Contents Show
Of course there are more exciting cars than the Opel Meriva. There are cars with a lot more horsepower. Cars that are faster. Cars that are bigger. But when it comes to finding the right family car for a young family or a car for “older” people, one in which you can sit upright, get in and out comfortably and a car that lets infrequent drivers get away with it, well , then suddenly you have to think about an Opel Meriva.
The “because it makes sense”
In the driving report:
Opel Meriva 1.4 LPG Edition
As far as the envy factor is concerned, mini-vans such as the Opel Meriva rank at the healthy lower end of the scale. Automobiles Lifestyle you demonstrate to your neighbors and work colleagues with other cars. Such an Opel Meriva is the lifestyle floor set in the van dealership of vanities and show off. At exactly 4.30 meters, he demonstrates how unsexy a car can be. Unpretentious. Simply practical. Volley lines in the doors and avant-garde step solutions in the window design do not help either. The Meriva parks as an automobiles wholefood cereal mix in front of the house. Practically to below the 1.61 meter high roof edge, four doors, a steep tail and behind a neat loading trough. The Meriva screams for the drive to the hardware store, to the dance tea and to the next funeral.
Because he is practical
The benefit of completely lifestyle-design free cars? They offer utility. Real utility value. The word practical can be found suddenly and unexpectedly in your own vocabulary. What else do you want to answer when asked why you bought such a Meriva? Best of all, you stay honest and say: The car makes sense because it is practical. At the regulars' table you can not make a stab at it, but the Meriva was not built for that either. It was built because it is practical. And that's why the Meriva is also available from an automaker that has not forgotten that there are people who just look for a practical car.
The opposing doors are something like the pensioner's roof spoiler. And they are the only characteristic of the Opel Meriva. That has advantages. And it has drawbacks. The advantages are quickly explained. Attach child seats when the space is completely accessible from the front? The second row is wonderfully easy to reach. Children in child seats and seniors will thankfully shout “Hurray”. It has never been so easy to move a child into a child seat, and it has never been so easy to move an artificial hip into the second row of seats. The disadvantage? This only works if you have agreed on the order. Ironically, the two target groups who never have time - children and seniors - are happy about the "real easy entry" to the travel compartment, but have to queue at the back because if row 1 wants to get on or off at the same time, then comes one involuntarily close - after all, both parties turn around the B-pillar.
overthrust
The fact that the seats in row 2 are also to postpone, underlines the desire of the Opel Bauer (is there actually the chief engineer Dr. Brown still?), to build a really practical all-purpose automobile. And as an exception, the “all-purpose” does not refer to the idea of putting make-up on a car as if it had come straight from the last Paris-Dakar rally, but to the possibility of making the interior as practical as possible. More space in the trunk? Ratchet / bang, done. Fold the seats down flat so that there is a really large loading cave? Zack / Zack, done.
What row two and boot can do, can be simulated in row one very similar.
The driver and front passenger sit upright and comfortably high in extremely good seats. Really. Believe it or not, these seats are among the “best seats” from my time as an automotive blogger. In between there is a large shelf with a sliding armrest. Travel provisions for long vacation trips can be stowed in it, mobile phones, notebooks and, if need be, the woman's handbag.
The biggest surprise, however, is the driving experience in the Meriva.
Nothing rattles there. Nothing creaks. The ride comfort is great. The whole car looks extremely well made and solid. Certainly some of the plastic elements are far from getting a premium rating, but then you would have missed the Meriva's character. This is about real utility. About practical solutions. And “thank God” about inner values. And the fact that the Meriva drives as if it were at home in a class above reinforces the idea of the “quiet step” and one who is good inside and completely saves the show outside.
Spar-Hans - thanks to LPG
If you count, and you are genuinely interested in this car, you will find 9 engines for the Opel Meriva. Three transmission variants and 5 equipment lines. For the test, I selected the only logical Meriva engine. The Meriva with the 1.4 liter petrol and LPG drive. The large four-cylinder is a modern turbo engine with four-valve technology and the option of using both petrol and LPG. Anyone who says they do not feel the use of LPG will probably no longer feel the transition from winter to summer. When using LPG, the combustion noise of the EcoTec engine changes and the pulling power decreases. According to Opel, the loss of draft is limited. The LPG-fired Meriva loses 0.8 seconds compared to the (virtually) fueled sprint opponent between 80 and 120 km / h. That can indeed be completely neglected, but whoever wants to experience the “boost” consciously switches back and forth between the two types of fuel and will experience how much more “nutritious” classic gasoline is compared to the somewhat less powerless LPG. However, that doesn't matter in everyday life. You should only concentrate on the use of LPG. Because in LPG operation, the CO2 emissions decrease and the wallet is also saved. The slightly higher consumption due to the lower specific calorific value of LPG is offset by the significant price difference between petrol and LPG. In the test I used 30.34 liters of LPG and paid 22.42 € for it. However, I also refueled 65 liters of Super, because LPG filling stations are more common than Natural gas filling stationsbut not yet on every corner. And having LPG work with two different tank tap systems does not really make acceptance easier.
test consumption
[tabgroup] [tab title=”Everyday driver”]The consumption figures for the “everyday driver type” were created in (not quite) equal mixed operation from petrol and LPG. The result was 5.75 liters or 30.34 liters of LPG and 34.30 liters of gasoline over 1.122,4 kilometers. If you consider that Opel states 5.9 (petrol) and 7.4 (LPG) for the NEDC standard consumption, an extremely good value. Completely feasible in everyday life![/tab] [tab title=”Eco-Expert”]Unfortunately, this measurement value is not applicable for the Meriva.[/tab] [tab title=”Without Consideration”]This measurement value was taken on the “petrol” setting. Here the 1.4 liter turbo was still economical with just under 9 liters! [/tab] [/tabgroup]
Zahltag
As a 1.4 LPG Edition, the test car had a base price of € 21.590. A more than fair offer. If you are really serious about saving, you will consistently drive the practical Opel in the LPG sector. We had clarified that you cannot impress your neighbor with the Meriva, so why not use it sensibly? Of course, the Meriva with LPG drive is not a car for frequent drivers. But for these, Opel has a total of 3 diesel versions with an output of 95 to 136 hp on offer.
That was missing or was stupid
The LPG-Meriva does not have a start-stop function. A little strange for a car from 2014 - but apparently the adaptation of this function to LPG propulsion is not quite as banal. And one thing you should write behind your ears in Rüsselsheim: Black plastic remains black plastic, no matter what grain you give it. The interior doesn't have to be premium, but it might make sense not to install three different plastic versions next to each other. Oh - and this button armageddon around the center console, nobody needs that either!
And finally ...
Damn, I'm getting old. And thus to the target group of the Opel Meriva. Where the biggest surprise is not the enormous everyday benefits of the Meriva and its innovative door concept, but the extremely well-tuned suspension and the solid feel while driving. The fact that hard plastic and gaps in the interior still allow much air up, does not disturb the utility.
It will not make more sense!
Let's go: To the Opel configurator | Test car detail photos
Vehicle registration: Opel Meriva 1.4 LPG Edition
| Manufacturer: | Opel |
|---|---|
| Type: | Meriva |
| Class: | Compact MPV |
| Engine: | R4 |
| Transmission: | 5G manually |
| Drive: | front-wheel drive |
| displacement: | 1.364 cc |
| Power / power (electric motor): | 120 HP b. 4.800 - 6.000 rpm | - |
| Torque: / Torque (E-Motor): | 175 Nm b. 1.750 - 4.800 rpm | - |
| Weight ready to drive: | 1.486 kg (EEC with driver) |
| From 0 to 100: | 11.5 - 11.8 s |
| Top speed .: | 188 km/h |
| Consumption of petrol / LPG (NEDC): | 5.9 / 7.4 liters |
| CO2 output (NEDC): | 139/121 g / km |
| Emission Class: | EU 6 |
| Efficiency: | C / A |
| CW value: | |
| Comment: | - |
Photos in the article: Bjoern Habegger Cover photo: Bjoern Habegger