This Tatty Vauxhall Astra VXR Is The Sub-£3000 Hot Hatch Bargain You Didn't Consider

With prices dropping below £3000, the old, 237bhp Astra VXR is suddenly looking quite tempting
This Tatty Vauxhall Astra VXR Is The Sub-£3000 Hot Hatch Bargain You Didn't Consider

I was never too fussed by the old Vauxhall Astra VXR. It’s always been somewhere near the bottom of my mid-noughties hot hatch want list, way behind the likes of the Renaultsport Megane, Ford Focus ST and VW Golf GTI. In fact, I own a Golf GTI, and when buying it, the thought of getting an Astra VXR instead didn’t crop up once.

As with a lot of cars though, the Astra VXR is suddenly much more enticing, because older examples are getting very, very cheap. I’m talking sub-£3000 cheap.

This Tatty Vauxhall Astra VXR Is The Sub-£3000 Hot Hatch Bargain You Didn't Consider

Granted, you probably don’t want to buy one for under £3000. This 125,000 mile example has tatty bodywork, what sounds like some shoddy bodywork repairs (something about paintwork not matching?), and no service history. But hey, the place selling it is a “family business with strong Christian values,” if that sways you.

What this tatty example does do (other than making us wonder if it’d make for an inexpensive track car starting point), is show just how affordable these cars are now. Up the budget to a still very reasonable £4000 - £5000, and you’ll pick yourself up a much tidier example.

This Tatty Vauxhall Astra VXR Is The Sub-£3000 Hot Hatch Bargain You Didn't Consider

You’ll also end up with something very, very quick. 237bhp put the Astra VXR well ahead of its closest rivals at the time, allowing for a 0-60mph time of just 6.2 seconds. For a 12-year-old car, that’s staggering.

This Tatty Vauxhall Astra VXR Is The Sub-£3000 Hot Hatch Bargain You Didn't Consider

237bhp and 236 lb ft of torque is rather a lot to shove through a front end with a conventional suspension setup and an open differential, so it’d be wise to expect torque steer and a reasonable amount of understeer from time to time. But contemporary road tests indicate it’s probably not quite the handful a certain Top Gear test made it out to be. And hey, it’s not that expensive to get an LSD slotted in the front.

Are you tempted to add a Vauxhall-shaped slice of hot hatchery to your life? Let us know in the comments…

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Comments

Anonymous

[DELETED]

04/03/2017 - 14:12 |
6 | 6
David 27

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Why though? They are reliable, especially this gen and up

04/03/2017 - 15:18 |
8 | 6
Alistair Hodgkinson

free burberry checked cap included Chav Approved Salesman

04/03/2017 - 14:13 |
110 | 2
Archive Aston (Aston Martin squad)
04/03/2017 - 14:13 |
4 | 10
batman 1

[DELETED]

04/03/2017 - 14:18 |
0 | 0

[DELETED]

04/03/2017 - 14:19 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

What sucks is that in America we dont even get the chance to consider. :,(

04/03/2017 - 14:23 |
20 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

You got the Saturn Astra which is similar. The VXR might be different, but everything down from that was hateful.

04/03/2017 - 19:22 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Indian Hot Hatches Lovers Be Like: Baleno RS Is Life

04/03/2017 - 14:30 |
6 | 2
Nishant Dash

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

1litre turbo… Who were suzuki kidding… It’s slower than a stock polo😂😂😂

04/04/2017 - 13:56 |
2 | 0
CaptainNutSack

Had one for 5 years, brilliant car. Only got better with a few mods. Mine had an LSD, Bilstein coilovers, AP Racing brakes, full exhaust and remap. Was loads of fun and still miss it to this day. Glad I didn’t sell it for £3k though 👍

04/03/2017 - 14:34 |
68 | 0

Nice, I like that! I’ve really warmed to the looks of these too - nice and angular, whereas the following generation was a bit too jelly mould-ish.

04/03/2017 - 15:55 |
26 | 0

Noice man!

04/03/2017 - 18:00 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

Have been considering swapping a mk5 golf for one of these…

The colour to have is Arden Blue though I think

04/03/2017 - 14:45 |
8 | 0
......

buy it
rice it to $hit
????
profit
then you will have the ultimate chav machine

04/03/2017 - 16:02 |
4 | 10
Renault GTR

Even standart GTCs look nice and drive quite nice, at least from what I heard. It’s a shame almost all of the GTCs in my country are either the modest 1.6 gasoline or 1.7 CDTI.

04/03/2017 - 16:31 |
4 | 0