A refreshing blitzkrieg to Shimla in the new German estate, the Opel Swing
When Hitler autobahnised Germany in the late 1930s, it is said, the German people were so thrilled with these new runway-like roads that they drove up and down them just for the fun of it.
Blasting down the gunshot-straight, salesman-smooth NH1 in Haryana, I almost felt a company of Nazi troops going 'Ja, ja!' in the back seat of my brand-new Opel Swing, whose speedometer indicated a cheerful 155 kph and climbing.
But the pleasure of a new car, a welcoming road, and a surreal destination has universal appeal, and it was this magnetic pull that drew me like an iron filing towards Cloud Nine, otherwise known to cartographers and earthbound unfortunates as Shimla.
General Motors India couldn't have picked a better route for the test-drive of their latest bonny baby, the Opel Swing. The first lower mid-size car to sashay a madeover rear-end, the Swing is essentially an estate version of the Corsa.
The dash of extra metal and glass has added, besides surplus stowaway space, a certain amount of character that its booted brother lacks.
While obvious comparisons will be made with the larger, pricier Maruti Baleno Altura and the Fiat Siena Weekend, I believe the Swing's true competition will emerge soon in the form of an estate variant of the Ford Ikon and later perhaps, of the Tata Indica.
Traffic in the Karnal stretch is sparse, and save a fluttering chicken or two falling off the roof of the Armada up ahead, I'm free to lay my riding crop on the 92 horses munching hay in the 1598 CC inline-four donated by the Corsa 1.6 and shared by the bigger Astra 1.6.
The lower-end Swing correspondingly uses the 1389 CC unit as seen in the Corsa 1.4. As they beat their hooves against the piston crowns, I ponder the lack of a tacho to chart their progress. Never mind, let's try it by ear; a shift back from overdrive to fourth is called for.
While the 5600-rpm peak from the obliging motor is satisfying, the placement of the gearshift lever itself is a bit off. Shifts to second and fourth introduce your triceps and the seat fabric to each other. This slight driver crampedness, also noticed in the footwell by anyone with size 9+ shoes, is in contrast to the rest of the car.
After all, there's my photographer contorting about in a quest for the right angle, and he's got space for his flailing limbs. And the luggage bay that makes or breaks an estate, isn't complaining about the four journos' worth of bags filling it either.
While on the subject of ergonomics and tactile sensations, the Swing disappoints from the inside. Spunkily designed door trim and seat fabrics cannot hide the lack of padding on the door, or the hard grey plastic the dash is whittled from, or the Astra steering wheel that looms large and gawky, like an awkward coltish teenager on a blind date.
The clean exterior styling deserves a plusher, softer-feel cabin. GMI has missed an opportunity to upgrade their 'small-midsizer' into more than just a variant.
The Swing 1.4 makes up for being four horses down on its partner, by revving its heart out. Its heady promise is 6000 rpm, and that means a delightful 135 kph in third before the rev-limiter wags a finger.
Again, it's easy to see 155 kph come up, though slugging it out with Honda Citys might bring you back to tarmac. Even when a traffic light comes up out of nowhere as the highway runs though various towns, don't count on out-accelerating the chap. The 1.4's torque band is relatively lean-n-mean where the 1.6's is fleshy and well-fed. But more on that later.
Soon (well, 250 kilometres have whipped by pretty briskly) it's time for a lunch halt at the fairly ornate Prabhat Inn at Panchkula, one of those planned towns with identical streets.
The Swing's compact dimensions would be right at home in less-planned roads as well; with the power-assisted steering chipping in, slipping the Swing into your office parking lot will tax neither forearm nor neck muscles.
Stepping back from the ticking engines, there's time to take in a few pleasant details before tucking in. Like the smart roof-rails, the great-looking 14
