The driving dynamics of the vehicle are quite impressive, normally when you remove a part of a vehicle, i. e. the roof, it translates in to a wobbly jelly type of vehicle but with modern technology and computer aided design programmed engineers know what has to be done and there has been quite a proliferation of strengthening devices and panels built in to the vehicle to ensure rigidity at all times. The doors for example have diagonally mounted ultra high strength steel beams built in to them. The A pillars that support the windscreen are made from pressed hardened steel, and in addition torsional stiffness has been incorporated due to cross steel bars and strengthened panels which contribute towards a reduction, and in fact the Cascada is 43 % stiffer than the Astra Twin-top, no wonder the vehicle will and does handle very well.
My particular derivative was equipped with a 1.6-litre engine producing 200ps, this where possible gives a 146mph top speed and a 0-60 gallop in marginally over 8 seconds. The CO2 emissions are 158, so this is not going to be a cheap excise vehicle, and Vauxhall claim a combined figure of 41.5mpg. During over 400 miles in company with the vehicle we achieved a figure according to the computer of 37mpg.
I particularly like the 6-speed gearbox, it was slick, it was notchy but what impressed me most was even 6th gear was useable in and around town and this always scores highly for me, engineers have not gone for a 5th and 6th gear to increase economy on the long run.
The Cascada has a lot of equipment as standard, an easily operated satellite navigation system, the Blue Tooth mechanism for connecting phones or MP3 players worked brilliantly, the only issue I had was with the DAB radio, you really do need to have a serious amount of spare time to learn the idiosyncrasies of how to get a channel and then to store it in to the memory, it was not particularly user friendly.
I believe there are an awful lot of people who were saddened by the demise of Saab and the wonderful ubiquitous Saab 95 or early 93, or even earlier 900 cabrio, which sold quite well, and you still see them about today, and I think the Cascada is ably equipped to step in to those footsteps. I appreciate that Vauxhall are promoting the Cascada as a possible rival to the Audi A5, I have my doubts, there is still a lot of badge snobbery about and an Audi / Vauxhall, I think the jury is still out on that.
My particular test car came at an on the road price of £ 30,960, however £ 1,200 of this was taken up with the Navigation entertainment system fitted.
43