1 00:00:11,256 --> 00:00:13,616 Tonight, James draws on a board, 2 00:00:15,534 --> 00:00:16,894 Richard waves at a man 3 00:00:17,734 --> 00:00:20,714 and I run away from a table! 4 00:00:20,779 --> 00:00:27,474 <font color="#3399CC">Subtitles by </font><font color="ffffff">MemoryOnSmells</font> <font color="#3399CC">http://UKsubtitles.ru.</font> 5 00:00:27,970 --> 00:00:30,890 Hello, everybody. Hello and welcome. 6 00:00:31,290 --> 00:00:33,530 Thank you so much. Thank you. 7 00:00:34,730 --> 00:00:37,290 I am often asked, well, I am sometimes asked, 8 00:00:37,770 --> 00:00:39,890 well, actually, I was once asked by one person, 9 00:00:40,410 --> 00:00:44,330 why we review fast Vauxhalls so rarely on Top Gear. 10 00:00:45,410 --> 00:00:47,930 The simple answer - they're terrible rubbish. 11 00:00:48,450 --> 00:00:52,410 Vauxhall, however, has just introduced a new fast Astra 12 00:00:53,050 --> 00:00:54,850 and says it isn't terrible rubbish. 13 00:00:56,650 --> 00:00:57,450 Hmmm. 14 00:01:02,730 --> 00:01:04,970 It's called the VXR and on paper, 15 00:01:05,370 --> 00:01:07,610 it certainly appears to be terrible rubbish. 16 00:01:11,210 --> 00:01:13,850 Because what they've done, bless them, is fit under the bonnet 17 00:01:14,250 --> 00:01:16,490 of a front-wheel drive Vauxhall Astra, 18 00:01:16,850 --> 00:01:19,250 a 276 horsepower engine. 19 00:01:22,730 --> 00:01:27,490 That's as daft as fitting the heart- of an elephant in a mouse. 20 00:01:31,850 --> 00:01:34,090 The thing is, the front wheels have to do the steering 21 00:01:34,330 --> 00:01:36,410 and that's a big, important job. 22 00:01:36,810 --> 00:01:40,730 And asking them to handle 276 horsepower as well, 23 00:01:41,290 --> 00:01:44,650 means you've to do some very, very clever engineering. 24 00:01:49,490 --> 00:01:50,330 Not that long ago, 25 00:01:50,730 --> 00:01:54,930 Vauxhall was making the not-at-all cleverly engineered Vectra. 26 00:01:55,410 --> 00:01:59,650 The most dreary, uninspiring car in all of human history. 27 00:02:02,130 --> 00:02:03,490 Oh! 28 00:02:04,890 --> 00:02:06,850 It really was a cure for ADD. 29 00:02:07,210 --> 00:02:09,371 If you put a hyperactive child in there, he'd be asleep 30 00:02:09,410 --> 00:02:11,490 in three minutes flat. I mean, look at it! 31 00:02:13,010 --> 00:02:15,090 It's as gripping as a Victorian novel, 32 00:02:15,490 --> 00:02:17,730 as stylish as a taxman's trousers. 33 00:02:18,250 --> 00:02:21,210 You almost got the impression they designed it in a coffee break. 34 00:02:22,250 --> 00:02:24,650 Oh, quick, the boss wants a new car. There's one. 35 00:02:25,410 --> 00:02:26,690 Give it some fancy door mirrors. 36 00:02:26,770 --> 00:02:29,010 It'll look like we made an effort. They hadn't! 37 00:02:30,530 --> 00:02:33,050 So the idea that a company which did this, 38 00:02:33,570 --> 00:02:37,650 now thinks it has the technical ability to put 276 horsepowers 39 00:02:38,170 --> 00:02:40,970 through the front wheels of a hatchback is laughable. 40 00:02:43,850 --> 00:02:45,250 The thing is though, amazingly, 41 00:02:45,650 --> 00:02:46,770 they've pulled it off! 42 00:02:58,650 --> 00:03:02,010 It has a clever front diff and unlike a normal Astra, 43 00:03:02,250 --> 00:03:05,210 it has hydraulic power steering. 44 00:03:06,970 --> 00:03:09,890 It also has the same sort of dampers that Ferrari use 45 00:03:10,570 --> 00:03:14,210 and James tells me it has separate hub carriers. 46 00:03:15,570 --> 00:03:16,850 Which is interesting! 47 00:03:19,890 --> 00:03:22,450 Plainly then, they've spent more time and effort on the front end 48 00:03:22,650 --> 00:03:25,850 of this car, than they did on the whole of the Vectra. 49 00:03:26,530 --> 00:03:28,610 And the rewards are huge. 50 00:03:31,650 --> 00:03:35,010 There's no torque steer, there is no fuss, there is no drama, 51 00:03:35,410 --> 00:03:39,050 the power is just there when you want it. 52 00:03:40,410 --> 00:03:42,650 It might not be the most fun car in the world, 53 00:03:43,050 --> 00:03:45,410 it actually feels quite heavy, 54 00:03:45,810 --> 00:03:49,170 but, my God, it is quick! 55 00:03:56,850 --> 00:04:00,370 And best of all, despite extremely wide low-profile tyres, 56 00:04:01,490 --> 00:04:04,250 it has a comfortable ride as well. 57 00:04:06,450 --> 00:04:07,850 If you like being uncomfortable, 58 00:04:08,370 --> 00:04:11,130 you can push this sport button here- which firms everything up 59 00:04:11,930 --> 00:04:14,730 and if you want to feel like you're- falling down a rocky escarpment, 60 00:04:15,130 --> 00:04:16,970 you can push this one. 61 00:04:17,730 --> 00:04:19,970 If you do that, watch, ready... 62 00:04:20,370 --> 00:04:22,330 look, all the dials glow red 63 00:04:22,970 --> 00:04:25,490 to warn you that your neck is about to snap. 64 00:04:26,290 --> 00:04:29,090 Probably better to leave those buttons alone, clearly. 65 00:04:31,730 --> 00:04:37,890 This is a damn good car. It's solid, good looking and very, very fast. 66 00:04:38,530 --> 00:04:42,050 Plus, because it's a hatchback, it's practical as well. 67 00:04:44,370 --> 00:04:46,330 There are, as I see it, only two problems. 68 00:04:46,850 --> 00:04:51,490 One - at just shy of £27,000, it is quite expensive. 69 00:04:52,450 --> 00:04:55,810 And two - when you are asked at parties what you're driving 70 00:04:56,730 --> 00:05:01,490 these days, you're going to have to start by saying... erm... 71 00:05:04,650 --> 00:05:05,771 Perhaps then, we should look 72 00:05:06,290 --> 00:05:09,930 at the Astra's chief rival - the Ford Focus ST. 73 00:05:10,730 --> 00:05:13,250 This has five doors, so it is more practical than the Vauxhall. 74 00:05:14,090 --> 00:05:17,130 It's £5,000 cheaper and at parties, 75 00:05:17,530 --> 00:05:20,770 you can say you own a Ford without blushing. 76 00:05:21,690 --> 00:05:25,770 But it simply isn't as nice to drive. 77 00:05:27,650 --> 00:05:30,010 Instead of taming the front end with proper mechanical 78 00:05:30,410 --> 00:05:33,770 engineering like Vauxhall did, Ford has used electronic systems 79 00:05:34,730 --> 00:05:37,930 and the truth is, they're not as good. 80 00:05:40,130 --> 00:05:42,930 You can sense the electrons doing their absolute best to 81 00:05:43,450 --> 00:05:48,370 keep things neat and tidy, but you can also sense them, erm... 82 00:05:49,410 --> 00:05:51,090 failing! 83 00:05:53,130 --> 00:05:55,210 There's torque steer, there's understeer, 84 00:05:56,130 --> 00:05:57,810 and then there's lift off oversteer. 85 00:05:58,370 --> 00:06:02,290 There. It is a smorgasbord of waywardness. 86 00:06:05,730 --> 00:06:10,210 I also have to say the Ford has a particularly unpleasant interior. 87 00:06:10,730 --> 00:06:13,250 And it does not look very good from the outside either. 88 00:06:13,770 --> 00:06:17,410 Nowhere near as good as the Astra, that's for sure. 89 00:06:17,930 --> 00:06:23,650 So, as an enthusiast's car, I have to say the Vauxhall is better. 90 00:06:30,050 --> 00:06:32,290 But this is Top Gear and I can't very well sit here 91 00:06:32,970 --> 00:06:38,010 and say, "Hey, petrol heads, the best hot hatchback is a Vauxhall Astra." 92 00:06:39,930 --> 00:06:42,570 That would be like a travel person saying, "Hey, holidaymakers, 93 00:06:43,130 --> 00:06:47,050 "the best place for your summer vacation is Belgium!" 94 00:06:50,090 --> 00:06:53,570 So, let's keep going and look at another option. 95 00:07:00,010 --> 00:07:02,250 The Renault Megane 265. 96 00:07:02,770 --> 00:07:05,450 This is the darling of all the car magazines. 97 00:07:05,810 --> 00:07:09,170 They love it and it's easy to see why. 98 00:07:22,770 --> 00:07:25,290 You can just tell this car was designed by a team of people 99 00:07:26,370 --> 00:07:30,290 who really know what enthusiasts want when they're on the track. 100 00:07:30,690 --> 00:07:31,770 It's sublime. 101 00:07:39,010 --> 00:07:41,570 They've even fitted it with a special readout that shows how fast 102 00:07:41,930 --> 00:07:43,050 you went from 0 to 60, 103 00:07:43,570 --> 00:07:46,210 how fast you did the standing quarter, your lap times, 104 00:07:47,010 --> 00:07:49,530 how much power you're using, how much brake you're using, 105 00:07:50,890 --> 00:07:55,650 your throttle position, a graph, an extreme graph, 106 00:07:56,050 --> 00:07:57,730 your G metre. 107 00:07:58,490 --> 00:08:00,570 The Stig just loves this. 108 00:08:01,810 --> 00:08:02,610 He's been running around all morning squawking 109 00:08:03,010 --> 00:08:04,690 and clutching at his tinkle! 110 00:08:06,490 --> 00:08:08,970 And I have too, if I'm honest! 111 00:08:11,210 --> 00:08:15,410 It's just an amazing combination of nimbleness and brute force. 112 00:08:18,050 --> 00:08:20,410 There's no doubt that it's more exciting than the Vauxhall 113 0...
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