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If somebody mentions their beautiful "estate", be sure to get the full details.
This person might not be talking about land, but rather GM's Optra Estate - a snazzy new station wagon.
The Chevrolet Optra is the affordable (865,000 THB) station wagon version of the already popular four door compact Optra saloon which was launched, which was launched in the Thai market in 2003 and named “Car of the Year for Best Sedan 1.8 Liter in 2004."
The Optra Estate was rolled out in 2005 from GM Thailand assembly center in Rayong in the Eastern Seaboard. And 2007 owards it was available in all the Southeast Asian GM showrooms.
Optra's exterior design sports a contemporary, attractive look and a stylish chromium grill that features an oversized iconic "bow-tie" logo.
The rounded rear section reminds me a bit of Audi and Saab's luxury estate wagons.
New features include multi refelector headlights, side mirrors with integrated turing lights and new allow wheels. As far as driving is concerned, Optra's speed-sensitive steering and are the closest a budget conscious consumer can get European saloon feel. Cabin insulation, as expected is suberb thanks to smart additions like the hydralic eingine mount that absorbs schock and reduces noise when starting, acceleration and braking. Our demo car felt solid and sturdy. Upholstery and interior came in grey and light grey two-tone color motif.
For cargo-hauling the design features a 60/40 split-folding rear suitable for golf bags, rice sacks and larger items such as mountain bikes. Plus those roof rails come in handy. In-car entertainment inclides FM/AM radion and CD player.
The audio controls are integrated into the adjustable multifunction steering wheel.
In the engine bay, we find a reliable 1.6 liter E-Tech II four cylinder DOCH 16 valve engine. This 107 horse power this engine provides may not seem much, but it delivers enough kick to keep the Optra Estate from being considered slow.
But what is more important is the impressive 10 kilometers per liter fuel consumption making it an economical especially with these days sky rocketing fuels prices.
All in all, what we have is a stylish and versatile station wagon (estate), a spacious family vehicle with nimble performance frugal fuel economy all under one million THB or 800,000 for the entry level 1.6 liter, manual gear to the top of the line automatic transmission 1.6 liter at 900,000 THB.
And, of course there is also the CNG the Compressed Natural Gas version. It is essentially an Optra Estate) that has been fitted with a conversion kit that allows it to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) as well as petrol. Bi-modal, they call it techno babble. One full (CNG gas) tank and you will travel for 120 km.
8,5 THB / kg
Automatic version price about 900,000 THB.
"Took my chevy to the levy but the levy was dry..."
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