VX220 Turbo - Mojo Is Back!
Discussion
So this is VX number 2 for me having owned a Star Silver NA aroun 9 years ago, its fair to say it left a lasting impression! I was after a second car/weekend toy and looked at various different 2 seater options (S2000, Boxster S, Eilse, 370Z) but just couldn't ignore the VX - see my Car Buying thread 'Lost My Mojo'.
On Christmas eve last year a good friend of mine bought a Calypso red NA which he kindly let me have a drive of and the seed was planted, this was followed quite quickly by another mutual friend who bought a black VXT which was mint; the seed began to grow. With talks of a euro trip next year to Austria to watch the F1 along with a few UK road trips this year I was desperate to own another car. I was decided that this time round it should be either a Turbo or Supercharged VX having owned the NA previously.
Spent many many hours on the internet looking at various examples for sale, spoke to several people on here about their cars and cars they knew of. My criteria was quite open really, as standard as possible, sub 70k miles and other than that it just came down to money.
I spotted my car about 10 days ago but had issues reaching the seller but in the end we touched base and after numerous emails back and forth we spoke on the phone and I was pretty certain this is what I was looking for.
Originally registered in 2004 by Vauxhall themselves it was used for PR including being wrapped in Union Jack colours and bearing the registration number DE51 RED. It was then sold onto its first private owner who's details I don't know, however it then fell into the hands of Boss VX on the VX220 forum and its developments and journey can be plotted quite nicely through various topics, including a collision with a UPS van which meant 4 months off the road whilst associated parts were gathered for the repair. During his ownership it was breathed upon by Courtney and taken to Stage 2, heated seats were fitted, along with heated windscreen and VXR surround so there are some nice touches to the car.
Around 4 years ago it was sold on to the owner who I bought it from, Kev top guy, he loved the car and carefully looked after the mechanical side of things between Back On Track and Matt Bentley and only covering limited mileage in the car and owing to a house renovation project he needed to move the car on.
So bought by me last Fri it now sits on my drive and already I have dived in and started cleaning, titivating and fettling with the car. As I said mechanically the car wants for nothing (except a clutch) and its where I want it, no desire to tune it anymore; 243bhp is plenty fast enough and the theatre that accompanies that power from the whistling turbo, to the hissing recirc Forge valve and finished with the burbling and popping from the Miltek exhaust on over-run is sublime and exactly what I was after.
No other car on my list could have provided the experience this car does for such (relatively!) small outlay and running costs.
The car is on 65k miles and had a full service including cambelt around 300 miles ago, new MOT in April with no advisories so it really is a case of fill up and go. For me though I am quite OCD and there are lots of little bits I want to do and tend to, hoping to restore the car to its near original condition; well as much as I can do for a 15 year old car!
So initial pictures of how it sits currently -
On Christmas eve last year a good friend of mine bought a Calypso red NA which he kindly let me have a drive of and the seed was planted, this was followed quite quickly by another mutual friend who bought a black VXT which was mint; the seed began to grow. With talks of a euro trip next year to Austria to watch the F1 along with a few UK road trips this year I was desperate to own another car. I was decided that this time round it should be either a Turbo or Supercharged VX having owned the NA previously.
Spent many many hours on the internet looking at various examples for sale, spoke to several people on here about their cars and cars they knew of. My criteria was quite open really, as standard as possible, sub 70k miles and other than that it just came down to money.
I spotted my car about 10 days ago but had issues reaching the seller but in the end we touched base and after numerous emails back and forth we spoke on the phone and I was pretty certain this is what I was looking for.
Originally registered in 2004 by Vauxhall themselves it was used for PR including being wrapped in Union Jack colours and bearing the registration number DE51 RED. It was then sold onto its first private owner who's details I don't know, however it then fell into the hands of Boss VX on the VX220 forum and its developments and journey can be plotted quite nicely through various topics, including a collision with a UPS van which meant 4 months off the road whilst associated parts were gathered for the repair. During his ownership it was breathed upon by Courtney and taken to Stage 2, heated seats were fitted, along with heated windscreen and VXR surround so there are some nice touches to the car.
Around 4 years ago it was sold on to the owner who I bought it from, Kev top guy, he loved the car and carefully looked after the mechanical side of things between Back On Track and Matt Bentley and only covering limited mileage in the car and owing to a house renovation project he needed to move the car on.
So bought by me last Fri it now sits on my drive and already I have dived in and started cleaning, titivating and fettling with the car. As I said mechanically the car wants for nothing (except a clutch) and its where I want it, no desire to tune it anymore; 243bhp is plenty fast enough and the theatre that accompanies that power from the whistling turbo, to the hissing recirc Forge valve and finished with the burbling and popping from the Miltek exhaust on over-run is sublime and exactly what I was after.
No other car on my list could have provided the experience this car does for such (relatively!) small outlay and running costs.
The car is on 65k miles and had a full service including cambelt around 300 miles ago, new MOT in April with no advisories so it really is a case of fill up and go. For me though I am quite OCD and there are lots of little bits I want to do and tend to, hoping to restore the car to its near original condition; well as much as I can do for a 15 year old car!
So initial pictures of how it sits currently -
So today I started with an interior strip out, seats out and deep clean/degrease which I always get a lot of satisfaction from doing; forgot what a pig the front passenger side seat bolt is!!!!!! An hour of cussing and scraped skin I finally got it out! Going to the local fasteners tomorrow to source a regular bolt to refit to make any future removal MUCH easier!
So seats out and the cockpit was treated to a thorough hoover and dousing of G101 which was agitated with a tooth brush before being rinsed and dried off - the sun did a good job of this to be fair!!! Seats have been cleaned and washed down and tonight I will treat to the Gliptone twins which will feed and condition the leather.
Pics from todays job -
Found this little lot under passenger seat!
Seats out for cleaning and feeding, drivers needs a repair but think I will have both retrimmed, feelers are out on that!
So seats out and the cockpit was treated to a thorough hoover and dousing of G101 which was agitated with a tooth brush before being rinsed and dried off - the sun did a good job of this to be fair!!! Seats have been cleaned and washed down and tonight I will treat to the Gliptone twins which will feed and condition the leather.
Pics from todays job -
Found this little lot under passenger seat!
Seats out for cleaning and feeding, drivers needs a repair but think I will have both retrimmed, feelers are out on that!
AlmostUseful said:
Lovely looking car.
Very kind, it’s generated a lot of chat with neighbours/dog walkers/people on the estate. A chap stopped this evening and said ‘you don’t see many of those, is the diesel one?’ I am not sure they did a VX220D but he was happy, chatted to me for a time before wishing me well and continuing on his way.
So this evening I have been de-greasing the little finickity areas; badges, side repeaters, panel gaps, door handles etc. It’s amazing what builds up in these places, G101 and a tiny soft detailing brush does wonders.
It’s getting washed properly tomorrow before a run out with friends on the Mendips and I bite to eat at a nice pub.
No pics of ge-greasing stage as it was getting dark but it will certainly improve the overall look when cleaned tomorrow.
I did clean and condition the seats tonight with the Gliptone twins and they look better and smell incredible, I forgot just how much they rejuvenate tired leather.
In this pic the seat on the right has been cleaned and conditioned and the seat on the left is as it was -
Both seats cleaned and conditioned -
I need to find a temporary repair to improve the look of the drivers bolster until I sort the retrim out, perahps there is something out there I can source to 'patch' it and take your eye away from it??
Si
Edited by SiT on Tuesday 28th May 22:00
Lovely car, congrats on finding it! Definitely keep the updates coming.
Incidentally, I had good results on the interior aluminium of my S1 Elise with the ‘magic sponges’ you get for household cleaning. They’re just abrasive enough to get of all the grime and light scratches you get in these cars without damaging it.
Incidentally, I had good results on the interior aluminium of my S1 Elise with the ‘magic sponges’ you get for household cleaning. They’re just abrasive enough to get of all the grime and light scratches you get in these cars without damaging it.
AndrewGP said:
Lovely car, congrats on finding it! Definitely keep the updates coming.
Incidentally, I had good results on the interior aluminium of my S1 Elise with the ‘magic sponges’ you get for household cleaning. They’re just abrasive enough to get of all the grime and light scratches you get in these cars without damaging it.
Thanks for the tip, blizzard;y I subconsciously picked up a pack of these the other day! Will give them a whirl in that case!!!Incidentally, I had good results on the interior aluminium of my S1 Elise with the ‘magic sponges’ you get for household cleaning. They’re just abrasive enough to get of all the grime and light scratches you get in these cars without damaging it.
Si
I always liked these more than the series one Elise's, as I think they were a bit ugly, whereas the VX220 was nicely proportioned. What is the reliability like on these compared to the Lotus engine? The early Lotus's had issues with their engine and if my memory is correct, it was a totally different unit in the VX220's?
Yep, the VX came with a 2.2 NA engine which is bulletproof apart from the timing chain then along cans the Turbo which is again incredibly reliable bar from a few odds and sods (coil packs mostly!)
The Lotus came with the K Series engine and they have somewhat of a reputation. Following that they were supplied with a 1.8 Toyota VVTI then a 1.6 engine of some description.
The ‘tunability’ of the turbo engine is almost endless and seemingly can only be ‘ceilinged’ by your budget. Power delivery is often like a switch.
The ‘tunability’ of the NA engine is ‘ceilinged’ at a supercharger and whilst the bhp get topped out at 260bhp the power delivery is a lot linear than the turbo.
Can’t speak of the tunability of the K Series engine as whenever I Google it I’m faced with pages and pages of HGF results.
Someone once said that the VX220 is the thinking man’s Elise and I couldn’t think of a better way to put it
The Lotus came with the K Series engine and they have somewhat of a reputation. Following that they were supplied with a 1.8 Toyota VVTI then a 1.6 engine of some description.
The ‘tunability’ of the turbo engine is almost endless and seemingly can only be ‘ceilinged’ by your budget. Power delivery is often like a switch.
The ‘tunability’ of the NA engine is ‘ceilinged’ at a supercharger and whilst the bhp get topped out at 260bhp the power delivery is a lot linear than the turbo.
Can’t speak of the tunability of the K Series engine as whenever I Google it I’m faced with pages and pages of HGF results.
Someone once said that the VX220 is the thinking man’s Elise and I couldn’t think of a better way to put it
@p4cks, the K series engine was indeed very tuneable. The baseline Elise had 118bhp. Then the special editions from Bell and Colville had 135 and 160 respectively, the 111s had 155bhp (with the VVT head) and the Exige had 190bhp.
The only issue with these is that the higher the state of tune, the less their longevity. The S1 Exige needed a rebuild at something like 40k miles IIRC
The only issue with these is that the higher the state of tune, the less their longevity. The S1 Exige needed a rebuild at something like 40k miles IIRC
pilleyc78 said:
Not seen one in red, it has a look of and R8 about it for certain angles. Looks great, my friend had a silver NA VX and that was quick to the turbo must be mega, enjoy
I loved my NA, real linear power delivery and always available low down. The turbo is like an on/off switch and definitely have to have your wits about you.I love the blue, wanted yellow but Mrs Sit did not want yellow and red came up which was a result.
Si
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