A few questions on the VX220.

John_V85 · 10 Dec 2011 at 16:57

I'm thinking about buying something impractical for the next 12-18 months. I've driven an old Mondeo ST24 for the last 5+ years, don't require the practicality it offers in the near term and fancy something quick.

One of the ideas I keep coming back to is the VX220. Perhaps an odd time of the year to be considering it, but maybe a time to get a good price.

I've noticed a few posts on the car over time and would be grateful for any advise on any of the following points.

Price. Can a good turbo be had for c£10k? What would you expect to lose in depreciation over 12-18 months?
Size. I'm 6'2". Can I actually fit in it (no need to be graceful).
Reliability. How reliable is it on a daily basis? I live in London so use public transport in the week and so it would only be driven at the weekends and not every one at that? That said, when I turn the key can you pretty much expect it to always spring into life? It would be kept on the road (no garage) so I would be a bit worried about water ingress.
Servicing. What sort of service costs could I expect? As I said, I don't do a lot of millage.

Thanks in advance.

Crizzy · 10 Dec 2011 at 17:19

You can get a hard top for it if you are going to keep it outside, personally I think it looks great with the hardtop. Will you be using it on the track, have you considered the NA as they are cheaper to buy and will still be loads of fun?

MeEsH BaKkA · 10 Dec 2011 at 17:25

I believe the engine is fairly similar to the Astra VXR lump minus the forged rods/pistons and under piston oil spray, which would mean the engine should be fairly bomb proof (fairly low tech) but quite a bit heavier than the alloy 2.2 vx220 lump.

Also if servicing is anything like my Astra it's pretty cheap especially if you go independent, I could imagine belts could cost a few quid to change due to the engine position.

eidolon · 10 Dec 2011 at 17:31

John_V85 said:
Price. Can a good turbo be had for c£10k? What would you expect to lose in depreciation over 12-18 months?

Get the NA, in 99% of your road driving it'll be just as fast and it handles far better than the turbo.

Size. I'm 6'2". Can I actually fit in it (no need to be graceful).

Yep, you'll be fine unless you're 20stone as well. (I'm just over 6ft and I was fine

Reliability. How reliable is it on a daily basis? I live in London so use public transport in the week and so it would only be driven at the weekends and not every one at that? That said, when I turn the key can you pretty much expect it to always spring into life? It would be kept on the road (no garage) so I would be a bit worried about water ingress.

They're generally pretty good, maybe head over to the VX forum and read up on common faults (although I wouldn't bother asking any question as I found that most of the members over there are knobbers)

Servicing. What sort of service costs could I expect? As I said, I don't do a lot of millage.

Thorney charge £149 for standard servicing and most specialists are similarly priced.

John_V85 · 10 Dec 2011 at 17:38

Thanks for the comments. What's the residuals like on these?

MeEsH BaKkA · 10 Dec 2011 at 17:43

eidolon said:
The bit about VX forums

So true, it's painful the amount of retards and bellends that post on them. Their views on induction kits and dump valves are rather amusing as well, MAFs seem to be well above their understanding of a modern engine...

rippling · 10 Dec 2011 at 17:49

Was the engine is this not a development of the endgine from the saab 9-5 the Br engine?

Rizo-UK · 10 Dec 2011 at 17:53

No, the Turbo Engine is the Common Z20LET found in loads of turbo charged VX cars.

MeEsH BaKkA · 10 Dec 2011 at 17:54

rippling said:
Was the engine is this not a development of the endgine from the saab 9-5 the Br engine?

Possible... In which case it's not much like the VXR LEH lump which is based on the old LET engines. Still AFAIK it's pretty reliable, not to sure on the gearboxes/clutch though as VX have a tendency to use boxes and clutches not quite up to strength for the torque.

Edit: clarified by the above post.

Dogbreath · 10 Dec 2011 at 17:56

I noticed how cheap you can pick up a VX220 the other day. Hugely tempted, but I doubt it will go down my drive so will need to put that on hold until we move house I think.

rippling · 10 Dec 2011 at 18:03

yes i think it is , the original saab br235 engine could handle 500 bhp with no mods , amazing engine , but once GM bought into it they used cheaper internals , but yes the saab gearbox was always a problem as well dam front wheel drive grrrr

Trifid · 10 Dec 2011 at 18:32

John_V85 said:
Price. Can a good turbo be had for c£10k? What would you expect to lose in depreciation over 12-18 months? Keep an eye out, and there is no reason why you couldn't pick up a nice look after example for about this, the cheaper ones are certainly in this range
Size. I'm 6'2". Can I actually fit in it (no need to be graceful).Yes, you will be fine. I'm 5'11 and have my seat all but a couple of clicks from the back but have plenty of room to stretch out my legs and use the tips of my toes to push the clutch down. My BIL who is 6'8 managed to drive it. The turbos have a little more room than the NAs too.
Reliability. How reliable is it on a daily basis? I live in London so use public transport in the week and so it would only be driven at the weekends and not every one at that? That said, when I turn the key can you pretty much expect it to always spring into life? It would be kept on the road (no garage) so I would be a bit worried about water ingress. It's fine for reliability, if you don;t drive it for an extended amount of time 3 weeks or more, I'd recommend having a trickle charger.
Servicing. What sort of service costs could I expect? As I said, I don't do a lot of millage. Servicing at a specialist is about £200 for a full service, I'd recommend PSR in Bishops Stortford or Back on Track or plans in Guildford. They can be a pain to work on so wouldn't take it to any old garage but apart from that, they are essentially a Vectra in a Lotus chassis.

John_V85 · 10 Dec 2011 at 19:12

Thanks. I think I should perhaps rephrase the first question re price as how much would it take to get a good turbo example? I don't particularly have budget in place - it just seemed about the level of ones I was seeing advertised, but wondered if you'd have to be wary of getting dogs at this price point.

Shadowness · 11 Dec 2011 at 14:09

As a VX220 owner, this would be my advice.

For 10k, you could probably get a good turbo.....or a VERY good NA.

Depends what you want really, the NAs do handle a bit better, but that's like saying Rosie Huntington Whitely is better than Megan Fox....they're still both epic!

I went for a turbo, absolutely love it. Only get it out of weekends at the moment, so had a little blast earlier today as a treat.

Reliability is fine, no different from any other car. The engines have been used for donkeys years so very reliable.

Servicing is no more than any other car too really. I just had a 1k service a few months ago, but that was for the cam belt, full service, new brake fluid+bleed and replace engine mounts.

I've now got a few years of just the common servicing costs.

Running costs are no biggie either. They'll do 35+mpg if you drive sensibly (cough), you just have to get used to such a small fuel tank. I average around 220-275 miles a tank approximately.

I bought my VXT for £11k. I went on the VX220.org forums. Found a car with a long history, the owner was on the forum, so the car was well known.....as was the fact that it had been well looked after.

Which ever you get, you'll be in for a treat. And get used to all the looks from pedestrians as they try to figure out what car you're in lol!

Shadowness · 11 Dec 2011 at 14:11

Oh....and just read the OP and the bit about no garage.

GET A CAR COVER! The engine bay is exposed, they are weather proof to a certain extent, but I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving my car out in extended heavy rain. I did that the other day, and the luggage space in the back was soaking wet inside.

Trifid · 11 Dec 2011 at 14:33

Shadowness said:
Running costs are no biggie either. They'll do 35+mpg if you drive sensibly (cough), you just have to get used to such a small fuel tank. I average around 220-275 miles a tank approximately.

I have no idea how you manage 275 miles to a tank. Mine is asking for more fuel over 100 miles before then and about 28 litres goes in.

Shadowness · 11 Dec 2011 at 14:37

Trifid said:
I have no idea how you manage 275 miles to a tank. Mine is asking for more fuel over 100 miles before then and about 28 litres goes in.

I have cracked 300 before, but I was doing a super economical tank to see what it could do, pretty boring tbh!

They have a 38 litre tank, so even at 30mpg, that's about 240 (assuming you ran it until it died)

At the moment, I'm doing around 220-230 to a tank, but then I only get it out at weekends, so I do make the most of it :cool:

L0rdMike · 11 Dec 2011 at 19:04

I get 35mpg out of mine on most tankfulls.

Fairly fast too.

Trifid · 11 Dec 2011 at 19:10

I think it is 32 litres and a '4l' reserve but in practice it is less than that. This was after the owner had to push it into the services:

I always fill up at the next conveniant point after it says refill on the dashboard. This happens between 150-160 miles on my usual commute or about 200 motorway miles.

L0rdMike · 11 Dec 2011 at 19:11

When I ran out of fuel I could only get 35L into my tank.