New Vauxhall Astra VXR (2012) revealed

Vauxhall Astra VXR (2012) gets revealed

The new Vauxhall Astra VXR has been revealed ahead of its 2012 launch. It gets 277bhp from its 2.0 litre four pot turbo.

We’ve been expecting news of the new 2012 Vauxhall Astra VXR for a while, especially as Vauxhall intend launching the hot Astra in 2012. And now we have a little more on the VXR – and some photos – although Vauxhall hasn’t put a price on the Astra VXR yet.

The Astra VXR is based on the underpinnings of the Astra GTC – which Vauxhall managed to reveal at least three times before it finally went on sale – so it has two doors, a longer wheelbase and a wider track than its five-door rep-mobile sibling.

But despite being based on the GTC, the VXR gets quite a bit of tweaking to deal with the extra power from its 2.0 litre turbo. A 2.0 litre turbo that delivers 277bhp and 295lb/ft of torque, so the Astra VXR needs a tweak or three to keep the power useable.

That means a new mechanical limited slip diff to give those extra horses a chance of reaching the road, with the HiPerStrut setup which has a separate knuckle joint to fight torque steer without tearing the steering wheel out of your hands.

Brakes on the Astra VXR have also been beefed up with Brembo units, and the VXR comes with Vauxhall’s FlexiRide adaptive dampers. They get the normal Sport setting, but also a ‘VXR’ setting which gives track-like settings for the dampers, throttle and steering.

Vauxhall are keen to point out that they’ve ignored James May’s assertion that no road cars shouldn’t be set up on the Nurburgring, and they’ve had Le Mans 24 Hour winner Jo Winkelhock blatting round the Nordschleife in the Astra VXR for days on end to tweak and fettle the VXR.

As you would expect, the Astra VXR comes with the butchnes dial turned up to 11, which means mean and angry bumpers front and back, trapezoidal twin tail pipes, a roof spoiler and appropriate alloys.

Inside sees a set of sports seats – complete with the de rigueur VXR motifs – a new set of instruments and a flat-bottomed steering wheel.

The Astra VXR is due to arrive in 2012, so at some point we’ll get dates and prices.