One week in a VECTRA CDXI

[McTwistie]

First up, every car I have owned in the last 20 years has been a Holden Commodore. I know nothing of fast/performance cars or small cars, so here is what I have learned after being in a Vectra CDXI for 1 week.

1. Leather seats are Niiiiiice
2. Torque Steering is kind of cool if you expect it.
3. There are VERY FEW Vectra's on the road.
4. Vectra's accelerate FAST in a straight line.
5. Gear changing is sometimes ODD.
6. Accelerator Pressure is important (Be consistant)
7. Vectra's take a long time to change into 5th gear
8. Smaller cars corner well.
9. A commodore's field of view is MJCH better
10. The Dash Controls are excellent (If you RTFM)
11. Blaupunkt 2620 stereo's are a little flat (speakers might be ok with a decent Head Unit)
12. They are VERY VERY comfortable to Drive.
13. You can fit 2 push bikes in the back easily
14. Trip computers LIE!!!
15. 17" Tyres are expensive.
16. I now know how a flat torque graph feels.
17. Engine growl gives me a hard on.
18. Bigger Mags make sense
19. Don't buy a JS Dash mat for your ZC by mistake.
20. Vectra's are awesome fun to drive :)

Cheers

[gmonkey]

remove #7 man

[McTwistie]

Done :confused:

[gmonkey]

just incase the big boys dont like it;) :p

[CNBLU]

remove number 4 aswell :p

[McTwistie]

Now cmon! :eek:

No#4 is about acceleration !

No #7 was about raw speed.....

Cheers

[gmonkey]

#4 is fine, i think he was pulling ur leg :p

rules in this forum only apply to admitting to breaking laws or hooning of some type

u stating that it accelrates fast is no worse than stating its 0-100 time :p

but for what #7 was, that speed was above any limit in australia (so without saying it was done on a private road or track, its illegal ;))

just looking out for ya man :p lol

[McTwistie]

Thanks mate. I got off to a rocky start around here so I am being extra cautious.

Massively looking forward to meeting the QLD Contingent on the cruise next weekend though, and Neeko is going to be Tinting my car in a few weeks. I am checking out those 19" Snowflakes too :)

I have already ordered some Opel bits, and will go further. I just love that damn Vectra so it's hard not to get excited :)

Cheers

[Ice]

#4 is fine, i think he was pulling ur leg :p


he was thinking comparatively ! he drives the slowest G in Vic thats all.

[gmonkey]

yeh check out the New members section and the guy from UKs car Twistie, snowflakes = hot!

[Ice]

yeh check out the New members section and the guy from UKs car Twistie, snowflakes = hot!

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj123/hoppe777/MISC/AstraSnowflakes.jpg

[gmonkey]

i meant this

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/saxovtrboy/Vectra%20C/DSCF2544.jpg

[tomtom]

he was thinking comparatively ! he drives the slowest G in Vic thats all.

LOL that made me laugh:p

[Ice]

i meant this

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v288/saxovtrboy/Vectra%20C/DSCF2544.jpg


looks a bit overdone but I get your point......they do look nuts ! (edit) had a look at the other pics.....and Yes its hot, mmmmmm

[EL BURITO]

with the 17's there is a different size the ECU can be set too
do a serch

[hazrd]

he was thinking comparatively ! he drives the slowest G in Vic thats all.

oh no he didnt :p

[Wraith]

First up, every car I have owned in the last 20 years has been a Holden Commodore. I know nothing of fast/performance cars or small cars, so here is what I have learned after being in a Vectra CDXI for 1 week.

1. Leather seats are Niiiiiice
2. Torque Steering is kind of cool if you expect it.
3. There are VERY FEW Vectra's on the road.
4. Vectra's accelerate FAST in a straight line.
5. Gear changing is sometimes ODD.
6. Accelerator Pressure is important (Be consistant)
7. Vectra's take a long time to change into 5th gear
8. Smaller cars corner well.
9. A commodore's field of view is MJCH better
10. The Dash Controls are excellent (If you RTFM)
11. Blaupunkt 2620 stereo's are a little flat (speakers might be ok with a decent Head Unit)
12. They are VERY VERY comfortable to Drive.
13. You can fit 2 push bikes in the back easily
14. Trip computers LIE!!!
15. 17" Tyres are expensive.
16. I now know how a flat torque graph feels.
17. Engine growl gives me a hard on.
18. Bigger Mags make sense
19. Don't buy a JS Dash mat for your ZC by mistake.
20. Vectra's are awesome fun to drive :)

Cheers

Excellent and honest rundown there McTwistie...:)

If I can add to point 14 - SO TRUE !!! something I keep telling people here, is to always do their own fuel usage calculations as trip computers are in most cars slightly to very inaccurate...in my TS turbo convertible, the fuel usage that the trip computer tells me is about 3/4 what it actually uses :rolleyes: it fibs to me to make itself look frugal :lol:

Keep enjoying your Vecce, they are a very good car IMO :)

[McTwistie]

Given NO# 19, does anyone with a js Vectra want a cheap Dash Mat ?

[J]

15. 17" Tyres are expensive.
18. Bigger Mags make sense


I am checking out those 19" Snowflakes too :)

McTwistie, I hope you are financially prepared for it! :D

[McTwistie]

I understand rubber for a 19" costs around $250 per.

The Snowflakes on Ebay already have fresh rubber, making the Mags themselves fairly cheap. I can also justify keeping the 17"s, as when I sell the car the mags can be sold seperately and the old wheels put back on.

I don't know what I would get next, but I doubt it will have a 5x110 set on it....

In any case, the 19's would look awesome I am sure :cool:

Cheers

[btm]

go the snowflakes... you know you want to :p

[sooty]

I understand rubber for a 19" costs around $250 per.



for the right load rating, try more like $350+ each ;)

[McTwistie]

$250+ for 19" rubber? Are we talking around $400 per in some cases ?

What is Road Rating? And what different kind of tyres are there other then Wet/Dry/Composite?

[hazrd]

LOAD rating ;)

its the weight the tyre can handle per corner... have a look at your tyre placard.. it tells you what the minimum load rating is for your car, if its under, then its unroadworthy and can void insurance etc

[Wraith]

$250+ for 19" rubber? Are we talking around $400 per in some cases ?

What is Road Rating? And what different kind of tyres are there other then Wet/Dry/Composite?

Was going to say, where can you get 19" rubber for 250ea. ??? must have personal wheel contacts like me :D

More like 300 up and for anything decent, you'll need at least the better part of $400ea...ie. normal retail, top shelf tyres will be about $600ea for 19's...

At least the pricing has actually come down these days, 10 years ago a good set of 18's cost up to $700ea :eek:

Load rating is the load the tyre will safely handle, it's the last printed number after size/series and before the dia number...

AFAIK for a Vecce C it's 89 - check your current tyre wall or inside your door jam or fuel flap for the manufacturers specs as well...

[nuggz]

AFAIK for a Vecce C it's 89 - check your current tyre wall or inside your door jam or fuel flap for the manufacturers specs as well...

veccy C is slightly heavier than the B's and the B's have a 91Y minimum
i wouldn't expect any less for the C's

[McTwistie]

SO something like this cannot be used ? I notice the road rating is 88w.

I am not even sure what the 225-35 means. Sorry for being newb... :angel:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Brand-New-225-35-19-ACHILLIES-ATR-SPORT-Tyres-Quality_W0QQitemZ360186063285QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU _Car_Parts_Accessories?hash=item53dcc329b5&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Here is some info:

Width - PROFILE -TYRE SIZE - SPEED RATING

[Wraith]

veccy C is slightly heavier than the B's and the B's have a 91Y minimum
i wouldn't expect any less for the C's

Sounds about right, I was going by the load rating on Calibras and TS Astras which is 87 and logically thought the Vecce C must be a little more, at a guess 89 :)

[nuggz]

Sounds about right, I was going by the load rating on Calibras and TS Astras which is 87 and logically thought the Vecce C must be a little more, at a guess 89 :)

i wish it was 89, then i could go 215/40
so i wouldnt scrub as much :D

[nuggz]

SO something like this cannot be used ? I notice the road rating is 88w.

I am not even sure what the 225-35 means. Sorry for being newb... :angel:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Brand-New-225-35-19-ACHILLIES-ATR-SPORT-Tyres-Quality_W0QQitemZ360186063285QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU _Car_Parts_Accessories?hash=item53dcc329b5&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14


most likely not
i would stick to the more common brand of tyres as well
it may well save ur neck one day

[Jerram]

i wish it was 89, then i could go 215/40
so i wouldnt scrub as much :D

I'm 215/40...?

[nuggz]

I'm 215/40...?

215/40/18

215/40/17 is a bit small for the vec aint it??

[McTwistie]

Well, I have spent the last 90 Minutes reading threads from here and Veccy-c about tyres. All about size, weight, speed rating and brands.

It's a fascinating subject, and thanks to all you guys who posted about this previously, seems you really know your stuff. :)

There are some nice Mags for sale out there, but I can't afford the rubber, if you know what I mean.

Cheers

[Jerram]

215/40/18

215/40/17 is a bit small for the vec aint it??

5mm too small I believe (the guy who used to own a vec, now has an audi 1.8t suggested that (can't remember his handle))

mind you if the proper size for vecs is a 45 profile for 17" that would mean that 40s with 18s would be something like 25mm too big? That'd scrub fo sho wouldn't it? Also your speedo would be significantly (like 7%+) out and your 0-100 would probably be slower due to the larger rims acting like a taller gearing

[nuggz]

5mm too small I believe (the guy who used to own a vec, now has an audi 1.8t suggested that (can't remember his handle))

mind you if the proper size for vecs is a 45 profile for 17" that would mean that 40s with 18s would be something like 25mm too big? That'd scrub fo sho wouldn't it? Also your speedo would be significantly (like 7%+) out and your 0-100 would probably be slower due to the larger rims acting like a taller gearing

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

difference between 215/45/17 and 225/40/18
is 1.9%
100kph -> 102
not much difference

[stevedee3]

Tyre size is very easy for a dealer to change...