Vauxhall breaks with tradition

Thinking of a Mini or a Fiat 500? Then you also need to be thinking about Vauxhall's trendy little Adam.

Slide into the seat and there's a very different feel from that provided by a Corsa – or any other conventional supermini come to that.

The commanding driving position, the bigchunky Mini-like wheel, the wide, low glass area. It all makes you eager to tackle the urban jungle, with the promise of secondary road sportiness beyond.

Not too much mind. Though there's a 147bhp 1 .4- l it r e pet ro l t u rbocharged powerplant in the shopping rocket S model at the top of the range, most Adam variants must use humbler engines.

Of these, the pick of the bunch is the 113bhp 1.0i direct injection petrol turbo unit that's well worth paying a premium for.

This was first introduced on the convertible Rocks Air bodystyle and has since been extended out across the range.

If you can't stretch to this unit, then you'll have to restrict your search to one of Vauxhall's older petrol engines – curiously, there's no diesel option. These petrol choices include the 69bhp 1.2i and a 1.4i unit with either 85 or 98bhp options.

To be honest, the entrylevel 69bhp 1.2-litre 16v engine does struggle a little with the task of pushing nearly 1.1-tonnes of Adam up the road with any real zip, 62mph from rest occupying nearly 15 seconds on the way to a top speed only just over 100mph.

Better by far to find only a little more for one of the 1.4s.

The 85bhp unit manages 62mph in a far more acceptable 12.5 seconds on the way to 109mph. And the 98bhp engine improves things further to 11.5 seconds and 115mph.

Though Vauxhall offers an unusual Rocks Air convertibe version of this car, most buyers will be looking at the single three-door hatch bodystyle.

At under 3.7m in length, this Adam is actually shorter than many city cars and a full 300mm shorter than Vauxhall's Corsa supermini.

But there's more to it than that. The tall height and the considerable width – it's actually wider than a Corsa – positions it visually as a bigger car than it actually is. A clever trick, which also pays dividends inside.

As in a Fiat 500, the high roof gives a spacious feel, something that here is further underlined by the greater width and glass area.

But all the smoke and mirrors in the world can't create space where there isn't much and Vauxhall's claim that this design can comfortably seat four adults requires for fulfilment the directive that those in the front should be very short-legged indeed.

And at the wheel? Well, as a buyer you'll have used the enormous trim choice range to complete a decor finish that's either restrained, wilfully extrovert or more likely, as in this

case, a feel that's somewhere between the two. Most models offer a dash dominated by the optional seven-inch LCD colour Intellilink infotainment system, one of the first to be able to communicate with both Apple and Android devices and applications and operable either via the touchscreen itself or through steering wheel switchgear.

Out back, a prod on the rear Griffin badge reveals a 170-litre boot that lies sizewise somewhere between slightly smaller shape of a Mini and the slightly larger one of a Fiat 500.

The Adam value proposition is based on a pretty simple trade of size against style. The idea is that, just as with aMini or a Fiat 500, you should get a citycarsized runabout (think tiny Ford Ka or Volkswagen up!) for the cost of something supermini-shaped (think Corsa or Fiesta), with compensation provided by a super-sized helping of style and desirability.

Prices start at around £12,000 for the base 1.2i 16v petrol version, but we'd find the extra few hundred for one of the two petrol 1.4s that are notably less feeble.

So the name's unusual. And so, for Vauxhall, is the approach.

This most blue-collar of all mass-market makers is now offering us a potentially more bespoke product than lottery winners can buy from AstonMartin or Rolls Royce. At a price almost anyone can afford.

It's all rather intriguing. The tiny lifestyle city statement this car represents is a well familiar one of course. But no rivalMini or Fiat 500 has yet offered scope for personalisation quite on this scale.

Some of course will argue that these cars are trendier-looking to start with and so need less dressing up.

But by the same token, many others are starting to find their retro-vibe tiresome and overly familiar.

These peoplemay wellbe quite happy to sign up to a newer, fresher look, even if to get it, they must trade the higher- tech and sportier handling that some other rivals will offer.

And of course, as with most cars of this kind, they must be prepared to forgo the greater space they'd have enjoyed in an ordinary run-of-the-mill supermini that would have cost much the same.

The growth of this particular little market niche suggest that there aremany buyers out there making those sorts of choices and in meeting their needs, this is very much the kind of more interesting fashionled product Vauxhall simply has to make for long term profitability. If it strikes a chord with you, well why not?

Itmay well be time to say ‘hello' to Adam.