Vectra GSi - Retro or RetNO? Video

Have had loads of these, have 2 now, 1 of which is currently for sale, the other being a very early V6 SRi saloon. Love them tbh, they do their job well, parts are still relatively easy to get, prices seem to be on the up though, there's not many left.

The majority of the production run of the Vectra B would get in to an RR Event no question, so on that basis I'd say yes. Even more so when you consider how ubiquitous they once were and now how rare. They are also one of those cars with a bewildering array of engine options (at least as far as Wikipedia is concerned)

The Vectra B is a great looking car! Not sure about the wheels on that one, but it's firmly getting into Retro territory now.

Tom

Definitely. I know nothing about them as road cars, but touring cars. Yes.

It's because they looked like the cars you can buy in the showroom. I'm sure a chart to plot the reducing popularity of a type of Motorsport Vs how close the cars look to what people can actually buy would almost trend at a downwards 45 degree slope.

I remember with my dad, he was a Ford man through and through, and still is to some extent.

He grew up with Fords before I was around. Tired ones I admit, but that was the way back then. Escort vans from the Mk1 to the Mk3 XR3i

As he entered the corporate ladder, he had the Maestros and Montegos in the late 80s. In 1991, he was given a car allowance by his then new employer. He went out and bought a Sierra Sapphire 2.0i GLS, complete with a 3 strut black lipped spoiler, and the two tone bodywork, on the later 5 spoke wheels. Maybe it was a crossover car thinking about it. For us, that was a brilliant car, and stayed in the extended family for a very long time. Anyway I digress.

As that got sold, he then got one of the first Mondeos, albeit a used one. This was a State Blue Mk1 with the full RS kit, down to the ultra rare colour coded thick door strips, and the RS spoiler, in addition to the bumpers etc.

At around the time it got written off, the company decided they wanted to give out company cars, and you guessed it, Vauxhall came right on top ; I suspect the damage done by Clarkson, and the Ford loyalty meant Vauxhall probably discounted them very hard. Thus, my dad begrudgingly had one.

He had a 2.0 SRi, on N744 HWY. TBH, from the Mondeo, it seemed more modern! That counts for the Mk2 as well! It had

-AC, the first car we ever owned to have it
-TrafficMaster retrofitted by the dealership ; who remembers those?
-A cooled glovebox ; almost no car I've owned since has come with one. BMWs? Nope? Fords? I don't think so.

He had problems of poor handling, which apparently was down to the picky tyre selection that the cars needed at the time. It used to wear out Dunlops funny, despite the alignment being fine. On a set of Michelin Pilot SXs it was like the car it should have been. We came to like that 'intruder' more with time.

Truth be told, it was a little sad to see it handed back.

He'd have other cars in between as company cars as he moved roles/jobs, including

-BMW E36 325tds (N307 NRW) ; the most troublesome car out of the lot, albeit what would now be easy fixes. That was a dealer maintained car too.
-Ford Orion 1.8 Ghia (K865 EHJ)
-Volvo S40 1.8i SE and 2.0i SE ; I learned to drive in the 1.8i.
-Saab 9-3 Aero

We would get a hire car of a Vectra B 2.2 SRi in that time. Again, we all quite liked that car.

In short, the flirtation with the Vauxhall brand actually was not as bad as we thought, and if anything, offered us a little more.

Retro I think in a world of SUVs the performance saloon, especially in BTCC kit form from non "premium german" is a now a retro era. Do like that Vectra GSI but never owned one.

It's 0175 mate.

I went to the warehouse where they converted standard GSIs into MSD ones , they had a giant skip full of standard recaro seats they took out slashed with a Stanley knife !