VAUXHALL VXR8 SALOON 6.2I V8 4DR

They like their muscle cars in Oz and, courtesy of GM Holden, we can buy one of the best here in Blighty. Jonathan Crouch samples Vauxhall's wildest saloon.

VAUXHALL VXR8 SALOON 6.2I V8 4DR

Rare, fast and frantic, Vauxhall's Australian-built VXR8 is an expensive but highly addictive super-saloon with sledgehammer performance from its monster 6.2-litre V8. Subtle it isn't, but fun? Oh yes......

VAUXHALL VXR8 SALOON 6.2I V8 4DR

Vauxhall has form when it comes to ridiculously fast four-seaters. Back in 1911, ordinary folk were horrified by the huge performance of the marque's 1911 Prince Henry model. Just as planet-loving people were, in equal measures, appalled and secretly fascinated by the 170mph potential of the Griffin brand's 1980s Lotus Carlton saloon. As they will also be by this car, the model they call the 'thunder from down under', Vauxhall's VXR8.

'Down under'? Ah yes, didn't I mention that? This car may wear Vauxhall badges but it actually started life as Holden - a Commodore E3 HSV to be exact. No, didn't mean anything to me either, but such a car is a big deal if you're an Aussie, a proper no-nonsense hell yeah super saloon tough enough to make an M3 or a C63 seem ever so slightly Sheila. Not perhaps in terms of sheer power - though 425bhp ought to be enough for anyone - but more in terms of the way you get it. Which is via a big, brash all-American V8 lifted straight from the Chevy Corvette, 6.0-litres in size in the original 2009 version of this car but uprated to a 6.2 in the improved model we're going to look at here, announced here in 2011. This improved VXR8 also rides better, looks meaner and has more gadgets in compensation for its fairly frightening £50,000 price tag.

VAUXHALL VXR8 SALOON 6.2I V8 4DR

Just as in Europe we see a furious power struggle between the German prestige makers, so in Australia the fight is ferocious between Ford and Holden and it's one of power, noise and not a lot of subtlety. It's also a fight GM reckoned to have decisively won when their Holden brand first announced this car with a mighty 6.0-litre Chevy Corvette supercar-sourced V8. This is an engine we've seen in many forms over the years, three of them beneath the bonnet of this car. Having launched it with 411bhp, then offered a frantic supercharged special edition Bathurst S model with 564bhp, the Aussie engineers behind this thundering super saloon have, for this version at least, settled on a mere 425bhp, uprating the engine to 6.2-litres in size to achieve it. A little more then, than an E30 series BMW M3 V8 or Lexus IS F, but a slug less than you'd get in a Mercedes C63 AMG or a Jaguar XFR.

Not too much happens below 3,000rpm, but once you get beyond that, this Aussie beast really starts to move, thanks to a thumping 550Nm of torque. Rest to sixty occupies a fraction under five seconds as you rev up to the 6,500rpm red line on the way to an artificially limited top speed of 155mph. There are plenty of ways you can go that quickly for £50,000 these days - but few of them feel quite as extreme as this.

A significant feature on this improved VXR8 is the availability of a 6-speed automatic gearbox as an alternative to the rather clunky 6-speed manual. And clever Magnetic Ride suspension, proof that this car isn't all blood and thunder and technology shared with supercars like Ferrari's California, Audi's R8 and Chevrolet's Corvette C6. Essentially, Magnetic Ride works by changing the thickness of the fluid inside the suspension's dampers to make the car immediately either passable comfortable ('Sport' mode) or more responsive (the sharper 'Track' setting) so you can alter its demeanour depending on the road you're on or the mood you're in. It won't make this Vauxhall a comfortable commuting saloon, but then it never should be. This is instead a machine built to be bold, brash and brutish. A true muscle car in every way.

VAUXHALL VXR8 SALOON 6.2I V8 4DR

This is one brute of a saloon. The menacing front end with its twin bonnet air scoops features what Vauxhall calls a 'Shockwave' grille around which sit LED daytime running lights and big wing-vents. There's more shockwave stuff around the rear bumper, which sits below a 'Superflow' twin-post spoiler and sports-style so-called 'afterburner' LED tail lamps. And there are twin exhaust tips that mimic the shape of the front grille.

Inside, thanks in part to lashings of leather trim and carbon fibre, it's probably a lot nicer than you might be expecting from the Vauxhall badgework. All right, the materials used are more American than European, but the instruments are neat, the switchgear smart and the central EDI 'Electronic Driver Interface' display clean and integrated. It offers displays for everything from oversteer and understeer to torque and power usage, G-forces and laptimes. And if all that isn't enough, gauges for battery voltage, oil pressure and temperature on top of the centre console to give a retro, racecar feel.

All of which would be superfluous if a decent driving position was as difficult to achieve as it was in this car's predecessor, the Monaro coupe. Fortunately, it isn't, though it is a pity that the wheel is so big, that it's so hard to see rearwards past the teatray-sized boot spoiler and that the steering wheel stalks haven't been Europeanised, so you spend the first few days at the wheel foolishly switching on the wipers when you're trying to use the indicators. But never mind the quality, feel the width. Get out of a C63 AMG or an M3 saloon then try one of these and this Vauxhall will feel enormous.

Especially in the back where, uniquely in this class, three adults can be accommodated, provided that the middle occupant is prepared to straddle a bulky central transmission tunnel. The boot's bigger than you'll find in any German rival too, only Jaguar's XFR able to rival the 496-litres on offer.

VAUXHALL VXR8 SALOON 6.2I V8 4DR

When this car was first launched in 2009 for around £35,000, it was very good value indeed on a power-for-pound basis. Sadly, pound to Australian dollar exchange rate changes have scuppered much of its value proposition. Though you can in theory buy a stripped-out 'Clubsport' version (which can even come as an estate and, would you believe, a Pick-up!), in practice, virtually no one ever does, so I'm going to focus now on the GTS saloon model I've been looking at here, costing around £50,000, with a £1,700 premium if you want the 6-speed automatic variant. That kind of asking price pitches this 425bhp machine uncomfortably close to a 450bhp Mercedes C63 AMG and a 420bhp E30 Series V8 BMW M3 saloon at around £55,000, a 417bhp Lexus IS F at £58,000 and a 510bhp Jaguar XFR at around £65,000. Still, a saving is a saving and the £10,000 or so you'll gain over these rivals on the up-front asking price will come in useful when it comes to offsetting this car's inevitably much higher running costs.

Of course for £50,000, you'll also be expecting not to have to tick too many options list boxes.

And there should be no need to do so. Electrically powered leather sports seats, climate control, sports pedals, a high quality stereo with aux and USB inputs and controls on the leather-covered flat-bottomed sports steering wheel, cruise control, a trip computer, auto lights and wipers, parking sensors and Bluetooth 'phone compatibility are all standard as are these gorgeous 20-inch alloys. There are no deadlocks on the doors though - which I'd find a bit of a worry if I were an owner. Safety kit runs to the stability control system I think you'll need in slippery conditions as well as the usual electronic aids for braking and traction. You also get six airbags, anti-whiplash front head restraints and a Side Blind Alert System to stop you dangerously pulling out to overtake in front of someone else.

As for options, well the main one you'll need to consider is the size of your exhaust, which depending on your preference - and your neighbours - can be merely loud, raucous or positively explosive.

VAUXHALL VXR8 SALOON 6.2I V8 4DR

In theory, this Vauxhall's LS3 6.2-litre V8 petrol engine can be reasonably economical if you drive it gently. Or so I'm told. The official combined cycle fuel figures (20.9mpg for the manual and 20.6mpg for the automatic) don't seem to bear this out, though to be fair, you're only looking at 3-5mpg less than you'd get from obvious rivals, which I suppose isn't bad given the fact that at 1.8-tonnes, this is predictably the heaviest car in its class. In reality, assuming you drive this car for at least some of the time in the manner it was designed for, 13-15mpg is probably a more realistic average.

There is, you see, no way of getting round this. Even by the expensive standards of the super-saloon category, this is going to be a very pricey car to run. Depreciation will be painful. Insurance is a top-of-the-shop group 50. The CO2 return has improved a bit from the 365g/km that the original 6.0-litre version of this car belched out, but at between 320-324g/km, it'll still leave a bit of a dent in your tax return, around 60g/km worse than say, an M3. And if you regularly use of the performance on offer, you might well face a sizeable tyre bill for replacement 20" Bridgestone Potenzas too.

VAUXHALL VXR8 SALOON 6.2I V8 4DR

Here, without doubt, is a car of its country. Although it offers four doors and a big boot, in every other way, this Australian muscle car rips up sense and sensibility and spits it out through its huge exhausts. If you find yourself comparing a VXR8 to more ordinary rivals or agonising over fuel figures, then to be honest, you've missed the point entirely. This is a car deliberately built to challenge convention. It isn't supposed to be an M3 or a C63. And it won't suit shrinking violets.

Which is why I like it. In an age of stifling political correctness, it is, after all, rather refreshing to find a car that doesn't take itself too seriously. Yes, this Vauxhall is pricier than it should be and the thirsty 6.2-litre V8 will make it frighteningly expensive to run. But against that, it's concussively quick, offers better handling than its image might suggest and has been built to entertain rather than to provide the right corporate image. It's an old school approach to driving fun, but it's still a highly addictive one.