Faults:

Engine mount sheared. A £80 bolt-on repair.

Nothing else at all has gone wrong.

General Comments:

I saw a VX220 at the 2002 car show in Birmingham and fell in love. I saved up and bought one the next year.

The car is basically a Lotus with added GM reliability, and has proven very sturdy.

It is not quite so fast as the VX 220 turbo, but handles much better and is plenty quick enough for English roads.

The handling and communication is unimaginably brilliant to anyone not accustomed to racing cars or super cars. 60 MPH feels like 100 in this car, such is the rawness of the drive.

It rides much more comfortably than anybody might imagine, and certainly is not a bad long distance tourer.

Beautiful, fast, wonderful handling and reliable - so what are the downsides?

Well the bodywork is very vulnerable, being fibreglass, and there is zero sound proofing in the car so it is a noisy drive. Such a wonderful car, that I have now owned it ten years from new, and have not driven anything yet that drives better.

A real pity that they are not made anymore.

Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

At the time I was thinking about buying this car my heart was saying yes and my head was saying; "are you really really sure about this?". To be honest I wasn't. I'd always loved the look of the car, I knew that it was a brilliant drive, I knew the insurance costs were affordable, I knew that the engine and gearbox were pretty much bulletproof. I also knew that it was hopelessly impractical, things might start falling off it and it might be unreliable. I was also aware that the creature comforts I had been used to in my last car would be replaced by a footbrace and a start button.

So, 1000 miles later, having used the car as daily transport I can report that the heart won out over the head and the head is now convinced that the heart was right all along.

Good points include the noise (Vauxhall Sport Exhaust fitted), which is brilliant. The performance, which is outstanding. It turns heads like nothing else I've ever sat in and the boot is actually big enough for a weekend away with my girlfriend. It doesn't use much petrol. In short, its everything I wanted and more.

The bad points, it is a bit tricky to get in and out of and I can see that this will annoy me more when it gets cold and wet. Err that's it.

Faults:

Nothing major wrong with the car apart from the rear lights fog up with condensation. Dealer are saying the solution is to leave the lights on for 20 minutes. Not an acceptable solution.

Also the alarm seems to be a bit tricky, one of the sensors needed to be replaced.

General Comments:

Great car to drive - puts a smile on your face. Fast and responsivey. Nice sparse interior, very wide sills make it a bit tricky to get in and out of especially when a hardtop is fitter.

Lots of fun, cheap to run and there aren't so many on the roads.

Faults:

So far nothing has gone wrong, Although I'm not sure about the quality of the bonnet fixing - this often seems to move about more than you would expect!

General Comments:

I used to have an Elise which I loved, but found hard to live with.

I find the VX220 easier to live with on a daily basis, when the roof is on I find the VX to be slightly easier to get into than the Lotus and the roof much easier to remove and put on.

The seats are slightly more comfy than the Lotus, and the brakes somewhat better and easier applied with servo assistance and ABS.

The performance I find ever so slightly better than the Elise, Although the vx weighs more it has more power, and on that note the power is more usable with a lot more low down grunt.

The handling is virtually the same as the Lotus, with the steering in both telling you everything that is happening with the car, you feel everything!!

I find the that the only difference in the handling is that the VX is much easier to drive on the limit than the Lotus, and is much easier to drive consistently quick on track days.

I love this car and would buy the VX over the Lotus again!! This car gives me a permanent grin!!

Well Done Vauxhall!!!