I certainly have, I won't say on here for legal reasons about top speed but it does fly.

6.1 sec from 0-60 was the 255 version, at the tuners they did it in mine in 5.2 after the ECU was remapped.

Of course it torque steers but not as bad as you probably think, and it happens in 2nd and 3rd gear only.

So what about going round corners (other than motorways and duel carriageways) ? Which the UK has many.

Anyone that thinks the Vectra VXR is a bad car and understeers then you should read EVO, they have one as a Long term test car "at the back of the mag" and every month are more and more impressed with it.

Vauxhall Vectra VXR | Long Term Tests | Car Reviews | evo

Holds the road very well round corners, the Top Gear review doesn't do it justice.

Obviously if you accelerate too hard round a corner you will feel drifting understeer, but then again what FWD car wouldn't when you push that much torque through the front tyres.

I'm reading this as meaning that stickier tyres have overwhelmed the rubbish handling at even quite moderate speeds.

I've driven a Vectra and an Octy TDi90 down the same twisty A-road, and was capable of going 25% faster (and still wasn't even threatening the speed limit) in the Octy.

Perhaps it's the way you drive

I like the Vectra vXR. But because the cost is so close to the Monaro for a second hand model thats what i'd go for. A 6.0L LS2 engine from a corvette (lovely). You can pick up a 2005 vXR Monaro for 19k. Plus the fuel economy isnt as bad as you think for a big lump due to the lazy power delivery and as for tuning, chuck a few grand at it for a supercharger and your getting 500bhp.

Darren

Perhaps it's the way you drive

You mean, having due regard for the level of grip I can actually feel, and handling signals the car is generating, rather than just turning in and praying that it will stick?

Who wouldn't, the fuel bills compare to the M3, and I thought the Veccy was uneconimical;)

If you want to feel the road and the grip then press the sports button, this will sharpen the dampeners and give you a lighter steering feel and reactive throttle.

I've driven one and I'd have one. I actually quite liked the handling. Maybe it's because I drive like a girl?

If you want to feel the road and the grip then press the sports button, this will sharpen the dampeners and give you a lighter steering feel and reactive throttle.

No it won't. It will give you:-

Stiffer dampers which have nothing per se to do with handling, although it will reduce transitory roll reaction. It might improve the handling, if the damper rates are changed by different proportions front and rear, but that would just pose the question as to why the rates are wrong in "standard" mode, and make the car's feedback inconsistant.

"Lighter steering" - unfortunately, this has nothing to do with handling feel or feedback. However, lighter steering is usually associated with poorer feedback.

"A more reactive throttle" - again, this has nothing to do with handling, except if you can use the throttle on/off to modify the basic charactoristics. My experience of Vectras suggests that, due to lack of basic feel, that won't happen. Again, it does mean that the car has inconsistent responses though.

The 25% faster can only be attributed to the driver i'm afraid. Sounds like the old adage " a poor workman always blames his tools"

The 25% faster can only be attributed to the driver i'm afraid. Sounds like the old adage " a poor workman always blames his tools"

The corrolary to that is "a good craftsman doesn't choose bad tools".

I'd throw my arguments into the pot... but Ken has covered everything.

Plus who the hell accelerates in a corner in a FWD car ?

Brake...corner...acclerate, thats a good way of making progress in a FWD car. I could enter a corner a good 10 mph faster in a std octy mk1 (which in honesty does understeer more than some cars) than I ever could in the vectra. And the week I unfortunately had to put up with an SRI CDTI 150 vectra, I tried just about every driving style I could to improve the handling and it was still carp.

The 25% faster can only be attributed to the driver i'm afraid. Sounds like the old adage " a poor workman always blames his tools"

If some one drove two different cars and was faster in one than the other, using the same driving style.... I'd assume the car (tool) was crap. Not the other way round.

I would agree too if that person had become thoroughly accustomed to the car they were driving in both cases. If I lived nearer I would happily prove the point, but raking up 500 or so miles to prove a point so petty as this isn't in my agenda.

Both. Fair enough. I'll just add that I'd actually had longer to acclimitise to the Vectra before tackling the stretches of road in question.

At the end of the day, if you havent driven a VXR you cant really comment because they are *very* different from standard vectras .. As said earlier in the thread, Clarksons review of it was hardly fair... ANY fwd car would understeer if you just nailed the throttle and turned the wheel.

The car is designed to be a very fast yet relaxed and comfortable saloon for munching up motorway miles.

Ive also driven one and thought it was mighty impressive, the rate it gains speed is very deceptive..

True and I haven't driven a Skoda recently so I cannot comment on handling in this discussion, and I am sure they are excellent drives.

Everyone to their own. Hey, if we all drove around in the same cars how boring would that be...

I saw one at the weekend in Heswall (Wirral), looked and sounded pretty impressive, but he wasn't exactly on the edge of handling as he was negotiating the heavy/crawling traffic

Dave.

Im not sure that any FWD car has equal length drive shafts its due to the position of the engine

Errr, my Passat has equal length driveshafts :confused:

I've driven one and I'd have one. I actually quite liked the handling. Maybe it's because I drive like a girl?

Need we say anymore...

True and I haven't driven a Skoda recently so I cannot comment on handling in this discussion, and I am sure they are excellent drives.

Everyone to their own. Hey, if we all drove around in the same cars how boring would that be...

I don't like my brother's mk1 Octy to drive, it's on KW's with strut braces and lower,wider tyres etc so it goes round corners just dandy, the remap etc means it go well and the brembos are more than capable of slowing it down. but the overly light controls (steering/throttle/brakes(?)) almost spoil totally it for me :(

At the end of the day, if you havent driven a VXR you cant really comment because they are *very* different from standard vectras.

Ok, problem is I've also driven a VXR and IMHO, the VXR is worse than a std vectra. It bounces while understeers because of the harder suspension.