I have just been reading an article about this new hot hatch from Vauxhall and it went something like this.
There was a road tester from a magazine in a Mitsubishi Evolution FQ 340 (345bhp/326 ft-lbs remember) and he was driving in Belgium on the motorway towards the German border. As the de-limit sign came into view, a car flew past him and he recognised it as a 2006 Vauxhall Astra VXR. It simply flew away. So he gave the Evo some steam and got to 120 mph. However, he realised that the tiny distant spec of blue VXR was still pulling away and so it was time to really haul ass in the Lancer FQ 340. He got to 150 mph, wind noise battering the cabin and only then did the Astra start coming back into clear view. It seems that the new VXR is very very quick.
Originally posted by Noxide: That's not realistic, but yes the VXR is a very quick car indeed.
Noxide, it is EXACTLY what happened, i have it on very good authority. You may have misunderstood the story though, to come to that conclusion.
<Boundary!>
Posted
Basically, the Astra got the jump on the Evo at the start and went straight up to it's top speed, around a true 145 mph, the chasing driver then accelerated to 120 mph, thinking that 2 miles a minute would be enough, but the VXR kept pulling away, as it would...it was going 25 mph faster, after all! Only when the FQ340 got to 150 mph, did the Astra start getting hauled in. It all makes perfect sense to me Noxy, i have to say.
Whilst on the subject, it reminded me of another reason i preferred my M3 CSL to an Evo. The aerodynamics of the dated-shape Evo are akin to a barn door, the buffetting and wind noise at high speed is massive. My M3 was silent (by comparison) at a steady indicated 165.
I drove the VXR a few weeks ago and can attest that it is fecking rapid. What it isn't is particular fun to drive. It's too skittish and unsettled on b-roads and spends most of its time trying to snatch the steering wheel out of your hands. Anything more than about 3/4 throttle and all that power going through the front wheels sends them all over the place. You end up fighting with it too much.
I can imagine it would give the Evo a run for its money in the conditions described. Even a fast accelerator like the evo's going to take some time to get up from what i guess was sub-100 to 150mph. Still rather have an Evo on any road with corners though.
This is the problem with fwd cars, above about 200 bhp. Most of the extra power isn't usable, unless the road surface is extremely good. Plus if the road is straight and even then, i had my Focus RS (212 bhp, chipped to 255 bhp) try to turn right a few times, whilst travelling straight ahead.
It's one of the only ones on sales, that embodies the spirit of the 1980's hot hatches.
Raw, compromised & focused.
People forget, when the they compare the likes of the Golf GTI to the Astra, that they are not really rivals.
Vauxhall itself offers an 'all-round' hot hatch; it's the 5dr Astra SRI 200. That's the car that should be put up against the likes of the Golf GTI in group tests.
I don't know Syntax, the original and best hot hatch, the golf gti, was never as compromised as the new astra, it was perfectly practical for use as a family car as well as a hooligan-mobile, which is what made it king of the hot hatches. The whole point of a hot hatch surely is to act like a normal family hatchback and do all the boring day-to-day stuff as well as a bottom of the range model but also to have the ability to burn up the road when you want it to.
Boundary, 200+ bhp through the front wheels is, as you say, always going to cause issues. I drove the focus st just after the vxr and it had the occasional wobble too but it was nowhere near as bad as the astra.
The Fiesta and Nova boys have been running 250+ bhp at least for years in the 2.0 turbo Novas and boosted RS's.
Even though they have more power and much less weight, even they on there boards conceed it is extremely difficult to keep up with an Evo.
I find it very hard to believe that a car with less power and a lot more weight than these lads left an Evo 340 for dust. 260, or 300 just, maybe - but the 340 is a very different beast. It is savagely fast.
Noxy, as i said, you are still missing the point. Nobody ever said it BEAT the EVO 340.
<Boundary!>
Posted
It simply got going a lot earlier, but still surprised the Evo pilot because he thought 120 mph would be enough to catch up. It wasn't, not by a long way.
That article was from the new Autocar magazine. They've had a VXR on a year test and were saying how much they like it if you forget about the torque steer trying to take over, then they got on to the subject of why they chose the VXR and after seeing how fast it was on the Autobahns they wanted one. As said the editor or whatever he was, was testing an Evo FQ-340 when he saw what looked like an Astra pass him. Then he compared it to the Golf and Megane 225 and said how it decimated them in a triple test. Also it's 2.2secs quicker than a Focus ST round their test track. It's a nice car but I think I'd prefer one of the others for comfort.
I can't think of any really good looking hot hatches. The Mk1 Golf GTi was a looker (as long as it was left alone) and the Alfa 147 GTA is quite pleasing, but most cars of this type are ugly pigs.
It's a nice car but I think I'd prefer one of the others for comfort.
That's what i thought after driving it and the ST too. The focus isn't quite as rabid as the astra but just felt like an easier car to live with both when i was pushing on and when i wasn't. Plus you don't feel like you're in a carbon fibre-look plastic lined coffin, which was the feeling the small windows in the astra created. Plus it's 2 grand cheaper.
The basic point Boundary is trying to get across is that the Astra is a very fast and capable car, i think, but realisticly noway can it beat a Evo 'properly', but its not a bad car. Nox i'll refer you to those intelligence class's.
Bring on the new Evo X
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Originally posted by Boundary!: I have just been reading an article about this new hot hatch from Vauxhall and it went something like this.
There was a road tester from a magazine in a Mitsubishi Evolution FQ 340 (345bhp/326 ft-lbs remember) and he was driving in Belgium on the motorway towards the German border. As the de-limit sign came into view, a car flew past him and he recognised it as a 2006 Vauxhall Astra VXR. It simply flew away. So he gave the Evo some steam and got to 120 mph. However, he realised that the tiny distant spec of blue VXR was still pulling away and so it was time to really haul ass in the Lancer FQ 340. He got to 150 mph, wind noise battering the cabin and only then did the Astra start coming back into clear view. It seems that the new VXR is very very quick.
Don't think thats true.......the VXR is quick but not that quick,can it actually top 150?
Don't think thats true.......the VXR is quick but not that quick,can it actually top 150?
The point is the VXR didn't beat the Evo from a stand still,
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Originally posted by Noxide: ST must be near enough the deal of the decade for performance/comfort/toys.
Great car, Volvo engine!
<Boundary!>
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by festa:
quote:
Originally posted by Boundary!: I have just been reading an article about this new hot hatch from Vauxhall and it went something like this.
There was a road tester from a magazine in a Mitsubishi Evolution FQ 340 (345bhp/326 ft-lbs remember) and he was driving in Belgium on the motorway towards the German border. As the de-limit sign came into view, a car flew past him and he recognised it as a 2006 Vauxhall Astra VXR. It simply flew away. So he gave the Evo some steam and got to 120 mph. However, he realised that the tiny distant spec of blue VXR was still pulling away and so it was time to really haul ass in the Lancer FQ 340. He got to 150 mph, wind noise battering the cabin and only then did the Astra start coming back into clear view. It seems that the new VXR is very very quick.
Don't think thats true.......the VXR is quick but not that quick,can it actually top 150?
Read it again, festa, carefully. Your answer is there in front of you if you look closely.
