2007 Vauxhall

I've owned this car since October 2011. I am a big fan of these cars, and advertising it for sale was not what I was expecting to have to do any time soon; but unfortunately for me, a recent job change means I am getting less overtime pay and the need to increase my efforts at saving for a house deposit make the sale of this now unavoidable - unless I win something decent on a scratchcard any time soon....

The Vectra VXR was the flagship performance model of the facelift Vectra C range, featuring a 2.8 litre V6 Turbo (the Z28NET) engine with a Remus exhaust system, and using the strong F40 6-Spd Manual front wheel drive transmission. The VXR was fitted with factory uprated suspension featuring Continuous Damping Control (CDC), slight lowering and larger VXR specific Brakes. Outside it had large wheels, deeper bumpers and skirts and a large rear lip spoiler, and inside it was similar to any other Vectra, but with the addition of Recaro seats, the chunky VXR steering wheel and gear lever combination, and VXR specific dials. A total of 1001 Vectra VXRs were built for the UK market between 2005 - 2009. Earlier models up to ~2007 were 255PS, and those built after then were 280PS - seeing primarily some engine and suspension revisions over the earlier 255 models.

This is a 2007 (57 Reg) model, one of the factory 280PS models, a 5dr hatchback and finished in metallic Star Silver - one of 80 VXRs built in this variant/colour combination.

In terms of spec, it was fitted with the following from the factory;

- Heated, Electric Recaro leather interior

- CD70 Navi system

- Cruise control

- IDS2+ Suspension system

- Electric, heated mirrors

- 4x electric windows

- Automatic air conditioning

- Xenon headlights

- 19" Alloys option

During ownership, I have retrofitted/converted to the following OEM parts;

- Adaptive Forwards Lighting (AFL) Bi-Xenon headlights - these 'bend' relative to steering input (which is especially good on rural roads such as the area I am based), and also have low speed corning lamps relative to steering input/indicator action. These were an expensive factory option!

- Auto lights - I made the most of a cracked standard windscreen, and paid for a new windscreen with the sensor mounting etc built in, allowing me to then get the sensor and switchgear to enable the Auto Lights/Wipers

- Auto wipers

- Auto-dimming rear view mirror - a plug & play upgrade from an earlier model Vectra, why these didn't come as standard is beyond me!

I have also carried out the following modifications to the car;

- JZW Tuning Map - Stage 1 'Soft'

- K&N panel filter

- EDS/Regal 3" downpipe (pre-cat removal section)

- Custom main cat removal section

- Centre silencer removal

- DAP-R lowering springs

- Quaife ATB limited slip differential (P/No QDF21B)

- Courtenay Sport 345mm grooved front brake discs

- CRN 292mm grooved rear brake discs

- EBC Yellowstuff brake pads (both F&R)

- 19" BBS CH replica alloy wheels - finished in a custom Sparkle Silver, with 235/35/19 tyres

- Tinted front foglights

- Prosport boost gauge - mounted to the A-Pillar

- Insignia VXR pedal trims

- Illuminated 'VXR' dial logo (there from the factory but not normally illuminated...)

- LED interior lights

- LED side and reg plate lights

I have found the Quaife ATB to be the best thing I have done with the car - it made a large difference to the handling and stability of the car, and makes for good standing starts and grip. There are not many of these cars with uprated Differentials out there, as it is quite a large outlay. It was one of the first things that I did with the car, less than 6 months into ownership.

I understand that some people have preference over who they use for Mapping - I used JZW tuning, a US based outfit who have decent experience of the Z28NEx 2.8V6T Engines that are also used in Saab models sold in North America. The map has provided the car with improved power delivery, with a noticeably broad power band over the more peaky standard map. If a buyer is not sure that they would like to keep this map on the car, I can easily remove it and return it to the standard GM 280PS map.

The car will come with an unfitted, low mileage OEM Main Cat section that can be installed for MOTs, or if you prefer, for it to be put back on permanently. The car will also come with some bypass pipes for the rear silencers, (which removes the gas path to the sound deadening material), which with the decat in place, makes the car run a straight through exhaust system - it is very loud in this form, sounds pretty angry and sometimes a bit much, sometimes not, again personal preference.

I changed the wheels from the OEM 19" wheels to aftermarket items as the OEM items are renowned for cracking - mine hadn't cracked, but it would have been inevitable, so I decided to just go ahead with a replacement.

I also have a full set of Team Heko wind deflectors that I had fitted for a while, but removed as I wasn't personally a fan - these can also be included in the sale if they are wanted, otherwise I will likely just end up scrapping them.

In May, I fitted a full new set of 6x Denso IKH24 uprated spark plugs gapped at 0.8mm (suitable for standard and mapped cars), and early in July I carried out an Oil/Filter change using GM Oil.

It has covered some mileage, and this will go up a little more whilst it is for sale unfortunately - it is currently around 113,000. I have presently put on around 26,000 miles since purchase with next to no trouble.

The MOT expiry is 8th February 2016.

One downside to the car being a later model is that it is the high-band Tax model, which is a shame - Band L - but luckily, monthly payments make it less offensive/painful/laughable....

Earlier this year, the front bumper was shunted, splitting it near the centre along the top edge - I have had this split repaired and the whole bumper (& Grille) resprayed to also remove a couple of chips.The small chrome strip around the grille is cracked, as the replacement pattern part I bought was frankly crap and wouldn't fit properly - a genuine one was hard to come by so for the meantime I have reused the original (as the cracked chrome piece is a very clean break, and only noticed up close)

NOTE - The car has just had a private plate removed, and the original reg (shown) reissued - it may not show up on any searches, and due to DVLA guidelines, my MOT cert with the private reg remains valid and they don't replace that simple piece of A4 paper. (Yes, I know!)

The car is advertised elsewhere, so this listing will be removed if it sells via another channel.

I would prefer a bank transfer for payment, this can be discussed though.

The car is available for viewing, working around my own availability. I will allow test drives, but only with viewers having valid insurance to do so and allowing me to take contact details from their driving licence prior to test in case of any mishaps. I will not allow unsupervised test drives – I will stay with the car. In my view, any genuinely interested parties will not be fussed by these requests, they are only sensible ones!

I'm not interested in letting this go to any overseas buyer/s, I'm not interested in hearing from any so-called 'Agents' looking to buy the car for a Nigerian prince for 'much monies' for a Vauxhall Vectra, and I'm not taken by the idea of any swap/part-ex offers atall.