First presented at the Paris Motor Show in October 2008, the elegant and stylish compact Chevrolet Orlando reached our country for too long. Not to say that seven-seater family cars in our country is shortage, but this car turned out to be surprisingly attractive, and given the production capacities of General Motors in the same St. Petersburg in the village of Shushary, its cost is very attractive.
The appearance of the car is quite solid, and although it is built on the basis of the good old Shevrolet Cruze, nevertheless, designers worked thoroughly over the exterior. The wide strip in the front on which the emblem flaunts, together with massive forms of the front part creates the image of a large car, and even in the form of headlights, the family orientation of the car is expressed. The back optics in the form of a house with a gable roof has impressive dimensions, and the bizarre shape of the trunk cover of the lid emphasizes the interesting nature of the car. Plastic moldings of ash color create the illusion of a real American SUV, but this is only an illusion, because Orlando has only a front -wheel drive, and he cannot see a full drive.
Speaking of size, do not forget about 7 full -fledged places. No children’s or teenage seats: having a length of 4652 mm and a width of 1836 mm, even on the third row, two adult men will sit comfortably, while not resting with the elbows of each other on the sides, and the height of the roof of 1633 mm will provide the necessary space for the head. By the way, if you put an optionally a panoramic roof, you will even feel like a class above in a car, and the light in the cabin will increase.
The designers applied an interesting solution, setting the ranks of the seats one above the other, as in the department – with such landing, everyone sees the road through the windshield, and it is convenient for the driver to monitor children even on the very back row.
The trunk is very small, only 89 liters, it can be compared with a large backpack. Given that there is not even a small spare wheel, it becomes uneasy, but it is worth folding the third row of seats – and you have a five -seater minivan with an even luggage compartment with a volume of 454 liters. If you want to transport a refrigerator or more, then you can fold the second row, thereby releasing a huge platform of 1487 liters.
The interior decoration is pleasant to touch, and although the quality of the materials does not reach the European giants of BMW or Mercedes, it is still worth reminding us that these are cars of different price categories. The driver’s place resembles a spaceship, just a huge console divides the first row into two rooms, on a massive panel there are many multimedia control switches, climate control and, of course, a large screen, which displays data from the on-board computer and navigation information.
Here, if you rummage a little, you will find a small secret compartment in which various connectors are hidden, allowing you to connect devices of the iPod type and t. p. The gear shift handle is unusually built into this tower and slightly moved forward, but the ergonomics is well calculated, and inconvenience, sitting behind the wheel of Chevrolet Orlando, you will not feel.
This pretty station wagon is equipped with the same family engines: 1, 8 liter gasoline four and 2, 0 liter turbodiesel. Issuing 141 and 163 horsepower, respectively, they give relatively good dynamics of 11, 6 and 11 seconds to hundreds.
But this car was not created for races for a quarter of a mile, it is needed by families who like to save. And you must admit, it is very pleasant to ride with a flow rate of 7, 3 and 7 liters per 100 km, besides, a 64 liter tank should have enough for a long time for a long time. There are so many advantages, and here is another one – the price of a car begins with a modest $ 23,000, which is not bad, given the rich standard equipment.