Vauxhall Astra VXR Nurburgring Edition

[Gt1Street]

THE CAR FOR WHEN EVEN AN ASTRA VXR ISN'T VXR ENOUGH...


Astra VXR Nürburgring Edition, on sale now
Remus Sports exhaust provided as standard
Exclusive white paint, embossed leather seats and graphics
Priced at £21,295 on-the-road

There are plenty of hot hatches on the market, but it’s the Astra VXR that’s the undisputed Ring leader...

And to prove it, Vauxhall has pulled the wraps off the Nürburgring edition, named after the car’s spiritual home, where much of its pre-production development was carried out.

Based on the standard Astra VXR and priced at £21,295, each individually numbered Nürburgring edition will come with an exclusive all-white paint finish and lightweight white 18-inch alloy wheels, equipped with bespoke Dunlop tyres, are also specified. Other exterior features include dark tinted windows, carbon fibre effect mirrors and B-Pillars and distinctive chequered flag body graphics, to further emphasise the car’s incredible performance.

Mechanically similar to the standard VXR, the Nürburgring Edition produces 240PS in factory tune, giving it the ability to accelerate from 0-60mph in 6.2 seconds and on to an electronically-limited top speed of 155mph. Each UK-specification car will also come provided with a Remus Sports Exhaust, developed with Vauxhall’s BTCC race team, Triple-Eight Race Engineering, which provides a power increase of up to 15PS.

Like the standard car, the Nürburgring Edition benefits from a six-speed manual gearbox and lowered, uprated VXR suspension with ESP as standard. But its dynamics are enhanced still further with the wider front and rear tracks and lower un-sprung weight offered by the new alloy wheels. Ventilated 321mm diameter disc brakes at the front and 278mm diameter discs at the back help slow things down, while blue-painted calipers remain a VXR trademark.

The Nürburgring Edition theme continues inside, with carbon fibre detailing on the door trims and fascia, bespoke leather seats with the Nürburgring circuit graphic embossed into the Recaro front seat backrests and an individually numbered plaque showing each car’s build number.

Optional extras include electronic climate control (£275), cruise control (£200), electric foldable door mirrors (£125) and adaptive forward lighting (£750).

In fact, the only thing it doesn’t come with is one of those Nürburgring bootlid stickers you can buy when you do a lap of the circuit. Such a shame, as it means you’ll have to drive it there and buy one yourself.

[Gt1Street]

Vauxhall Astra VXR Nurburgring Edition #2

[digitalcraft]

Ok. Officially tired of nurburgring.

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by digitalcraft

Ok. Officially tired of nurburgring.

Impossible

Might I suggest you're tired of Marketing BS/hype using the 'Ring reputation ?

What's stupid about this is you can get an MX-5 or an RX-8 if you wanted the 4 seats for the same cash with much better performance

[LeonOfTheDead]

Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine

What's stupid about this is you can get an MX-5 or an RX-8 if you wanted the 4 seats for the same cash with much better performance

sounds like an ad, but you are right!

[Ferrer]

Or that bonkers Megane that has just been presented.

[Zytek_Fan]

Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine

What's stupid about this is you can get an MX-5 or an RX-8 if you wanted the 4 seats for the same cash with much better performance

And you won't torque steer into a tree!

[clutch-monkey]

it looks alright, stickers aside. but then the normal VXR would do just as nicely..

[KonaGreen]

We get the Astra here via Saturn, but I have no idea of we'll get the VXR version. I have to say that the Astra is a rather nice looking car.

[LeonOfTheDead]

the funny thing is that it shares a lot of components, engines and probably even the chassis with my mom's Fiat Stilo, which is all but a sport hatch. I'm still wondering how they managed to make it controllable with 240 hp when the most powerful Stilo was the silly 170 hp 2.4 called "abarth" (it was just a Lancia engine with some stckers and a bad set-up...and an automatic gearbox!)

[Ferrer]

Originally Posted by LeonOfTheDead

the funny thing is that it shares a lot of components, engines and probably even the chassis with my mom's Fiat Stilo, which is all but a sport hatch. I'm still wondering how they managed to make it controllable with 240 hp when the most powerful Stilo was the silly 170 hp 2.4 called "abarth" (it was just a Lancia engine with some stckers and a bad set-up...and an automatic gearbox!)

It doesn't. The cars you're thinking of are the Corsa and the Punto.

[LeonOfTheDead]

Originally Posted by Ferrer

It doesn't. The cars you're thinking of are the Corsa and the Punto.

I can assure you, confront the two cars. dimensions, interior layout. the pannels of the door (interior) are identical for example.

[Ferrer]

Originally Posted by LeonOfTheDead

I can assure you, confront the two cars. dimensions, interior layout. the pannels of the door (interior) are identical for example.

They don't have the same wheelbase or width. The Astra and the Stilo aren't based in the same platform.

[LeonOfTheDead]

they have the same wheelbase, 2600 mm for the Stilo, with the Astra a little streched to 2614 mm, a difference made with a different suspension set-up without modifying the chassis.
I know there were no official words about this fact, but I'm basing my statements upon my observations.
btw, the shape of the two cars (both 3 and 5 doors) is very similar too.

for as regards the width, the difference is just 3 cm, and againg it's due to the suspensions and it's not so important to say if two cars share the same platform, like the lenght of the car (they have the same lenght though...)

IMO this little differences are due to a re-enginnering of the car which resulted in a better car, even if the Astra, or the Stilo neither, is on top of my list.