RE: Vauxhall VX220: PH Used Buying Guide
Discussion
Roberty said:
I had one and would not recommend one at all!
Having previously had an Elise I thought this would be a great alternative to upgrading to an S2. Having the same chassis but a better engine thought I t would be fun. Turned out to have all the issues of any Elise and more and without the same levels of fun to compensate.
The lack of reliability, poor build quality, awful service and inflated parts costs from the main dealers together with its complete lack of practicality meant it had to go. The Elise is also entirely impractical but it’s such good fun to drive you can forgive it. In the VX the Poor build, reliability brought the lack of practicality into sharp focus taking the fun out of it.
The 2.2 Vauxhall Engine is far more powerful than the S1 Elise's old Rover lump but lacks the character the K-series has and is no where near as good as the Toyota VVTLi unit in the newer Elise S2's.
Mods can Sharpen the handling and add power but at far to high a cost for my liking. Osmosis of the GRP bodywork is a real serious issue and costs a fortune to solve properly. Many thought it was a kitcar.
I wouldn't recommend one over an Elise, in fact I wouldn't recommend one at all possibly one of the worst cars I've owned.
Conversely I daily drove for for 6 1/2 years putting on 70000 miles bring it to 130000. In that time the only things I had to change was the suspension and get one new brake caliper. My 7 year old Giulietta has cost as much in running for 1 year as the VX did in the 6 1/2 years.Having previously had an Elise I thought this would be a great alternative to upgrading to an S2. Having the same chassis but a better engine thought I t would be fun. Turned out to have all the issues of any Elise and more and without the same levels of fun to compensate.
The lack of reliability, poor build quality, awful service and inflated parts costs from the main dealers together with its complete lack of practicality meant it had to go. The Elise is also entirely impractical but it’s such good fun to drive you can forgive it. In the VX the Poor build, reliability brought the lack of practicality into sharp focus taking the fun out of it.
The 2.2 Vauxhall Engine is far more powerful than the S1 Elise's old Rover lump but lacks the character the K-series has and is no where near as good as the Toyota VVTLi unit in the newer Elise S2's.
Mods can Sharpen the handling and add power but at far to high a cost for my liking. Osmosis of the GRP bodywork is a real serious issue and costs a fortune to solve properly. Many thought it was a kitcar.
I wouldn't recommend one over an Elise, in fact I wouldn't recommend one at all possibly one of the worst cars I've owned.
Edited by Roberty on Thursday 15th November 06:42
Took it off the road in Jan, took it all apart (as someone that hadn't done much before mechanically, it was a largely a piece of piss but for a couple of rusty fixings) and rebuilt it with new components wherever needed and drove it 2500 miles around Europe in 2 weeks near flawlessly (twice the engine cut out due to old connections occasionally throwing a wobbly).
For the price of them compared to an Elise, I can't see why you wouldn't.
As for badge snobs, not many sub £10k cars can cruise round Monaco getting the admiration it did.,
As above, the article has quite a number of inconsistencies and reads a bit like a copy-paste job from a number of internet sources.
And the whole 'only 10% parts' thing is a bit of a misnomer - the 10% it does shares are the parts that essentially define the Elise variants (with relatively minor and interchangeable variations in most cases) - chassis, suspension, steering, brakes. Its actually closer to an S2 Elise than an S1 (heavier, longer wheel base, different tub, safety features like airbag and ABS etc.)
I've had three, with my current one 2.0 Supercharged. I've always fancied an S2 Elise / Exige, but I'd essentially be 2x the price for something of similar performance. I actually prefer the lack of badge too!
Don't ever take them to Vauxhall. They have no clue about these cars. A Lotus dealer or specialist is required if you're not into DIY.
skidskid said:
coldel said:
When I sold mine back in 2014 though some owners were looking at reproducing body parts so wouldnt know if that actually came to fruition.
Jon Seal Sports Cars makes new bodywork so its not an issue getting hold of panels anymore. Boydie88 said:
For the price of them compared to an Elise, I can't see why you wouldn't.
There are arguments both ways. Ultimately anything based on the Elise platform is more like anything else based on the Elise platform than anything else, if that makes sense, but the differences are significant enough to make personal preference the deciding factor even with the significant differences in price. For me, the brakes alone were enough to make a K-series Elise worth the premium over a VX220.
coldel said:
Brilliant, actually make my umming and urring about getting another one go away a touch!
Non-OEM body panels are easy enough to come by now. As the article mentions the only really awkward component seems to be the lights. I guess producing non-OEM lights is tricky because of the requirement for explicit type approval (although I dare say many owners would be happy just ignoring that law if they could get replacement lights for a quarter the price). kambites said:
coldel said:
Brilliant, actually make my umming and urring about getting another one go away a touch!
Non-OEM body panels are easy enough to come by now. As the article mentions the only really awkward component seems to be the lights. I guess producing non-OEM lights is tricky because of the requirement for explicit type approval (although I dare say many owners would be happy just ignoring that law if they could get replacement lights for a quarter the price). kambites said:
Non-OEM body panels are easy enough to come by now. As the article mentions the only really awkward component seems to be the lights. I guess producing non-OEM lights is tricky because of the requirement for explicit type approval (although I dare say many owners would be happy just ignoring that law if they could get replacement lights for a quarter the price). Roberty said:
I had one and would not recommend one at all!
Having previously had an Elise I thought this would be a great alternative to upgrading to an S2. Having the same chassis but a better engine thought I t would be fun. Turned out to have all the issues of any Elise and more and without the same levels of fun to compensate.
The lack of reliability, poor build quality, awful service and inflated parts costs from the main dealers together with its complete lack of practicality meant it had to go. The Elise is also entirely impractical but it’s such good fun to drive you can forgive it. In the VX the Poor build, reliability brought the lack of practicality into sharp focus taking the fun out of it.
The 2.2 Vauxhall Engine is far more powerful than the S1 Elise's old Rover lump but lacks the character the K-series has and is no where near as good as the Toyota VVTLi unit in the newer Elise S2's.
Mods can Sharpen the handling and add power but at far to high a cost for my liking. Osmosis of the GRP bodywork is a real serious issue and costs a fortune to solve properly. Many thought it was a kitcar.
I wouldn't recommend one over an Elise, in fact I wouldn't recommend one at all possibly one of the worst cars I've owned.
Interesting pov. I bought mine 2 years ago and it's been 100% reliable and a hoot to drive. Other owners I've met are generally much more positive than you too and the cars generally have a great rep. In fact my biggest issue normally when I open the garage is do I take out tge VX or the Evora lok....Having previously had an Elise I thought this would be a great alternative to upgrading to an S2. Having the same chassis but a better engine thought I t would be fun. Turned out to have all the issues of any Elise and more and without the same levels of fun to compensate.
The lack of reliability, poor build quality, awful service and inflated parts costs from the main dealers together with its complete lack of practicality meant it had to go. The Elise is also entirely impractical but it’s such good fun to drive you can forgive it. In the VX the Poor build, reliability brought the lack of practicality into sharp focus taking the fun out of it.
The 2.2 Vauxhall Engine is far more powerful than the S1 Elise's old Rover lump but lacks the character the K-series has and is no where near as good as the Toyota VVTLi unit in the newer Elise S2's.
Mods can Sharpen the handling and add power but at far to high a cost for my liking. Osmosis of the GRP bodywork is a real serious issue and costs a fortune to solve properly. Many thought it was a kitcar.
I wouldn't recommend one over an Elise, in fact I wouldn't recommend one at all possibly one of the worst cars I've owned.
Edited by Roberty on Thursday 15th November 06:42
kambites said:
Boydie88 said:
For the price of them compared to an Elise, I can't see why you wouldn't.
There are arguments both ways. Ultimately anything based on the Elise platform is more like anything else based on the Elise platform than anything else, if that makes sense, but the differences are significant enough to make personal preference the deciding factor even with the significant differences in price. For me, the brakes alone were enough to make a K-series Elise worth the premium over a VX220.
coldel said:
What about the Stack dash systems? When I sold mine a couple of people complained they failed, has it become more prevalent? They are very expensive to replace I heard?
Nope, it still seems to be a rare failure. Plus a number of people have installed a full TFT screen in replacement (similar to the 3-11) so there may be a few more used Stack's available if its a big concern.gofasterrosssco said:
coldel said:
What about the Stack dash systems? When I sold mine a couple of people complained they failed, has it become more prevalent? They are very expensive to replace I heard?
Nope, it still seems to be a rare failure. Plus a number of people have installed a full TFT screen in replacement (similar to the 3-11) so there may be a few more used Stack's available if its a big concern.
I have been lucky to own 3 elise and 2 vx220's - the elise just has more character to it somehow, i fell in love with my s1 even though it was under powered, finding a nice one now though will cost you!
The vx turbos I had although quicker just didnt get under my skin in the same way.
Also for me getting back into one 10 years later it wasnt the same for me anyway and quickly sold it.
Be prepared to look at complete trash before you find a good one!.
The one thing i would warn potential owners about is the owners forum - good luck on there, usually car forums are great places to chat and get knowledge of the cars etc, but the owners forum beware you will get jumped on if you ask anything - thats my experience and others to - a very unfriendly place.
The vx turbos I had although quicker just didnt get under my skin in the same way.
Also for me getting back into one 10 years later it wasnt the same for me anyway and quickly sold it.
Be prepared to look at complete trash before you find a good one!.
The one thing i would warn potential owners about is the owners forum - good luck on there, usually car forums are great places to chat and get knowledge of the cars etc, but the owners forum beware you will get jumped on if you ask anything - thats my experience and others to - a very unfriendly place.
I had a massive barny on the forum years back when I dared question the price of the cars. I got a load of abuse and then after various abusive posts wrote 'its just a stripped out car with no carpets' or something similar and the forum went wild. One guy called me a number of names, they all said I was a troll.
Anyway, 6 weeks later going to a meet in my newly purchased VX220 met a guy who was in the middle of the name calling, he was shorter, fatter, more wimpy and pathetic looking than me - funny enough he didn't reference the thread or the name calling. Funny how brave people can be on forums!
Anyway, 6 weeks later going to a meet in my newly purchased VX220 met a guy who was in the middle of the name calling, he was shorter, fatter, more wimpy and pathetic looking than me - funny enough he didn't reference the thread or the name calling. Funny how brave people can be on forums!
These are always going to be compared to the Elise which is a shame because the Elise is a fantastic piece of engineering. That doesn't mean the VX is bad. A lot people prefer the VX over the Elise. The VX does have qualities the Elise doesn't have. Don't let the VX vs Elise reviews put you off buying one. Just drive one and decide for yourself.
Problems to add to the list:
- The radiators were plastic and perished where the hose meets. Replacement Alloy ones are available and worthwhile upgrade.
- I managed to crack a set of front wheels. They are soft. You could only see from the back of the when where it met the hub.
- Engine mounts on the 2.2 were weak. I think there may have been an improved mount released. Getting above 5000rpm in 1st or 2nd gear would give a grinding noise if the mount was gone.
- The paint can bubble on the front and rear clams, requiring a respray if you want resolved.
- The header tank was susceptible to damage from UV light. Cheap covers are an easy fix for this.
Overall, parts are cheap as most are found on other mundane Vauxhalls. There are not many mechanical or electrical parts compared to modern cars.
I've had 2 of them and still need to tick off a VXR220 and an Elise R/Exige.
Problems to add to the list:
- The radiators were plastic and perished where the hose meets. Replacement Alloy ones are available and worthwhile upgrade.
- I managed to crack a set of front wheels. They are soft. You could only see from the back of the when where it met the hub.
- Engine mounts on the 2.2 were weak. I think there may have been an improved mount released. Getting above 5000rpm in 1st or 2nd gear would give a grinding noise if the mount was gone.
- The paint can bubble on the front and rear clams, requiring a respray if you want resolved.
- The header tank was susceptible to damage from UV light. Cheap covers are an easy fix for this.
Overall, parts are cheap as most are found on other mundane Vauxhalls. There are not many mechanical or electrical parts compared to modern cars.
I've had 2 of them and still need to tick off a VXR220 and an Elise R/Exige.
Had a 2.2 with Nitrons and the Spitfire toe arm kit fitted so was assured I wasn't going to die (at least not from a snapped toe rod)
Was fun for about 45 minutes on a Brecon blast in summer, the rest of the time it was miserable. Getting in and out was comically embarrassing.
It really is a 3rd/4th car only IMO.
Was fun for about 45 minutes on a Brecon blast in summer, the rest of the time it was miserable. Getting in and out was comically embarrassing.
It really is a 3rd/4th car only IMO.
mister kevlar said:
The one thing i would warn potential owners about is the owners forum - good luck on there, usually car forums are great places to chat and get knowledge of the cars etc, but the owners forum beware you will get jumped on if you ask anything - thats my experience and others to - a very unfriendly place.
Again, strange one as I think its one of the more friendly forums out there.. Many members always willing to help out and assist with issues. I suppose (like many forums) people get sick of answering the same questions, and new members who don't use the search to find answers. The search is pretty crap however, and Google works better.gofasterrosssco said:
mister kevlar said:
The one thing i would warn potential owners about is the owners forum - good luck on there, usually car forums are great places to chat and get knowledge of the cars etc, but the owners forum beware you will get jumped on if you ask anything - thats my experience and others to - a very unfriendly place.
Again, strange one as I think its one of the more friendly forums out there.. Many members always willing to help out and assist with issues. I suppose (like many forums) people get sick of answering the same questions, and new members who don't use the search to find answers. The search is pretty crap however, and Google works better.But it can be a touchy place until you are 'in' - a couple of mates also bought VXs and spoke to me about the forum and certain individuals that were giving them a hard time. Same people that did it to me also.
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