The newcomer joins the...
The newcomer joins the ranks at an exciting time - the company has recently announced that the Arnage Drophead Coup탩 will go into production in 2006. And the Continental GT coup탩 has been a runaway success, with more than 6,500 sold worldwide last year - over 1,800 of them in the UK alone.
The all-wheel-drive...
The all-wheel-drive version is said to have caused an engineering nightmare for GM, because the Epsilon platform on which the Vectra is based was originally intended to be driven by the front wheels only. Early prototypes sat very high off the ground, as the car needed to be raised in order to accommodate the rear differential, but the latest version is now said to stand only an inch taller than the normal Vectra.
Our source revealed: "By using bigger wheels and wheelarch extensions, it"s hard to tell the new car is any different to a standard Vectra. However, you have to put a big, powerful engine in it to take advantage of the 4x4 transmission, otherwise it would prove flat and dull to drive." This wouldn"t be the first Vauxhall 4WD saloon - in 1989, the firm made the Cavalier GSi2000 4x4, which employed a viscous coupling to provide power to the rear wheels.
Meanwhile, a range of two-wheel-drive hot Vectras are tipped to arrive in 2005. Turbocharged 250bhp 3.2-litre V6 petrol and 200bhp twin-turbo 1.9-litre diesel versions of the Vectra GSi will debut by the middle of next year. Insiders have hinted that the newcomers are likely to wear the badging of Vauxhall"s new performance brand, VXR.