30th Oct 2009, 10:14

That is outrageous. If you base your opinion on what Clarkson says, then good luck with your new Alfa.

There is nothing wrong with either car, so people need to stop trying to pull one down in order to elevate the other they prefer.

They each have pro's and cons, such as the Focus having the nicer interior, or the Astra getting an average of 30mpg compared to the Focus' low 20's mpg.

And for all those who jump on the 'Astra understeers massively and gets awful torque steer' bandwagon, it's not as bad as is made out. They actually handle very well (certainly on a par with the focus) and the driver is not made to use full throttle all the time, but the power is there when you want to. You only need look at the lap times this car can achieve to see it handles well despite the Vauxhall badge.

13th Mar 2011, 06:55

So can you please tell me why the 2007 plate VXR I bought from new torque steered like a pig??

Excellent performance it did have (sounded much like a vacuum cleaner on full boost), but had 'oomph' reminiscent of the old Cosworths.

Engine used to enjoy using a litre of oil every 1000 miles, and rattled like a pig on cold mornings (expect that from a much older car).

From personal experience, I will never touch Vauxhall ever again... I thought they had got it right with the VXR... turned out it was not much better than an old 2.5 GSi Vectra I once had... same vague steering / crap handling / ate tyres / on - off power delivery... In fact the Vectra was better, as it sounded good!!

Take my review how you like, but I warn you... be very wary of these underdeveloped piles of poo; they will end up costing you in the long run.

There are better cars out there for the money!