Vauxhall Astra VXR | Spotted
A new badge means a new Vauxhall era is imminent - time to recall the glory days
Car logos matter - that’s why they don’t change very much. Imagine Ferrari without a prancing horse, Ford without a blue oval, or Aston Martin without its wings. The boost in publicity just wouldn’t be worth the lack of brand recognition; that recognition, awareness, familiarity - whatever you want to call it - is what the manufacturers have relied on for generations, and it matters more than ever with so many alternatives out there. If you can identify a Chinese car logo (that isn’t just the name plastered in huge font on the boot), then you’re doing better than the vast majority.
There is data to back up the hunch, too. Vauxhall and OnePoll surveyed 2,000 people and found that 65 per cent of buyers think that a recognisable logo is important when buying a car. More than half (55 per cent) of respondents said that they are more likely to trust a British brand, with almost the same number (54 per cent) ‘likely to purchase from a brand with British heritage.’ So the redesign of the Vauxhall badge, seen this week (pictured below) and coming to STX electric estate concept in a couple of weeks, won’t have been an easy job; it has to respect the heritage while also standing out against a sea of new brands and looking contemporary. So the V has gone, as has the flag, but the griffin - part of the Vauxhall logo for 120 years - is very much staying put.
It’s an interesting development for Vauxhall, then, especially if the ‘future of the estate car’ - as the STX is being billed - can excite Paris showgoers. With the GSE performance sub-brand showing some promise also, it’s good to have Vauxhall back on the PH radar - if still a little way from the VXR glory days…
Launched all the way back in 2004 with the VXR220 and Monaro, Vauxhall VXR really hit the mainstream with the 2005 Astra VXR. It picked up right where the old GSIs had left off: it was fast, fun, great value and unapologetically raucous. The Golf was there if you wanted to be mature and the Focus offered sophistication; the three-door-only, manual-only Astra was all about old-school thrills.
Which meant they often suffered old-school treatment as well, passed between pillar and post as owners became bored, there was a big maintenance job looming or they’d messed something up and wanted to get rid. A tale as old as the hot hatch itself. Plenty will have been modified as well, because it was hard to resist. Two decades later, then, the chances of finding an unmolested Astra VXR are slim. They’re still not worth very much (whether they ever will remains to be seen), and plenty of cars become neglected as their worth drops. Not with this one, though: as standard as the day it left the factory in 2006, with just two owners for 20 years and a service book stamped like a pilot’s passport.
It’s even weathered 100,000 miles well, the heavily bolstered Recaro seats looking as good as ever and recently powder-coated wheels sitting nicely against the Magma Red paint. The timing belt, so often overlooked, was changed in 2023; the most recent service was 3,000 miles ago; August’s MOT was advisory free. Nothing out of the ordinary, if seldom seen on cheap old hot hatches. The asking price is £6,495, which we all know doesn’t buy very much in 2026. A GTI or an ST at this money surely won’t be as nice - and for raw entertainment on the odd occasion, nothing’s going to beat the first VXR hot hatch. Good logo, too, come to think of it…
SPECIFICATION | VAUXHALL ASTRA VXR
Engine: 1,998 four-cylinder, turbocharged
Transmission: 6-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 240@5,600rpm
Torque (lb ft): 236@2,400rpm-5,000rpm
MPG: 30.7
CO2: 221g/km
Year registered: 2006
Recorded mileage: 112,076
Price new: £18,995
Yours for: £6,495
Also new logo / badge is crap
eg this at not too dissimilar miles and have enough left over for a professional seat refurb/interior detail and paint correction.
https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C2175539
A great time for hot hatches I miss already. I was more of a Ford and VW man, but Vauxhall sticking a VXR badge on nearly every model was brilliant. I think this cars successor is still one of the best looking hot hatches.
Now of course it's just Stellantis (/ Peugeot or whatever) underpinnings and as such no interest at all.
As for the VXR, where I used to work we had a GM only car policy and I remember a new young sales guy getting one of these. He was based in London / SE. Lasted a few months before his flat was broken into, keys nicked and the car gone.
A stones throw from my house lives a weapons grade chaffinch who had one, red too.
Think of every conceivable stereotype you can, and he fits the bill. And then some.
No thanks at £2k let alone £6.5 lmao.
But then I have a Fez ST so what do I know?
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