astra convertable turbo

[Platinum_mike]

Yeah, the Z20LET 2litre 16v is the engine used in the coupe turbo and the gsi, regal or courtenay will charge you £400-£500 for a phase 1 upgrade giving around 240bhp. it is more expensive to mod than the LCR, u'd be looking at the best part of 2k to get around 270bhp, the vxr turbo also seems to be a popular mod now

That sounds cheap to me - AFAIK a £500 remap will give you 220bhp (Stage 1), you need a new exhaust for 240bhp (Stage 2) - Milltek seem to be the preferred option, and a Milltek plus remap is around £2k (That's what I'm thinking about for the VX)

You need charge coolers etc. I think to get to 270...... (Stage 3) then you can just go silly with Stages 4 and 5 for 300hp+

This is all according to Thorney Motorsport anyway, which, IMO, are the guys in the know when it comes to Vauxhall tuning....

 

[LiCkWiD]

Vauxhalls eh? Try as they might.. no matter how much you polish a turd, it just won't shine :'<

 

[RobM]

Vauxhalls eh? Try as they might.. no matter how much you polish a turd, it just won't shine :'<

You really dislike Vauxhalls don't you

For what it's worth, if I didn't need some kind of practicality, I'd have gone for a VX220 over the LCR instantly

 

[LiCkWiD]

VXR220, surely?

And even then.. are you sure? :S Christ man.. It's a Vauxhall :S

Yeh, my irrational hatred of Vauxhall is being a bit over-stated here I dislike them. Maybe not despise. But close

Just the brand I don't like. We all have them.

 

[ElasticTangent]

And even then.. are you sure? :S Christ man.. It's a Vauxhall

Yeah, but it's a Vauxhall with a Lotus developed chassis and does 0 - 60 in less than 5 seconds. I'm not a massive Vauxhall fan but even that would make me pay attention.

Sooner have an Elise though........

 

[LiCkWiD]

Well then it's the Lotus engineering that makes that car good. Not Vauxhall.

And yeh, I'd rather the Elise, too. Prefer an Exige though.

 

[ElasticTangent]

Well then it's the Lotus engineering that makes that car good. Not Vauxhall.

Good point and very well made. Bet you'd have one though

 

[Chris 16v]

My best mate has an Astra Coupe Turbo, i have an 03 Leon Cupra 180 - both are totally standard bar the astra being lowered.

From a standing start to 70mph +++ they are completeley identical. I dont mean a little in it, i mean we could have a picnic through the windows and play pass the parcel. There isnt even an inch in it up to a ton. Ton plus is the same up to 140ish then the astra has a bit more legs ( the vauxhall top speed is 152 anyway)

 

[LiCkWiD]

Heh. Is the VX220 free? If so, yeh, i'd take it. either keep it as a track-day only, or sell it's sorry behind!

I'd prefer the Lotus Carlton, if we're talking Lotus engineered Vauxhalls.

 

[janowski1980]

for some reason they do seem to keep up and even match your speed, however, once you actually look at what you are getting for your money in a vag car then you realise you made the correct choice by choosing the cupra, inside and out the astra is no match for this. Especially the interier of the 888, its disgusting. I mostly dislike the tacky twisty things u use for the heaters and fan power. Like i said at the begining of this thread, he kept up with me till 70 then well, the rest was history.

 

[LiCkWiD]

In my opinion, Vauxhalls seem like they're built with equal inputs from both engineers and accountants. Never the recipe for a legendary motor. The engineers need to lock the doors and not let the bean-counters see the project till it's done. Otherwise... CORSA.

 

[Chris 16v]

Well they would keep up with mine as mine is an LC 180 - however they are 197bhp and 184lb or torque (both more than mine) however they are totally equal. I would expect an LCR to pull away.

 

[RobM]

Vauxhalls aren't bad cars. They do everything they should do, but they do it without any soul!

They aren't badly built.
They aren't expensive to run.
They are cheap to maintain.
The are comfortable enough to drive.
They are easy to live with.
They are fast enough for many people.
They aren't ugly.

But they have no soul. It's like they are built to an exact list of requirements, without any enthusiasm for creating something truly unique.

However, every now and again it seems as though they let their designers and engineers go crazy. Take the new Astra for example, the 3 door is a good looking car whatever you might think of it (if Seat had used that design for the Ibiza you would love it!) and the VXR has that aggressive appeal that many cars lack. The VX220 is the same, it's a plaything created with a smile on the face.

But the rest of the range are just so forgettable.

Even Ford manage to do a better job. The Focus is the best handling car in it's class, the ST has a great appeal about it and performs very well. The Fiesta ST is an entertaining little car. The Mondeo is a much better value buy than the 3 series BMW and with the ST220 in the range is a fun car to drive. They do their fair share of mediocre, hum-drum cars, but there is a big market for that!

 

[LiCkWiD]

Yeh, that's pretty much my point, RobM. Lot's of nice ideas but no ****ing soul.

Everything BUT soul. It is a shame though, one of the last big-time car companies employing on-mass in the UK and I'll never buy one.

 

[LiCkWiD]

Well, at the moment, Ford's range doesn't really have any stop-gap cars. The nearest to it is the Fusion. With slow engines and fairly drab spec. options, you're better off shelling out the extra few grand and opting for the Focus C-MAX which, frankly, is superb.

The S-MAX can be specced with the same 2.5 5-cylinder Turbo Volvo engine found in the Focus ST. Now that's a car the size of a Galaxy with a ****-hot engine. Both mum and dad are happy.

Vauxhalls answer? The Zafira VXR, the car with the most annoying retarded advert ever. The Zafira that is, "Clever family cars from Vauxhall, advertised by a fat kid with less acting skills than a dead badger.."

 

[InfernalBadger]

Vauxhalls answer? The Zafira VXR, the car with the most annoying retarded advert ever. The Zafira that is, "Clever family cars from Vauxhall, advertised by a fat kid with less acting skills than a dead badger.."

I resent that!!

The ONLY good thing about Vauxhall is that they brought the Monaro to this country. Awesome car for the money, but of course, they didn't design it

 

[LiCkWiD]

Holden ftw, then.

Again! Lots of bright flashes and bangs and whistles and "Wow, Vauxhall Monaro VXR... Hotness!!... What's that? It's a Holden? It's not from the UK? Damn... ah well." etc. :<

But yeh, Monaro. Nice ar. More at home in America than UK, me thinks.. i.e. big engine. Big looks. Blunt shape. Like an American saloon with non-American engineering.

And I've just realised the relevance to the txt you quoted of mine. Hehe. Are you a classically trained actor or something?

"..keeps em outta trouble.." ****ing kid.

 

[InfernalBadger]

No

Think the kid has more acting skill than me tbh

Well, the Monaro is better than all of that rubbish that the American call cars anyway

 

[Chris 16v]

Vauxhalls arent all bad, i had a string of novas and astras prior to my accord and then leon, i am a car fanatic and the novas and astras had their merits.

Vauxhalls are cheap to buy, run and insure. Parts are cheap and easy to get hold of and they do have some very good engines.

My Nova and astra both had the Calibra Turbo C20LET's in them, they are a little crude but still for their time, they produce 200bhp and 200lb torque out of the box and are very tunable. I personally thing the astra coupe and gsi are great looking cars but agree dont have much soul to them.

However they are great value, my mates couoe i mentioned earlier is as quick as mine, has full leather, climate, xenons etc and cost 5k! A similar spec Astra GSi will cost no more than 8k and iisn far off LCR pace at all.

Granted they all need tweaking to improve the handling and the engine note is dire, however they are quick and cheap - a car for the masses.

The Leon is a fantastic package but by no means perfect lets face it.

 

[janowski1980]

for sure, by no means is the Leon perfect, however it in my eyes is a great all round package, from appearance to performance. Def the face lift model, no longer wolf in sheeps clothing. would rather pay the extra few grand to have the Leon. Gsi very nice car and nice colour but still most vauxhalls produced by robots it seems, which have the enthusiasim and charisma of a tortoise. its like the fit bird you see in town, until you get close and find out shes a right minger, body off baywatch, face off crimewatch.