Vauxhall Frontera - ahead of its time or worst car ever?
Discussion
My vote - ahead of its time as the first crossover SUV.
Check out this link,
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/vauxhall/97626/vauxh...
Keen PHers will recognise a connection from the recent Lotus Elan M100 thread, namely General Motors and Isuzu.
"The Vauxhall Frontera was the product of another misguided partnership, this time between Vauxhall's parent firm General Motors and Japanese maker Isuzu. GM used Isuzu's 4x4 expertise to create its own SUV for Europe. The car was sold across the globe under assorted names."
Check out this link,
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/vauxhall/97626/vauxh...
Keen PHers will recognise a connection from the recent Lotus Elan M100 thread, namely General Motors and Isuzu.
"The Vauxhall Frontera was the product of another misguided partnership, this time between Vauxhall's parent firm General Motors and Japanese maker Isuzu. GM used Isuzu's 4x4 expertise to create its own SUV for Europe. The car was sold across the globe under assorted names."
I don't see how these are anything other than ahead of their time. Apart from a Range Rover, what else could you have bought on a J plate quite like a Frontera? You could have bought a Pajero, but it lacked the lifestyle appeal. It's like how you can buy a Transporter or a Transit but only one will get you nods from the camper/surfer crowd.
For me, it's gotta be the pre-facelift. I've always found something cool about that era of Frontera. Inexplicably, for much the same reason, I find the Vauxhall Brava oddly cool.
For me, it's gotta be the pre-facelift. I've always found something cool about that era of Frontera. Inexplicably, for much the same reason, I find the Vauxhall Brava oddly cool.
Levin said:
Apart from a Range Rover, what else could you have bought on a J plate quite like a Frontera? You could have bought a Pajero, but it lacked the lifestyle appeal.
Obviously, the Lamborghini LM002. But, by the time the Frontera was launched, the Lambo was getting a bit long in the tooth, so I guess that's why buyers went for the Vauxhall. I had a Frontera Sport, I do quite like them, and I think for things of that early 90s period, they had a lot of potential.
To my mind they were a decent inherent design let down by just not being nailed together very well.
The 2.0 petrol was also lacklustre in what was a noticeably chunkier machine than, say, a Suzuki Vitara.
To my mind they were a decent inherent design let down by just not being nailed together very well.
The 2.0 petrol was also lacklustre in what was a noticeably chunkier machine than, say, a Suzuki Vitara.
The RAV4 released in 1994 is considered by many as the first ‘SUV’ as we know it now… it was the first soft off-roader to use a car body instead of a separate body and chassis.
In that respect was the frontera the forerunner for SUV’s as we know them now? It was a rebadged Isuzu for a start.
In that respect was the frontera the forerunner for SUV’s as we know them now? It was a rebadged Isuzu for a start.
Shappers24 said:
The RAV4 released in 1994 is considered by many as the first ‘SUV’ as we know it now… it was the first soft off-roader to use a car body instead of a separate body and chassis.
In that respect was the frontera the forerunner for SUV’s as we know them now? It was a rebadged Isuzu for a start.
The 'XJ' Jeep Cherokee was a unibody in the mid-80s. Although mid not be soft enough to be a soft-roader/crossover.In that respect was the frontera the forerunner for SUV’s as we know them now? It was a rebadged Isuzu for a start.
I suspect the tipping point for SUVs in the UK was the Suzuki Vitara.
I have actually had 3 Fonteras in my time, first one on a J Plate, and then a couple of ‘new shapes’ on a W plate. At the time I had 2 kids a dog and went on caravan holidays, so it was an absolute do it all vehicle. A bit agricultural but had a lot of on road presence. They were also the first car I had with heated seats! So I loved them.
However, I’ve also owned 2 Dodge Nitro’s too and I loved them too, so I’ve maybe not got the best of taste
However, I’ve also owned 2 Dodge Nitro’s too and I loved them too, so I’ve maybe not got the best of taste
I don't see anything avant-garde about the Frontera, it was just another ladder-chassis live-axle off-roader. There were plenty of such 'first wave' SUVs, the Discovery, Range Rover, Trooper, Shogun, Fourtrak/Sportrak, Patrol, Landcruiser etc around at the time. At the time Vauxhall launched it, it had already been out in Japan as an Isuzu for two years.
As stated, the monocoque independent suspension RAV4 was the first of the second-wave SUVs / soft-roaders. Arguably the Qashqai was the key car in the third wave of true crossovers, which took another step back towards regular family cars, and ended up all but replacing them.
Arguably the Frontera had a certain style which let it find a market, plus being built in Britain. It could be considered the apogee of taking a piece of agricultural engineering and using the power of marketing an outdoor active image to sell it as the ideal family vehicle.
My parents ran one as their second car, an R reg/1997 model, three doors and a dark, flat blue which was a nice colour in fairness. It was a bag of s
t; slow and thirsty.
I just looked it up on the Government MOT checker and it appears to have gone to the scrappers in 2009, it's last MOT being in November 2008 on 78,864 miles, good riddance.
t; slow and thirsty.I just looked it up on the Government MOT checker and it appears to have gone to the scrappers in 2009, it's last MOT being in November 2008 on 78,864 miles, good riddance.
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