This is an Opel Meriva, a 1.6 litre fuel efficient disaster of a car! We had booked a hire car with Hertz and reserved an automatic VW Golf as we wanted to share the driving. When we arrived Hertz they told us it was not available, so they we 'giving' us a Renault Mini Van!
I complained, and almost wish I hadn't! We got the Opel Meriva.
It's design follows the modern trend of making cars lighter, shorter, narrower, and taller. The problem is that short, light, tall cars feel very unsteady on the road. It is particularly uninspiring when cornering at speed, and it feels like it's going to topple over. Furthermore, it's light weight and tall profile makes it extremely sensitive to crosswinds, and you can feel the car being pushed around. It's not a pleasant drive on the motorways, especially when passing large vehicles.
Over course, passing on the motorway is a fairly academic exercise, the Meriva's computer-controled engine/automatic gearbox is programmed to give the Meriva the minimum amount of fuel/power to maintain progress, thus saving fuel. The problem is that the car tends to be very sluggish, you press the accelerator and very little happens! That can be quite worrying when you need a quick burst of speed to avoid a hazard, or you want to pass a truck!
Nevertheless, the Meriva transported us efficiently enough for the two hour drive from Eindhoven to Zeeland, where we were to spend the weekend.
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