Vauxhall has created the cheapest 500+bhp car on sale in the UK, retailing at £44,995. The VXR8 Bathurst S Edition benefits from a Walkinshaw Performance 122 Supercharger which actually makes it one of the most powerful cars on sale in the UK, pushing out a mighty 560bhp.
There is a normally aspirated Bathurst Edition but the ‘S’ will now sit at the top of the VXR family tree. To make sure the hard-charging Bathurst can stop, six-pot front and four-pot rear callipers are now standard on both models.
Stiffer, height-adjustable springs and Walkinshaw-developed coil-over dampers have also been fitted to improve the handling. The bespoke damper units have 15 separate valve settings with independent corner adjustment for the owner’s preferred setup.
Thanks to the supercharger being fitted to the LS3 V8 engine torque is now up to 527lb ft. The supercharger package also includes a large capacity intercooler, high-flow fuel injectors, a separate cold air intake and Walkinshaw-developed ECU map, while the standard manual gearbox is upgraded with a high-torque capacity clutch.
Outside, both Bathursts are instantly recognisable by their distinctive graphic packs, front fog light covers and ‘Bathurst’ badges, while inside a console-mounted badge showing the car’s build number complements the ‘Walkinshaw Performance’ tread plates found inside each door opening.
The Bathurst gets the option of a Bi-Modal exhaust which ups power by 10bhp and allows two settings: ‘Street’ with an upper limit of 92dbA, or ‘Optimum’, which releases the LS3 V8’s full 102dbA. The two-and-a-half inch diameter system is manufactured from stainless steel with unique chrome tail-pipe finishers and costs £1600.
Both Bathurst models can also be specified with optional 20” alloy wheels at £1500. List price for the Bathurst Edition is £37,995 –£2757 above the standard VXR8 – while the Bathurst S costs £44,995.
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