Monday 5th January 2009

Vauxhall VXR8

All praise the V8 engine.

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Electric power, hybrid, green, carbon emissions and eco- friendly. All of these are phrases that I dislike hearing in discussions about cars. OK, so I realise that one day we may have to look after the planet a little better but as I see it, if everyone else does what the government tells them to do, then us PHers can go about our business as usual and all will be well. We can also buy all the large capacity petrol cars that nobody wants anymore. Personally, I can't wait.

In this age of reduced emissions isn’t it nice to still be able to wander into a mainstream dealer and say loudly, do you have anything with a V8 young man? Oh and preferably something bigger than 6 litres please. As the other buyers look at you as if you had announced you are about to marry your pet cat, the sales guy smiles and says certainly sir, step this way. Thankfully that can happen in Vauxhall showrooms up and down the land as they can sell you the recently revised 6.2 litre VXR8.

The improvements are small, but welcome with the GM LS3 engine squeezed under the bonnet you now have an additional 0.2 of a litre and power is up from 411 to 425bhp. It can now be ordered in white too, and as you can see from the pictures it doesn't look half bad. At £35k it seems to offer ridiculous value for money and as well as being a great car to drive for drivings sake, you can also pile in the family and a boot full of luggage without any issues at all. The seats are comfortable, and the large fuel tank means a 350 mile range is within reach even at 20mpg, as I found out on a trip to visit my family on Christmas Day. What else offers you big car space, 155mph, 0-60 in under 5 seconds and a whopping great engine this side of an M5 or RS6?

Traction is an issue, but perhaps that should be a selling point in the sales brochures? It wasn't long before the pristine white paintwork behind the rear wheels turned a lighter shade of black as it collected burnt rubber thrown up from over indulgent cornering and traffic light starts. Addictive stuff indeed, and throw in the noise from the Walkinshaw performance exhaust and it's a hard habit to break.

The big Vauxhall attracted attention in my part of SW London, mainly because of the local Australians feeling all home sick as they watched the 'Holden' drive past. Aside from the home fans, many others seemed to enjoy seeing the '8 on the streets. I assume that's because you don't see many of these around, but maybe it’s misunderstood as most of the looks were from those who 'know' as they passed in other PH- worthy cars. Its popularity was soon to be tested under the harshest of conditions though as I was taking it to not one, but two car meets over the Christmas period.

Boxing Day morning, and I’m happily driving to meet up with the London Tunnelers in Central London. It's only a short drive from home and as I burble along I'm looking forward to making a noise at this most noisy of events. I park up next to a few early arrivals and they comment on the nice noise I made when I arrived. So far so good then and they appear to like the way the car looks, especially in white. Fast forward 20 minutes or so and I’m now surrounded by the loudest cars in London- from Mk1 Cortinas to supercharged Ford GTs.

My once nice sounding car is now about as loud as the aforementioned eco- friendly cars as my ears are treated to the best V8, V10 and V12 noises to be heard outside of Santa Pod. To be heard amongst this crowd I needed to remove all of the silencing from the VXR. Those that saw the car seemed to like it, and when you are in the company of some very expensive and rare machinery that can only be a good thing. As I made my way home the car became noisy once again and pedestrians looked around to see what was coming along the road. Despite being drowned out at the meet earlier, you have to admit that this is a great sounding car.

The next day and it's off to the last PH meet of the year, a brave move indeed when you realise that the pub we were heading to was within a stones throw of Bluewater shopping centre and the sales were starting that day. I met up with a number of London PHers early enough to avoid the traffic and we headed off in convoy. Now while I cannot expect the 6.2 four seater Vauxhall to be able to keep pace with some of Italy’s finest, I can say that it kept up remarkably well on the occasions we were able to flex the right foot a little. I'm not too sure about the on the limit handling though and it was with some trepidation that I took some tight, fast bends. While this is a car I would love to live with as a daily drive, I’m not sure how it would fare on a track day.

My limited time with the car tells me that I would like to have some chassis tweaks made to tighten things up a little and eliminate some of the body roll, without these adjustments it lacks a little for me. What does impress is how easy it is to drive. The gearbox is precise and the steering has great feel. The seats are very comfortable, and as you would expect visibility is excellent too. Add in the huge boot, decent cruising range and it's alter- ego football hooligan, loud and brash side and I had to award it my recently created 'Car that would be great to take to Le Mans' award.

Giving the car back to Vauxhall was a sad day indeed. As I made the most of living with a V8 soundtrack on the way back to Luton I honestly believed that this is one of most PH cars you can buy today for the money. Especially if you want the TVR experience but have to transport the family around these days. Take one to your local exhaust specialist for a louder soundtrack and revel in muscle car heaven; it's what the British car industry should be making today. Seems we need the Australians, with a large helping of US grunt to make the ideal, cost effective (relatively speaking) family transport.

As I came off the M1 towards Vauxhall HQ I came alongside a Prius at the roundabout. As the traffic cleared I floored the accelerator making lots of noise and leaving the little Toyota standing there. Now while Vauxhall have made the VXR8 very efficient indeed in terms of emissions, you know that the Prius family hated me at that point. As I grabbed third and the noise started all over again I reminded myself why I want to live in a world of loud, fast, petrol driven cars for as long as I possibly can. I want one of these cars. Badly.  

 

[GingerWizard]

Great write up, personally, i would love one of these, they seem to provide so much bang for the buck, and having seen a couple in red, look fantastic. Proper muscle car looks with saloon capabilities, over a M5.... most definatly. (not being the greatest BMW fan!)

GingerWizard

[Beefmeister]

Great writeup Paul, that's a seriously nice looking motor in white...

Can't wait til they're £6k and you don't care about the mpg....

[satchbot]

I do like the look of them. Just need to decide whether the next car is a Monaro or an 8

[dxb335d]

A great car for what it is. Not particularly pretty but does look meaty. Think they should be quicker than what they are though. Would rather a used E60 M5 they truly are brutal.

[LHDisbest]

Looks the dog's private's in white i must say.

Did Vauxhall object to you taking the car back with the vinyl PH smilie on it?

[Garett]

So has this replaced the Monaro or is it a 4 door Monaro? Its a stunning car either way, there was loads of these type of barges when I was in Oz a few years ago, they love them with a Ute rear end but I've only ever seen a couple in the U.K.

[Garlick]

LHDisbest said:

Did Vauxhall object to you taking the car back with the vinyl PH smilie on it?

They peel off you know

[SS HSV]

So this morning on the way to work I was sitting at a roundabout in my Prius...

Prius? No chance! I have been shouting from the rooftops just how good these cars are and mainly all I got back is the M5 is better. Bo-lox are they; it's not about marque, plastics quality in the cabin or paperwork specs, its how you feel when you drive it. It's raw, simplisitic and brutal, and that's without the £7k supercharger convertion. Please Vauxhal, let me do the no-nonsense ad campaign for this car - "Vxr8? Farkin Get Some!"

Great article Garlick, and glad you enjoyed the secret car club.. not so secret now

[collateral]

Looks great in white, although the wheels and spoiler don't do it for me.

I saw a silver one and it didn't look right at all...a very colour dependent design I think

[gumsie]

Much as I'd usually try anything to justify getting a car with a V8, given the choice of anything fast and Vauxhall I think I'd have to reach for their back catalogue and choose the Lotus Carlton. This is over most of the current crop of large super saloons and trust me, I LOVE german metal but for some ungodly reason it's still one of my favourite cars of all time.

[teapea]

great write up, couldn't agree with you more, fantastic car!!

[LuS1fer]

I love GM and love the LS engines but for me, Holden have always disappointed with their awful styling. The Monaro looked like a big Vectra and this looks just horrible.

For me, I would run a country mile from that and buy a new Camaro, Mustang, Challenger or even Cadillac CTS-V (old or new)which had 400hp back in 2005 using the C5 Z06 engine. That too is an acquired taste but it's different. This is just "GM generic styling" and for that reason...."I'm ooot".

[wigsworld]

Great car very tempted to buy one actually. You just can't beat the sound of a big v8. It does make me laugh when people say these are bad for the environment though, the emissions coming from a vxr8 are no worse than a toyota yaris. Seems like we've all been brainwashed by the government and media into thinking C02 is pollution, it isn't, it's a harmless natural gas. Such a shame that cars like these will be gone in the future. My advice for any petrolhead is to buy one before it's too late.

[DaveL485]

Good write up, have to get me a spin in one of those!

Also, I want your job!!!

[cvegas]

Drove one of these on a Vauxhall organised track day. It felt big, heavy, unwieldy and not as fast as it should have. It was a real contrast to the Astra VXR which felt athletic and exciting.

Perhaps it is best suited to cruising over long distances.

[Gas Man]

What happens if GM goes under???

Perhaps they should give one of these to Barack?

[isherdholi]

I do like everything that this car stands for, but dare I say, it simply cannot be compared to an M5. The beemer is in a class of its own for handling and build quality to name just two things.

Don't get me wrong, I'd still have a VXR8, and for the money, they are absolutely good value, but given the choice, and money no object, I'd rather have an M5.

[v15ben]

Garett said:

So has this replaced the Monaro or is it a 4 door Monaro?

Nope the Monaro was the 2 door Holden Coupe until it was finally sent packing recently. This is based on the 4 door saloon Holden model, the Commodore!

[bimsb6]

prefer the monaro we have had 5 inc the vxr and 1 vxr8 ,the vxr8 just wasn't the same it seemed to lose something when it got the extra 2 doors .

[davegreg]

I drive a Monaro as my everyday car, and i must be the only person where i work who genuinely looks forward to the drive in each morning. Great cars, and they come with a brilliant soundtrack too. Can't beat a V8!