VM Test Opel Rocks-e: The Bonsai Electric Vehicle Rocks the City

Actually, the L6e-Opel has everything a car needs in the city: space for two people and in the numerous corners and niches 63 liters of luggage in an incredibly small space (2.41x1.39 m). A ridiculously small turning circle (7.2 meters), excellent visibility (and even a view through the standard panoramic glass roof!), with 9 kW peak (6 kW continuous power, 40 Nm) enough power to keep up and even a heating system along with ventilation, which makes as much noise as the wonderfully howling electric motor. It reminds you of the gearbox whining in the old Mini, and indeed, it gives off a Mini-feeling, as the smallest Opel ever drives so primitively.

The LED light turns on automatically, the windshield wipers defy even the heaviest downpour we encountered during the test. And we secretly feared that the bonsai e-car wasn't entirely watertight. But it is. Unless you haven't properly closed the half-mast pop-out windows... It can happen because you can't adjust the moped mirrors without opening them. Adorable by the way: The tiny rearview mirror for 6.80 euros. Speaking of not entirely watertight: it shouldn't go through a car wash. Additionally, you enter the box-shaped cabin quite easily through the opposite-opening doors, don't forget the key – and unlock like in the old days with a push-button! It works!

A Counterpoint to the Rampant Gimmick Craze

In the surprisingly spacious cabin, the JBL Flip 5 with its powerful sound, chargeable via USB slot if necessary, creates a great atmosphere, phone hooked up and off you go. If needed, the Opel app connects the vehicle with the smartphone, including some remote information. And a Parrot hands-free system is simply hung up on the roof pillar. It sounds paradoxical: But in times of overwhelming gimmicks and gadgets, with which manufacturers have caught themselves in an inescapable equipment spiral, you feel like a motorized avant-garde of automotive disarmament.

Nice optical goody: The Opel-yellow accents and inlays in Lego look. If you're going to drive a car in the city (and not a bike), then this is the way! The Opel is certainly a pleasantly spartan downsizer "par excellence," showing all the big "City-SUVs" and CUVs what efficiency is – and it demonstrates it: SUM instead of SUV is the motto (Opel-speak: Sustainable Urban Mobility). Because no matter how aggressively they push and rush by at 70 in a 50 zone - we will see each other at the next traffic light. Or in one of the many 30 zones you navigate through. Just avoid the Middle Ring (Bundesstraße B2)... Although: how rigidly the forward drive of the e-engine is stopped by the limiter is painful – and in current traffic conditions, somewhat hard to convey. 55 km/h would be a good compromise. Or better yet, 30 everywhere!