RE: Vauxhall Cavalier GSi 2000 | Spotted

[Welshbeef]

Fast Bug said:

Welshbeef said:

Did anyone read 60mph is actually reading as 67mph on the speedo and 56mph speedo is 50mph but it’s 5.9 seconds so it felt fast.


But 22 seconds to the 100.... considering C63S are now 8 or less seconds and back in the same era a Lotus Carlton was an 11 second car to 100mph.

Yes because a modern 4 litre V8 twin turbo is fair comparison as is a 3.6 twin turbo super saloon. You're comparing apples and Wellington boots

No I’m comparing those against the 22 second time of the GSI

[Fast Bug]

Welshbeef said:

Fast Bug said:

Welshbeef said:

Did anyone read 60mph is actually reading as 67mph on the speedo and 56mph speedo is 50mph but it’s 5.9 seconds so it felt fast.


But 22 seconds to the 100.... considering C63S are now 8 or less seconds and back in the same era a Lotus Carlton was an 11 second car to 100mph.

Yes because a modern 4 litre V8 twin turbo is fair comparison as is a 3.6 twin turbo super saloon. You're comparing apples and Wellington boots

No I’m comparing those against the 22 second time of the GSI

Exactly, they're not exactly relevant are they?

[jehst82]

Each to their own but £20k for a Cavalier.... so many cars to chose from at £20k! TVR Chimera 5.0, 911, M3, M5 to name a few. Even £15k and £5k for running costs!

[markcoznottz]

s m said:

Mr Tidy said:

Wow, I loved that era of BTCC!

The other Cavalier was driven by Jeff Allam who had a Vauxhall dealership in Epsom, and also had some pretty good results.

:

Yes, some great battles/incidents between JC’s Cavalier and the M3s ( Sytner in this case )

Birmingham Superprix battle

He was still battling against the newer E36 BMW a couple of years after

Cleland vs Soper

Always entertaining viewing on a Saturday lunchtime!

Edited by s m on Tuesday 6th August 22:23

'Fisticuffs' got to laugh, cleland couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag. Bit over ambitious by Frankie boy. The racing was kind of weird with two classes, the m3 was a stunning racecar, the sierras were all engine, but what an engine, massive bhp.

[Welshbeef]

Fast Bug said:

Welshbeef said:

Fast Bug said:

Welshbeef said:

Did anyone read 60mph is actually reading as 67mph on the speedo and 56mph speedo is 50mph but it’s 5.9 seconds so it felt fast.


But 22 seconds to the 100.... considering C63S are now 8 or less seconds and back in the same era a Lotus Carlton was an 11 second car to 100mph.

Yes because a modern 4 litre V8 twin turbo is fair comparison as is a 3.6 twin turbo super saloon. You're comparing apples and Wellington boots

No I’m comparing those against the 22 second time of the GSI

Exactly, they're not exactly relevant are they?

The point is back then you were looking at a spread of 11-22 seconds

Now E63s/M5CP 6.7 seconds v 11 seconds (or much less for the faster hot hatches which are the GSIs modern day equivalent).

[s m]

Welshbeef said:

Did anyone read 60mph is actually reading as 67mph on the speedo and 56mph speedo is 50mph but it’s 5.9 seconds so it felt fast.

Simplicity itself to do a Vmax run and get the speedo well off the clock on a long bit of motorway

Seeing as the speedo went to 140 indicated and the car itself would do a genuine 136/137 as per the road test results on the Millbrook bowl - it would probably have shown close to 155 if the markings had gone that far!

[MrSimmoUK]

Near on £20k?!

I had a Cav Turbo back in 2000 (it was a GSI with a turbo lump and box dropped in it, because we had a spare lump). I paid the princely sum of £3500, complete with outrageously large 17" TSW wheels, dropped Bilstein shocks with Eibach springs, and Brembo 4 pots.

Needless to say, as a 20 year old with a 2wd turbo; it ended upside down in a ditch with a trip to hospital for me and two mates. What a waste.


But... £20k for a cav?! Bonkers!

[Welshbeef]

MrSimmoUK said:

Near on £20k?!

I had a Cav Turbo back in 2000 (it was a GSI with a turbo lump and box dropped in it, because we had a spare lump). I paid the princely sum of £3500, complete with outrageously large 17" TSW wheels, dropped Bilstein shocks with Eibach springs, and Brembo 4 pots.

Needless to say, as a 20 year old with a 2wd turbo; it ended upside down in a ditch with a trip to hospital for me and two mates. What a waste.


But... £20k for a cav?! Bonkers!

Hope you’ve learnt your lesson

[Davie]

Why do the same bores wade in and state you could gave X, Y or Z for the same money? It's utterly irrelevant and pointless. It's like saying who'd pay £150K for a Rolex or a classic Porsche or a house when you could have a small yacht or several nights going mad in Vegas.

It's not rocket science... if you're ready, willing and able to pay string money for any rare, collectable object then it's probably fair to say you probably don't care about "here's what you could have had" so why people constantly drag it up is being me. You wouldn't pay £20K for it, great so ps off then. Those who would don't care if you could have an M3 or whatever for the same outlay.

It's one of the most stupid comments people can make. Anything you have bought in life, you could have had something else but you chose not to. End of.

[F1GTRUeno]

Turbobanana said:

CoolHands said:

Absolute ste

Anyone who’s driven cars like this, ford sierras etc can tell you they’re absolute ste.

I guess you haven't then? If these were so bad back in the day, why did they sell so well?

Helpful, insightful comment

What is popular doesn't always translate to what is good?

Corsas sell by the bucketload and they're not exactly brilliant are they?

Oh and back then, you didn't know any better or couldn't afford any better? Plus there wasn't the choice that there is now and factor in all the people that worked for the company either making or selling them or repairing/servicing them...

Many different reasons why they sold so well. Doesn't make them any less st today does it?

[wc98]

i have a mate that has one of these, a vectra touring and several other mint vauxhalls. i think the gsi and the touring have even lower mileage than this one, he will be happy the prices are looking up.

[Previous]

A guy in our town had a quite tidy blue one on his drive for the last few years. Made me smile every time I saw it. Eventually rust spots started to appear on the rear arches and then one day it was there no more...


Replaced by a tidy cavalier 4x4 turbo!

[Welshbeef]

F1GTRUeno said:

What is popular doesn't always translate to what is good?

Corsas sell by the bucketload and they're not exactly brilliant are they?

Oh and back then, you didn't know any better or couldn't afford any better? Plus there wasn't the choice that there is now and factor in all the people that worked for the company either making or selling them or repairing/servicing them...

Many different reasons why they sold so well. Doesn't make them any less st today does it?

The red top engine was and still is an extremely special motor.
I’ve read an article where VX motorsport took off the rev limit - it was happy at 9k revs with out any blueprinting and then they kept going. IIrC 12,000 rpm was possible from that remarkable unit - a VX version of Hondas Spoon style engines and straight from the factory.
Ecotec engines that followed were woeful relatively.

The turbos took the game to Sierra but I’ve no idea why VX were not able to boost them to the 500-600bhp monsters used on the race track that the YB ford unit achieved.

[s m]

Previous said:

A guy in our town had a quite tidy blue one on his drive for the last few years. Made me smile every time I saw it. Eventually rust spots started to appear on the rear arches and then one day it was there no more...


Replaced by a tidy cavalier 4x4 turbo!

Seems a logical progression!




Vauxhall had a 200bhp road car to compete with the E30 M3 as well as on the track

[s m]

Welshbeef said:

The turbos took the game to Sierra but I’ve no idea why VX were not able to boost them to the 500-600bhp monsters used on the race track that the YB ford unit achieved.

The GPA/Supertouring rule changes had come into play when the Cavalier Turbo was released as a road car so too late

The normally aspirated Cavalier was still winning with the new formula against the M3 in 91 and then the 318is in 92,93 so wasn’t a bad car for racing success

[cerb4.5lee]

I'm surprised at how heavy that Cavalier Turbo is, and I associate cars of that era to be a bit lighter than that.

I came very close to buying one on two occasions and I wish I had, I love them.

[s m]

cerb4.5lee said:

I'm surprised at how heavy that Cavalier Turbo is, and I associate cars of that era to be a bit lighter than that.

I came very close to buying one on two occasions and I wish I had, I love them.

Yeah, the normal 2wd 2000GSI was lighter than a GT86
The turbo had the 6-speed box, 4wd gubbins and full
leather so all added weight

[cerb4.5lee]

s m said:

cerb4.5lee said:

I'm surprised at how heavy that Cavalier Turbo is, and I associate cars of that era to be a bit lighter than that.

I came very close to buying one on two occasions and I wish I had, I love them.

Yeah, the normal 2wd 2000GSI was lighter than a GT86
The turbo had the 6-speed box, 4wd gubbins and full
leather so all added weight

Iirc my xr4x4 was about 1250kg so I was expecting this to be similar in weight. As you say though the Turbo had some very nice luxuries in it with the leather etc. A 6 speed manual would have been so desirable back then too.

[Welshbeef]

cerb4.5lee said:

Iirc my xr4x4 was about 1250kg so I was expecting this to be similar in weight. As you say though the Turbo had some very nice luxuries in it with the leather etc. A 6 speed manual would have been so desirable back then too.

How much extra does leather add?

Did it come with leather dash and door cards or merely the seats and not even the arm rest?

[cerb4.5lee]

Welshbeef said:

How much extra does leather add?

Did it come with leather dash and door cards or merely the seats and not even the arm rest?

It has been years since I've sat in one so I'm not sure. It does seem heavy when I compare it to my xr4x4 though, and that also had 4wd and a heavier(I would have thought) V6 engine.