Vauxhall Astra VXR - Wild but very willing.

A colleague of mine who got their hands on the Vauxhall Astra VXR three-door hatchback before me, mine was damaged by a previous scribe, said if the car was a person it would be issued with an Asbo.

Well having now got to grips with this motorsport derived hot-hatch I can confirm it really is today’s wild child of motoring.

All too often we now get high performance cars that on paper do have real performance but the thrill of driving has been refined out of the car due to the on-board technical wizardry.

It makes a real change to come across a real out and out stormer that will bite you back if you are too inexperienced or you have no concept of driving within your, and the car’s, limitations.

Vauxhall applies the VXR badge, used from their motorsport activities, to the really hot models in their range over their SRi versions. So we have the VXR Astra, VXR Monaro, VXR Vectras and strangely the new VXR Zafira and Meriva people carriers. Vauxhall says the VXR badge is only given to models with a race-bred DNA developed from the British Touring Car Championship successes.

UK sales of 2,000 plus units this year, more if Vauxhall can get them, equates to 50 per cent of Astra VXR production. Early indications of customer profiles suggest a 50/50 split between retail buyers and company car or user-choosers and the majority of these are ticking all the boxes and ordering the full range of options. Over 1,000 units have already been sold and delivery dates are now being quoted as May.

The Astra VXR has been designed and tuned in the UK and created with the needs of the British motorists. Vauxhall and Lotus further tweaked the chassis, already one of the best in the industry, jointly. The set up is uniquely tailored for British roads rather than pan-European straight-line highways with smooth road surfaces. It really does make a change to find a six-speed manual gearbox which you can fully use on A and B roads rather than just on motorways.

I suppose the two main rivals in the hot-hatch sector to the Astra VXR are the VW Golf GTI/R32 and the new Ford Focus ST. The Golf is probably the best compromise between quality, refinement and performance, the Focus ST is good but over refined and lacks real bite and so the Astra VXR is the real racing machine. If budget is a consideration then the other newcomer, the Skoda Octavia vRS priced at a £17,500, is cheaper and livelier than the Golf.

The Astra VXR is priced at £18,995 but the real numbers of interest are the power output of 240PS (237bhp), the performance, with the 0-62mph dash covered ion 6.2 seconds and the top speed of 152mph.

Delivering 240PS of turbocharged power and 320Nm of torque through the front wheels is never an easy task. The Astra VXR does need to be handled with care, it will surprise you. Torque-steer is very evident but controllable with care and you need to learn the knack of getting the best acceleration. Using a heavy right foot will not allow the front wheels chance to find grip under hard acceleration in first, second and third gears. Use first gear to get moving, slip it briefly into second and then use the maximum torque from 2,400rpom onwards to whisk you away from the competition.

The six-speed close ratio manual gearbox is great. Really well sorted gear ratios to make the best use of the turbocharged power right through the range and it is gives really silky smooth and very precise gearchanges. Because of the torque available you can chose to adopt ‘block’ gearchanging techniques very easily.

The anti-lock brakes are strong and give you lots of confidence. The lowered and tuned suspension is very compliant and absorbs pothole and bumps pretty well although it is firm. Even with the large alloy road wheels and low profile tyres it is generally a comfortable car. Road noise generated by the wide tyres is intrusive on certain road surfaces.

The grip, other than in heavy-handed straight-line acceleration mode, is very good. The car hangs on well during high speed cornering, it has a sharp and accurate steering response. Handling is helped by the standard-fit electronic stability programme, which does not take away the fun of driving. Recaro sports style seats keep you firmly in your place.

This Astra is not cheap but it is well equipped with lots of kit ranging from electric windows, air conditioning, CD player, deadlocks, alarm and driver information computer. Side and curtain airbags are standard items of equipment.

The exterior of the Astra VXR leaves you in no doubt as to the role of this car. The body styling kit gives it a low and mean looking profile and the 18-inch allow wheels fill the wheel arches nicely. There are elements of ‘bling’ about the exterior looks of the car, lots of gleaming brightwork, but it will impress your friends if you like bold statement cars.

If you can afford it, buy it, but beware the residual values may not be as strong as a Golf GTi. Be careful how you go in it – it bites.

For: Unleashed driving fun and performance, very quick, roomy for four.
Against: High running costs, poor centre facia layout.