Popping and pinging from the CV's is pretty much a dead give away for bad CV's. If the previous owner didn't fix the CV's and hide the damage, you will probably have torn CV boots so they should be easy to spot. Just crawl under the front of the VX and look at the rubber CV covers. There should be one at the end of the front axle housing and one down by the back of the spindle at the front wheels. It should be easy enough to see if they are split, but if you can't tell, give them a tug and see if they separate. Also, there may be a bunch of residue (grease) that has sprayed over everything around the CV's because once they split the grease get's thrown around.
You really won't be able to tell the extent of the CV damage until you get into them. Hopefully the damage, if it is the CV's, has been contained to the joints themselves. If the "green cups" have been damaged then you'll have to get new inner axles, or have yours removed and resurfaced.
Hope it's nothing too bad. Good luck.
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