VXR8 decision - need a push

[LathamJohnP]

First post to this forum.

I'm quite close to ordering a VXR8 for importing to Ireland. It'll cost €70k all in due to VAT and registration taxes, road tax will be €1300 a year, insurance about the same again, and tyres won't be cheap.

I reckon that over three years, it'll cost me at least €1100 a month in depreciation, tax, and insurance.

I commute by train and have a shopping trolley (Suzuki Swift) for town use so can keep the mileage down to maybe 8k miles a year, which is (only!) about €200 a month in fuel, if the 15mpg combined is accurate.

So, given that I'll be spending over 5 times as much on non-fuel costs, why does the fuel consumption bother me? No idea. Clearly I've been brainwashed by the green lobby. I have this tedious accounting devil on my shoulder saying "buy a 535d - it probably has the same mid-range grunt, will use half as much fuel and keep its value".

I've owned some fun small cars before (MX5,Caterham Fireblade,Mini Cooper S), but nothing big and grunty like the VXR.

Will it feel like a four-door TVR, a cheaper and more entertaining M5 substitute, or an overweight fast Vectra with a drink problem?

As existing HSV/Monaro owners, does the sound and fury compensate for the alarming fuel consumption?

Go on, tell me it's worth it

John

[greens vauxhall]

Read Autocar from last week, it compares it to the M5 very favourably.

[Smiler.]

I bought mine as a cheap intro to the high performance and have modded the car to get it. I suppose I eventually track the car permanently or sell it at a huge loss. I always knew it's residual would be pants, but I get the enjoyment out of driving it.

HTH.

[crisisjez]

The standard VXR8 is very well balanced, feels a lot smaller and handles well. Brakes are good and the ride is firmer than the `ro` but not Audi TT hard. Power wise it`s fine but I`d expect you to get bored quite quickly as I personally think it`s a little `neutral` as a package.
BUT... as you are going to have to throw K`s away on duty etc I would suggest you go as far down the mod route as your wallet can take you (all hidden invoice of course) A blown VXR8 would be some beastie for sure, and would give you a much better bang per buck ratio.
Combined figures for a standard 6.0 VXR is reported as approx 18mpg.
Mine`s running a supercharger and I never, ever get a figure that low. (av 23 mpg).
Good luck.

[ringram]

If you are going to the expense of importation vat, duty, sva, mot etc, etc why not save a decent amount and import direct from oz. Then you can even consider the Holden SS 6L 6sp which would be around €30k either way even choosing the clubsport you should have a fair bit.

That will help to offset a fair amount of depreciation and give you something a little different to the vauxhall's as it will be a straight up HSV (saves on changing the badges over too!)

[greens vauxhall]

ringram said:

If you are going to the expense of importation vat, duty, sva, mot etc, etc why not save a decent amount and import direct from oz. Then you can even consider the Holden SS 6L 6sp which would be around €30k either way even choosing the clubsport you should have a fair bit.

That will help to offset a fair amount of depreciation and give you something a little different to the vauxhall's as it will be a straight up HSV (saves on changing the badges over too!)

I thought the SS was a Holden, not a HSV ??

[o.versteer]

greens vauxhall said:

ringram said:

If you are going to the expense of importation vat, duty, sva, mot etc, etc why not save a decent amount and import direct from oz. Then you can even consider the Holden SS 6L 6sp which would be around €30k either way even choosing the clubsport you should have a fair bit.

That will help to offset a fair amount of depreciation and give you something a little different to the vauxhall's as it will be a straight up HSV (saves on changing the badges over too!)

I thought the SS was a Holden, not a HSV ??

Isn't that precisely what he's saying?

[ringram]

greens vauxhall said:

ringram said:

If you are going to the expense of importation vat, duty, sva, mot etc, etc why not save a decent amount and import direct from oz. Then you can even consider the Holden SS 6L 6sp which would be around €30k either way even choosing the CLUBSPORT you should have a fair bit.

That will help to offset a fair amount of depreciation and give you something a little different to the vauxhall's as it will be a straight up HSV (saves on changing the badges over too!)

I thought the SS was a Holden, not a HSV ??

It is Sir.. I was talking about the Clubsport I mentioned at the time. Anyway HSV = HOLDEN SPECIAL VEHICLES so they are both Holden really. One is just the sports model.

[LathamJohnP]

ringram said:

If you are going to the expense of importation vat, duty, sva, mot etc, etc why not save a decent amount and import direct from oz.

The problem I think is that Ireland requires either (a) that the car model has documented European type approval (b) the specific car has been fully registered in another EU country already. They sort of assume that these are equivalent, which isn't the case with the VXR8 as it is only low volume type-approved in the UK (so for instance EU III emissions not IV).

So, if I import from Aus, I have either get one that's Euro type approved (seems unlikely - who would know?), or import in two steps via the UK (which is twice the pain).

[LathamJohnP]

crisisjez said:

Combined figures for a standard 6.0 VXR is reported as approx 18mpg. Mine`s running a supercharger and I never, ever get a figure that low. (av 23 mpg).

It's amazing that you get better than official mpg with a supercharger. I guess there's so much low down power that you don't rev it sufficiently to drive the s/c hard?

Insurance aside, it will be relatively cheap for me to fit the S/C later since I won't pay VRT (registration tax) on after-sales mods. I think I'd need to get used to 420bhp first though!

John

[LathamJohnP]

I spent time this evening assessing the on-paper practicality of the VXR8.

Incredibly, it has more cabin and boot space than my Honda FRV (midi MPV) that it would replace. So, aside from the extra couple of feet in length, it should make a good family car.

Interior and exterior dimensions are almost identical to the Chrysler 300C which I hired from Hertz a while back, with a couple of extra inches hip and shoulder room in the rear (good when you have two baby seats and a teenager). The 300C felt big too - my 5"1' wife looked like a toddler in the back.

[crisisjez]

Have a look at this.



www.hsv.org.uk/topic.asp?t=389373&f=69&h=27

Also Evo mag returned 25 mpg from a VXR500 on a recent continental test drive.

420bhp`ll last you about 5 mins in that car believe me.

Edited by crisisjez on Thursday 24th May 23:11

[greens vauxhall]

ringram said:

greens vauxhall said:

ringram said:

If you are going to the expense of importation vat, duty, sva, mot etc, etc why not save a decent amount and import direct from oz. Then you can even consider the Holden SS 6L 6sp which would be around €30k either way even choosing the CLUBSPORT you should have a fair bit.

That will help to offset a fair amount of depreciation and give you something a little different to the vauxhall's as it will be a straight up HSV (saves on changing the badges over too!)

I thought the SS was a Holden, not a HSV ??

It is Sir.. I was talking about the Clubsport I mentioned at the time. Anyway HSV = HOLDEN SPECIAL VEHICLES so they are both Holden really. One is just the sports model.

HSV is a little more than a sport badge. The cars are assembled in a different factory and engineered somewhat differently. The SS uses a truck engine!!!

[V-Car]

greens vauxhall said:

HSV is a little more than a sport badge. The cars are assembled in a different factory and engineered somewhat differently.

*cough* pardon? *cough*
The cars are built on the same production line as any other Holden where they are fitted with the LS2, side vents and interior.
They come down the line with a build sheet that denotes whether the car be built as an Omega, Berlina, Calais or HSV.
They are then trucked to HSV's pre-delivery shop at Clayton to have only the wheels, brakes, body kit and other value adding things installed.
Holden have only one factory in Australia, and every Commodore, including the HSV badged ones, are built there.

[ringram]

greens vauxhall said:

HSV is a little more than a sport badge. The cars are assembled in a different factory and engineered somewhat differently. The SS uses a truck engine!!!

Im sure you mean the final trim is assembled differently. Im sure the body structure is exactly the same as the Holden.

What you mean truck, isnt the LS2 in the HSV in the SS Trailblazer?

Lucky the 2008 LS3 corvette also uses the same "truck" engine, but in 6.2L guise then. I guess we dont want that. Much better to have the old 6L ls2 that runs 8 year old LS6 heads.

[ringram]

.. LathamJohn, you could see what paperwork comes out with the VXR8, its basically an R8 Clubsport (with different seats and wheels). If the paperwork matches you might be able to get a copy of the VXR8 paperwork showing how its identical to the R8 Clubsport and get it for €40k. IE VIN and options codes will be identical or at least near so.

But I understand if the hassle isnt worth it. Mind you €30k is a lot of fuel!

[ringram]

LathamJohnP said:

crisisjez said:

Combined figures for a standard 6.0 VXR is reported as approx 18mpg. Mine`s running a supercharger and I never, ever get a figure that low. (av 23 mpg).

It's amazing that you get better than official mpg with a supercharger. I guess there's so much low down power that you don't rev it sufficiently to drive the s/c hard?

Insurance aside, it will be relatively cheap for me to fit the S/C later since I won't pay VRT (registration tax) on after-sales mods. I think I'd need to get used to 420bhp first though!

John

Its no so much the extra torque, that costs you fuel to get. Its the increased volumetric efficiency. (ie) each induction stroke ingests more air making the engine more volumetrically efficient.

As opposed to mechanical efficiency (friction, mass etc) and thermodynamic efficiency (heat, compression ratio etc)

[crisisjez]

ringram said:

LathamJohnP said:

crisisjez said:

Combined figures for a standard 6.0 VXR is reported as approx 18mpg. Mine`s running a supercharger and I never, ever get a figure that low. (av 23 mpg).

It's amazing that you get better than official mpg with a supercharger. I guess there's so much low down power that you don't rev it sufficiently to drive the s/c hard?

Insurance aside, it will be relatively cheap for me to fit the S/C later since I won't pay VRT (registration tax) on after-sales mods. I think I'd need to get used to 420bhp first though!

John

Its no so much the extra torque, that costs you fuel to get. Its the increased volumetric efficiency. (ie) each induction stroke ingests more air making the engine more volumetrically efficient.

As opposed to mechanical efficiency (friction, mass etc) and thermodynamic efficiency (heat, compression ratio etc)

Yeah I was going to say that

[LathamJohnP]

ringram said:

Its no so much the extra torque, that costs you fuel to get. Its the increased volumetric efficiency. (ie) each induction stroke ingests more air making the engine more volumetrically efficient.

Er, but for a given engine capacity, increasing the volumetric efficiency just means shoving more air and fuel in, which won't give you more MPG, surely?

John

[Gas_Man]

LathamJohnP said:

ringram said:

Its no so much the extra torque, that costs you fuel to get. Its the increased volumetric efficiency. (ie) each induction stroke ingests more air making the engine more volumetrically efficient.

Er, but for a given engine capacity, increasing the volumetric efficiency just means shoving more air and fuel in, which won't give you more MPG, surely?

John

But that's the point... in the real world, that kind of efficiency increase means that your go pedal is depressed less, and for a shorter duration. In addition cruising at a set speed is far easier (whatever that speed may be!)
The net result is a fuel saving despite the ability to burn a greater quantity in a shorter space of time (for MORE smiles!)