This article was written by our Brand Ambassador, ex Leinster and Ireland International rugby player, Gordon D'Arcy.
As much fun as the Corsa-E is, it could not trump the fact that our brood expanded earlier this year. We welcomed Barney - a Bernese mountain dog & Poodle cross - into our home and by extension our car. Luckily the Opel Grandland-X Hybrid was on hand to come to our rescue. Two kids and two dogs equal no problem.
One of the issues with playing professional rugby for nearly 18 years and being (almost) 5’11’’ is that I have the shoulders of an 80 year old man. I have had a pain in my ‘good’ shoulder for a couple of months and eventually knew it was time to pop out to Santry Sports Clinic to get a check-up. I started the cross-city jaunt with a full hybrid electric tank, covering 55km and a quarter petrol just in case.
The four-wheel drive setting seemed reasonable, although I wasn’t sure how I was ever going to need 4x4. Zipping along in full electric mode out to Santry, the battery meter runs in the same fashion as a traditional petrol metre, giving you good sight of what is left in the tank. Into the sports clinic, quick MRI and up to see the Doc.
The long and short of it meant that the damage of yesteryear had come back to haunt me, bit of bone growing where it shouldn’t and some other bit and bobs. Anyway, I would need to go under the knife for the 8th time on my shoulders, I might even qualify for a discount. The advanced Park Assist, which does all the hard work and steers the car for you while you park, will come in handy when my shoulder is out of action.
The round trip from my house to Santry is c.36km and I was really interested to see how my virtual fuel tank would hold up and luckily for me it held up much better than my shoulders. A successful first outing and time to recharge using the home charge plug
My kids still miss the Corsa-E, the magic lingers on. My boy took a real shine to the Grandland-X Hybrid, maybe it is because it is much bigger, with its 514 litre boot, but I think he just loved that it was white. My daughter however was fascinated with the kick-boot opener, that allows you to open the boot hands free by placing your foot under the sensor, and it may have taken her a bit of time to find her range, but she now has a real solid kick!!
The keyless open had the cogs running in the head just a little. We decided to visit the fairy door in the Dublin mountains, which is one the Irish Fairy Doors nailed onto a tree with some forts built around it. We’ve had tooth fairies visiting recently, so we needed to say thank you. Everyone in - quick kick to open the boot, both ponies, sorry dogs, in, two kids and off we go.
As this is Ireland it was smashing rain and we were driving up the mountains, anyone with kids will know that rain rarely puts paid to any plans. The car park at the bottom of Cruagh woods was soaked and I immediately was delighted to have my 4x4 option, and so was the 100kgs of dogs in the boot.
The dogs had
a blast, the kids found the fairy door and the
Opel Grandland-X Hybrid lives to
tell the tail - it’ll just need a little wash to get it back to that
magic pearl white colour that my son fell in love with.
