Getting the best performance mods for the Tigra.

"Tigra by name Tiger by nature"

The Vauxhall Tigra was introduced in 1994 and became a cheap affordable production sports coupe. The Tigra was based on the Corsa and shares many of the same mechanical components including engine and chassis. This means that although relatively low in production numbers there is a large base of cheap performance parts available to choose from.

In 1997 the suspension was upgraded and tweaked by the Lotus engineers and did a lot to transform the performance and handling of the car. If you have reprieve 1997 model the first modification we suggest would be paying some attention to the suspension set up.

The two engine options were the 1.4l and the 1.6l which performed very similarly. Many have commented that the 1.6l engine is not particularly refined or smooth. An engine swap would certainly be a good option and provide a big increase in performance.

The 1.8l Corsa engine from the 2001 model would be a relatively easy swap and provide another 20 brake horsepower to play with. Engines from other Vauxhall models may also be transplanted but these can be more complex so we suggest that you chats with other Tigra owners in our forum to see which options would be the best.

We would suggest paying some attention to the engine, and, ideally advise you to get the stripped down blue printed rebuilt and fitted with fast road cams. A sports exhaust with a maximum 2 inch bore diameter. Adding an induction kit would only increase the power marginally and only at the top end of the rev range, leaving the engine feeling powerless at low to mid RPM. TorqueCars therefore recommend a panel air filter if you are after a performance gains.

A set of 17 inch alloy wheels with a low profile tyres would be the largest you can fit without needing to modify the arches or suspension. For performance and handling we would recommend that you restrict your wheel size to 16 inches. For more details on any of these recommendations please browse the articles in our tuning section.