Sometimes brashness is best.
Humans are emotional beings and trying to act in an un-partisan, people-pleasing and reserved manner is overrated.
Sometimes, we need to get a little bit bolshy, leave maturity by the wayside, extend two fingers to the naysayers, and embrace silly.
The automotive equivalent of doing this, is buying a Vauxhall VXR8. This rebadged Australian wonder was one of the most extroverted cars ever to be sold in the UK.
Cars of mixed nationality often tend to be quite fascinating, and the Anglo-American-Aussie VXR8 is no exception. Australian chassis and design, American engine and a British badge; the VXR8 was always going to be an interesting character.
The VXR8 of 2008 had a fourth-generation good ol‘ 6.0 Litre LS2 V8 with 411bhp, and no concept of subtlety or fuel economy.
The VXR8 is a brash car. It sounds brash, looks brash and drives brash. It is the antithesis of its sort-of supersaloon rivals, and only finds itself brawling with them only due to its sheer physical size, engine power and performance inclination.
Despite being no match for its rival in terms of interior niceties or dynamic prowess, there is a sheer animal magnetism that begs the VXR8 to be seen as a peer.
What the VXR8 lacks in refinement, it makes up for in spirit. Its give-em-hell personality makes it unforgettable, and its sense of presence and occasion make even the Mercedes C63 AMG seem a little timid.
The VXR8 could never be considered beautiful or even sort of good-looking, but there is a sort of why-can’t-I-stop-staring-at-it quality to its design.
The Vauxhall is a big, long, bulky car with funny proportions and angles – vents of many sizes – and unlike any of its rivals, a large fixed rear wing.
Its just so alien.
The VXR8 looks so strange because the UK has never received basic cooking Holden Commodores or Chevrolet Impalas, therefore the larger than life, all trumpets and trombones VXR8 is all we got.
We’re convinced you could own a VXR8 for ten years and still not become accustomed to how it looks.
The VXR8 drives how you’d imagine a car with its ingredients would handle – oversteer, lots and lots of oversteer. Now the Mercedes C63 AMG gets all the hot rod credence, but the VXR8 isn’t a hot-rod homage – it is a straight-shooting hot rod.
Big car, big engine and a big heart, the Vauxhall VXR8 is a car you don’t get into by mistake or because of a particularly pushy salesperson. You buy a VXR8 if you want to make your face ache from grinning, and your abdominal muscles sore from laughing.
What’s life without a little bit fun?
Kerbside 