How similar is the Aura XR to the Vectra VXR?

[PeterXR]

I'm not sure how similar these two cars are but Top Gear's Clarkson tests the Vauxhall Vectra and apart from the acceleration it isn't very flattering. It is actually quite funny as he tests the understeer and then gives up on the steering wheel as being useless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FHLzWwghmU

[golftango]

The only thing they share is the same Epsilon platform. Actually, the Aura is on a stretched version of the Epsilon platform.

[whiteshadow]

the aura sucks in the handling dept. straight line power in the xr ( 3.6 ) is great. if you wanted a quick AND good handling car, and you bought an xr...you bought the wrong car. dont get me wrong, i like my xr. just dont expect it to handle worth a shiat.

[PeterXR]

Well, in a straight line I agree this car really kicks, but in the corners, as you increase the cars power, I think that the power starts to work against you.
This is not the case when you look at a RWD car.

With respect to the show, Clarkson appears to drift every car he can around every bend on his track. The better he can get the car to drift by flooring it, the better he claims the car to be. Now take a 250 hp FWD car like the Aura XR and floor it around a corner, you would expect that as the tires light up (as they would!!) you would no doubt experience "severe understeer". This is no surprise to me and if he expects it to turn in sharply "under these conditions" he doesn't understand or respect the physics of FWD.

So, do all FWD cars have this behavior to some degree? Most likely, that is why all the great handling cars are either RWD or AWD. Just my two cents...

[carlover]

Don't know what you guys have been doing but, with good rubber, inflated slightly higher than the factory recommends, the XR has amazing handling for a sedan. With the addition of a strut tower brace it is absolutely incredible.
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[whiteshadow]

Originally Posted by carlover

Don't know what you guys have been doing but, with good rubber, inflated slightly higher than the factory recommends, the XR has amazing handling for a sedan. With the addition of a strut tower brace it is absolutely incredible.
c

umm gotta disagree with you there. its heavy, and handles like shait. now my miata, that corners like its on rails. but im sure if i did the same to my XR that i did to the miata, it would handle better.

[AuraDrvr89]

Essentially they are two completely separate cars. Even though they are both on the "Epsilon" platform, it's even modified from the Vectra.

When I was in Europe, I saw several, and it's easy to see how different they really are.

Even the styling bears only a vague resemblance.

[unkle bik]

Originally Posted by whiteshadow

umm gotta disagree with you there. its heavy, and handles like shait. now my miata, that corners like its on rails. but im sure if i did the same to my XR that i did to the miata, it would handle better.

Uh, yeah.
I suppose if the miata handled like an Aura, you would call it a "shiata"?...

[carlover]

Originally Posted by whiteshadow

umm gotta disagree with you there. its heavy, and handles like shait. now my miata, that corners like its on rails. but im sure if i did the same to my XR that i did to the miata, it would handle better.

I did say "for a sedan". They are not really comparable. I can say, for sure, that my XR out-handles the Ford Contour SVT that I used to own...and the XR is larger.

[whiteshadow]

face it, the aura is not a performance sedan. its just a 4 door saturn. nothing fancy, its got good power and handles like shiat. its just the way it is, dont blame me for the craptastic handling of the car.

[carlover]

Originally Posted by whiteshadow

face it, the aura is not a performance sedan. its just a 4 door saturn. nothing fancy, its got good power and handles like shiat. its just the way it is, dont blame me for the craptastic handling of the car.

The Aura XR is as close to as close to a performance sedan as you will find in a FWD mid-size car in the US. Just ask the "sport" sedan drivers that have had their doors blown off in the twisties. Not that I have done that . Don't blame me if you can't drive it to its potential.
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[DigitalSaturns]

I think that craptastic troll is full of midsize sedan shiat.