Vauxhall has released the first full images of its new Cascada convertible, which goes on sale in the UK in March 2013.
The Cascada is a full-size four-seater convertible and is a full 7cm longer than an Audi A5 cabriolet; however, despite this, the Cascada is expected to be significantly cheaper than the A5, costing from around £25,000. This will make the Cascada the cheapest car of its kind.
Instead of giving the the Cascada a metal folding roof, Vauxhall has fitted the car with an electrically-operated fabric roof which can be raised or lowered in 17 seconds at speeds of up to 30mph. The roof is also available in your choice of three colours.
The Cascada's styling is inspired by the current Vauxhall Astra and Insignia, and although this sounds like a recipe for mundanity, we think the Cascada looks fantastic -- with the roof up, there's more than a hint of last-generation BMW 6 Series convertible about its profile.
On the inside, it's clear that Vauxhall has been raiding the Insignia parts bin; however, the company claims that the Cascada features a number of "handcrafted modules not found in any other Vauxhall." You get soft-touch plastics, deeply contoured seats and a range of embossed fabrics and leathers.
The Cascada should also be practical too -- with the roof down, you get 280-litres of boot space and this increases to 350-litres with the roof up. Vauxhall has also fitted a 50:50 split-folding rear seat.
At launch, the Cascada will be offered with a choice of four engines: a 1.4-litre turbo petrol with 138bhp, a 2.0-litre diesel with 163bhp and a 1.6-litre turbo petrol with 168bhp. Both manual and automatic gearboxes will be available, and new engines are set to join the line-up in due course.
Final pricing details will be announced early next year.
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