moff1888

On friday along the M5/A38 I was followed and then followed a 57 plated VXR. It looked great, black with blacked out windows and a not overly massive spoiler.

I'd have one.

Janspeed

iTrader: (1)

I would too!

Shark Man

I had one


....Really do miss it now

scooby-tc

iTrader: (2)

rather have a VXR8 Carbon i will have one eventually

Shark Man

I can't get to grips with the looks of the VXR8

Will wait to see what happens with the Holden Coupe 60 concept (praying that they don't bolt a garish bodykit on the production versions ).

magicgreg

Hmm..

I had an extensive test in one before I bought my current Scoob and found quite a few negative points about them:

Interior of a Vectra
Paintwork was shocking - flaking all over the place, which is a renound issue with them.
Bubbling on alloys
Good straighline grunt but very suspect in the corners due to the sheer weight and size of the thing
Very expensive to replace discs and pads which can go in 6000 miles or so.

However, the engine LS2 is a gem and with the Wortec pack on they sound superb!!

G

Shark Man

Can't say that was an issue on the ones I looked at. However, one serious thing with the UK VXRs is they all have what is essentially aftermarket bodykits fitted by HSV after the car is built.

The result is holes being cut into the body for various spoiler mounts - some not all drilled in the right place or rust proofed, leading to future corrosion issues. (boot spoiler is the worst). The other issue is the bumpers use the original brackets...problem is the brackets cannot cope with the weight of the heavier bumper mouldings.....thus nothing aligns....I spent hours on the front and rear bumper making them fit perfect, having to modify the brackets to allow for some more adjustability. Seems other owners don't notice this.

Other body issue is the doors have creases in them; caused by the internal bracing pressing on the outer skin. To the uninitiated it can look like someone has opened a large door onto it when actually its just the way it was made. (although thats a bit unfair...as I noted quite a few various new VWs and Audis suffering the same issues).

Are you sure that was a 6.0 VXR? This is one of the very few large cars I've driven that defies its size in handling; coming close to an M5. It absolutely refuses to understeer (unlike the M5 I may add), unless you intentionally chuck into a bend extremely hard and aggressively. Not to mention the wonderfully predictable oversteer-on command. One would have to pay a hell of alot more money to find another similar year car of that size+performance that generally doesn't handle that much differently (CL55AMG, M5, XKR).

I also appreciate that it has some compliance as well; so it doesn't rattle teeth out on the very poor roads I have to drive on; The same roads that would have an M3 skitting about all over the place trying to find a hedge or tree to jump into.

Wet: Very different story: Factory Pirelli tyres just aren't suited to UK's roads when its cold and wet - despite what other owners seem to think and rate them; I still think they are no good for this kind of car that has such an aggressive rear LSD. In these conditions one has to be vary wary of the RWD+LSD characterstics, and treat it accordingly. Yes, getting the **** out in 4th gear might be a bit of an amusing novelty, but its asking for trouble as it won't aways come back into line when you want it to. Traction control won't always save you; its usually asleep - even when turned on.

One criticisation of the LS2 over the older LS1 is the electric throttle; The torque management doesn't always allow full throttle in low gears below 3000rpm. And like many other cars with electronic throttle control, it doesn't always behave in a linear fashion: i.e a small, yet fast pedal movement causes it to over-react. Normally not an issue, unless when its combined with an oversteer moment in the wet.

I never got round to wearing them out - my car had 5000miles on when I bought it still with original pads (was 5 months old). Had 10K on when it went and still plenty of meat left on the pads. Other Monaro models maybe different. But I will say even though the 6.0 VXR has uprated brakes compared to the 5.7 and CSV models; They are still a bit scary when they struggle to bring the speed down when one stomps on the pedal at high speeds.


Other than the over-tall SUV-like driving position and stupid relocated fuel tank (no boot), there is nothing out there that matches it for the money that is so powerful and drives so nicely.

davecweed

cant beat the old wired throttle linkage!