Vauxhall Astra VXR Nürburgring Edition

Limited edition VXR rings the changes

This new Vauxhall looks set to run rings around the competition – it’s called the Astra VXR Nürburgring Edition.

Auto Express Car Reviews

All-white Astra gets chequered stripe and carbon fibre add-ons

16th December 2007

Named after the famous race track in Germany, where much of the hot hatch’s pre-production development was carried out, it’s based on the standard car, but with a number of significant tweaks.

Available now for £20,995 – a £1,635 premium over the standard car – it comes in an all-white paint finish and matching lightweight 18-inch alloy wheels. Chequered flag graphics, tinted glass and carbon fibre-effect mirrors and B-pillars complete the exterior modifications.

Inside the theme continues, with carbon fibre detailing on the door trims and facia, while maps of the circuit are stitched into the backrests of the front seats. Each car also has a unique plaque in front of the gearlever, which displays the model’s build number.

Only 835 examples of the limited edition Astra VXR will be made. This number refers to the car’s fastest lap of the 13-mile circuit – eight minutes and 35 seconds.

And this special model should be capable of a similar feat, because apart from a Remus sports exhaust, co-developed with Vauxhall’s British Touring Car Championship-winning team, it is mechanically identical to the standard model. That means it comes with a 2.0-litre turbocharged engine developing 237bhp, six-speed manual gearbox and electronic stability control.