This no-nonsense family car offers value for money – unlike its 1990s predecessor
Geraldine Herbert test drives the Opel Frontera Hybrid GS 136hp. Photo: Paul Herbert-Kane
When Opel launched their Frontera in 1991, it promised rugged freedom but aged appallingly. It’s now remembered in the same sort of way as shoulder pads or shell suits, beloved in their time but now a case of ‘What were they thinking?’ The new Opel arrived in ’90s Ireland, where Mary Robinson represented a new, outward-looking confidence and The Commitments gave Dublin a new swagger. It was boxy, eager and fit right in
But it wasn’t very good. Even by the standards of the day, it drove like a wardrobe, bounced along with agricultural enthusiasm, and drank fuel as though petrol might be banned by lunchtime. Yet people bought them. In droves. It seems the early ’90s were all about looking the part.