Fifth Gear Vauxhall VXR8 vs Lotus Carlton

Vicki Butler-Henderson pits the 18-year-old Lotus Carlton against its modernday equivalent, the Vauxhall VXR8.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Holden
• Clubsport
• VXR8

[GreenCorn9]

2:05 is it just me, or did she just admit that she has big hairs on her chest?

[JackSupremeKing]

4:48 - 4:51 .. she had an orgasm .. !!!!

[Mechknight73]

@ajball2000 How far down the line did the Vauxhall Senator get? At what time did they cease building them in England. The Rekord/Senator/Monza, as much as Europe doesn't want to admit it, benefited from some of Holden's R&D. On driving three of them from Melbourne to Sydney, Holden's engineers decided the body and suspension wasn't up to handling Australian roads, as a Commodore. One early model of Commodore, the VL featured a turbocharged Nissan RB30 engine, alongside a 5 litre V8

[ajball2000]

@Mechknight73 Lotus got the job because GM/Vauxhall owned them at the time. Lotus developed the C20XE (aka 'redtop') engine which was used in the 16v GTE, GSI cavalier, calibra and the ealier mk3 GSI atsra. It's one of te best engines ever made. It was just a pity that the chassis of the front wheel drive cars vauxhall/opel produced weren't up to the task of coping with it. . .

[Mechknight73]

@dragonny4master Even the VB-VK Commodores, although the outer skin resembled its German cousin, and there were things in nthe suspension they had in common, beneath the skin there's a whole other world going on. Holden realised early in the piece that they would have to stiffen the design of the Senator and Rekord bodies. They used their own engines and drivelines, and further strengthened the crossmembers to handle the weight and torque of 5 litre V8s

[Mechknight73]

@ajball2000 Although Holden is as distant from the US GM family as you can get when it comes to engineering. The VXR8 in Australia is known as the Holden Special Vehicles Club Sport R8, a tuned Holden Commodore. Although I'm curious, how did Lotus get the job of tweaking what was supposed to be a "sedate" family car? The Commodore in its basic form is essentially the same thing, an average family car in Australia. It just handles, stops and accelerates really well in stock form

[Mechknight73]

@eamh2002 Good point. I've only heard of the Lotus Carlton in the same way that most British people have heard of the Holden Torana; a vague notion of where it comes from, and what it can do. I think even Clarkson could do a better job of finding out what this one could REALLY do

[eamh2002]

@Mechknight73

Lotus Omega/Carlton needs the stig inside and VXR too :)

You saw the part where it caught up? I bet the turbos didnt spool/she can't drive an old turbo car so well in the slow corners and the car didnt bounce back onto speed like the more crispy n/a engine.

Some say theres lag when theres not enough rpm to even spool them up :D I think you need the engines max torque rpms, and whack the pedal to see how fast it spools, not idle speeds :)...

[Speedstar235]

@nikkolassey Not exactly considered "real" rocketship 4 door monsters aren't they?

[Mechknight73]

Considering the disparity of horsepower, and obviously dated suspension, full marks to the Lotus Carlton for keeping up. Being 1.5 seconds slower than a VXR8 is not something to be laughed at

[itsawindupuk]

today i drove my godfathers lotus carlton. only 16k miles on the clock, and the rare lotus tune package (remap). its aroung 500bhp and the acceleration pushes your eyes to the back of your skull!! i had to cling onto the steering wheel!!! fantastic car.

[bob67jones]

yeah, holden really got inspiration for the vxr8 from lotus, pfft! year right