Resale value is irrelevant to me. I just reckon that whatever I buy will be worthless after 3 years - if I get owt back, it's a bonus.

Bear in mind I do 40-50k miles per year!

Theres a "first drive" article in autocar this week... IIRC they say it drives better than a certain Golf GTI (dont hold me tho that as ive been too pikey to buy the mag) but if it drives better than the gti, then it will stand a good chance of driving better than a new-vRS too

i have to say ive liked the last 2 gens of astras, my dad had a sri 2.2 which really was quite fast... handled well too and the new shape astras are very nice, apart from the diesel engines which are a bit lethargic compared to what im used to.

Bryan, even before I scrolled down and saw the Focus, the first thing I thought when I saw that picture was "that looks like a Focus ST".

At least its better looking than the lower models which are pretty fugly IMO.

'A new Golf GTI can't get close to the VXR' - David Vivian's devopment drive of Vauxhall's 237bhp Astra has him convinced. 'When it bites the road it draws blood.'

I moved from the previous shape Astra SRi to my Octy 6 months ago and have never looked back.

This new one seems to look good and go well, but it suffers with the same problem as the Monaro and VX220 - When it goes wrong, its going to be looked at in a Vauxhall dealer

Anything that forces Skoda to be more competetive is a good thing in my book. Having driven various Vauxhalls, I don't think I'd buy one. When you're spending an hour or two every day in your car, it should be a comfortable place to sit, not a nest of horribly cheap plastic and spinebreaking seats.

Anyway, the new Octy II vRS is going to have to be pretty damned special.

Hi all

I test drive the SRi turbo and bourt my Octy vrs the sri drives well and was not far from the Golf Gti but the thing pinked and nocked like a *?!!*( fillin as appropreat) if the delers can not get there demonstrtors runing right what is the chance that thay will get a customers car right ???? I tould the sale person that thay needed to get that thing setup properly and she had no idear what iwas talking about would i bye a Vauxhaul NOT A CHANCE

But yas it dose look nice and if you can get a good dealer you may be lucky

The trouble with Vauxhall is the rubbish dealers as soon as it goes back in the garage to have something done you just know they will break it......for ever

I'm lucky enough to have a good Vauxhall dealer (yep, I'm the one!). They tell me that the VXR demonstrator should arrive sometime in the next fortnight. I'm in the queue to give it a go (when they can wrench the keys out of the salesman's hand).

It's too small for me, but I wonder what discount I can get?

It'll also push my Signum down to the 3rd fastest Vauxhall from 50-70 in 4th!

Phil

i had a corsa a few years ago and it was fine, my dad has had astra's now for about 10 years(on his 4th) and no problems what so ever, and the dealer is quite good too

I had a vectra sri for 2 years before the vrs and it was great. Vauxhall have a lot of decent looking cars now. There is more choice for me in the vauxhall range than in the skoda range, if the new vrs (if it ever happens) isn't up to much then i will defo look elsewhere

Philc why not look at the Zafira VXR if the astra is too small.

New Zafira VXR

Ive got the Current Zafira Gsi and it is an excellent car my previous car was a fabia Vrs but got rid of the that because the diesel economy was not benificial to me and I needed a bigger car so my zafira came along and it is very fast and confortable with bags of space.

Are they ALL done in THAT blue :(

My brother in law has a 2.0 Diesel Zafira, Driving position = BUS. get up & go = still standing, For him and the 4 Kids it is brilliant.

Steve

Ive got a Astra SRI 1.7Cdti estate atm as work car.... i have to say i do like the astra.. it handles really well, and looks the bizz with the std pimptints and 18" wheels

just needs to be lower.. and the 1.7 is a bit too weedy for it. i rekon it handles better than the Fabia does... and possibly the octy RS too. id like to drive the sri turbo or the VXR when it arrives.

Whens the Nova VXR due for realese?? :sofahide:

Whens the Nova VXR due for realese?? :sofahide:

Every Chavs dream.

Can imagine VXR badges going missing from cars.

There is a Corsa VXR with a 170bhp turbo I believe...won't be released until the next Corsa comes out. They did do a prototype for the current version but decided to wait instead.