irishcar.com - Daewoo Tacuma

“Now that’s what I call a bit of all right,” was the comment from himself when I parked the newest addition to the Daewoo family in our drive way.

The comment wasn’t so surprising when you consider the car was designed by top Italian designer Pininfarina. As you’d expect, its got plenty of panache and flair. And the design of the car gave rise to a lot of comments during its time with me. All highly favourable.

Tacuma is an African expression for a ‘joyful lifestyle’. It suits this sleek but bold looking MPV which looks more like a sporty hatchback than a tall estate car.

But looks can be deceiving as the Tacuma can accommodate up to five people and their luggage, with ease.

It should definitely be on the list for consideration by anyone looking to buy a vehicle with huge interior space, but who wants a more sophisticated ‘car’ look outside.

I particularly liked the side view which shows it off to its best advantage. The strong curve of the side glass, accentuated by the flowing body lines give it an athletic and graceful look.

Steeply sloped with a strong vertically slatted grille indicates up front that this car is likely to ‘get its teeth into’ any motoring job.

Vertical tail lights frame the rear lift gate while sleek roof rails, side running strips, body coloured bumpers and wing mirrors and a sporty oval chrome tailpipe, add the finishing touches.

The car is on sale here in 1.6-litre SE and 2.0-litre engine versions.
The review car was the 2.0-litre CDX priced at 22,295 euros. The 1.6-SE costs 20,995 euros.

Competitors include the Renault Scenic, priced at 25,950 euro for the 1.6-litre version; the Opel Zafira 1.8-litre at 26,318.00 euro; and the 1.6-litre Peugeot 307 SW at 22,550 euro.

On the safety side, the car was put through 120 crash tests and 210 sled tests to make sure it would meet the highest levels of protection in the Euro NCAP 40% offset collision test. The front-frame design features a 3-way impact dispersion system that absorbs impact energy in the event of a collision. Similarly, a ladder-style subframe protects in rear impacts. For added protection, the bumpers are reinforced with steel.

It’s always an advantage for a driver of my lesser height to drive in an elevated position and this was certainly the case with the Tacuma.

Visibility is even improved by the low front scuttle line, small A-Pillar windows and the very deep glass level in the front side doors.

The Tacuma is very well finished inside also. Very comfy individual seats are of a nice grey material to compliment the grey plastic of the interior. The driver’s seat has a narrow armrest that folds back up at the side of the seat and there are two pull-up airline tray tables behind the front seats with circles for cups.

The three rear seats can be individually folded and flipped to give an exceptionally wide range of seating and luggage carrying options.

The middle seat when folded over doubles as a hard topped table with two big cup holders.

Storage areas abound. Apart from the usual bins, two handy compartments in the floor ahead of the rear seat can take toys and other small items - or keep precious things out of view! These can also be accommodated in the big bins located under both front seats. (These front bins can also be used to hold CDs and cassettes, or spare shoes).

The dash has an interesting look to it with the instruments and radio located under the same arc. The dials are half arcs, or sections of arcs featuring white numbers against a dark background. All are easy to see and read. On the rev counter, a section is marked off in green which tells you if you stay within that band you are driving the car at its most economical in whatever gear you happen to be in.

The VDO radio, though, is a bit fiddly and I would have preferred good sized knobs.

There are numerous nice touches in the cabin. These include the wide chrome strip above the lockable glove compartment, a 12 volt power point in the big bin area in front of the gearshift, a big sized specs case above the rear mirror. Not to mention the neat little pleated skirts behind those same seats.

Standard equipment in the CDX version includes air conditioning, alloy wheels, electric windows, tinted glass, rear wipers, remote fuel flap opener, RDS radio/cassette, ABS, two airbags, remote central locking, front fog lamps and engine immobiliser.

Out on the road, the Tacuma was great to drive. Buckets of power from the 2-litre D-TEC engine. Steering was nice, as were the pedals. And the whole thing was very quiet, reflecting a very serious attempt at insulating all noise out of the cabin.

The car can do the 0-62 mph trip in 10.8 seconds and has a top speed of 112 mph. Fuel consumption figures show a return of 31.4mpg (9.0 per 100km) for the combined cycle. If you don’t need quite this level of performance, there’s a 1.6-litre version available.

As far as I was concerned, though, the Tacuma lives up to its unusual name, in every aspect.