It may be badged as a Vauxhall but underneath, the VXR8 is a hairy-chested, XXXX-swilling Aussie muscle car. Motoring Editor Peter Carroll puts the beast to the test!

Memo to self: ‘Next time you line up a V8 muscle car, make sure you book it in the summer. . .’Having decided to treat myself to an early Christmas present of a Vauxhall VXR8 for a few days, I was undone by the freezing weather.

And there was me thinking we weren’t supposed to get cold Decembers any more. While I might have been hoping for some tail-out heroics from Vauxhall’s flagship saloon, I didn’t want them occurring in the street where I live – at about 5mph.

Of course, the big Vauxhall wasn’t the only car slithering about on the icy roads, but I had hoped for more favourable conditions to put its uprated 6.2 litre power plant through its paces.

The £36,000 VXR8 is sold as a Vauxhall but underneath, it’s a bonzer Holden from Australia, albeit with the latest generation Chevrolet Corvette LS3 engine lurking under the bonnet, putting out 425bhp at 6,000rpm.

All Vauxhall has to do is cut off the corks dangling from the rear view mirror, slap on a couple of Griffin badges and the car is ready to go.

The VXR8 is a solid hunk of metal – around 5m long and weighing in at getting on for two tonnes. Fire up that Chevy power plant and the whole car quivers expectantly at tickover.

A menacing growl

Apply some right foot and you can see why the optional £1,100 Walkinshaw sports exhaust is so highly rated for the menacing growl it produces.

Power delivery initially seems a little languid – but it keeps on coming through and you reach motorway speed in seemingly no time at all.

The manual gearbox is not the slickest, but the car doesn’t really seem too fussed which gear it is in.

The hugely torquey nature of the engine can make you a little lazy, as you do not have to work the car particularly hard to get it to perform.

The steering is lighter than I would have imagined and tends not to be too communicative mid-bend either.

ESP can be switched off when you want to get really lairy, though this is not advisable in sub-zero temperatures.

Bags of room

Inside the VXR8 there’s bags of room for five, and the boot is massive too. The interior is functional rather than stylish. Everything you need is there but it’s not a particularly dramatic cabin.

Gauges for oil temperature, oil pressure and battery voltage, along with a squared-off steering wheel add a sporty touch.

You have to get used to the fact that the indicators and wipers are on the ‘wrong’ side for the UK.

The leather seats are very comfortable, though some may find them on the soft side, and the driving position is really good.

Visibility is compromised on a number of fronts – by the chunkiness of the A pillars, the titchiness of the wing mirrors, and the dirty great spoiler out the back.

There’s a decent sound system in the car but the best noise is to be found coming out those twin oval pipes at the rear.

Ride quality is surprisingly soft and compliant for such a brawny car.

What’s the cost?

The VXR8 is hardly cheap at just under £36,000 on the road and running costs are likely to prove prohibitive.

Yet for the enthusiast, what other options are there to experience the thrill of a V8 without paying serious money?

German V8s are dandy but will set you back around £30,000 more for a similarly-sized model.

There’s always a V8 Jag XF but it won’t be as quick as this. The closest rivals to the VXR8 would have to be the rare 6.1 litre Chrysler 300C SRT – £40K’s worth of pure unadulterated menace – and the Cadillac CTS, which is still to arrive in the UK but does look properly sorted.

Given another chance, I’d book a VXR8, maybe with a supercharger this time, for July, so there would no worries about the weather.

Apart from the prospect of torrential rain, of course.

FACT FILE:

Model: 6.2 LS3 V8

Price: From £35,995 on the road

Engine: 6,162cc, V8, petrol

Power: 431PS

Transmission: Six-speed manual, rear wheel drive

Performance: 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds

Top speed: 155mph

Economy: 18.6 mpg

CO2 emissions: 364 g/km

Length: 4,941mm

Weight: 1,831kg

Insurance group: 20

Servicing: 20,000 miles

Warranty: 3 years / 60,000 miles

See more pictures of the VXR8 in our gallery below…