Vauxhall VXR8 Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Vauxhall VXR8
Prices: £35,275 - on the road
Insurance Group: 20
Emissions: 365g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 4.9s
Fuel Consumption: (urban) 12.4mpg, (extra urban) 25.9mpg, (combined)18.5mpg
Safety: twin front airbags, ABS , ESP
Dimensions: Length/Width/Heightmm 4895/1900/1476mm

MORE THUNDER FROM DOWN UNDER

Our Rating: 7.4 / 10

The Monaro is dead but there’s no need to get all maudlin. Vauxhall have followed up with the VXR8, a car that offers all the rawness of the Monaro with a little added practicality. Andy Enright reports

Remember all the best bits of the old Vauxhall Monaro performance coupe? You know, the power, the pace, the keen value and the no-nonsense rear wheel drive chassis. Then add a more civilised body and the option of an automatic gearbox. The result is its successor, the VXR8. Sophisticated it most certainly isn’t. Fun? Oh yes.

The formula for this sort of car isn’t new. In fact the muscle car blueprint can be traced right back to the first half of the last century. Putting a big V8 engine in a relatively simple rear wheel drive chassis and slapping a modest sticker price on it isn’t exactly rocket science and more’s the shame that this car hails from Australia rather than the UK. Nevertheless, the VXR8 wears a Vauxhall badge and will doubtless appeal to the sort of buyers who made the old Monaro such an underground hit.

That car offered an unparalleled slug of power per pound, the last of the imports being sold at massive knockdowns. It was a car that could make a BMW M3 feel clinically boring and a Mitsubishi Evo seem built for idiots. With the Monaro, you weren’t protected by a vast safety net of driver aids, trick differentials and such forth. It was a performance car from the old school and all the better for it. The worry was that its successor would try to get a little smart and lose the Monaro’s charmingly brutish appeal.

One look under the bonnet of the VXR8 is enough to pacify those who thought this car might have gone soft. Pop the hood and you’ll find that the old 6.0-litre V8 used by the Monaro VXR is now a 6.2-litre unit developing 431PS. Features like high-flow cylinder heads, new pistons and an enhanced valvetrain mean that power is up by 14PS over the first 6.0-litre VXR8 models that initially hit our shores late in 2007.

This translates to a reduced 0-60mph time for cars with automatic transmissions (down from 5.0 seconds to 4.9) and improved in-gear acceleration for manual models (50-70mph in 3rd gear drops from 2.8 to 2.6 seconds; 30-50mph in 2nd gear drops from 2.0 to 1.9 seconds).  And if you fancy smoking your VXR8 at a track day, you’ll see 80-100mph times fall from 4.3 to just 4.0 seconds in 4th gear. Despite the VXR8’s enhanced performance credentials, this ‘LS3’ version produces the same emissions and fuel consumption as the first VXR8’s ‘LS2’ unit. In additio

Those in the know will recognise this as the same basic engine as used by the Chevrolet Corvette and although it’s hardly the last word in high technology, it more than gets the job done. The VXR8 is fitted with traction control and stability control that those who enjoy a bit of sideways action will be relieved to hear can be fully disengaged. Do make sure you’ve got lots of run-off if you try this for the first time. An airfield would be preferable. Massive 365mm front disc brakes help to bring the VXR8 down from 60mph quicker than a BMW M5 or a Lamborghini Murcielago. There’s even the option of an automatic gearbox with a manual override and sports setting. This will add around half a second to the VXR8’s sprint to 60mph.

The biggest difference between the VXR8 and its predecessor, the Monaro VXR, is an extra pair of doors. Whereas the Monaro was a big coupe, the VXR8 offers the added bonus of a pair of rear doors. True, there are many who are in the market for a coupe and may see this as a negative but the sleek roofline of the VXR8 isn’t actually that different in silhouette to the Monaro so it in no way looks upright and frumpy like so many four door cars do.

Racy detailing festoons the exterior, from the sharky gills on the flanks to the huge air intakes in the front spoiler. A rear spoiler, a rear diffuser and quad exhaust pipes will leave other unfortunates under no illusion about the potency of what’s just blown them into the weeds.

The cabin is relatively airy with a decent amount of space in the back, a no-nonsense fascia with minor dials canted towards the driver and a beautiful set of front sports seats. Even the boot is decently sized. Build quality probably isn’t going to give Audi any sleepless nights but the budget has been blown on the bits that matter.

Vauxhall will make much of the fact that this vehicle has the sort of performance to keep a BMW M3 or an Audi RS4, both far more expensive cars, honest but the simple truth is that it’s not re