# Holden Monaro on Top Gear



## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

Shock horror! Clarkson loves a Vauxhall the new Holden Monaro CV8 - a 2 door 'Omega coupe', with 400 bhp, for Â£35K!

Loved the bit where Clarkson had it sideways around the track, and was using the passenger window to see where he was going! (Vagman need not apply Â ;D  ) Clarkson loved it - the only slightly negative thing he mentioned about the car was the lack of styling - I've always liked the old Senators & Omega's, it looks fine to me, a street 'sleeper' if ever there was one.

With a top speed of 178, it's 1 mph faster than the legendary Lotus Carlton, but with an utterly reliable 5.7L Corvette V8 up front, instead of the twin turbo 3.6 straight 6 used in the Carlton.

I want one! (and the Boxster of course)


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

Great engine, but I kept thinking *Calibra* as I was watching. :-/


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## scoTTy (May 6, 2002)

Exactly my thoughts. It will make an interesting test drive though.


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## paulb (May 6, 2002)

Drove one in Oz. A complete hoot... Bit thirsty though...


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## head_ed (Dec 10, 2002)

Didn't he say that the 400 BHP version was around 60K?

That was why they put it up against the XKR. Good fun, but not 60 grands worth of good fun.

Standard verison was around 28K IIRC.


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## coupe-sport (May 7, 2002)

28k is a bargain - looks the business too.


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

I thought they'd done a review of this car last series. Perhaps it was in Auto Express. Does seem like a lot of car for the money, but when they positioned it as an M% beater, the review I read said they were woefully wide of the mark.

Think the summation was that you should just enjoy it for what it is.


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## PaulS (Jun 15, 2002)

> Didn't he say that the 400 BHP version was around 60K?
> 
> That was why they put it up against the XKR. Good fun, but not 60 grands worth of good fun.
> 
> Standard verison was around 28K IIRC.


There is a feature on the car in this months Top Gear magazine (January 2004) The 380 bhp / 178 mph version is Â£35k and is fully loaded, the only thing missing is sat nav. (I'm sure an engine ECU re-program would nudge the power up to 400 bhp Â )There is also a 330bhp / 168mph version @ Â£28.5k.

Kell


> I thought they'd done a review of this car last series. Â Perhaps it was in Auto Express. Â Does seem like a lot of car for the money, but when they positioned it as an M% beater, the review I read said they were woefully wide of the mark.


Yes it has been reviewed before - but they were using the Aussie version, which had a very garish looking interior, and softer suspension. This is the European version with tuned suspension, and a toned down interior (looks great in the photo's)



> Think the summation was that you should just enjoy it for what it is.


Absolutely! Being a big Vauxhall Holden, it's likely to suffer high initial depreciation, so buy a 6 month old ex-demonstrator (it's got to be the 380bhp model Â ) save some money, and have huge fun!


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

Looks like the biggest expense would be rear tyres though.


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## Dont I Recognise You (Oct 10, 2003)

> Looks like the biggest expense would be rear tyres though.


that - or the smoke mask..... 

Looks like big fun


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Nice rims I thought. 

You'd also need a lot of road to play in it.


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