Opel Calibra 2.0i Turbo 4x4... This car seems to be really good on paper but I never see people talk about it here. Is it a bad car or a great car very underrated?

No it’s a very good car (transfer box issues aside) but most people on Car Throttle know next to nothing about fast Vauxhalls/Opels from the 90s and early 2000s. I always wanted one but in the UK most people have pillaged them for the engine to put into their Corsas so they’re really rare. I had to settle for the newer version.

Good car for the time, but transfer case did handle this much, any tune would kill it. It would rust as most opels of the time would do( I know that some people put rear diff from audi TT and whole gearbox from AWD celica, and got 500-600hp from the engine. Those are quite a car, that gives BMW run for its money.
Sadly most of people here are around 16-18 years old and did not really see any of these

It got bad rep for it’s owners. It was the ricer’s favourite in Europe. 90% of examples are neon light covered, LPG powered, 2.0 115hp, yellow, rust buckets.

http://portugal.angloinfo.com/transport/vehicle-ownership/eu-vehicles/

So that is how they look without bodykit and neon lights?!

When the calibra was new, it had one of the best aerodynamics on the market.

I love it, indeed very underrated, and because of it’s rice-history it is kind-a sleeper :P

Abit of a drug dealers car…you alot on the old road wars episodes but overall I would say its not underrated because people respect the car but rather it’s just forgotten

I always bought the racing version of this car in the glory days of Gran Turismo 2, and it was pretty good when tuned properly.

When it came out, it was supposed to "replace" the Manta, being a reasonably priced sporty Opel. It was not that many years ago that Porshe took the title "most aerodynamic consumers car" that the Calibra had been holding for a long while (probably the longest for a single model).
Not too many people bought them when they were new, and most of them ended up being "riced" with body-kits, neon, +++ a lot of "shed tuning" with mixed results (most of them failed miserably).

It sort of a forgotten gem in the used coupe market, being overshadowed by the Honda Prelude and Toyota Celica, but the Calibra trumfs with the 4wd. It’s also very cheap to own and maintain, being that a lot of the parts are interchangable with Astras, Vectras and to some degree Omegas. It is allso easy to work on yourself or "cheap" to take to your local garage.

The weak points of the Calibra are probably the turbo and the whole Eco-Tec line of Opel. When they start using oil, get used to fill the oil and check the gas and leaving a some screen that would make any coal plant jealous. That usually happens around 200’000 km. Some last a lot longer and some start binging oil after just 140’000 km, depending on previous owners. I would recomend getting the "normal" 2.0 without the turbo OR even better the V6 that gives a much smoother ride, about the same economy, hp and better Nm without the turbo lag (NO REPLACEMENT FOR DISPLACEMENT HRMPF RABBLE RABBLE old man sounds).

If you come by an original Calibra (or engine swapped) with adult previous owners who have a complete service history, I would have no problem recomending it a both a daily driver and/or track car. Just do the world a favour and keep it as original as possible, and you might even end up with a profit in a few years (like the VW Corrado is doing today).