what are the best cars vauxhall has made?

Re: Newbie with lots of questions

Also lost on me. Have they ever made a good car? :confused:

There have been a few decent cars indeed but no real gems in my estimation.

Take any point in time during the last 40 years, nominate a Vauxhall model and I suspect I'll find something else from another maker which is a generally more appealing. MA will probably be able to do this as well.

Cavalier MkIII was considered a decent car, but I'd have taken a Peugeot 405 in preference. In fact, I'd have taken a Renault 21 saloon over a 405 and I'm not a great Renault fan either.

All this from me who once (actually TWICE) owned and operated a Montego!!! :embarrest:
 
Re: Newbie with lots of questions

Also lost on me. Have they ever made a good car? :confused:

Quickly off the top of my head...

Manta GTE

Lotus Carlton

Nova SR & GTE

Astra GTE

VX 220

VXR8

& my dad had a rare manual V6 Carlton estate which I loved & always wanted to drive, but for some reason he would'nt let me. :lol:

BTW:

Welcome to the forum Corsafan! :bigsmile:
 
Re: Newbie with lots of questions

Quickly off the top of my head...

Manta GTE - Alreet like but not "good".

Lotus Carlton - Doesn't count. Taken by Lotus (a completely unrelated company) and turned in a monster.

Nova SR & GTE - Speaks for itself :blink:

Astra GTE - Just an Astra with a good engine. Let's face it, there's a reason even spankers are only £3k, they are poo. If they were any good they'd be a proper appreciating classic by now.

VX 220 - Built by Lotus. Badged as a Daewoo for the Asain market ;) They are a good car though, but then they are just an Elise in a pretty dress.

VXR8 - Maybe if you're blind in both ears.

& my dad had a rare manual V6 Carlton estate which I loved & always wanted to drive, but for some reason he would'nt let me. :lol:

BTW:

Welcome to the forum Corsafan! :bigsmile:

That's a no then! :lol::lol::lol:
 
Re: Newbie with lots of questions

Pah! I'd expect nothing less from a Ford snob.
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Re: Newbie with lots of questions

how about the calibra turbo??

Err, no. Not for me anyway with the shuddering Cavalier derived chassis. Much as I said the MkIII was half decent it's not up to dealing with 200+ bhp. 4wd did little other than rob the paltry boot space.
 
Re: Newbie with lots of questions

I quite like Cavaliers and Astra's.
I used to have a 4x4 turbo Cav an it went very well indeed.
I've had a couple of Astra Gte's as well but in my experience the 8v engine is better than the 16v.
I quite like the mk1 Vectra Sri's too.
 
Re: What's the best Vauxhall ever made?

I've moved this conversation as bashing Vauxhalls in a thread welcoming a Vauxhall owner isn't exactly cricket is it? :amuse:


how about the calibra turbo??

Ooh I forgot about them. :bigsmile:

What about the Opel GT, does that count as a Vauxhall? :D
 

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Re: Vauxhall, Have they ever made a good car?

The C20XE (Red top) Is meant to be the bees knees, (GM/ Vauxhall). Killed off by emission and noise restraints, blah blah blah.....
The chevette is a good escort alternative £ for £ and the Firenza - Magnum droop snoop's of course
 
Re: Vauxhall, Have they ever made a good car?

with hdi
the mk3 cavalier i think is the best vauxhall there is
nice to drive great to work on
think out of all the cars i have had is one of the few i would have again
but this time a v6 one i had the 2.0sri
 
Re: Vauxhall, Have they ever made a good car?

The V6 Cavalier worked very well. Not massively powerful but the 4spd auto suited it all the same.

I remember using one of these in 1996 for a couple of weeks. Was working for Aiwa UK at that time, based in West Drayton, close to Heathrow Airport.
 
Re: Vauxhall, Have they ever made a good car?

Never had a problem with Vauxhalls. Cheap to tune, quick cars if you get the right one, and vauxhall have made some good cars in their time, just look at the Calibra, Cavalier and Vectra in the BTCC or DTM. I've had almost every engine over 2.0 with vauxhalls (apart from the old carltons etc.) and they are good engines if you know what to do with em. Oh and for anyone who's slating Calibras, dont forget they took the show when they first were unvealed, slaughtered the compotition in the Touring cars. Plus i'd have a Calibra over a Carrado or escort any day of the month. Also £ for £, I haven't come across and engine from another company as easy and cheap to get extra horses from than the Vauxhall V6 engines.

Oh and lets not forget, the fastest road legal car in the world is a Vauxhall with a GM engine ;)
 
Re: Vauxhall, Have they ever made a good car?

Evo magazine actually rated the original Vectra B GSI quite highly:

http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evolongtermtests/19911/vauxhall_vectra_gsi_v6.html
"its a seriously good car"

They RAVED about the Vectra C VXR:
http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/cargrouptests/65185/mitsubishi_evo_v_impreza_v_vectra_vxr_v_bmw_330i.html


"I can't shake the car behind either, Incredibly - no, scrub that - shockingly, that car has a Vauxhall badge on its nose. The Vectra VXR is splitting the two hardest, most outrageous rally wannabes right down the middle. And despite significant horsepower advantages, not to mention the benefit of two extra driven wheels each, there's nothing they can do about it. "


(and that was the 255bhp version, not the improved 280bhp version.)

Let's face it, Clarkson is an utter tool. The VXR review on TG was a joke. They hacked the car to disable the suspension aids. Did they do that for the Mitsi Evo? Of course not. And then he barelled into a corner, wrenched the steering onto full lock and said "ooh look it understeers". I could have driven that car better than that moron.

I've had SRI, GSI and CDX of vectra Bs, and they were all comfy, cheap to run, cheap to fix, easy to be in for large mileages. And the GSI handled very well and went pretty quickly.
 
Re: Vauxhall, Have they ever made a good car?

Oh and for anyone who's slating Calibras, dont forget they took the show when they first were unvealed, slaughtered the compotition in the Touring cars.

Yeah the German touring cars for one year lol. When all the big boys were busy rallying.

Plus i'd have a Calibra over a Carrado or escort any day of the month. Also £ for £, I haven't come across and engine from another company as easy and cheap to get extra horses from than the Vauxhall V6 engines.

You'd have a Calibra over an EsCos? You Sir are mad :lol: There must be a reason Calibras can be picked up for pennies and Escort Cossies are knocking on the door of £20k!

Oh and lets not forget, the fastest road legal car in the world is a Vauxhall with a GM engine ;)

I know but that's world apart from most of the cars we drive isn't it. Depends how you're measureing fastest too, can't imagine it'd be too handy round a track ;)

......
 
Re: Vauxhall, Have they ever made a good car?

I tend to ignore the badge on the front and judge a car on its merits. It's why I like things like Mondeo ST220s or Vectra VXRs and get bored senseless by a BMW 316 or A4 1.6.
 
Re: Vauxhall, Have they ever made a good car?

What defines a 'good car'?

Each member will put their 2cents worth in and hopefully will be based upon ownership experience and not what the bloke down the pub said.

Personally I have driven and owned a few over the last 28 years of driving, these being:

HC Viva saloon and estate-good all round family car, reliable.
Magnum 1800 saloon-again a good family car with a bit more than 1256cc
Magnum coupe 2300-great track car.
Firenza droopsnoot-fantastic and very rare now.
HSX Chevette-probably the best car I have ever owned. If it wasn't for the Quattro it would've been around alot longer.
Carlton 2.2CDi-great car, reliable and had self levelling suspension.
Omega Tourer 2500-best family car I've ever owned.
Calibra V6-great car, bit heavy but stood the test of time very well.

Others that I thought were good at the time, SRi Cavaliar, Astra GTE and the Nova Sport. The Carlton 3000GSi wasn't too bad but didn't last very well. Then there was the Royale...................soon forgotten.
 
Ive had 2 vauxhalls astra mk3 1.4 8v which was very reliable and i gave it plenty of stick the other vauxhall vectra 1.8 16v only lasted 3 months due to waterpump and gearbox.
 
Even Evo say "it's a 31k Vauxhall" LOL! Got bladderred by the S4 in Fifth gears test did it not? Let's face it, you'd rather have an S4, Audi or not. Tis an ugly thing, and something like 1800kgs!?
 
If I have to nominate a Vauxhall I did like, and at the time it was a credible car, it's the MkII Astra SRi 2 door.

1.8 litre 8 valve injector fed motor (same as Cavalier SRi of the same era - they even fitted it to the Carlton - there was even a carb fed auto model ???? ) but it was an engaging drive.

By today's standards it's tragically under-specced and hard work to drive with no PAS etc. But they were light and went very well indeed.

I don't see the GTe in the same frame - that was brutal and the engine overwhelmed the chassis. The SRi was just right. Enough torque to enjoy a spirited drive and the brakes were up to the job.
 
i had a 2.3 vauxhaul magnum years ago .i used to love it.it had an overdrive button on the gear stick .rear wheel drive.it used to wheel spin like mad in the wet.good fun though.
 
Dont forget the Manta i400. That was a beast back in the day. But I still have to say i'd own a Monaro VXR500 over any other car available. Call me silly but I prefer them to Ferarri, Lambo's, Porsche, BMW's, Bugatti etc. Gorgouse cars and very hard to find an equal at the same price.
 
Does the Lotus Carlton count as a vauxhall car? I was wondering how long it would take before the Monaro was mentioned.

Also the VXR220 is great fun, a real budget race car thanks to heavy depreciation.
 

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