Am i mad? VXR8

[duckson]

I've asked a VXR dealer for a trade in price for my Z4M Roadster against a brand new VXR8 (pre reg but 09 plate, try and buy scheme, dealer holds V5 for 90 days)...am i mad?!
Reason for the interest (apart from the 6.2 V8...) is that they are currently discounted to £22888 until 28th July.

My Z4M accoring to the Vaux NetworkQ Glasses trade in price is £19600 - £22k...if its £2k or less to change it could be tempting.

http://www.astonvauxhall.co.uk/vauxhall ... s-vxr8.htm

[peddy]

sorry but that car looks like some boy racer done it up! the z4m is so much more classy and slick!keep the zed! but if you do decide to get it i'll give you £19,800 for your z4m.

[PetKiller]

6.2 V8. Would love to own one of those for a while.

[milu]

thats a real bargain...id be tempted too,having looked at them earlier in the year.

[Robb]

Do it, its only a trial after all.

What are they like on pertol?

[mmm-five]

It's quick in a straight line, but you'll have to make sure you've scrubbed a lot of speed off before you try to take corners as you would in the Z.

It does sound nice though, but I'd probably go for an older, but slightly more nimble e60 M5 for the same price (in fact I did consider one over the Z4MC ).

[sammyz]

I would imagine petrol consumption would be poor especially when you give it the gun!
Fantastic bargain at that price and if you are thinking of getting a muscle car then go for it. I think if I was looking in that direction then a 370Z would be top of my list.

[easty027]

A pimped & tuned 'vectra' ! whatever takes your fancy i suppose.

[flimper]

I don't think you're mad for considering it, not sure that I'd actually do it though. Don't know till you've driven it.

[Lucy]

I really can't decide if you are mad or not. That's a bargain at that price for the amount of car you get. They are brilliant cars and look good too. But not sure if i would have one over the Z4M

[WLH]

I drove the Pontiac version and was not impressed...

[jhbuining]

I drove the Pontiac version and was not impressed...

Hmm... a colleague of mine is about to buy a 2005 GTO with the LS2 engine... could you elaborate?

[klarky]

tough one, me personally id only go for it if you were bored of the m, id imagine a vxr8 will lose more money in a shorter time than an m will/has. the up side is that mountain of power!

[klarky]

tough one, me personally id only go for it if you were bored of the m, id imagine a vxr8 will lose more money in a shorter time than an m will/has. the up side is that mountain of power!

[Voodoo]

Interesting choice.

I live not too far from Greens Vauxhall and went to look at a Monaro VXR a few years back when I was looking to replace my 03 WRX. I'm a big fan of Chevy V8's anyway and I think they sound ace. I was also invited to a pre launch evening by Greens to look at the VXR8 and was TBH, bloody impressed. It is a massive car mind you. Acres of space inside and the boot is cavernous. Though the quality of the interior plastic parts was less than thrilling. Remember it is a rebadged Holden, nothing to do with a Vectra being "barry'd" up at all. In fact it's a million miles from a Vectra, though I suspect you would get frequents comments of that nature (but then who cares what others think if you like it?).

I must add that I've not driven the VXR8, but I would imagine that the straight line mid range grunt is impressive, though not too dissimilar to the //M. Delivery would be different though as the VXR8 would be all low down shove as opposed to the wind it up 7k rpm nature of the //M engine. What put me off it was the worse-than-my-WRX mpg. I'm all for performance cars, don't misunderstand me, but I look for a car that's a good all round balance of mpg/running costs/performance etc. (I currently have a ~10mpg car in my fleet, but that equates to 500bhp & 450lb/ft!).

You really are looking at two *hugely* different cars though, one's a bloody big sledgehammer, the other a razor sharp scalpel. Both hugely effective, both great fun.

Personally, like most people I enjoy a good session with a sledgehammer, but ultimately I get more satisfaction and don't get bored so quickly when using a fine, precision tool like a scalpel.