U.S. to get new VX!

[Triathlete]

Okay so its not "OUR" beloved VX, but Vauxall is releasing a car in the U.S. They are going to be rebadged as a Saturn...the Soltice. It is a vehicle that was "rejected" then sold to Saturn for rebadging. Just saw this onTop Gear...I love this show. They get to abuse some really nice cars

[Joe_Black]

Well, sort of. The "Top Gear" story is from the UK perspective, as the Saturn Curve will be the economy version of the Pontiac Solstice which is already getting panned by reviewers. Not a good thing as typically the Saturn versions have poorer performance than their GM corporate brethren. Both of these cars are based on the new common-platform chassis debuted as "Kappa" several years ago.


But as we usually do we're being screwed in the cool-car department, showing that the US will consistently have the crappiest cars of the free world. Case in point: The Vauxhall Lightning.

Whereas the Pontiac Solstice gets another Ecotech mill tuned to about 170HP (at the crank, no less) the Lightning, since it's strictly a European model, will have power more suited to the worldly driver courtesy of a supercharged and massaged version of the Ecotech generating a spirited 240HP.

No wonder GM is losing so much money on it's North American operations.

[Triathlete]

They gave the VX220 a great review and on the track it was on par with the Porshe's and looks pretty cool too.

[transio]

The VX220...


is closer to:

an Opel Speedster...


or a Lotus Elise...


or the new Proton...


or even a Saturn Sky...


than a Pontiac Solstice...


(they're all based upon the same Lotus tub, by the way)

The Solstice and Sky are the only two of the bunch that are FR, though... the rest are MR.

[VehiGAZ]

Car & Driver (the only car publication I bother with anymore) didn't pan the Solstice. Quite to the contrary, they compared it to the new Miata and (informally and subjectively) liked it better. It wasn't a full road test, though.

[PeteVX]

I actually saw one of those Vauxhall VX's when i was back home in the UK last Christmas, it was a real head turner.