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Vauxhall Vectra VXR: I can't believe it's a Vectra
November 8, 2005
By John Simister
read source: www.motoring.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=1566&fArticleId=2986627
Model: Vauxhall Vectra VXR.
Price: £23 995 (about R280 000).
Engine: 2792cc, quad-valve, turbocharged V6; 192kW at 5500rpm, 355Nm from 1800-4500rpm.
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox, front-wheel drive.
Performance: 260km/h, 0-100km/h in 6.5sec, 10.35 litres/100km.
How can a cappuccino be lukewarm when it's just been made? I don't know but the one I'm sipping in Cerda, Sicily, is. Yet I don't mind because I've just been looking at other things that genuinely are hot.
Pictures of them anyway, in a museum dedicated to the mad Sicilian road race called the Targa Florio
Modern Le Mans-type cars could never cope with the ridges and crests of Sicilian roads
. It ran each year from 1906 until 1977 and for many years was part of the World Endurance championship which included the Le Mans 24 Hours.
It couldn't happen today. Public safety awareness would render it impossible in the litigious mindset that is one of the US's most unpleasant exports and modern Le Mans-type cars could never cope with the ridges and crests and cracks that punctuate Sicilian roads.
Those of the 1960's had a hard job, too, but the sight of Phil Hill in a Chaparral 2F or local hero Nino Vaccarella in a Ferrari P4 showed they gave it a good try. That Chaparral, with its huge rear aerofoil, was one of the weirdest cars to compete.
It had a Chevrolet V8 and covert General Motors backing but that's not why I'm here today. The only slightly less tenuous excuse is that Fritz Opel, son of Adam Opel who founded the German car company that bears his surname and is nowadays also part of General Motors, took part in the 1907 Targa Florio and today I'm driving Opel's latest racy product
The deep burble of a powerful six-cylinder engine signals the arrival of a metallic blue car
.
Next to the café by the museum, the deep burble of a powerful six-cylinder engine signals the arrival of a metallic blue car with generous wheels and a pair of exhaust pipes trapezoidal in cross-section. It's a largeish five-door hatchback that sits low and looks faintly menacing.
Hard to believe, then, that it's a Vauxhall Vectra. Its personality transplant has occurred because this is a Vectra VXR, a car transformed in the way the VXR process has already reconfigured the Astra into something scary.
Or maybe not in quite the same way. There are major similarities in the principle: more power from the turbocharged engine that already powers what was previously the top-of-the-range model, lowered suspension with stiffer springs and dampers, big brakes, cosmetic sportification, promise of big pace potential and driving amusement.
But the Astra VXR, though rapid and no doubt entertaining should you be lucky enough to drive only on smooth roads, can turn fractious and hyperactive when you try to enjoy its attributes on the sort of roads rarely found away from a freeway.
Same goes for the new, Astra-based Zafira VXR MPV. How, then, will a VXR-ed Vectra turn out?
Forget the charisma
I hope it will turn out well, because it will be one in the eye for people who think the only way to have a fast and roomy saloon (or estate, because the Vectra VXR comes in either guise) is to have something expensively German or, at a push, Swedish.
How can a Vauxhall/Opel be as good as an Audi or a BMW?
Well, forget the charisma of a designer brand for a moment and be objective. The Vectra is well made (in Germany), well furnished and finished, and now it's fully and thoroughly engineered thanks to the efforts of a British – yes, British - engineering team.
The cars have undergone major changes in suspension and steering calibration to change them from dull and stodgy to incisive and interactive, while also improving ride comfort. And all of this new thinking has gone into the Vectra VXR.
Now, some figures. The 2.8-litre V6, with its twin-scroll turbocharger (one exhaust gas channel from each of the two exhaust manifolds), delivers 192kW and 355Nm.
Expect a blue light
Acceleration to 100km/h, making full use of the six-speed manual gearbox, takes 6.5 seconds. Top speed - this is a Vectra, remember, a car favoured by the Shropshire police whose drivers can use all the pace with impunity on the M54 when out "testing" - is a scarcely credible 260km/h.
And you can buy the hatch for £23 995 (there's no sedan), the estate for £1 000 more. The pace-times-space-divided-by-pounds-sterling sum could hardly be more favourable.
Expect to see a VXR with a blue light on the roof on a motorway near you soon if you live in or visit the UK.
I've started the engine, hearing that unexpectedly deep note. The accelerator response is keen and, as I point the VXR along the Sicilian roads, I discover that the steering response is similarly keen. Instant movement, instant effect; that this is a Vectra - a Vectra! how Clarkson must laugh! - does not readily compute.
I feel connected but the fractured road surface isn't jarring me to excess. The Vectra does not tug and squirm as I accelerate out of bends; it's flowing well, its steering is giving proper feedback about the state of grip under the front wheels.
The IDS2-plus "interactive driving system" integrates ESP stability control, traction control, the braking system and the electronically adaptive dampers which are constantly adapting their damping forces. The ESP system is designed to rein in a powerful front-wheel-drive car's tendency to run wide through a bend.
Relaxed cruising
The turbocharged engine adds to the Vectra's ability. It doesn't pour forth power in a bombastic torrent like the Astra VXR; rather it erupts softly from low speed right up to high speed.
Cruising in sixth gear is relaxed but there's a deep resonance between 1500 and 2200rpm that can become intrusive in the hatchback VXR.
As you will have gathered, I really liked the Vectra VXR. I liked the way it isn't the obvious choice, yet it makes the driver feel good. The estate version has a longer wheelbase and is fractionally less wieldy but here is a car to take on the mantle of those cultish, black-wheeled Volvo 850 T5 estates of a decade ago.
Sometimes it's good to overlook the obvious. - The Independent, London
THE RIVALS
ALFA 159 V6 Q4
£28 000
Top version of the Alfa 156 replacement has 195kW from its 3.2-litre V6 and allo-wheel drive. Extra weight means less pace and bigger fuel thirst than the VXR, though. Good-looking car with great handling, UK sales start soon.
BMW 318I M-SPORT
£23 690
Nearly as much money as the Vectra but only 98kW; it illustrates how overpriced the name brands can be. All the new 3 Series cars are delightful to drive, though, helped by the dynamic purity of their rear-wheel drive.
FORD MONDEO ST220
£24 300
The VXR's obvious rival, also with a powerful V6, great handling but a credibility problem with brand-conscious buyers. A truly delightful car but now upstaged for power and pace by the Vauxhall. Available as sedan, hatch or estate.
November 8, 2005
By John Simister
read source: www.motoring.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=1566&fArticleId=2986627
Model: Vauxhall Vectra VXR.
Price: £23 995 (about R280 000).
Engine: 2792cc, quad-valve, turbocharged V6; 192kW at 5500rpm, 355Nm from 1800-4500rpm.
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox, front-wheel drive.
Performance: 260km/h, 0-100km/h in 6.5sec, 10.35 litres/100km.
How can a cappuccino be lukewarm when it's just been made? I don't know but the one I'm sipping in Cerda, Sicily, is. Yet I don't mind because I've just been looking at other things that genuinely are hot.
Pictures of them anyway, in a museum dedicated to the mad Sicilian road race called the Targa Florio
Modern Le Mans-type cars could never cope with the ridges and crests of Sicilian roads
. It ran each year from 1906 until 1977 and for many years was part of the World Endurance championship which included the Le Mans 24 Hours.
It couldn't happen today. Public safety awareness would render it impossible in the litigious mindset that is one of the US's most unpleasant exports and modern Le Mans-type cars could never cope with the ridges and crests and cracks that punctuate Sicilian roads.
Those of the 1960's had a hard job, too, but the sight of Phil Hill in a Chaparral 2F or local hero Nino Vaccarella in a Ferrari P4 showed they gave it a good try. That Chaparral, with its huge rear aerofoil, was one of the weirdest cars to compete.
It had a Chevrolet V8 and covert General Motors backing but that's not why I'm here today. The only slightly less tenuous excuse is that Fritz Opel, son of Adam Opel who founded the German car company that bears his surname and is nowadays also part of General Motors, took part in the 1907 Targa Florio and today I'm driving Opel's latest racy product
The deep burble of a powerful six-cylinder engine signals the arrival of a metallic blue car
.
Next to the café by the museum, the deep burble of a powerful six-cylinder engine signals the arrival of a metallic blue car with generous wheels and a pair of exhaust pipes trapezoidal in cross-section. It's a largeish five-door hatchback that sits low and looks faintly menacing.
Hard to believe, then, that it's a Vauxhall Vectra. Its personality transplant has occurred because this is a Vectra VXR, a car transformed in the way the VXR process has already reconfigured the Astra into something scary.
Or maybe not in quite the same way. There are major similarities in the principle: more power from the turbocharged engine that already powers what was previously the top-of-the-range model, lowered suspension with stiffer springs and dampers, big brakes, cosmetic sportification, promise of big pace potential and driving amusement.
But the Astra VXR, though rapid and no doubt entertaining should you be lucky enough to drive only on smooth roads, can turn fractious and hyperactive when you try to enjoy its attributes on the sort of roads rarely found away from a freeway.
Same goes for the new, Astra-based Zafira VXR MPV. How, then, will a VXR-ed Vectra turn out?
Forget the charisma
I hope it will turn out well, because it will be one in the eye for people who think the only way to have a fast and roomy saloon (or estate, because the Vectra VXR comes in either guise) is to have something expensively German or, at a push, Swedish.
How can a Vauxhall/Opel be as good as an Audi or a BMW?
Well, forget the charisma of a designer brand for a moment and be objective. The Vectra is well made (in Germany), well furnished and finished, and now it's fully and thoroughly engineered thanks to the efforts of a British – yes, British - engineering team.
The cars have undergone major changes in suspension and steering calibration to change them from dull and stodgy to incisive and interactive, while also improving ride comfort. And all of this new thinking has gone into the Vectra VXR.
Now, some figures. The 2.8-litre V6, with its twin-scroll turbocharger (one exhaust gas channel from each of the two exhaust manifolds), delivers 192kW and 355Nm.
Expect a blue light
Acceleration to 100km/h, making full use of the six-speed manual gearbox, takes 6.5 seconds. Top speed - this is a Vectra, remember, a car favoured by the Shropshire police whose drivers can use all the pace with impunity on the M54 when out "testing" - is a scarcely credible 260km/h.
And you can buy the hatch for £23 995 (there's no sedan), the estate for £1 000 more. The pace-times-space-divided-by-pounds-sterling sum could hardly be more favourable.
Expect to see a VXR with a blue light on the roof on a motorway near you soon if you live in or visit the UK.
I've started the engine, hearing that unexpectedly deep note. The accelerator response is keen and, as I point the VXR along the Sicilian roads, I discover that the steering response is similarly keen. Instant movement, instant effect; that this is a Vectra - a Vectra! how Clarkson must laugh! - does not readily compute.
I feel connected but the fractured road surface isn't jarring me to excess. The Vectra does not tug and squirm as I accelerate out of bends; it's flowing well, its steering is giving proper feedback about the state of grip under the front wheels.
The IDS2-plus "interactive driving system" integrates ESP stability control, traction control, the braking system and the electronically adaptive dampers which are constantly adapting their damping forces. The ESP system is designed to rein in a powerful front-wheel-drive car's tendency to run wide through a bend.
Relaxed cruising
The turbocharged engine adds to the Vectra's ability. It doesn't pour forth power in a bombastic torrent like the Astra VXR; rather it erupts softly from low speed right up to high speed.
Cruising in sixth gear is relaxed but there's a deep resonance between 1500 and 2200rpm that can become intrusive in the hatchback VXR.
As you will have gathered, I really liked the Vectra VXR. I liked the way it isn't the obvious choice, yet it makes the driver feel good. The estate version has a longer wheelbase and is fractionally less wieldy but here is a car to take on the mantle of those cultish, black-wheeled Volvo 850 T5 estates of a decade ago.
Sometimes it's good to overlook the obvious. - The Independent, London
THE RIVALS
ALFA 159 V6 Q4
£28 000
Top version of the Alfa 156 replacement has 195kW from its 3.2-litre V6 and allo-wheel drive. Extra weight means less pace and bigger fuel thirst than the VXR, though. Good-looking car with great handling, UK sales start soon.
BMW 318I M-SPORT
£23 690
Nearly as much money as the Vectra but only 98kW; it illustrates how overpriced the name brands can be. All the new 3 Series cars are delightful to drive, though, helped by the dynamic purity of their rear-wheel drive.
FORD MONDEO ST220
£24 300
The VXR's obvious rival, also with a powerful V6, great handling but a credibility problem with brand-conscious buyers. A truly delightful car but now upstaged for power and pace by the Vauxhall. Available as sedan, hatch or estate.