Insignia VXR hits 170mph

For a small extra premium of £250 your new Vauxhall Insignia VXR can play in the really-big-speed-league; sniffing the tails of supercars. Wouldn’t that be fun? Where conditions and speed limits allow, of course.

The Insignia VXR Unlimited with the usual 155mph restriction removed can now really stretch its 2.8-litre, twin-turbocharged V6 legs all the way to a heady 170mph, and (quickly) takes the accolade of Vauxhall’s fastest current model. By way of uber-saloon comparison; the Lotus Carlton was/is good for 177mph courtesy of its big-bore straight-6, twin-turbo motor cranking around 377bhp. 

By all accounts the rear-wheel drive Carlton was a bit of a monster; shocking and delighting drivers in equal measure. This 4-door flier will cost you in the region of £17k today; it was around £48k when new. 

These days Vauxhall deliver more bang for your buck with the 321bhp, 60mph in 5.6sces Insignia VXR coming in around £33k, and with some distinct dynamic advantages over the brutal Carlton; most significantly four-wheel drive. This 4x4 system uses a sport differential with a Haldex multi-disc clutch as well as electronic centre and rear limited slip differentials.

All four wheels will be driven by your choice of manual or auto transmissions – although it’s the Saloon and Hatch bodies fitted with a manual gearbox that are certain to hit the big top speed – with a full three options in body styles; Hatch, Saloon and Sports Tourer. Unlimited VXR gets visual tip-offs in the way of blue Brembo logos on the front brake calipers and a newly-designed tacho and speedo; big enough to display those bigger performance readouts. 

And while the Carlton was ahead of the curve at the time, pilots of today plumping for the 170mph Insignia will seek high-speed-reassurance from those big Brembo brakes and the FlexRide chassis, which allows them to choose between three dynamic setups: standard, Sport and VXR. 

Vauxhall set out to prove their almighty new VXR was indeed ship-shape for hauling with the big boys; pumping in lap after lap of the punishing Nurbürgring’s Nordschleife (north loop), where, according to the Luton lappers, 10,000 validation kilometres were run up. The test programme was rated at ‘factor 18’, which corresponds to 180,000kms (112,000 miles) on normal roads. 

This news is of particular interest to TotallyMotor as we’re popping over to visit our Vauxhall friends for a day of driving and photographing their Insignia VXR. I wonder if they would’ve treating this VXR to the Unlimited treatment? They also have a Lotus Carlton tucked away in their Heritage Centre. Head-to-head? More like rocket-to-rocket! 

If you can’t quite stretch to an Insignia VXR but want some Vauxhall speed-heritage in your life, take a look at our Insignia 2.0 CDTi SRi test drive. See you on the moon! 









The Lotus Carlton was once the daddy of bad-boy Vauxhall uber-saloons. The new Insignia VXR Unlimited takes over, at 170mph!


www.vauxhall.co.uk/vxr


By Daniel Anslow

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