Is the Opel Adam good for new drivers? Here's our verdict

By Stuart Johnston 

The Opel Adam is arguabl the best car in Opel’s range here. It’s fun, very good-looking, and reasonably well-priced in the high-style city car market. We take a look at its suitability for new drivers.

The Opel Adam operates in a very specialised niche of the new-car market. Fashion appeal is probably the biggest selling point, as the small city cars in this league, such as the Mini and the Fiat 500, both have cute good looks, and the Adam is the most recent contender here.

Launched here in early 2015, the Adam made an immediate impression. It’s a classy little package without being overdone stylistically. Like its opposition in this league, it has great space for two young adults up front, only marginal space for rear seat passengers, and luggage room that is not the biggest. But style-wise, the Adam can easily cut it with the Mini and the Fiat, and thus it has been winning the hearts of quite a few customers in the past four years.

The Adam was launched here initially with a 1,4-litre engine as well as a 1,0-litre three-cylinder. That’s all changed now  for Opel, under the new Williams Hunt Opel dealership network, and there is just the one model available, with a one-litre engine and in a sensible trim level known as “Jam”.

The three-cylinder Opel motor is a gem

The trim level might be “Jam”, but the little three-cylinder motor fitted to this car is a gem. A turbocharged petrol unit, it is remarkably smooth in its operation and is red-lined at 6 500 rpm, at which point it is making a rather beautiful noise (think half a Porsche 911 flat-six, and you will be on the right harmonic wave-length).

The motor produces 85 kW and 170 Nm, and this is  good enough for a rated 0-100 km/h time of just under 10 seconds.

Transmission is via a six-speed manual to the front wheels.

Is the Opel Adam  suitable for first time drivers?

Like its competitors in the form  of the Fiat 500 and the Mini One, the Opel Adam is excellent for new drivers in one respect. Dimensionally it is a very small car, with no long nose or tail to contend with, when parking skills still haven’t been perfected.

Street Cred

Young people tend to congregate in busy areas where they can be seen to be part of the “in crowd”, and at an age where “image” is very important, the Adam is certainly going to make the grade. It has a pugnacious look, firmly planted earthwards by a wheel at each corner, and what’s more the colour schemes chosen by Opel give the Adam added street cred.

So, if a young driver is exceptionally proud of his or her Adam, that’s an incentive to treat it with respect and drive it with due care.

What are the dynamics like for a young driver?

The controls are all conventional. Opel’s six-speed gearbox contains no vices and is slick and easy to use.

The steering is a bit overpowered, which means sensing the grip levels of those front wheels is not that easy, although there is a button that can over-ride the city mode and this gives better steering feedback.

The power is more than adequate without being excessive for a young driver, so it will enable easy overtaking (as long as the correct gear is selected). The Adam is fast enough, but not too fast. What’s more, it’s a style car rather than a boy-racer.

Any negatives?

The cute ’n’ cosy styling of the rear end may provide some challenges when it comes to reversing out of driveways or parking spaces in a parking lot. Those small rear windows don’t offer the best peripheral view when taking a quick glance backwards. This car will provide good training for making sure rear-view mirrors are well adjusted.

Young people often like to get out and about with a lot of friends on board. In this case, the cramped confines of the Adam may well be a challenge. In this case, you may well consider the Opel Corsa. with less style but more useable space, and still plenty of good looks. For a review on Opel’s Corsa click here.

Safety

The safety levels on the Opel Adam are very good. The car has six airbags, and also stability control and traction control fitted as standard. What’s more, you can’t switch that traction control off, which means it limits the show-off capabilities of the car, should a sudden madness overcome a young driver.

The handling is very good with high grip levels  and the directional stability is excellent on the highway. ABS braking is obviously a feature and with generous rubber sizes, the braking is very good. The car has a good solid feel to it. 

Fuel economy

The Opel Adam has an excellent reputation for fuel economy. The 999 cc three-cylinder motor has a rated average  consumption figure of  4,7 litres/100 km and in reality easily achieves figures in the 5,6 litres/100 km range, which is very competitive in its class.

So what’s our verdict?

As a first car, if your father bought you one of these, it probably means he earns a very good salary, because there are far cheaper “entry-level” offerings on the market. But value-for- money-wise,  the Opel Adam is a good choice because it offers a lot for its asking price of R271 721 in terms of quality fittings, good engineering, safety and fittings.

However, if you have lots of friends that like to ride along, and maybe tote their luggage with them, you may want to look for a more practical four-door sedan or five-door hatchback in this price bracket. We can suggest some interesting reading on more mundane, but sensible affordable hatchbacks on AutoTrader, which you can access if you click here….

And if you have your heart set on an Adam, but money could be an issue, you can click here to check out used Opel Adams. We currently have 95 used examples listed on AutoTrader.