Astra Quad Coupe

[PurdueGuy]

GM, please make an Astra Quad Coupe model for the next gen Astra. I bet Europe would love it too...

[The O.C.]

GM, please make an Astra Quad Coupe model for the next gen Astra. I bet Europe would love it too...

I'd say don't spend the money engineering the car for that......(EDIT: It can't be good for body integrity/structure either.....unless you bump up the curb weight with heavy structural additions......)

It doesn't seem to be anything the market has picked up on as a necessity.....or else others would have followed Saturn's lead a long time ago. (MINI Clubman excepted...)

Edited April 18, 2008 by The O.C.

[ocnblu]

Oh my, my '03 ION QCIII was as loose as a slinky almost from new. It creaked, groaned and flexed horribly.

[MyerShift]

Astra Quad Coupe? No sorry, bad idea. (Economics of the project, safety, structural integrity, lack of demand)

An Astra 3-door, 5-door, wagon, TwinTop, AND sedan are quite enough and such a car would add unneccesary cost and complexity to an already exceptionally diverse group of a model.

[PurdueGuy]

I'd say don't spend the money engineering the car for that......(EDIT: It can't be good for body integrity/structure either.....unless you bump up the curb weight with heavy structural additions......)

It doesn't seem to be anything the market has picked up on as a necessity.....or else others would have followed Saturn's lead a long time ago. (MINI Clubman excepted...)

Actually, IIRC, the 3dr s-series did better in side crash tests than the 2-doors - the mini doors are built like tanks. I would expect the same from the quad coupe. Looking at the Ion isn't exactly a fair examination of the general design concept, since the Ion wasn't designed all that great to begin with. Also, weight barely increased at all between the 2 and 3dr S coupes.

[The O.C.]

Actually, IIRC, the 3dr s-series did better in side crash tests than the 2-doors - the mini doors are built like tanks. I would expect the same from the quad coupe. Looking at the Ion isn't exactly a fair examination of the general design concept, since the Ion wasn't designed all that great to begin with. Also, weight barely increased at all between the 2 and 3dr S coupes.

Fact of the matter is......when you do this, you do it without a B-pillar (like a normal 4-door sedan has) and there is no way to argue that you lose significant structural integrity.

Sure maybe the car would perform well in side-crash tests......but I'd harbor a guess it's extremely tough to get the car to drive, feel, and handle as solidly......hence OCNBLU's comments above about the creaking and rattling.

There's a reason we've seen this design in, oh, say the Saturn....and the (low-production relatively speaking) RX-8.

[PurdueGuy]

Fact of the matter is......when you do this, you do it without a B-pillar (like a normal 4-door sedan has) and there is no way to argue that you lose significant structural integrity.

Sure maybe the car would perform well in side-crash tests......but I'd harbor a guess it's extremely tough to get the car to drive, feel, and handle as solidly......hence OCNBLU's comments above about the creaking and rattling.

There's a reason we've seen this design in, oh, say the Saturn....and the (low-production relatively speaking) RX-8.

The rear door IS the b-pillar. And the creaking thing could be more an Ion thing than a quad coupe design thing. Let's face it... it is the Ion.

[cire]

Astra Quad Coupe? No sorry, bad idea. (Economics of the project, safety, structural integrity, lack of demand)

An Astra 3-door, 5-door, wagon, TwinTop, AND sedan are quite enough and such a car would add unneccesary cost and complexity to an already exceptionally diverse group of a model.

I totally agree. There are enough variants of the Astra to satisfy most needs of the compact segment buyer. When the next generation reaches the market in the U.S., I would like to see the sedan and "TwinTop" coupe added to the 3-door and 5-door versions in the lineup.

[Croc]

Wasn't the point of the quad coupe to improve rear seat access? GM developed the seats for the Lambdas, why not use a very similar design?