RE: Very fast Vauxhalls | Six of the Best
Discussion
sinisterpenguin said:
They made a Meriva Gsi? Good Lord! I bet you’d still see 4 old ladies get out when it parked up.
Nice little article - good start to a wet Saturday.
It was the Zafira GSi first. Based on the Astra G GSi. Then came both the Zafira B VXR and the Meriva VXR. Nice little article - good start to a wet Saturday.
I’ve actually got a Meriva VXR. Quite a lot of fun and probably better than you’d imagine looking at it. Will be up for sale soon.
JRHartless said:
wormus said:
Firebobby said:
£48k for an eight year old Vauxhall! I'd sooner put my hard earned in an M3 or an S4 thanks very much.
That’s your prerogative but sort of misses the point. If you're after the V8 experience you can similar vintage Merc, BMW, AUDI, Jag, Lexus V8's for considerably less.
The fastest Vauxhall of all though was this:
Nothing else ever came close. Top speed reputed to be around 185mph without ladder’s loosely strapped to the top. Most came with the optional rolled up copy of The Sun on the dashboard and for a while in the late 80s and 90s, they were the kings of the outside lane.
There’s a nice CAR article by Russell Bulgin about these legends from around 1990/1 which is well worth a read.
Nothing else ever came close. Top speed reputed to be around 185mph without ladder’s loosely strapped to the top. Most came with the optional rolled up copy of The Sun on the dashboard and for a while in the late 80s and 90s, they were the kings of the outside lane.
There’s a nice CAR article by Russell Bulgin about these legends from around 1990/1 which is well worth a read.
MickyveloceClassic said:
The fastest Vauxhall of all though was this:
Nothing else ever came close. Top speed reputed to be around 185mph without ladder’s loosely strapped to the top. Most came with the optional rolled up copy of The Sun on the dashboard and for a while in the late 80s and 90s, they were the kings of the outside lane.
There’s a nice CAR article by Russell Bulgin about these legends from around 1990/1 which is well worth a read.
Now THIS is a great point indeed..!!!!Nothing else ever came close. Top speed reputed to be around 185mph without ladder’s loosely strapped to the top. Most came with the optional rolled up copy of The Sun on the dashboard and for a while in the late 80s and 90s, they were the kings of the outside lane.
There’s a nice CAR article by Russell Bulgin about these legends from around 1990/1 which is well worth a read.
I remember whipping up to a footy game - spent the entire time in the outside lane - (was it called an AstraMax..??) idk really - can’t quite remember
But what I do remember was that the longer and harder you pressed the right hand pedal - it just kept going faster…!!
Legend of remembrance here… kudos…!
MickyveloceClassic said:
The fastest Vauxhall of all though was this:
Nothing else ever came close. Top speed reputed to be around 185mph without ladder’s loosely strapped to the top. Most came with the optional rolled up copy of The Sun on the dashboard and for a while in the late 80s and 90s, they were the kings of the outside lane.
There’s a nice CAR article by Russell Bulgin about these legends from around 1990/1 which is well worth a read.
I rented one of these in the early 90s as a student to move some stuff. 1.6 petrol I think. The lack of weight did indeed make it feel like a rocket ship at the time. Nothing else ever came close. Top speed reputed to be around 185mph without ladder’s loosely strapped to the top. Most came with the optional rolled up copy of The Sun on the dashboard and for a while in the late 80s and 90s, they were the kings of the outside lane.
There’s a nice CAR article by Russell Bulgin about these legends from around 1990/1 which is well worth a read.
wormus said:
MickyveloceClassic said:
The fastest Vauxhall of all though was this:
Nothing else ever came close. Top speed reputed to be around 185mph without ladder’s loosely strapped to the top. Most came with the optional rolled up copy of The Sun on the dashboard and for a while in the late 80s and 90s, they were the kings of the outside lane.
There’s a nice CAR article by Russell Bulgin about these legends from around 1990/1 which is well worth a read.
I rented one of these in the early 90s as a student to move some stuff. 1.6 petrol I think. The lack of weight did indeed make it feel like a rocket ship at the time. Nothing else ever came close. Top speed reputed to be around 185mph without ladder’s loosely strapped to the top. Most came with the optional rolled up copy of The Sun on the dashboard and for a while in the late 80s and 90s, they were the kings of the outside lane.
There’s a nice CAR article by Russell Bulgin about these legends from around 1990/1 which is well worth a read.
MickyveloceClassic said:
The fastest Vauxhall of all though was this:
Nothing else ever came close. Top speed reputed to be around 185mph without ladder’s loosely strapped to the top. Most came with the optional rolled up copy of The Sun on the dashboard and for a while in the late 80s and 90s, they were the kings of the outside lane.
There’s a nice CAR article by Russell Bulgin about these legends from around 1990/1 which is well worth a read.
That CAR article is fantastic, really made my morning Nothing else ever came close. Top speed reputed to be around 185mph without ladder’s loosely strapped to the top. Most came with the optional rolled up copy of The Sun on the dashboard and for a while in the late 80s and 90s, they were the kings of the outside lane.
There’s a nice CAR article by Russell Bulgin about these legends from around 1990/1 which is well worth a read.
As for the Vauxhalls, this would probable be my pick - low owners and at a glance looks clean:
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/15475489
Like the Insignia VXR in estate form.
I know it’s not the ultimate driving machine but would make an excellent motorway blaster. Just point and squirt and no one outside of car anoraks would know it’s anything other than a Vauxhall with big wheels.
Dare I say that I think it’s not that badly priced? Especially considering todays market? Yes, fuel, tax and spares will hurt a bit but I like that a lot.
I know it’s not the ultimate driving machine but would make an excellent motorway blaster. Just point and squirt and no one outside of car anoraks would know it’s anything other than a Vauxhall with big wheels.
Dare I say that I think it’s not that badly priced? Especially considering todays market? Yes, fuel, tax and spares will hurt a bit but I like that a lot.
MickyveloceClassic said:
The fastest Vauxhall of all though was this:
Nothing else ever came close. Top speed reputed to be around 185mph without ladder’s loosely strapped to the top. Most came with the optional rolled up copy of The Sun on the dashboard and for a while in the late 80s and 90s, they were the kings of the outside lane.
There’s a nice CAR article by Russell Bulgin about these legends from around 1990/1 which is well worth a read.
These had a bit of a renaissance in the early 00's when chipped 1.9cdti astra H vans were doing the rounds. Nothing else ever came close. Top speed reputed to be around 185mph without ladder’s loosely strapped to the top. Most came with the optional rolled up copy of The Sun on the dashboard and for a while in the late 80s and 90s, they were the kings of the outside lane.
There’s a nice CAR article by Russell Bulgin about these legends from around 1990/1 which is well worth a read.
Vauxhall was a bit of a interesting brand back in 00's. They had the best lineup of all the traditional working class brands. You had hot versions of near enough everything and then you had the Halo cars of the Monaro and sports cars like the VX220.
The Astra H was actually a very good car and the Zafira sold by the bucket because it was actually a useful vehicle unlike 99% of the crossovers now.
Vauxhall is pretty much nothing now.
I was in my early days of driving a fan of warm Vauxhall.s. The first I bought was in Cavalier SRi (1st car I chose, prior were cheap family hamd-me downs), followed by an SRi130 and then onto an Astra GTE - then I got company cars and we had to have BL iniitially and then Ford
So, in my heart I want to live Vauxhall's, but in reality, the ones after that era just never seemed to consistently click
I think the reason is that Vauxhall became just a marketing badge and all Vauxhall's were in reality something else which was developed for that market needs and not ideal for the UK. Most were Opel was optimised for Germany as the "poor man's VW" to work well around town and on the autobahn for long distances with the engineering done in Russelsheim in Germany. I think this led to the chassis just not being as suitable to make an engaging car on the UK roads. The Vauxhall's I bought had cracking engines (Family 2 and Red Top 16v in particular) and were a step better than the competition in that area, but later all the OEM's engines became much more equal and so Vauxhall lost that edge
So then Vauxhall resorted to "finding opportunities where it could" as it couldn't create a class leading core product as good as Ford, Renault, VW .......
Hence the VX220 , Monaro etc etc and also weird niche's like the Meriva VXR. And whilst some of these were good cars (I loved the VX220 of my cousins) they never either generated big sales or reflected sportiness back onto the core vehicles as happened with Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo and as such they were not really successful and therefore after a while Vauxhall gave up and now we have the dreary lineup of sensible, reasonably competent PSA based cars we do
Interestingly, and in contrast to the above, my Mum, in her 80's wanted to downsize from a Focus and I bought her a Corsa as I wanted to get the simplest car I could (1.4 16v with 6 speed torque converter auto. No DCT, no turbo, no hybrid........) I have to say 3 years on she is completely happy with it and it has been totally reliable, so a good car, but not in any way sporty
So, in my heart I want to live Vauxhall's, but in reality, the ones after that era just never seemed to consistently click
I think the reason is that Vauxhall became just a marketing badge and all Vauxhall's were in reality something else which was developed for that market needs and not ideal for the UK. Most were Opel was optimised for Germany as the "poor man's VW" to work well around town and on the autobahn for long distances with the engineering done in Russelsheim in Germany. I think this led to the chassis just not being as suitable to make an engaging car on the UK roads. The Vauxhall's I bought had cracking engines (Family 2 and Red Top 16v in particular) and were a step better than the competition in that area, but later all the OEM's engines became much more equal and so Vauxhall lost that edge
So then Vauxhall resorted to "finding opportunities where it could" as it couldn't create a class leading core product as good as Ford, Renault, VW .......
Hence the VX220 , Monaro etc etc and also weird niche's like the Meriva VXR. And whilst some of these were good cars (I loved the VX220 of my cousins) they never either generated big sales or reflected sportiness back onto the core vehicles as happened with Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo and as such they were not really successful and therefore after a while Vauxhall gave up and now we have the dreary lineup of sensible, reasonably competent PSA based cars we do
Interestingly, and in contrast to the above, my Mum, in her 80's wanted to downsize from a Focus and I bought her a Corsa as I wanted to get the simplest car I could (1.4 16v with 6 speed torque converter auto. No DCT, no turbo, no hybrid........) I have to say 3 years on she is completely happy with it and it has been totally reliable, so a good car, but not in any way sporty
CouncilFerrari said:
Cambs_Stuart said:
Surprised there wasn't a GTC VXR, they're modern enough and there are a few in the classifieds.
Shame there are no fast Cavaliers, Calibras or Novas around any more...
They're about, I've got a Cav GSi that I'm just finalising the restoration of. Shame there are no fast Cavaliers, Calibras or Novas around any more...
Mr-B said:
Deerfoot said:
I know prices have gone crazy recently but £5000 for a 20+ year old Zafira with 130000+ miles?
Crackers.
My thoughts exactly.Crackers.
Edited by Deerfoot on Saturday 18th November 10:33
TBF, mental prices aside (which aren't PHs fault) I do like that PH appears to be going back to its core demographic of "people who just like cars" rather than articles like "are YOU the office d
head in an IT job? Here are 10 crotch thrusting lease cars you can use to dominate the water cooler conversation"
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