# I'm bored of all this willy waving - my short VXT review



## kmpowell (May 6, 2002)

A few people asked for some feedback on the VX when I first got her, so after a month or so of ownership, hereâ€™s my ramblings.

Waking up way too early on a Sunday morning to go out for a dewy early morning drive with empty roads; storming round the country A roads exploring the cars limits; rushing home from a stressful day in work to get in the car and grab a few hours night time driving with the roof off; scaring the hell out of an M3 driver who tried to take me on at some traffic lights after he harassed my back bumper all the way through town; joining lotus on track and booking my first 'proper' trackdayâ€¦. Just a few of the highlights of the past month! 8)

Anyway I digress. I must admit that I was a bit hesitant stepping into such a seemingly â€˜rawâ€™ car, but personal circumstances dictated that I could now get a less practical car if I wanted, so I made the plungeâ€¦..

Ok, lets get the negatives out of the way firstâ€¦.. yes it is a bit noisy in the cabin over 80mph, the speakers are crap for the stereo, itâ€™s not exactly easy to get all your shopping in without a bit of a squeeze, getting in and out with the roof on is not exactly elegant (even with a bit of practice), and of course you have the old â€˜Poor mans lotusâ€™ routine. Now I'm not going to get into the whole VX v Elise argument, as there is no concrete answer. All I will say is the following:

If you were Lotus, you wouldn't let a rival manufacturer have your best bits would you!, therefore the VX will always be inferior in some aspects, and better in others due to it being different. The VX is built by Lotus using many major Lotus parts such as the chassis (from the Elise) and the car is even known as the "Lotus type 116" within Lotus, but it benefited from enormous development input from GM. The VX220 is not just a re-badged Elise - considering the VX220 shares only 114 parts with the Elise S2, it does offer a very similar driving experience, but this is more due to the developers of the car rather than the parts shared. Gavan Kershaw of Lotus developed the ride and handling of the VX, as he did with the Elise and Exige.

At the end of the day, I needed something sub Â£20k, that would keep me amused and was reliable (sub Â£20k on an Elise would only get a K-series engine which are prone to problems like head gasket failure etc), and the VXT fitted the bill. I'm not a 'hardened' tracker, so any advantage of the Elise won't even recognized by me due to it being so marginal.

I'm happy with what I have and zipping around in it over the past month, I know I made the right choice for the money.

Boy oh boy do the positives outweigh the negatives! Utterly utterly frantic in every gear, pulls like a bolting horse, handles like itâ€™s on rails, and to my utter utter shock lots of thumbs up and respectful nods of the head from passers by!

Itâ€™s been a long time coming, but Iâ€™ve realised that you donâ€™t need to spend stupid amounts of cash on a car to have fun. The is SOOOO much more to driving than the size of your engine, how much BHP & torque you have, how much money you've spent, size of house, size of mortage, blah blah blah. :roll:

Porscheâ€™s, BMWâ€™s, TVRâ€™s etc etcâ€¦â€¦No thanks, Iâ€™ll stick with my Â£18.5k VX220 Turbo, 'cos itâ€™s by FAR FAR the best car I have ever had in terms of fun per Â£. It has USABLE 'day to day' real world fun and the kick (that comes in very low and pulls ALL the way up!) makes me grin from ear to ear like nothing else!

An epileptic go-kart on wheels, and what a go-kart, â€˜cos Iâ€™m smitten! I'm off out for another drive!



p.s Oh and becasue it's a Vauxhall, it's second service cost me only Â£130 all in!


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## omen666 (Oct 10, 2004)

Nice one Kev, top motor [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

So what trackday you doing? Give us a report on your experience.


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## kmpowell (May 6, 2002)

omen666 said:


> So what trackday you doing? Give us a report on your experience.


I joined Lotus-on-track and have booked up Bedford on Aug Bank Holiday. I can't wait!


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

So now you've got all your therapy out of the way can we have a review of the car. :wink:


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

kmpowell said:


> omen666 said:
> 
> 
> > So what trackday you doing? Give us a report on your experience.
> ...


Can you not be enticed to come over to Spa & the Ring in October??

Car sounds awesome.


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## DXN (May 18, 2002)

nice little run around then Kev?
No retinal detachments yet :lol:

8) Are you bringing to Gaydon this weekend?


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## TTwiggy (Jul 20, 2004)

nice one KMP

I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment, and I love your car - a VX/VXT is on my whish list once my finances recover from my house move...

I also downgraded recently (though I never achieved your lofty (TVR) heights), but I do love much the same things about my Coop' as you mentioned with the VXT i.e I get to use all the performance, it handles like a go-kart and people let me out at junctions! Oh and my servicing is free for the next two years as the TLC pack was extended! Bonus!


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## Carlos (May 6, 2002)

Good post Kev. [smiley=cheers.gif]

Look forward to seeing you on August 28th. Of course I still doubt it will happen


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## kmpowell (May 6, 2002)

W7 PMC said:


> Can you not be enticed to come over to Spa & the Ring in October??


I'm going to see how I get on at Bedford first before making a decision about an October Ring trip.

The key thing is that the TVR was too much for me (ok i'm man enough to admit it), I never felt in 100% control and it really was a case of it having to be 100% dry and warm before exploring the power. With the VX I feel so confident in it (not too much though that i'm not giving her respect in dodgy conditions!), and I hope Bedford will give me more insight to how the car handles etc, then if i'm happy i'll be off to the ring fund permitting.



DXN said:


> nice little run around then Kev?
> No retinal detachments yet :lol:
> 
> 8) Are you bringing to Gaydon this weekend?


Runaround is the word. No need to have a strict regime of warm up and warm down etc etc like the TVR. It's just get in and play!  I won't be a Gaydon no mate, but no doubt we will catch up soon. [smiley=cheers.gif]



Carlos said:


> Of course I still doubt it will happen


Well i've bought my Helmet, joined LOT, and paid for the day now, and you know me and money, so I won't be backing out now! 



TTwiggy said:


> nice one KMP
> 
> I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment


Cheers


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## ResB (Apr 17, 2005)

I've siad it before and I dn't mind saying it again. It is one of the best handling cars I've ever driven on the track. Awesome.


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## stephengreen (May 6, 2002)

kmpowell said:


> The key thing is that the TVR was too much for me (ok i'm man enough to admit it), I never felt in 100% control and it really was a case of it having to be 100% dry and warm before exploring the power. With the VX I feel so confident in it (not too much though that i'm not giving her respect in dodgy conditions!), and I hope Bedford will give me more insight to how the car handles etc, then if i'm happy i'll be off to the ring fund permitting.


Had the same feeling when i bought the M3. The extra power coupled with rear drive left me feeling way out of my depth. I considered booking some track days but, i thought that thrashing around oblivious to my mistakes, would be an expensive exercise in futility. With that in mind i booked some tuition at Silverstone. The difference a session with an instructor makes is unbelievable. A while ago Garyc posted that he realised that after driving at personal limits on a track there was no point exceeding 8/10ths on the road (or words to that effect) I couldn't agree more. The fact that i feel more confidant in the car, and, that i came to the same conclusion as Gary, means that the money i spent, has been the best value i have ever received in motor related expenditure. In fact, i enjoyed learning something so much, I've booked myself on a drift course next week, as a prelude to sitting an A.R.D.S test next month. In short, if you want you and your car to go quicker, then professional tuition is the best way to achieve that end (IMO)


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## Stu-Oxfordshire (May 7, 2002)

kmpowell said:


> A few people asked for some feedback on the VX when I first got her, so after a month or so of ownership, hereâ€™s my ramblings.
> 
> Waking up way too early on a Sunday morning to go out for a dewy early morning drive with empty roads; storming round the country A roads exploring the cars limits; rushing home from a stressful day in work to get in the car and grab a few hours night time driving with the roof off; scaring the hell out of an M3 driver who tried to take me on at some traffic lights after he harassed my back bumper all the way through town; joining lotus on track and booking my first 'proper' trackdayâ€¦. Just a few of the highlights of the past month! 8)
> 
> ...


KMP begins to see the light....


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## Toshiba (Jul 8, 2004)

I'd have one and the badge doesnt bother me. I like the Asta VXR too.


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## ronin (Sep 6, 2003)

Toshiba said:


> I'd have one and the badge doesnt bother me. I like the Asta VXR too.


Dude - if thats you in your sig pic FFS sake do the rest of us a favour and stay in a coupe, the worlds not ready for a wonky in a drop head


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## b3ves (May 6, 2002)

Good post Kevin - I'm so glad you're enjoying it and look forward to going out for a drive on some of the roads we first explored in our TT's.


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