Once you’ve spent hours deciding how you want your Adam to look, it’s time to choose which technology add-ons you wish. There are a few to choose from and we’ve been testing them out to help you make a decision. There are three Adam models to choose from; the Jam, the Glam and the Slam. No matter which one you opt for it will come with City mode as standard. Hit the button on the dash and the steering wheel will become as light as a feather. This makes driving around town easier but is particularly handy when parking or making a tight manoeuvre. Just make sure you turn it off when you hit the motorway!
Vauxhall Adam review: Advanced Park Assist
You can add parking distance sensors for an £275 but this is hardly exciting. What is far more interesting and includes the aforementioned is Advanced Park Assist. Using ultrasonic sensors place around the car (see above), the Adam can find a parking space and help you manoeuvre into to. It’s capable of a bay or parallel park and once a space has been found, the screen instructs you on when to stop, which gear to use and how much to move. Like magic, the steering wheel will move all on its own. The caveat is that the space has to be between two cars, although this is arguably when you need the help most. In general we found the feature pretty good, when it can find a space which didn’t always happen. It also includes Blind Spot Detection which is handy for any driver. An orange light on the wing mirrors will light up whenever a vehicle is positioned in your blind spot.£450 for this futuristic feature seems reasonable to us.
Vauxhall Adam review: IntelliLink infotainment system
If you feel like you can park the car perfectly well yourself without any help, an infotainment system will be a better optional extra. The IntelliLink system is a very affordable £275 and can do a number of things via a 7in touchscreen. There is an auxiliary input for connecting most devices, plus a USB port. However, you can also use Bluetooth to link your iPhone or Android phone to the Adam. This not only means you can play music stored on your device but also make and receive calls. You can browse your phonebook on the large screen. Those with an iPhone can press a button on the steering wheel and ask Siri to carry out various tasks like phone calls, play music, hear and compose text messages, dictate emails and hear new notifications. As you might expect, there is satellite navigation but this is strangely not built-in. Instead you download the BringGo app, which costs just under £1 to your phone, download the maps any the system uses the Bluetooth connection to display the information. Once set-up it works reasonably well but it’s far from the most polished sat nav software we’ve seen. There are just two other supported apps which once again must be run from your phone. They are TuneIn Radio and Sticher. One downside of choosing the IntelliLink system is that you won’t have a traditional CD player. IntelliLink isn’t the best in-car entertainment system we’ve seen but it’s relatively inexpensive so a worthwhile upgrade. Tech Advisor’s Reviews Editor, Chris has been reviewing all kinds of tech for over 10 years and specialises in audio. He also covers a range of topics including home entertainment, phones, laptops, tablets and more.
