Cars: Vauxhall VXR8 test drive

Imagine my surprise and delight that I was able to get a Vauxhall VXR8 for a three day test drive, and that my three days also spanned a weekend !

My first impression was that this car is a powerful beast !! but the driving experience was tempered by uncomfortable seats and a HUGE steering wheel (the rim must be at least 2 inches in diameter so very difficult to get a natural feeling grip on the wheel)

The plus points of the car are its obvious power, performance and handling. Looks-wise it is a little bit OTT with the spoiler and meaty looks, but is by no means offensive to view.

On the negative side, the seats and steering wheel are the big put-off, but also suffers a little from a twitchy ride, restricted visibility backwards via the mirrors and also the HUGE A pillars block the forward vision. The indicators/wiper stalks are also reversed from most cars, so is a bit annoying at the moment.

Having said all that, now I have driven the car for a few days and experienced it in various driving conditions, I have finally managed to adjust the seat to find a position that does feel comfortable and have also adjusted my grip on the steering wheel and think I could live with that as well now.

As the other negative issues are all relatively minor and would get used to them over time, I think this car would be a serious contender if I don't get the Lotus ! The wife is not too keen though, finding it noisy and uncomfortable (not compared to a Lotus though :-) )..... so she hopes I like the BMW that I am testing next week !

For me, the VXR8 would likely have been crossed off my list had it only been a normal test drive, but the extended experience shows the car does grow on you over time