European quarter window at the C-pillar (instead of the rear door), and vertical clear lens taillamps that could have come from GM’s new Cadillac CTS sports sedan.

Inside, you get a spacious cabin with a strong European flavor with large seats, an expansive dash and an almost Opel-like steering wheel. Even the automatic gearshift lever is gated, just like in Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs.

But enough of aesthetics. How good really is the Optra? You’d feel it first with the solid slam of the doors when you close them. Next, you’d hear it when you twist the ignition key. Gone is the loud cranking sound from the starter common to most small engines. In its place is a refined and muffled whir that won’t be out of place in a German luxury car.

The 1.6-liter 110-hp DOHC 16-valve engine idles with an uncanny silence and smoothness, helped no doubt by state-of-the-art hydraulic engine and transmission mounts; a noise- and vibration-suppressing single belt-drive system for the alternator, aircon compressor and power steering pump; and a noise insulation system that employs a filter foam sealing process in the hollow parts of the car body, an insulated engine cover and a fully lined hood and trunk lid.

This comprehensive sound-proofing pays dividends while driving as well. Very little road, tire and wind noise intrude into the cabin, making the Optra’s occupants feel like they were riding in a large luxury sedan.

Another aspect that underscores the Optra’s quality is its very stiff body structure. The car simply glides over EDSA’s notorious asphalt patches, even at high speed, again just like a luxury car. A stiff chassis allows the engineers to tune the suspension to be more supple and this is what Chevrolet has achieved.

The Optra’s suspension may be utterly conventional (MacPherson struts in front and dual links at the rear) but it does its job extremely well. Ditto the brakes and the 4-speed automatic transmission. The former delivered strong and easy-to-modulate deceleration while the latter provided smooth and responsive shifts. Engine power is perfectly adequate for day-to-day driving but can benefit from an extra ten horses or so under the hood.

But with the basic car being strong and capable enough as it is, GM nevertheless fitted the Optra with an array of features and amenities that are unavailable in quite a few of its competitors: 4-wheel-disc brakes (with ABS and Electronic Brakeforce Distribution), an electric/remote trunk lid opener, a trick Blaupunkt 5-disc in-dash CD changer/stereo/cassette player, steering wheel-mounted audio controls, power-folding side mirrors, Euro-standard ISO-FIX child seat anchors, adjustable rear headrests, a rear seat armrest with cupholders, an underseat tray, auxiliary 12-volt power outlets and even an airconditioned glove box!

The timing of the Chevy Optra’s introduction is likewise highly serendipitous, coming at a time when the focus of the market goes back to passenger cars, thanks to their lower prices brought about by the new excise tax law. The Optra boasts sticker prices of P635,000 for the manual transmission variant and P675,000 for the automatic. These prices are not just hard to beat, they’re downright impossible to match!

All things considered, GM has got one extremely strong and well-rounded player in the Chevrolet Optra: a handsome car with solid performance, lots of features, a formidable after-sales service and warranty package and, last but definitely not the least, unbeatable pricing. GM has built it. Let the buyers come.