Vauxhall Astra
If you owned a widescreen TV in the early Nineties, you were pretty much assured celebrity status. Friends and family would crowd around and marvel at the view afforded by its high-definition, rectangular screen. A mere 15 years later, it is virtually unthinkable to consider spending your money on a conventional square-tubed television set.
Words and photos can't do justice to the Astra Sport Hatch Panorama experience - it's as if someone has removed a blindfold you never knew was there. It might seem a bit pricey for what is essentially a big windscreen, but we think it's worth it. What's more, the newcomer offers the same crash protection and structural rigidity as the standard model. It really is the future.
If you owned a widescreen TV in the early Nineties, you were pretty much assured celebrity status. Friends and family would crowd around and marvel at the view afforded by its high-definition, rectangular screen. A mere 15 years later, it is virtually unthinkable to consider spending your money on a conventional square-tubed television set.
The same fate may be about to befall the car windscreen, if our exclusive drive of the new Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch Panorama is anything to go by.
The groundbreaking design first appeared on the Astra GTC concept at the 2003 Geneva Motor Show. And as of next March, you will be able to specify this slice of innovation on SRi and Design-spec Sport Hatch models, at a cost of around £880. Sounds like a lot to pay for a fancy windscreen, doesn't it? However, these pictures don't come close to conveying the sheer strangeness of charging down the road with an unimpeded view of what's ahead and in the sky above.
The Panorama windscreen runs from the rear of the bonnet to a crossmember in the roof above the B-pillar, and measures a massive 1.8 square metres in size. If it weren't for the rear view mirror and A-pillars that separate the windscreen and doors, you'd swear you were in a screenless open-top car.
Vauxhall has long been a pioneer in the field of automotive window design - the three-dimensionally curved rear screen of its 1994 Tigra coup� broke new ground in glass manipulation. Panorama moves the game on once again, with a sophisticated manufacturing technique which uses varying degrees of heat on selected areas of the screen. Applied in precisely the right fashion in a special oven, it lets the force of gravity bend the 5.5mm-thick laminated safety glass into shape.
Vauxhall has ensured that Panorama buyers suffer from none of the drawbacks you might expect from such a big windscreen. The glass features a thin metal foil insert designed to absorb ultraviolet rays, and if the sun does get too fierce, you can always pull the thick overhead blind down to block it out.
This blind is completely adjustable, and its lowest setting is further forward than a normal roof - useful when driving on bright winter days. A pair of flip-down visors also offer protection.
What's more, the screen adds only 10kg to the car's weight, and Vauxhall says that the dynamics are unaffected, thanks to the strong A-pillars and rigid crossmember in the centre of the roof. This seemed the case on our test drive. The Sport Hatch's sharp steering, compliant - if stiffly sprung - ride and decent refinement were still evident.
The design has its limitations, though - a hot VXR version has been ruled out, as any more than 200bhp puts stress on the front of the glass area. This is a shame, as the Panorama's ability to open the scenery up around you and the VXR's talent to blur it would be a compelling mix.
Despite being limited to high-spec, non-VXR three-door models, Vauxhall expects around 10 per cent of Sport Hatch buyers to opt for the new screen. And that's only the start - it won't be long before other GM products appear with the technology. As they say, without a hint of irony: watch this space!
