Phantom Mark

Sold as the Vauxhall VXR8 in the UK, but known maybe by the rest of the world as the Holden Commodore VE.........


Well I went on a track day organised by Vauxhall this weekend to drive the VXR range, of course I was 99% there for the VXR8, although the Corsa was fun and the Astra was mighty impressive for a faggot wheel drive car.

Sadly I only got a couple of goes in the VXR8 on the drift section of Rockingham but I posted the vids up here on my you tube account.


There will be some other vids coming up as well at some time, as well as some BMW stuff I already have done on track before.

After the drifting session we moved onto the track where I ran around 20 laps around rockingham international layout in the rain, plus more laps in other cars from the VXR range.

So whats the VXR8 like I hear you say ?????

Well compared to my BMW's past and present you will be pleased to know it really is a drivers car, but much more of a hooligan because it lacks the raw grip a BMW will give you on the limit, that makes it plenty sideways and much fun, the chassis is really well balanced and easy to throw around if your used to tossing your BMW around.

The engine is super smooth and very torqy, quite a sensitive throttle as well, you really have to drive this car by the seat of your pants and by fingertips when on the track in the wet thats for sure, at one point I had one hand on the wheel whilst reaching for another cog when I entered a slide at around 120mph, casually just dialing in some opposite lock to correct with no hassle, its super smooth in transition and response, a really easy car to drive hard that talks to you nicely to let you know whats going on.

I found the interior and driving controls quite nice, tho heel and toe proved difficult to get used to in the time I spent with the car, no doubt gets easier the more used to it you are.


Would I buy one ?

Whilst the styling is a little "ricey" the driving experience is what this car is all about, and in that regard it certainly delivered, even if it didn't have the raw grip of a BMW, thats kinda what made it fun and like an old school muscle car, as a child I always dreamed about owning one of the American style muscle cars like the Charger, Camaro Z28 etc, so it does it nicely for me when it comes to giving a buzz.

Hmmmmmm, yes actually I might buy one when im done with my current car, depends if im still doing the same kind of miles and style of driving really, ideally its more suited to a weekend fun machine which can take the family out aswell as a bonus, I don't drive to work so I do not have to do the regular commute kinda journey every day like most else it would be a killer to run, that said I do run to Nursery and back twice a day with my Daughter, thats only 24 miles a day tho so hardly a bank balance killer.

littlemouse

Great review Mark

It looks like you had a great day at Rockingham

CWS530

Sounds like a blast. I watch those Holdens race when I get a chance to watch Australian V8 Supercars--rarely on Speed Channel here in the States, and occasionally when I'm traveling. Any track time is fun to me. I even enjoy karting!

Phantom Mark

For sure, its an awesome race series I follow as well, shame they moved to allow Sequential gearboxes this last couple of years tho

CWS530

True. Not all technology is a good thing.

swajames

Yep - that's the Pontiac G8 GXP for our US brethren, essentially the same car as the VXR8 you drove.

There is also a new edition, the Bathurst S, which turns things up to 11 with a quite staggering 564hp and 547 lb/ft (and a manual transmission)...

Clarkson reviewed it for his column in the Times and the Hamster wrote an article on it for Top Gear magazine. Both liked it.

Phantom Mark

Yer, just been looking at a Brand New one, only ?37k here in Blighty, serious value for money indeed !!

If I lived in the US I would probably buy the new Challenger SRT-8 tho , just because........