Opel Sintra

The Opel Sintra is an automobile produced under the German marque Opel for the market in Europe between 1996 and 1999. It was sold in the United Kingdom as the Vauxhall Sintra. The Sintra was one of the second generation U-body (known internally as GMX110s) large multi-purpose vehicles (MPV). Contrary to popular belief, the name was not inspired by the historic Portuguese town of Sintra, rather, it was chosen by a computer from a list of short, easy to pronounce words which ended in the letter "a", to tie in to Opel's naming scheme at the time.

It was imported to Europe from the United States of America, where General Motors produced identical models under the Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac brands.

The Sintra was specifically based on the short wheelbase version of the second generation U platform and has the same wheelbase, front and rear track as the short wheelbase Chevrolet Venture and Pontiac Montana/Trans Sport, and similar exterior dimensions. Along with other U body minivans, it was made in Doraville, Georgia. For the British market, a Vauxhall-badged version with right-hand drive was introduced in March 1997.

ABS was standard as well as dual front airbags, dual front side airbags, and seat belt tensioners. The hood was made of aluminium in order to save weight and increase the crumple zone for safety. It had the largest interior of all the MPVs in the European market, including those from Daimler Chrysler.

The Sintra did not use the LA1 3400 V6 engine like the rest of the U body minivans, but rather a selection of Opel engines (which had to be imported to the United States for assembly). New for this generation were cabin air filters, which can be easily accessed from inside the glove compartment.

The Sintra had an important influence on U body development, because GM wanted to keep it similar in dimensions to European large MPVs (such as the Volkswagen Sharan, Ford Galaxy, SEAT Alhambra, Renault Espace, or the Eurovans). As such, the platform was made quite narrow, which in turn made the GMX110s narrower than the previous "dustbuster" minivans, and more importantly than most American competitors. This influence continued through the third and final generation U body minivans, even though none of them were sold in Europe.

The Sintra featured sliding rear side doors on both sides and was available in different seating configurations, which provided seating for from 5 to 8 passengers.

Unlike its counterparts sold in North America, it offered a manual transmission instead of an automatic transmission, and had the gear shift mounted directly on the floor like the older generations of European MPVs.