Sunday 25th February 2018

PH Service History: Once driven, forever smitten?

The revival of the GSI badge is upon us - but are older fast Vauxhalls still worth your time?

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Earlier this week, you'll have read about m'colleague Mr Bird's abortive attempt to set three lap records in a Vauxhall Insignia GSI (and if you haven't yet, then really you should - it's a great story, though sadly for all the wrong reasons).

Of course, the resurrection of the GSI badge has some of us here at PH HQ in a flutter. Well, those of us old enough to remember the first round of GSIs, that is - and while I'll admit there's a strong dollop of nostalgia helping along our fond recollections, older GSIs are still pretty cool, aren't they?

Take the Insignia's direct antecedent, for example - the Cavalier. Based on the Mk3, which was a reasonably handy thing in itself, the GSI added Vauxhall's famous C20XE, or 'red top' engine and optional four-wheel drive to become a genuinely involving sub-Cosworth performance saloon, with the looks to match. Finding one these days isn't easy, though we've a couple in the classifieds, but it's still quite possible to get hold of a tidy example for a few grand - which, given the current price madness, sounds reasonable.

The GSI badge soldiered on through the hot hatch doldrums of the 1990s plastered to the nose of the handsome but wayward Mk3 Astra and Corsa for a time before withering away, but in 2001 it was back - affixed to, of all things, a Zafira.

With hindsight, you have to admire Vauxhall's (well, Opel's) chutzpah, misguided or otherwise, in shoving its new 2.0-litre turbo engine under the snout of a people carrier. But while you may snort with derision, in the Zafira GSI, you get a car that can carry seven in reasonable comfort, yet also hit 62mph in seven and a half or so. And it even does a passable impression of a hot hatch, with big globs of power that make it rather hilarious to drive. Just mind the torque steer.

The best part is that you can pick one up these days for peanuts - this rare standard example with reasonable miles and a full history is close to top dollar, and looks like it should give years of unconventionally entertaining family motoring.

Of course, the Zafira spawned the Astra GSI Turbo, which ran roughly the same running gear and offered tidier handling at the expense of a few seats; prices for these run at about the same level as they do for the Zafira, though you'll need patience to find a standard example that hasn't been modded, thrashed or crashed - or a combination of the three.

Sadly, though, that was it for the GSIs until now, as Vauxhall replaced the brand with the VXR badge we've come to know and love. Will we still feel such nostalgia for these models in ten years' time? Will Vauxhall one day reincarnate VXR in the same way? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, I'm off to lobby Luton for the next revival of one its past glories: the Senator 24v, if you please, folks. I'll take three. And I'll leave you with this throwback to the good old days.

[Jual Mass Flywheel]

My 7 seater Gran Tourer M Sport does 0-60 in 7.9 and I'll wager drives better than a gsi Zaffy with much better running costs. It's still white good though. And much more to buy in the first place of course, but the point is the performance is nothing special.

[Jual Mass Flywheel]

Ahbefive said:

But as you pointed out probably costs 5-10times more. Bit of a pointless comparison.

I have cars much faster also not comparable, and.......

The point I was making was that the GSI badging means the sweet sum of feck all when a diesel can match the performance and drive better (engine note aside). There are much cheaper cars out there than mine that can do that. I've been in a GSI Zafira and given the running costs I really couldn't understand why you would bother. As stated above the real GSI's come in different forms.