and? anyway, can't afford one so move along, nothing to see here

 

Give it a week after they're launched, and you can get a crashed one to repair, and add to your portfolio

 

:nods:

 

Be interested to know how you find the VXR, comparing it to the ST, but then they are both excellent hot hatches for the money, dont think you'd be dissapointed with either.

n one, an R32 costs about £10 thousand quid more than either an ST or VXR!! I wouldnt spend another 10 grand on a hatch back with basically the same performance figures, even though ultimately its a better car (not £10k better thou).

That sort of money puts you into a completely different territory of cars, for £30k, my wish list wouldnt include a Golf R32.

 

Quality review mate..

Had consifered both of those before I got my current run.. LCR

-Sal-

 

The new TT is the best FWD car money can buy, and it will hold its value alot better than those 2.

 

wonder what happened in the vxr(astra) test drive, hope hes ok.

 

Good point, hopefully he didnt give Vauxhall his real details, and he can call them from home to tell them which hedge they can go collect their VXR out of



The sport button leaves some semblence of ESP in place, unless you hold it in for 5 seconds, then you're on your own, lets hope he didnt find that out mid corner...

 

Morning, still in one piece

Review to follow later today, just beeen a tad busy

 

Apologies for the delay...............

INITIAL "WALK UP" FEEL

As I mentioned before, this part of car ownership is probably just as important to me as how it drives. The Astra Sport range has always caught my eye, I think it's the high shoulder line and low roof profile. It looks very moody.
Anyway, Walking upto the car I was impressed, from the front it looked purposeful and walking around the vehicle, I can honestly say, there isn't really a crap view.
The 19" wheels suited the car (More about them later) visually, and the side profile of the car is remarkable.
The rear view is probably (nit picking) it's down side, it has a centre exit exhaust (Reminds me of a cats **** hole ) and the body kit sills don't seem to come round the car properly. But like I said, nit picking.

Marks:
8/10

THE INITIAL "CLIMB IN" FEEL

I have to say, car makers nowadays have got this bit of their cars RIGHT
Upon opening the long door, you are greeted with a VXR sill, half leather recaro stylee seats, a brilliant steering wheel with steering mounted controls for stereo and computer, and a clinically angular instrumentation panel.
Some people had remarked that the heater/air con controls were too low........... Bollox
The Steering wheel moved well for reach & Rake but I found it difficult to get comfy AND be able to see the top half of the instrument binnacle.
I like to drive with my seat upright and fairly close to the steering wheel.
Not many cubbyholes Not the end of the world but I kinda got used to storing things in certain places in the scoob.
The Plastic Carbon effect on the doors and front panel are executed well and all in all another cool place to be.

Marks :
7/10

THE DRIVE

Again, being totally open minded. Any comparisons I make to scoobs is purely to help me to try and communicate sensations with you. It is NOT a "Scooby better than Astra VXR" statement or vice versa.

Vauxhall have a totally different way of dealing with test drives They just assume you are gonna try and rape the salesman and steal the car (Maybe it was just a black thing ) Anyway, after a lengthy interagation about what I drive, how long for, track days done, partner, job etc etc etc THEY took me out
The salesman took us to a garage where he jumped out to stick some fuel in and returned after paying to give me the keys.
I got in the drivers seat and did that whole "Right, what am I testing here apart from handling" thing.
I played with the wing mirrors, faffed about with the rather interesting indicators (They don't actually "click" they sort of have a two stage auto function........... another time!........... ) Got comfy and turned the rather large VXR branded key.
Unlike the Focus, at least I could feel and hear that the car was actually running. A prod on the accelerator to feel the feel (if that makes sense?) and a few pumps of the clutch to feel that feel too, into gear and off we went. It wasn't dramatic, it wasn't a huge sense of occasion, it just moved sedately off of the forecourt.
I'd forgotten to forget about the scoob I was expecting noise and a shove just before having to brake for the forecourt exit, didn't happen. I was in an Astra after all
You definately sit IN the Astra, the high shoulder line and slitty little rear windows add to the cocooned feeling which I really like. Try an MX-5 if you want to feel what I mean
We hit the road proper and set off for the test run.
Now all the magazines and everyone that I have spoken to about the Astra VXR have mentioned torque steer. I wanted to find out for sure, driving how I drive, not some journo who has just climbed out of an M3 or some guy who thinks that getting into 3rd on the way to work is risky or some guy who sells Focus ST's!
Power is delivered in a VERY linear fashion, almost like a NA car. I'm not sure about the Turbo(s) and their size etc but there is no thump or drama when driven swiftly. Sometimes I found myself inducing some drama, just to get a feel for what was going on. Watching the Speedo on a straight, in gear acceleration is right up there with what I'm used to
We came to a T junction and I was turning Right. I brought the VXR to a stop, TC on, wheel on about 3 qtrs lock, nothing coming, 5000 rpm and tried to get the wheels to do something unexpected, guess what? Nothing.......... the TC controlled the wheelspin beautifully the engine was still allowed to rev (i.e the TC doesn't just rely on cutting engine power but in this instance simply applied the brakes gently to reign in the wheelspin) and we shot out of the junction, a quick gear change and a deliberate attempt to induce torque steer by "wiggling" the steering wheel left and right while the car was in its power band resulted in no more torque steer than you'd expect from a machine. My old Fiat Strada Arbarth used to torque steer This was not a problem.
Pressing the Sport button relaxes the tc a tad but to be fair, the only difference I noticed was a little more wheelspin.
With the TC disengaged totally (Not convinced it was ) the car forces you to drive it more aggressivley if you want to know where the grip levels are. What I mean there is in order to know where the grip gave way or traction broke, you had to induce wheelspin first or understeer, quite difficult to do safely on a road.
I found the best way to husstle this little car round corners was quick in, firm on the brakes, get the weight forward smoothly, wait until the back end gave you some feed back (No I don't mean 45 degree **** end out opposite lock action ) and then ease on the power. Not hard and very involving with or without the TC on.
If you charge in and try and overcome understeer with the loud pedal, you will be dissapointed. I don't think it's designed to be driven like that
One other point to note about the drive, under hard acceleration, the car sounds like Darth Vader breathing in The force is indeed strong in this one
Other sounds from inside the car are the ones you need to hear to enjoy the experience. The car I tried had a spot of bother with hitting the suspension bump stops or grinding the arches, not sure which, some times not a problem other times it felt like the car was trying to snap in half
I'm pretty sure sticking to the standard 18" wheels would cure this. The 19" inch wheels also seemed to me to be Too wide for the car. Especially from behind. It reduced the overall presence, much like those Old Mini's that you see with fat wheels, doesn't look cool, it looks cute and comical.
Comical is fine on a car that costs £1,000 not one that cost's £19,000.

To those Journo's who said that the Astra is plagued by torque steer and understeer........... learn how to drive

Upon returning to the dealership, parking up and reflecting on what had just happened, I can truly say that the only huge problem I have with the Astra is the view out of the back window. If you ever find youself having some fun with a VXR and you are in your scoob or whatever, just spare a thought for the driver, he won't be able to see you very well unless you are out to the side or about 20m behind. Reversing upto a wall is a bit of a leap of faith, but I'm sure I could get used to it.

Did I enjoy it........................................ Hell yes!

Would I buy one? Probably, would I lease one, It's looking like a favourite!

Marks

The Drive 7/10
The emotion 5/10

PLUS POINTS

SHOUTS like a range topper should.
Excellent pedal feel
Cracking Cabin
Great Looks
Alot of Standard Kit
20,000 mile service interval
Sport Button can ACTUALLY match your mood
Darth Vader Induction Noise

BAD POINTS

Rear visability abysmal (sp?)
19 inch rims look good but get in the way of driving
Not many Cubby holes
Computer display could be a little more............ modern
Rear view
Exhaust note is nothing to write home about, but that can be sorted with an aftermarket addition

So there you have it, what I consider to be an unbiased report on two different cars. I didn't try the Golf Gti as it is out of my budget, the Civic Type R because I don't like the MPV-ness of them (Remember the looks are important to me)
I also didn't try the SEAT's because I had a SEAT as a company car once and it was abysmall. It put me off of the brand. Cutting my nose off maybe but there you go. I hate Audi TT's, nothing dynamically wrong with them, it's just an Ex had one once and that's that

I hope the reviews have been of help

Feel free to comment or ask further questions, but PLEASE keep your arguments, slagging matches and trolling about Astra VXR 'v' Scoobies out of this thread. Cheers

A Bit more info on the VXR here. A bit salesy but might help to try and explain certain visual features like wheels sizes, rear bumper and interior comments
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vx/vxr/flash/index_main.html

 

Nice write up, Jeremy

 

Bloody fantastic reviews Mikey, both of them, very well written and very entertaining

 

Mikey,

Once again, another superb write up that "says it like it is" and like many of us would think.

I'd love to read more of your reviews, have you maybe thought about doing one on the new Impreza and maybe Evo..? I would very much like to read them as you really have got it nicely sorted and unbiased. All you seem to get these days is straight comparisons, but these reviews are nicely focused (excuse the pun!) on the car in hand.

Top work

Nige.

 

Don't people get paid for doing this

Mikeys "honest" reviews I can see it now. John Barker step aside

 

Excellent write up, and pretty much the same conclusions I came to.

The rear vision is something you get used to, I dont find it too noticeable now, unless I drive a normal shape hatchback, then get back into the VXR.

The suspension bump stop you felt may well have been the suspension transport rubber bits still being in place.
Mine did that, and when I did my oil change, I found the rubber bits still in the suspension!! A lot of other VXR drivers have found this too (what I mean by that, is the rubber pieces they insert into the suspension when the cars are transported by truck, to stop them bouncing up and down too much, seems they forget to remove them on the pre delivery checks) http://astra-sri.co.uk/forums/showth...ght=suspension

Id recommend the full leather option if you decide to get one, you get heated leather recaros then, and they're seriously nice, and climate control is good too.

 

Fantastic write up Mikey

 

Great write up mikey,ive got a mate thats picking one up next month and he cant wait,i thought he`d be slightly dissapointed after the test drive but ordered one there and then i say dissapointed as he`s just sold a 370bhp pulsar gti-r and power wise thought it`d be a let down.After driving it though were very happy and has said he wont be getting a remap etc(we`ll see)Though to be fair the pulsar stood him at around £30k in the end and were just an endless money pit hence the swap to the vxr,going bk to fwd doesnt bother him from 4wd as he still feels the vxr is a drivers car-a little raw and the torquesteer keeps it exciting, didnt push it with the handling so cant comment though said he`d probably change the brakes(had tarox 6pots on the pulsar)

 

Any official "I've just picked up this one" type result yet?

 

 

What a fantastic couple of write-ups, no media induced *** kissing or biased bull****. I'd personally have the ST but definitely wouldn't fault you on getting the VXR, good luck either way!

 

Mikey - No doubt the lack of White wheels didn't help ....

DP - Very sensible choice - fast and frugal.

 

Fast for an old man whose brain only works slowly

 

Younger than you, old chap Aren't I?

VXRs seem less common than the STs - saw dozens of them whilst down in Cornwall last week. Do look good in black though...

 

VXR is the way to go. Mate of mine has one... very nice

Great write up by the way