As some of you know I've been considering selling the MR2 and replacing it with a VX220 turbo. Problem is there aren't many around so trying to get a test drive is a nightmare. Fortunately last night I spotted one in the Autotrader in my local Jaguar dealership of all places so this morning I phoned up to arrange a viewing and test drive.
I arrived there and hidden away at the back of the garage, away from all the "proper" cars was a silver VX220. I went over, opened the door and got in without any drama which seemed to really surprise the salesman. Once he'd contorted his body into the passenger seat he started to explain about the car, continually reminding me that it was noisy, crashy, uncomfortable etc. (not much of a sales pitch!) I showed him my licence and we went for a test drive.
First thing that I noticed is the total lack of rear visibilty, there's about 8" of gap between the seats where you can see through but other than that you're reversing blind. Next thing I noticed was the lack of power steering. I'd forgotten what it was like to drive without it as it's been so long since I drove a non PAS car, it felt very heavy at slow speeds but not anything which would put me off. After that I noticed how flippin' heavy the pedals were, they aren't light and sensitive like the CTR/MR2, they're heavy and clunky.
Right then, I turn left onto the Bath road and we're off, straight into a queue of traffic
I crawl along the road for 5 mins, noticing how twitchy the steering is, it seems to have a mind of its own and reacts to every single undulation in the road, pulling from side to side. Once I got out of the traffic I managed to get onto some half decent twisty roads and only then did I realise exactly what this car is about, the steering and suspension is just so good. When people describe it as "kart like" they aren't lying, it just goes where you point it and feels perfectly weighted.
After a while I thought I'd better see just how quick this thing is so I headed down onto the ring road where I managed to make some annoying Merc driver turn into a very small dot in my rear view mirror. Sure it's quick but it didn't actually feel as quick as I was expecting, nothing noticably faster than the MR2 anyway. The pickup from the turbo is better however with zero lag, infact it doesn't even feel like the engine is turbo'd, it just feels like a nice big engine with plenty of power.
Whilst driving down the ringroad I noticed exactly how Lotus/Vauxhall had managed to make it so lightweight. I went to pull the sun visor down to shield my eyes from the sun, only to discover that there aren't any visors, doh! Never mind, I could always get a sunstrip I guess.
Onto the noise. I'd been told that it was noisy and raw but everyone said the same about the CTR and that's quite subdued in my opinion. Oh dear was I in for a shock! At 80mph I had to shout to the salesman, the noise inside the cabin was very intrusive and it wasn't even intake/exhaust noise, there was just *NOISE* coming from everywhere.
Conclusion : Well, it's certainly as raw as everyone says! The performance didn't really impress me, it felt a bit asthmatic higher up the rev range but I'm sure that's nothing that a Stage 2 remap and Milltek exhaust couldn't fix. I absolutely loved the steering and suspension, I felt like a driving god within 10 mins of getting in the car. I can live with the impracticalities, the lack of comforts doesn't bother me too much but that noise at speed might. The one thing however that I really hated was the gearbox, it just felt really clunky and sloppy and ruined the whole car. I know I'm spoiled as the CTR has possibly the slickest gearbox ever but the VX220 was sorely let down by the box. I'm hoping that it was knackered and that they're not all like that.
I'm gonna arrange a test drive of an Elise next and also try another VX220 just to see if all their gearboxes are the same or if I was driving a duffer. If they're all like that then I'm gonna keep the MR2 and just sort out the handling, if that particular gearbox was just dodgy then it may well be goodbye Toyota, hello Vauxhall/Lotus
PS - Fox, you really have to go test drive one of these, you'll hate it more than you've ever hated any other car in your life!
I arrived there and hidden away at the back of the garage, away from all the "proper" cars was a silver VX220. I went over, opened the door and got in without any drama which seemed to really surprise the salesman. Once he'd contorted his body into the passenger seat he started to explain about the car, continually reminding me that it was noisy, crashy, uncomfortable etc. (not much of a sales pitch!) I showed him my licence and we went for a test drive.
First thing that I noticed is the total lack of rear visibilty, there's about 8" of gap between the seats where you can see through but other than that you're reversing blind. Next thing I noticed was the lack of power steering. I'd forgotten what it was like to drive without it as it's been so long since I drove a non PAS car, it felt very heavy at slow speeds but not anything which would put me off. After that I noticed how flippin' heavy the pedals were, they aren't light and sensitive like the CTR/MR2, they're heavy and clunky.
Right then, I turn left onto the Bath road and we're off, straight into a queue of traffic
I crawl along the road for 5 mins, noticing how twitchy the steering is, it seems to have a mind of its own and reacts to every single undulation in the road, pulling from side to side. Once I got out of the traffic I managed to get onto some half decent twisty roads and only then did I realise exactly what this car is about, the steering and suspension is just so good. When people describe it as "kart like" they aren't lying, it just goes where you point it and feels perfectly weighted. After a while I thought I'd better see just how quick this thing is so I headed down onto the ring road where I managed to make some annoying Merc driver turn into a very small dot in my rear view mirror. Sure it's quick but it didn't actually feel as quick as I was expecting, nothing noticably faster than the MR2 anyway. The pickup from the turbo is better however with zero lag, infact it doesn't even feel like the engine is turbo'd, it just feels like a nice big engine with plenty of power.
Whilst driving down the ringroad I noticed exactly how Lotus/Vauxhall had managed to make it so lightweight. I went to pull the sun visor down to shield my eyes from the sun, only to discover that there aren't any visors, doh! Never mind, I could always get a sunstrip I guess.
Onto the noise. I'd been told that it was noisy and raw but everyone said the same about the CTR and that's quite subdued in my opinion. Oh dear was I in for a shock! At 80mph I had to shout to the salesman, the noise inside the cabin was very intrusive and it wasn't even intake/exhaust noise, there was just *NOISE* coming from everywhere.
Conclusion : Well, it's certainly as raw as everyone says! The performance didn't really impress me, it felt a bit asthmatic higher up the rev range but I'm sure that's nothing that a Stage 2 remap and Milltek exhaust couldn't fix. I absolutely loved the steering and suspension, I felt like a driving god within 10 mins of getting in the car. I can live with the impracticalities, the lack of comforts doesn't bother me too much but that noise at speed might. The one thing however that I really hated was the gearbox, it just felt really clunky and sloppy and ruined the whole car. I know I'm spoiled as the CTR has possibly the slickest gearbox ever but the VX220 was sorely let down by the box. I'm hoping that it was knackered and that they're not all like that.
I'm gonna arrange a test drive of an Elise next and also try another VX220 just to see if all their gearboxes are the same or if I was driving a duffer. If they're all like that then I'm gonna keep the MR2 and just sort out the handling, if that particular gearbox was just dodgy then it may well be goodbye Toyota, hello Vauxhall/Lotus
PS - Fox, you really have to go test drive one of these, you'll hate it more than you've ever hated any other car in your life!
