Throughout the course of history, with seemingly little regard to social, climatic, and economic events, General Motors has always been an automaker heavily focused on big vehicles. Simply put, heftier cars generally have heftier profits. As a result, GM’s small car efforts, particularly in North America, have usually been rather half-hearted. Yet at a time when GM was far more heavily invested in global markets where small cars were crucial, many of its non-North American small cars were in fact rather competitive for their time. One of those such being the Opel Kadett E.
Introduced in late 1984 as a 1985 model, the fifth generation Opel Kadett (appropriately referred to as the Kadett “E”), debuted to critical acclaim and praise, including the honor of 1985 European Car of the Year. Occupying a fierce market that included the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Escort, and Honda Civic, the Kadett E was set apart by its dramatic wedge shape, aerodynamic sheetmetal, and thoroughly modern interior. Like its primary competitors, the Kadett E was front-wheel drive, a layout pioneered by its Kadett D predecessor, which it shared GM T platform with.
Aimed at mass market appeal, the Kadett E was available in a total of six bodystyles, consisting of the mainstay 3- and 5-door hatchbacks, plus 3- and 5-door wagons, a 4-door sedan, and even a 2-door convertible in some markets. Engines ranged from the base and rather ancient 1.2-liter OHV to six displacements of the Family 1 and Family II engines spanning 1.3-liters to 2.0, plus three available diesel engines.
This featured 1987 Kadett, which I came across last fall between Terminals 1 and 2 of the Franz Josef Strauss Airport in Munich of all places, happens to be a special edition “Jubilee” model. Commemorating both the 125th anniversary of Opel and the 25th anniversary of the Kadett, the Jubilee added additional comfort/convenience features like height adjustable drivers seat, plaid sport cloth upholstery, and lighted glovebox/cargo area, plus styling features including silver highlight bumper trim and upgraded wheel design. Sold as under the Vauxhall brand as the Astra in Britain, a similar Vauxhall Astra Jubilee was offered the same year to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Vauxhall production at Ellesmere Port.
In its primary European market, the Kadett E was well-received and sold exceptionally well throughout its relatively long seven-year run (1985-1991 model years). Its “F” generation successor adopted the “Astra” name that had been used by its Vauxhall sibling since the car’s “D” generation beginning in 1979, but the Kadett E did not entirely go away in other markets.
The Kadett E was sold in South Africa concurrently to its European run, though hatchback models were badged as the Monza, and “F” generation vehicles eschewed the Astra name in favor of Kadett. The badge-engineered Daewoo LeMans first debuted in South Korea in 1986, followed in 1988 by the further badge-engineered Pontiac LeMans in the U.S. and New Zealand, and the Passport Optima/Asüna SE and GT in Canada.
Australia very belatedly received its version in 1994, badged as the Daewoo 1.5i, though this now archaic model lasted only two model years. Several markets in Central and South America sold the related versions of the Kadett, badged as Chevrolets, with nameplates that included the Kadett and Ipanema.
Due to its econobox status and size in a time when gas was cheap, plus quality woes that soon diminished its reputation, the T-body Pontiac LeMans was never a hit here in the U.S. the way the Kadett was in Europe. Disappearing rather quickly from the roads, the last one I distinctly remember seeing was a silver 3-door hatchback driven by one of the construction workers at my town’s new middle school, which was still being finished when I was in the sixth grade back in 2004.
Personally, up until stumbling upon this Kadett en route to Lufthansa for my international flight, my only my only other encounters with the T-body have been with the very few T-body Pontiac LeMans I’ve seen in my lifetime. While hardly the most exciting curbside classic, this Opel Kadett was by far the most unexpectedly interesting CC I came across in Germany on this most recent trip.
Photographed at Flughafen München (Franz Josef Strauss Airport), Munich, Germany – November 2018
Related Reading:
That car you photographed displays the main problem of those Kadetts: the rusty rear wheel arch. Maybe not so visible but everyone knows that when this area has a colour other than the main colour it will be because of the rust underneath. Other than that wheel arch they seemed to be pretty rust free.
These Kadetts used to be everywhere, being the #1 seller for a couple of years here in the Netherlands. Most have disappeared from our roads and I cannot say I do mind (never liked them much). There are not many Opels that are likeable – I have a soft spot for the Omega Mk1 which has clean styling and was available with a potent 3 litre 6 cylinder.
It’s a while since I last spotted the Vauxhall equivalent, the MK2 Astra, but examples of the next model are still around, though noticably less so than 5 years back. I wonder if the UK’s scrappage scheme (2009-10) saw off most of this earlier model.
Opel don´t get enough credit for these cars. It looked way better than the Golf or Escort. It still looks right too. They had some pretty serious designers at Opel in those days – educated, I expect, at Ulm or influenced by Ulm´s design school.
The lead designers were Americans, mostly. Wayne Cherry was in charge when the Kadett E was in development. He succeeded Dave Holls and Chuck Jordan in Germany. He’d been in charge at Vauxhall before that.
GM had plenty of ambitious US designers who liked ‘European’ design and were pretty good at it.
This one never worked well for me. That black fake triangle at the C Pillar is just one glaring example. The Golf was much cleaner and its style more timeless and lasting.
I like the Golfs, but I think the Opel looks fine.
Boring or not, I prefer the next one, Astra F which did away with the fake window, even if it did look a bit like a modernised Maestro from some angles.
Typical of GM to release a design that’s polarizing when introduced, yet corners that were cut come out all too soon preventing the design from ever holding up well over time.
The LeMans was also a casualty of GM’s “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” small-car strategy; between it, the R-body Isuzu-based Chevy Spectrum and letting the J-body Cavalier/Sunbird age into the bargain basement, with the N-bodies and NUMMI Geo Prizm 4/5 doors and Isuzu (again) Storm just above it, as well as the Metro just below, there probably wasn’t enough room for any one C-segment offering from the General to have enough market share not to be a disappointment.
I never liked these, because of their ugliness. I always thought the ‘D’ type Kadett deserved “Car of the Year” more than the ‘E’ type.
By this time Opel had started under-estimating structural integrity, so that their cars started to crack in stressed areas.
I remeber these very well. Some 20 years ago, a co-worker of mine had one. It had few kilometers, was in very good condition and drove very well, especially for us unexperienced drivers.
Before CC I only knew this car was also available as a Vauxhall, and later as a Daewoo. Now I know that there are some others, too. That Pontiac is really strange.
The Brazilian version didn’t have the corrosion issue, actually I still can see a few of them in the roads (usually in poor condition though). Yesterday one drew my attention, an ’88 Kadett SE in a metallic light brown in perfect condition, with bumpers and plastic trims still black, it takes a long time since I’ve seen one like that in person. Compared to the original version from Opel, the Brazilian got a slightly different bumper.
I’m not generally an Opel fan, but I remember these were thoroughly modern cars in 1985 and they remained very popular throughout their 6 year production run. So much so, in fact, that many people felt that its successor, the rather bland Astra (F), was a step back. Compared to its boxy contemporaries, this car was truly refreshing when it came out and it fully deserved the title “Car of the Year”.
I remember the LeMans in the US. It had reputation as a cheap POS almost from the beginning. Opels with a Japanese accent from the 70s were at least decent cars. Opels with a Korean accent from the 80s – less so. I have always wondered if this was mostly perception from GM buyers who remembered the LeMans as a big, solid car or if they really were cheap tin cans. I defer to those with more direct experience.
Looking from outside, it’s like every non-American small car made by GM and Ford were carefully treated in US to not be successful. The Japanese Companies forced GM and Ford to change a little bit their directions, so they probably tried to not let foreign projects worsen the situation. I wonder if the Kadett were released in US with a 2.0 block and a better sheet metal job and a non-sarcastic name. Probably it would be the GM Rabbit. I’m still shocked with the speed of deterioration of the Daewoos from that time.
Until I got to the pictures of the U.S. market Pontiac LeMans, I was wracking my brain trying to think of why the five-door bodystyle didn’t look familiar… we never got it here! Great piece, Brendan.
Was this Kadett platform meant to replace the US Chevette, but got canned by Roger Smith? Vaugely remember hearing in car magazines of a new “S Car” that was meant to be a “Chevette replacement” built in US. However, it was cancelled due to costs. Instead we got the captive imports, and J car sticking around for decades.
In Brazil the Kadett D was sold as 3 door hatchback, 3 door and later 5 door wagon (Ipanema) and the 2 door convertible (co-manufactured by KarmannGhia in Brazil), always with 1.8 or 2.0 engines.
It was, IMHO, a very comfortable car to ride and drive and beautifully designed too. One of the last Opels by GM of Brazil! I’d love to get one well maintained hatchback or wagon
Sorry, I meant Kadett E!
I had the 1992 Daewoo version over 20 years ago in its home habitat.
I always thought it was a good design let down by shortcomings in suppliers.
The car was plagued by a number of problems, mostly electrical due to the poor quality
windings of the wire cores. I did a lot of harness wiggling at the door pivot points to keeps the windows and locks operating. Another problem was frequent triggering of the CEL Light, accompanied by horrendous detonation. Traced by my trusted adashi mechanic at the time to a bad underhood harness. Yes, it was unreliable for a 5 year old car (my first in my overseas life reboot, so special memories), but used replacement parts were plentiful and cheap, and the car itself only cost me 700 bucks! The fact I paid peanuts for it mitigated a lot of the issues.
The best part about it is that Daewoo engineers had yet not found a way to expunge the quintessential Germanic characteristics of ride and handling. It had the big tire and alloy wheel option, and cornered great, and at top speed (yes about 160 kms) it was rock solid. It reminded me a lot of my A2 Jetta, my last car in my old life.
The best thing about it though, was that I was no longer walking, as I had been for 2 years previous!
This chassis continues to soldier on and on in the former CIS countries as the Uzbek built Daewoo Nexia. Hopelessly outdated even by tolerant third world/ex-Soviet standards, but back in the early 2000s-2010 ish, it was seen as a reasonable choice in the budget-family sedan class, next to worse-built and less reliable Lada 2110s. The Renault Logan was the class champ, however.
Confusingly these cars wear Daewoo Opel Holden and Vauxhall badges over here, some were sold here new some immigrated, one of my neighbours had a mid 90s Daewoo version it seemed to go when required, Got to admit it was strange to move to this country and see all these cars I’d only really seen as Holdens in their original badging and much older cars than those “Aussie designed and built Holdens”
Great post as always! A couple corrections already hinted at above, this generation wasn’t the one made as Marajó, Chevette and Chevy 500 (the model name was Chevy 500, not Chevrolet 500, as far as I know), but those based on the las that rear wheel drive Kadett. And as usual, it is written as if there was one “South American market”, which has never existed. Brazil made this Kadett as a Chevrolet. Chile didn’t receive it, neither did Argentina, I think. Chile only got this generation as Daewoo Racer (and a handful Ipanema where bought by an organisation related to the Church).
I was about to make the same correction….and in fact I’m just writing to say you are right about the Chevy500. If my memory serves well, however, the Marajó was terminated before the Chevette sedan, and the Chevy 500 came at that time or shortly after. Also, the Chevy500 (a 1993 is pictured here) survived the Chevette for a couple of years until the Corsa pick up debuted.
Argentina, as far as I know, only received the Chevette in 2 door guise around 1991…branded as a GMC. Go figure….
Thank you for your corrections. I apologize, my knowledge of South American cars is not extensive and it was not my intent to lump all individual countries into one “Central and South American market”. I apologize if I offended you.
Here it is…the Argentina-spec GMC Chevette (RWD, ca 1992)
Neat post.
The Kadett E was the cradle of my automotive interest: my parents had a hatchback like this one when I was born, and later a silver 5-door wagon which they kept until I was 8. Much of my earliest car memories revolve around these, I remember the engine and tyre sound that I fell asleep to many times. I was quite sad when the wagon had to go, still got its spare number plate right here today, 25 years on. It was quite rundown by then although only 7 years old: stalled all the time in hot weather. A few weeks later my dad saw it in a lower class neighbourhood he passed on his way to work, it already had a major dent in the driver’s door.
And that’s the fate a lot of them underwent: since they were everywhere, didn’t have the best image and were cheap, they were run into the ground. Add to them being very easy to steal and many Kadetts met their demise early on. Few survive but they’re still more plentiful than the competing Escort, the last of which seems to have disappeared 15 years ago.
Still, the very first car memories are not ones I will forget, always kept a soft spot for Opel. Probably a reason why I now own a Corsa – it even sounds a bit like those Kadetts!
Thanks for the post Brendan.
I bought my Kadett E during its final production year in 1991. Not trusting what italian manufacturer were delivering those days, I went for a bare bone 1.4 liter-75hp 5 door hatchback.
An extremely basic but well built and reliable appliance which faithfully served me for 200.000 km. After 8 years of duty I sold it and still seeing it rolling around 20 years later with sporting the rusting rear wheelarches.
I remember that even with such a small engine, the Kadett could effortlessly travel all day long on the Autobahn at 130-140 km/h still manging to get 15 km/l. No doubt the the aerodinamic shape helped a lot.
These were really underrated compared to the Golf but deserve a mention because they started the compact SW craze in Italy. Incredibly, for years they qualified as the top selling station wagon in Italy. From then on, compact station wagons outsold their counterpart hatchbaks in the C segment with the notable exception of the VW Golf.
It was a crude and humble car compared to the brilliant and troublesome Astra Mk1 that replaced but I still smile when I see one on the road.
Carrozzeria Bertone built a quite nice open top version while a high performance GSI stormed the hot hatchback segment.
Its digital instruments aped those in the C4 Corvette but the massive torque steer immediately ended any connection to that V8 rear powered US distant cousin.
An uncle of mine had the Pontiac Lemans version of this car back when I was a kid in the early 90’s, a red hatchback. I don’t remember much about the car other than it being strange looking for a Pontiac and there was always something wrong with it. I hated having to ride in it too because the A/C didn’t work (or maybe it didn’t have A/C?). We used to call it the Red Hot Machine!!!
These were very popular in Britain as the Vauxhall Astra. With no emission control back then, even the 1300 was a decent performer. 100mph and 40 mpg was just the job, but top of the heap was the 2.0 Astra GTE which was a very rapid car for the time, and was for a while the most stolen car in Britain because it could outrun the law
I test-drove a new Pontiac LeMans once, at a multi-line GM store where I also test-drove a Buick Skyhawk with a 4 speed manual transmission and fancy Brougham-style interior, of all things. Bought a Toyota Corolla, just wasn’t willing to roll the dice on the GM products.
I suspect plenty of people made the same decision I did, and didn’t regret it.