21.6.2002
Vectra GTS - Great performance and dynamic handling

What the Vectra GTS's sporty looks promise is borne out on the road. A top 3.2-liter V6 engine and choice of four ECOTEC engines provide for supreme performance on the road.

The Vectra GTS's exceptional performance results from a whole package of technical highlights: four lively ECOTEC engines, optimized manual-shift gearboxes or a newly developed, adaptive five-speed automatic transmission with ActiveSelect function and the Interactive Driving System (IDS), which has been given sportier settings.

First Choice for the Power-Hungry: the 211-hp 3.2 V6 ECOTEC Engine
With an output of 155 kW (211 hp) and maximum torque of 300 Nm at 4000 rpm, the technical data for the 3.2-liter six-cylinder engine, which is currently exclusive to the Vectra GTS, are most impressive. The Vectra GTS 3.2 V6 sprints to 100 km/h from a standstill in only 7.5 seconds and is capable of a top speed of 248 km/h. This makes it the fastest of all volume-production Opel models.
As well as power in abundance, this new ECOTEC V6 unit has many other notable technical highlights: a variable intake manifold makes abundant torque available over a broad engine speed range. Further evidence of Opel's engine design skills is the average fuel consumption of only 10.1 liters per 100 kilometers (MVEG combined), a very moderate figure for this power-output category. This engine, built with aluminum and ultra-light magnesium used for a number of its components, also makes an important contribution toward the Vectra GTS's 'intelligent' weight-saving design. And although a top performer, the engine is pleasantly quiet and smooth-running as well.

Lively and Refined: ECOTEC Four-Cylinder Gasoline Engines
The entry-level Vectra GTS engine delivers 90 kW (122 hp) and has maximum torque of 167 Nm at 3800 rpm. Like the 3.2 V6 ECOTEC, it features a variable intake manifold, for ample torque at all engine speeds. The Vectra GTS 1.8 needs only 11.2 seconds to reach 100 km/h from a standstill, and continues this performance up to a top speed of 203 km/h. Its combined MVEG fuel consumption is only 7.7 liters per 100 kilometers.
The 2.2 ECOTEC engine tackles its task even more briskly, thanks to a power output of 108 kW (147 hp) at 5800 rpm and maximum torque of 203 Nm at 4000 rpm. 90 percent of this smooth-running four-cylinder engine's torque is available from1900 rpm, so that pulling power at low speeds is excellent. The Vectra GTS 2.2 reaches 100 km/h from a standing start in 10.2 seconds and has a top speed of 216 km/h. At 8.6 liters per 100 kilometers (MVEG combined), it only needs about one liter more gasoline over 100 km than the GTS with 1.8 ECOTEC engine. The 2.2 has two counter-rotating balance shafts, a double-mass flywheel, NTA (Neutral Torque Axis) engine mounts and a very rigid light alloy crankcase, so that powertrain refinement is at the highest level. Even at full engine speed in each gear, vibration is kept to an absolute minimum.
Like all the ECOTEC gasoline engines available in the new Opel Vectra GTS, the 2.2-liter unit already complies with the strict Euro 4 exhaust emission limits.

Pulling Power and Economy: the 125 hp, 280 Nm 2.2 DTI ECOTEC Engine
For pulling power at low engine speeds and outstandingly good flexibility, the Vectra GTS can be ordered with the 92 kW (125 hp) 2.2-liter ECOTEC diesel engine. This is a high-tech unit with the advanced features of a modern turbocharged diesel: direct injection, variable turbine geometry, charge-air intercooling and high-pressure fuel injection at up to 1800 bar. This engine has four valves per cylinder and two counter-rotating balance shafts that enable it to deliver unusually high standards of refinement. Its peak torque is 280 Nm, available from only 1500 rpm and with the same high level maintained all the way up to 2750 rpm. Not surprisingly, performance is lively too: the Vectra GTS 2.2 DTI needs only 10.8 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h, and with a top speed of 206 km/h is one of the genuinely fast diesel models on the market. MVEG combined fuel consumption is only 6.5 liters per 100 kilometers.

In addition to an efficient fuel injection system and an oxidating catalytic converter, the 2.2 DTI has exhaust gas recirculation. The gas return valves are activated electrically: compared with the conventional pneumatic principle, this matches the recirculation process more accurately to the engine's actual operating situation and reduces emissions of oxides of nitrogen still further.

Sporty and Convenient: New Five-Speed Automatic with 'ActiveSelect'
For use in the new Vectra, the manual-shift gearboxes were further optimized. The new Vectra GTS profits from this as well: a new cable-operated shift decouples the driveline effectively from the body so that vibration is not transmitted, and the action of the hydraulically operated clutch has been further improved. This modification has also reduced the car's weight. The high-torque GTS 2.2 DTI has a self-adjusting clutch and an additional pedal spring to reduce operating effort to a consistently low level throughout the car's working life.

For effortless travel in sporting style, there is a new adaptive five speed automatic transmission, available for the Vectra GTS in combination with three of its four engine options: the ECOTEC 2.2-liter gasoline engine, the 2.2 DTI and the top 3.2 V6 unit. A special feature of this new automatic transmission is its 'ActiveSelect' function: the selector lever can be moved to a second gate plane and individual gears selected by pushing or pulling the lever. For relaxed town driving, however, the fully automatic shift mode is still available. The new five-speed automatic transmission is particularly compact and light in weight; it has an adaptive operating function, i.e. it matches the chosen driving style and the route the car is taking. By pressing a button, the driver can also select a winter driving program.

Interactive Driving System (IDS): Extra-Sporty Settings
The Vectra GTS is notable for its agile steering response and dynamic handling: these features, which accord so well with its high performance potential and its character as a sport sedan, are due to the specially adapted Interactive Driving System (IDS). Opel's suspension experts fitted the Vectra GTS with a special sport suspension featuring firm spring and shock absorber adjustment, which set the body some 20 millimeters lower, and installed more direct steering. All these measures help to reduce body roll to a minimum, keep the forces encountered at the wheels effectively under control and achieve an even more sensitive suspension response to road surface irregularities. The wheelbase has remained the same as on the Vectra sedan, at 2700 millimeters.

The Interactive Driving System (IDS) is one of the new-generation Vectra's outstanding innovations. The system combines the improved control and safety functions of the individual chassis components. As a result, the completely new chassis on the Vectra sets new standards not only in terms of dynamics and comfort, but also safety. The foundation for the car's exceptionally agile handling and high reserves of safety is the advanced suspension layout. There are modified McPherson struts at the front, together with a hydro-formed subframe, and a sophisticated four-link suspension – also a new design with many weight-saving aluminum components – at the rear. With its precise wheel location and reduced unsprung weight, the Vectra GTS reacts most responsively and with great directional accuracy to the driver's instructions, as transmitted through the electro-hydraulic power steering (EHPS) with its sporty, more direct, map-controlled characteristics. The integrated, electronically controlled brake systems, consisting of a four-channel anti-lock braking system (ABS) with Cornering Brake Control (CBC), Brake Assist and electronic brake-force distribution (EBD), together with large-diameter disks internally ventilated at the front (3.2 V6 also internally ventilated at the rear), ensure more than adequate rates of retardation.

Even greater safety is assured by other standard features: traction control with engine intervention and individual brake application (TCPlus) and the latest electronic stability program (ESPPlus), which differs from conventional systems in its ability to apply up to three of the wheel brakes individually in a critical situation, in order to keep the car safely on the desired course. For real driving enthusiasts, ESPPlus can be switched off by pressing a button in the cockpit of the new Vectra GTS. The traction control is then also shut down.

In addition to the Interactive Driving System, which has specially recalibrated settings for the Vectra GTS, it is the extremely stable bodyshell of the new Opel Vectra model line that forms the basis for the GTS's remarkably dynamic handling and road behavior. Such high structural rigidity is the outcome of systematic development work, including the use of a highly complex computer program. Compared with the previous Vectra, the bodyshell's torsional rigidity is 74 percent higher, at 18,000 Newton-meters per degree, and bending resistance is up by 62 percent. One major contribution to the new Vectra's exceptional rigidity comes from the use of extra-strong and ultra-strong steel grades; they account for 52 percent by weight of the steel used in the car. With a tensile strength of between 1300 and 1500 Newton-meters per square millimeter, the top grade found in the new Vectra is a boron alloy steel used in the B-pillars, where it greatly enhances the body's resistance to side-on crash impacts. Another advantage of these various high-strength steel grades is that they permit thinner and therefore lighter panels and structural elements to be used. Dynamics and passive safety both benefit from the new extra-strong bodyshell, and so does the ride quality.

In the words of Hans H. Demant, Adam Opel AG's engineering director and head of the company's International Technical Development Center (ITDC): "The new Vectra sets new standards of dynamic road performance for a midsize car. We are particularly proud of its advanced Interactive Driving System with ESPPlus, which sets us clearly apart from our competitors. Once again, Opel's engineers have demonstrated their powers of innovation and skill in a most impressive way."