Newby - Blue Astra VXR

[paulmcc]

Hi everyone. I have just bought my VXR today in Belfast, N Ireland and will be getting it on Wed or Thu as its an ex demo. Currently I driving a Megane 225 and since seeing the styling of the VXR i have had a jealous feeling in my stomach.
Eventually went into the dealer today and had a drive in it and what can I say. Im used to a fast car which the Meg is (has blown away all other boy racers at the lights) but this was something else. When I acceleratd hard in third the thrust was unreal and the same on in fourth. Going through the roundabouts and hard out from the corners was fantastic too. I have the first standard Meg without the cup suspension and it felt like drinving a big blue whale in comparison! Love the short grear change and lever.
Bring on wed
All the best
Paul

[Sparky]

Welcome Paul , hope you enjoy the car and the site

[N3 VXR]

hey, ill have to keep an eye out, i tend to be in belfast quite a bit!

[paulmcc]

Nice one. What colour is yours.
Got the bank stuff sorted today so will get they keys tomorrow. Hope it doesnt rain or I might find my way into a ditch quickly on the way home!

[LouiseVXR]

welcome to the site

[N3 VXR]

hey its a red one, on 19's!!

[paulmcc]

I have the blue on 19s. The red one in front of the dealers show room looked sweet as well. I have been readinga few reviews over the past couple of days and some of the motoring press seem to think that the 19s really compromise the ride as all the suspension tuning was done by Lotus to ride on 18s. Is that a load of rubbish?

[Aussie]

no its not but you wont noticed the difference unless you back to back to the 2 wheel sizes but having done so there is a noticable difference in performance road handling, but if you like the 19's in the looks department then go for them

[paulmcc]

Thanks. Do you mean performance in a straight line or round the bends? I think it was autoexpress or autocar that said that when they had a run in a VXR they couldnt match the claimed 0-60 times but thought it was beacuse their model had 18s and not the 19s.

[Aussie]

bendy twisty b-roads and general high speed cornering,
the 19's enable you to hit 60 in second where as the 18's will need to change into 3rd at 58 unless you have it remapped and the 18's can also hit 60 in second gear, following that many believe the 18's may pull away slightly if at all, so its more handling performance that the 18's take away from the 19's

[paulmcc]

Thanks for that. I thought I had read that about getting to 60 in 2nd. Will maybe test that out on the way home.