Vauxhall VXR8 Tourer review (2013 onwards)

Vauxhall VXR8 Tourer review (2013 onwards)

First impressions

Vauxhall has long done a nice line in sensible, spacious estate cars for the prudent family buyer. Estate models carrying the Astra, Vectra, Signum and Insignia nameplates have graced innumerable suburban driveways over the last decade, never drawing too much attention to themselves and that’s fine. It’s just that the Vauxhall VXR8 Tourer makes those limp-wristed, yawn-mobiles look like they couldn’t pull a dingo off a vegemite sandwich.

This is the Aussie rules Vauxhall estate. The VXR8 Tourer is a (very) thinly disguised Holden Special Vehicles Clubsport R8 Tourer hailing from that land of abundant barbecued prawns and corks on your hat. It’s a muscle-bound Antipodean brute with a 6.2-litre V8, 425hp and a £50,000 price tag. That’s right, a £50,000 Vauxhall estate. The price is big but so is everything else.

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Performance

It’s a dinosaur of an engine, 425hp and 405 lb/ft of torque achieved with eight cylinders and a mammoth 6.2 litres of fuel sucking cubic capacity. There are more efficient ways to fire a 1,800kg family car up the road like a scolded wallaby but none of them sound quite like this.

The VXR8’s big, lazy torque output almost makes gear changes redundant in everyday driving. It’ll haul you up a hill from 20mph in 5th if you want it to but it’s much better to engage second and listen to the VXR8 go through its full repertoire of window rattling bellows.

Full-on lung-wobbling V8 burble

At idle it throbs, then it roars and surges. At around 3,000rpm the exhaust opens up and you have the full-on lung-wobbling V8 burble that sends petrolheads into spasm. By the time you hear it, you’re really shifting and there’s still another 3,000rpm to go. Vauxhall (HSV) sensibly installed a loud beeper to prompt the next upshift – you need it to break the engine’s spell. With the aid of the standard launch control function, the 0-62mph rush is over in 4.9s and top speed is limited to 155mph.

Ride and handling

These days there are 2.0-litre hot hatches that can outsprint the VXR8 but they don’t ride as well. This is an unexpectedly comfortable car on good roads where the suspension flows over undulations and masks roughness well. Larger drain cover and pothole scale bumps can have the suspension crashing, banging and sending shudders through the car but it still has real pedigree as a motorway cruiser. 

The steering-wheel feels like it’s had the same 20" upgrade as the VXR8’s striking Pentagon alloy wheels. It’s huge, fat rimmed and a bit of a blunt implement if the truth be told. The helm’s light weight and vagueness around the straight ahead do nothing to make the massive VXR8 Tourer feel any smaller but once you’re into the turn there is some feedback and loads of lock to help keep oversteer in check.

A car of the VXR8 Tourer’s size is never going to feel all that nimble but it’s well resolved enough to be fun on a B-road as well as a deserted airfield. The powerful brakes and the punchy, mechanical feel of the manual gearshift help.  

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Interior

Residual Holden Special Vehicles badges confirm the VXR8 Tourer as one of the most half-hearted car rebadging exercises we’ve encountered. They didn’t even rebadge all of it! There’s a HSV badge sitting proudly on the steering wheel hub and the ‘Clubsport R8’ legend glints back at you from the dash. Completing the identity crisis effect are accommodating VXR branded seats and a Vauxhall griffin on the infotainment screen to greet you as you fire the engine. No matter though, the Holden connection adds some useful extra exoticism for the UK customer.

A huge boot and loads of rear legroom

The materials are distinctly low grade next to the German opulence that the £50k price tag pitches this car against. The controls are solid and functional though and the big armchair seats are very comfy, if a little lacking in side support. The Enhanced Driver Interface button on the steering wheel brings up a host of racy options on the central control screen. Competing for your attention are features including a G meter, a lap timer, a yaw meter and an exhaust mode control (loud, very loud or strewth!).

The VXR8’s formidable size translates to a huge boot and loads of rear legroom. There’s 895 litres of capacity behind the rear seats and 2,000 litres if you fold them down.

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Economy and safety

Unsurprisingly it uses a lot of fuel. Even after a relaxed drive of 15 minutes or so, the VXR8 kicks out so much heat at idle that it seems to warm the 5 metres adjacent to the car – great on a winter's day but possibly emblematic of a laissez-faire approach to efficiency.

Put into numbers, the VXR8 Tourer does 20.2mpg on the official combined cycle test and together with a 73-litre tank that gives you a 320-mile range. In the real world, owners will be filling up considerably more frequently than that.

Unsurprisingly it uses a lot of fuel

On the safety front, the VXR8 comes with ESC stability control that can be turned down via a Competition Mode setting or disabled completely for full-on sideways antics.
 

Verdict

Vauxhall VXR8 Tourer: summary

Vauxhall cuts loose with the VXR8 Tourer, a 6.2-litre V8 estate it’s hard not to like.

What – Vauxhall VXR8 Tourer
Where – Surrey
Date – August 2013
Price – £49,500
Available – Now
Key rivals – Audi RS4 Avant, Mercedes C63 AMG Estate, Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon

On Bing: more Vauxhall VXR8 pics
Read more Vauxhall car reviews

We like – Big V8, amazing soundtrack, comfy ride, cabin space
We don’t like – Fuel economy, interior quality, price