stonehavencossie

What is everyones view about this car ??
Anyone driven one got one ??

Gf is due to get a new car and she has asked me what i think she should get. She wants something, new/nearly new different and 'sporty' and will have a budget of about 20k.

Forgetting about the vauxhall badge i think there nice cars, considered getting one myself when prices come down so im thinking of selfishly(lol) persuading her towards this.

You cant complain with 0-60 in 4.7 secs & lotus handling !!!!

Thoughts ??

Anonymous

Fantastic motors, and fairly tuneable too, you can certainly get to stage one cossie power pretty easily from them if you want to.

Fudgey

iTrader: (4)

i like em, someones got a yellow one near me, looks pretty rapid

Anonymous

The handling on them is fantastic, you really need to drive one or something similar to realise how much difference the mid engined layout makes.

NathR

Gret cars but I would personally rather have one of the higher specced Elises. I was with my old man having a fantastic duel with one round the Brands GP curcuit in his Z3 M Coupe, we passed him + held him off over about 5 laps, was very close!

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

Absolutely awesome cars - you WON'T be disappointed .

Rudey,
Perhaps it was a normally aspirated version, as they couldn't pull the skin off a rice-pudding .

stonehavencossie

Good feedback.

Anyone know what there like for servicing, repair costs, maintainance etc

NathR. Thought about higher spec elises but there to expensive.

The vauxhall just seems like fantastic value for money for what you get.

Considered evo but not keen on servicing costs etc (got the cossie for that !!)

Arfur

They're hilarious - stupid power for such a light car and all over the place. I'd have one just to annoy poncey Elise owners.

christianh3

yeh i agree doubt anything but a very highly tuned r5 would be faster than a vx220 turbo, must have been a n/a version.

never been in one but a friend of mine did one of those trackday experiences at oulton park where u drive all sorts of cool cars including a ferrari 355 and rally prepped essy cos, he sais the vx220 turbo was the most fun and he also span it

Anonymous

in a straight line a decent cossie would show one a clean pair of heals, they arent brutally quick straight line motors, thats not what they are about at all.

stonehavencossie

4.7 to 60 & 13.5 quarter mile standard is quick enuff for me!!!

Porkie

iTrader: (1)

Great great great cars!!! I've driven them alot on track and on the road. Love em! fast and awesome fun.

I spun this very car at over 120mph

Anonymous

They couldnt work out why it spun for porkie, the car went off for analysis and the two drivers side tyres failed for some reason, it looked like maybe they were subjected to some massive laoding that the other tyres didnt have to endure.
But no explanation for that was found

Fudgey

iTrader: (4)

cheeky fooker

RSKieron

Great car, crap badge.

Buy an Elise instead.

Anonymous

Makes sense coming from a man with a RS badged CVH engined car, which is bascially a great badge on a crap car

RichardPON

Awesome cars

Did the factory tour at Lotus when my mate bought his brand new Elise there, and the 220s are built side by side with the Lotus - really interesting construction process

Would love to drive one on track though - reckon there'd be a lovely balance to them!

RSKieron

We weren't discussing series 1 turbo's. The heading of the topic reads...

"Vauxhall VX220 Turbo"

Are you saying that Vauxhall has a higher reputation for sports cars than Lotus (who basically built the car for Vauxhall) hence "Great car, crap badge"?

For the money it would have to be an Elise. The VX220 looks fabulous until you see the manufacturer. Then the average person in the street responds with "oh it's a Vauxhall"......

For the same money you can have an equivalent Lotus. That's the same as Ferrari building a sports car for Daewoo at the same price as a Ferrari - I guess you'd take the Daewoo....

Anonymous

If the Daewoo one was turbo'd and a quicker car, then yes i would, what the fuck use is a badge when you are driving?

I like to do stuff like trackdays, and driving hard, how does a badge help you do that?

Anonymous

PS

Just like i would sooner have a crappy ford sierra (cosworth) than a lot of other cars with a far better badge than a shitty ford one, as would lots of other poeple on this site i suspect.

RSKieron

Good for you. I'm pleased that you enjoy the thrills that trackdays bring. However my opinion of "Great car" which the VX220 certainly is as it's built by Lotus and "Crap Badge" which it certainly is - Vauxhall, stands.

As does your opinion of my vehicle.

All the best.

RSKieron

Difference is, is that the words "Cosworth" and "RS" have a far higher reputation than "Vauxhall".

Let's face it, the Lotus Esprit was hardly the worlds most reliable car was it.....

Anonymous

Keiron, i think the place that me and you differ is in getting any pleasure from what is written on the outside of a vehicle, it just makes utterly no difference to me, but then im the sort of idiot that enjoys blowing more money on a mini originally bought for 50 quid than i could buy an Evo for, so i guess my view is an unusual one.

But personally i would judge a car on these things and in roughly this order of importance:
Peformance
Braking
Handling
Reliability
Cost
Looks
What badge it has


And based on prioritising like that a VX220 scores pretty highly.

RSKieron

Agree with you. I think the VX220 is a fabulous car all round. The only thing that lets down the pedigree is the Vauxhall badge. For 20K "stonehavencossie"'s girlfriend could pick up a comparable Elise or Exige with the pedigree (and value, lower depreciation etc) that the Lotus marque brings.

When she comes to resell it, she won't have to deal with idiots like me (the vast majority of buyers) who will shun the car when they see the Vauxhall badge - regardless of the power and performance of the car. A well maintained Lotus will reap bigger rewards when the time to sell comes.

Anyways, don't want to argue, just that for 20K I feel she is into supercar territory (which the VX220 is) but she should also have the desirability (which a Vauxhall doesn't) and which she could have with a top spec Elise or Exige for the same money....

Anonymous

Go and look up the CAP or similar predicted future values for Elise's compared to VX220's and then come back and make the same statement, LOL

Elise residuals have been quite badly effected by the appauling reliability record of the K series engined ones compared to the vauxhalls.

Although i guess now they are getting Toyota engines that might turn around.

RSKieron

But I'm talking about 20 grands worth of Elise/Exige - the current range, not the shoddy old versions that originally came out....

stonehavencossie

Now now you 2.

Anyone got performance stats for the lotus elise's / exige's ???

I am concerned about lotus reliability. The vauxhall just appears to be a better package.

RSKieron

Just friendly banter - if we all liked the same thing we'd all drive the same cars.

Reliability should be the same - as they are both pretty much built by Lotus...

Anonymous

With regards to a brand new one, i would go for the lotus possibly, on the basis it has the toyota engine, if you are doing lots of miles its a far more reliable unit than the z20let unit fitted to the VX220, although better than the K series, its not a patch on the toyota lump, plus the toyota lump makes all the power further up the rev range which makes for a better driving experience than loads of midrnage torque.

Kieron is right that we havent really fallen out or anything, we are merely both expressing different opinions.

But anyway, if you are talking brand new and toyota engined, both me and kieron would opt for the same car, just for different reasons (mechanical in my case, badge in his case)

Kieron, just one quick question for you though while we are bantering, would you sooner have a Merc 190 cosworth (with fantastic Merc badge) or an RS500 sierra cosworth (with crappy ford badge)??

deleted

superb fun not sure i agree with great handling as when they go sideways there aint enuff lock on the steering to hold it/correct it but all the same wicked fun and a punchy engine

Anonymous

TBH if you are talking about drifting and wanting the arse REALLY out of shape you may be right about the lock, but thats not really a handling issue as if you are doing a trackday and are interested in lap times or getting somewhere quickly on the road you would neverhave the arse out of shape that much in the first place.

MAD ANDY

same engine in as my GSI afaik - if so, 20k servicing or every 2 years and mine has been ultra reliable, simple chip takes it to 292lb/trq too

RichardPON

How can you shun a Vauxhall and happily drive a Ford?

Anonymous

Lol, someone else who spots the irony of a "badge snob" driving in around in a Mk3 Ford Escort.

Mike Rainbird

iTrader: (3)

Kieron,
Find a late spec Exige for £20k and I'll buy every single one of them . You could "just about" buy a K series one for that, but even they normally go for £22-24k - the S2s are still £30k+ .

I would only have an S1 Exige over the VX220 Turbo, I certainly wouldn't have an S1 Elise. Obviously the S2 Exige's are on another price planet at the moment .

Like Chip, I have made that choice on performance / fun . If residuals came into it, I wouldn't have bought a Ford and pumped all the money I have into it .

deleted

i agree chip on a track im sure they are great,when i drove one it was very damp road and i only just managed to get it back into shape,unfortunatly never had the oppurtunity to take one on track

Anonymous

Any of you lot ever driven a latest shape MR2 on a track, ive had one out at millbrook proving ground and at silverstone and they are fantastic handling little cars too, shame about the gay looks and utterly pathetic straight line performance really.

I wonder why toyota never put the 190 engine in them???