Just saw the latest edition of Top Gear and they were comparing the Vauxhall to an M5 for 40k less. Granted this is an English tv show. I went to the Vauxhall site to see more about this car to find out that it is the Euro sister to the G8.
I was very impressed with the performance of the review and my biggest letdown when I was checking out the G8 was all the detuning it seems to have compared to it's suro sister. Also no manual tranny. I see that they are coming out with a manual and GXP version in the fall, but even the GXP version (which will be a 6.2) is still less 15 HP than the 6.0 Vauxhall.
I will definately be test driving one and hope that the aftermarket companies grasp onto this vehicle. I currently have a chipped Lincoln LS with CAI, McLaren stainless racing exhaust and am looking for a saloon car to replace her in the next year or so with something comparable in size,price and perrformance. (also have a Pontiac Solstice for a summer toy, so I am a GM fan also)
Here is the Vauxhall site in case anyone isn't familiar with it.
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vx/vxr/flash/index_main.html

Yer vauxhall are known for making sport mods to their cars. they do really good sport hatchbacks. They compete with the r32 and gti. The UK are really good with sporty fast performance sedans and hatchbacks.

the vxr8 is basically the same car as the HSV version of the g8... LS2, tuned to 414 hp... the aftermarket is already huge for the LSx based engines, and you will have no prob easily and cheaply modifying any g8 to go fast...

35k UK = 70k US.

Ouch!

For $70K USD a customer can have both a G8GT AND a Solstice GXP. try that with a 550i and Z4 and see what your pocketbook looks like in the aftermath. Or his and hers G8's. Spend $35k on upgrades to a GT and watch out world. For that kind of ka-ching I could install AWD, full ZR1 power (and then some), and even a convertible top.

our version is probably detuned so badly so that you can have a high-performance V8 that runs on 87 octane. I don't know of any new cars out there today that has a V8s close to 400hp that runs on 87. Another selling point right there..

It's horsepower figures are directly related to octane points in different countries. I'm not certain about the UK but Aussies gets 94 octane. The US has the lowest of high octane unless you can get Trick fuel @104 octane which less than 1% of gas stations carry.

I saw that episode and that car is awesome!

Cam = 200/208 0.472 0.479
C.R. = 10.4

If those are the specs on our G8 cams there is a ton of room for improvement from a cam swap.

Not to mention LS2 vs. L76...

Just saw the latest edition of Top Gear and they were comparing the Vauxhall to an M5 for 40k less. Granted this is an English tv show. I went to the Vauxhall site to see more about this car to find out that it is the Euro sister to the G8.
I was very impressed with the performance of the review and my biggest letdown when I was checking out the G8 was all the detuning it seems to have compared to it's suro sister. Also no manual tranny. I see that they are coming out with a manual and GXP version in the fall, but even the GXP version (which will be a 6.2) is still less 15 HP than the 6.0 Vauxhall.
I will definately be test driving one and hope that the aftermarket companies grasp onto this vehicle. I currently have a chipped Lincoln LS with CAI, McLaren stainless racing exhaust and am looking for a saloon car to replace her in the next year or so with something comparable in size,price and perrformance. (also have a Pontiac Solstice for a summer toy, so I am a GM fan also)
Here is the Vauxhall site in case anyone isn't familiar with it.
http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vx/vxr/flash/index_main.html

Same engine displacement different kind of animals the VXR8 uses the LS2 slightly modded to 414HP while the G8 uses L76 (Mexican source) with active fuel management LS3 intake manifold. Funny how the GXP were getting will have the LS3 once again detuned to about 402HP while Motor Trend just confirmed that the VXR8 will get the LS3 with 426HP. Amazing what were going through.

It's horsepower figures are directly related to octane points in different countries.

Bingo. For a developed nation, the US has some of the worst quality fuel. Its also some of the cheapest fuel. I'm not complaining about the HP while using 87, but nothing that can't be changed pretty easily.

I am an English born G8GT owner. I have nostalgic memories of British gas (petrol) prices which still leave me feeling that $3.60 / gallon gas is cheap! British Petrol is higher octane than US. Ordinary petrol is 95 RON (I believe this is another term for octane...research octane number), Super is 98 RON. Some stores stock super at 99 RON and BP sells an ultimate that is 102 RON. The downside is that super costs approx. $10 / US gallon!

These octane numbers probably go some way to explaining potential performance differences but it comes at a price!!!

BTW both car and gas prices in UK are inflated by enormous government taxes. Many vehicles cost double what they do over here.

im also English :D... anyway wow I didnt no that the UK has 102 octane!!

In Europe and in Australia octane ratings are RON only. In the US our ratings are (RON+MON)/2. This results in the lower numbers you see. The 100 octane gas you get in EU and AUS would rate around 96 octane in the US. 95 octane RON comes out to about 87 octane (R+M)/2).

The (R+M)/2 method is actually a more accurate measure as RON is measured under low speed, low inlet air temp and MON is high speed, high IAT.

Also for the record, for those that think running higher octane gas in a car that doesn't knock on low octane will give you better performance, the entire octane rating system is based on the compression ratio that an engine can be run at without knocking. For example, an octane rating of 90 means that the perticular mix of fuel can be run in an engine with the same compression ratio without knocking that a 90% 2-2-4 trimethylpentane (iso-octane) and 10% n-heptane mixture can be run in without knocking.

For more information about octane than you ever wanted to know I highly recommend these two links:

http://www.refiningonline.com/EngelhardKB/crep/TCR4_29.htm
http://www.btinternet.com/~madmole/Reference/RONMONPON.html

Long story short, the gas over there isn't any better (octane-wise) than it is here.