Opel revolutionized the compact van segment 25 years ago with the Zafira. The seven-seater, built from spring 1999, was 4.32 meters long, 1.74 meters wide and 1.68 meters high - and could be transformed from a seven-seater to a two-seater with up to 1700 liters of cargo space in 15 seconds. This is made possible by the "Flex 7" seating system developed jointly with Porsche.
Instead of having to remove them, even then the seats in row three could simply be folded together and stowed in molded recesses in the vehicle floor - a matter of course today. The middle row of the first Zafira could also be completely folded and pushed forward to the front seats. In addition, the backrest of the front passenger seat can be folded into a horizontal position so that objects up to three meters long can be loaded into the Zafira and four passengers can be accommodated at the same time. The first generation of the imaginative compact van weighs just 1390 kilograms and, with a Cd value of 0.33, offered the best aerodynamics in the segment at the time.
The trendsetter was awarded the "Golden Steering Wheel" for the first time in the same year it went on sale. With the second Zafira generation, the engineers optimized the handling of the second row in 2005. The seats can now be folded down in a 40:20:40 ratio so that adults can also sit comfortably on the outer individual seats. With the further developed Flex-7 seating system, the Zafira B also wins the "Golden Steering Wheel". And all good things come in threes, as did the third model generation in 2012 with the Zafira Tourer. In addition to the highly variable interior, the van now offered lounge comfort, a panoramic glass roof and radar-based distance measurement as well as an intrusive collision warning system.
In 2001 - two years after the market launch of the first Zafira generation - Opel asked: "Can a sports car have seven seats or, conversely, can a compact van have sporty driving characteristics?" The answer was provided by the Zafira OPC, whose 2.0-liter turbo engine delivered 192 hp (141 kW) and 250 newton meters of torque. It accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 8.2 seconds and reached a top speed of 220 km/h. This made it the fastest van on the European market at the time.
But the Zafira was also a pioneer when it came to alternative drive systems. From fall 2001, customers could order the Zafira 1.6 CNG with natural gas as an alternative to petrol and diesel. A year earlier, the engineers had already used the possibilities of the bodywork to accommodate a fuel cell in the van, which at the time was far larger than it is today. The vehicle, called Hydrogen 1, offered 55 kW (75 hp) and 251 Nm of torque. A buffer battery covered the power peaks.
In 2001, a fleet of 20 Hydrogen 3s were trialed by test customers. The 60 kW (82) vehicles reached a top speed of 160 km/h. In 2004, two vehicles completed the "Fuel Cell Marathon" across Europe from Hammerfest in Norway to Lisbon in Portugal, covering almost 10,000 kilometers without any problems. Formula 1 and Opel DTM driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen won the 2005 Monte Carlo Rally for vehicles with alternative drive systems in a fuel cell Zafira. (aum)
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