Monaro??

[c4koh]

All,

Don't know if any of you have seen, but Vauxhall seem to be selling this LS1 engined Holden (I think) from Australia, as the Monaro.

Although pretty a pretty poor showing in Evo magazine for it, it doesn't look too bad...

If past Vauxhall-led initiatives like this are anything to go by, I wonder if we'll be able to pick one up in 2 or 3 years time for 10 grand or so?

In which case, an LS1 engine for my family car may be quite a nice idea!!

Anybody had any experience with it?? Any other thoughts??

[C5RagTop]

There are about 20 Vauxhall dealers selling the Monaro. My local one has a demo car - might go for a test drive whilst they change the oil on the Vette in the next few days.

[c4koh]

A test drive - now there's a good idea... need to find which Vauxhall dealer near me has one...

Oh - and should I pull up for the test drive in my ZR1 or Caddy STS??? Decisions, decisions...

[mark387mw]

Have you checked out the Monaro page? www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/forum.asp?f=69&h=0
and I'd like a test drive as well!!

Mark

[DustyC]

c4koh said:

All, In which case, an LS1 engine for my family car may be quite a nice idea!!

Its the Australian Vectra! Loads of them out there.
You could get an HSV Commodore for £10K easily if you imported it yourself. An even newer one if you paid a bit more.

I saw old ones out there for less than £3K (AUS$9000)

[C5RagTop]

Find your nearest Monaro dealer from this list and book that ride ..............

Belmont Vauxhall Edinburgh Tel: [phone]
Browns of Loughton Ltd Loughton Tel: [phone]
CD Bramall Middlesbrough Tel: [phone]
Crownhill Vauxhall Milton Keynes Tel: [phone]
Drive Aldershot Aldershot Tel: [phone]
Drive Bristol Central Bristol Tel: [phone]
Gurneys of Newbury Newbury Tel: [phone]
Inchcape Exeter Exeter Tel: [phone]
Lance Owen Heathrow Tel: [phone]
Lookers Birmingham Birmingham Tel: [phone]
Motorbodies Luton Tel: [phone]
Pentagon Derby Derby Tel: [phone]
Phoenix Wimbledon, London Tel: [phone]
Picador Southampton Sholing, Southampton Tel: [phone]
Seward Christchurch Christchurch, Dorset Tel: [phone]
Slaters of Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay Tel: [phone]
Thurlow Nunn Kings Lynn Tel: [phone]
Underwoods of Colchester Colchester Tel: [phone]
W Grose Kingsthorpe, Northampton Tel: [phone]

[c4koh]

Done - am off to CD Bramall in Middlesbrough next Monday!!!

[c4koh]

DustyC said:

Its the Australian Vectra! Loads of them out there. You could get an HSV Commodore for £10K easily if you imported it yourself. An even newer one if you paid a bit more. I saw old ones out there for less than £3K (AUS$9000)

... but I doubt with the 5.7L Chevy V8 in them???

[LuS1fer]

They look too plain for me - even the VXR - very 90's. If I had to have a car like this, I'd import a Cadillac CTS-V after a year's depreciation, failing which I'd honestly buy an MG V8 and tune it using the Ford tuning bits. They argue that MG Rover may not be here in 5 years time but the same could be said about the Monaro. Auto Express and Top Gear love the MG and someone here got one for £26k rather than the £33k advertised price.

[Gixer]

Out of interest, a mate of mine returned from NZ last year waith an Auto mag. cars out there are well cheap!! There is also a good mix of US and Jap stuff.

[86turbo]

Spotted a GTO here (same as your Monaro), thought it was an Accord Coupe 'til the owner started the engine. They're much bigger in person than you would think too, maybe bigger even than the Camaro/Firebird that it replaces over here though. Typical American interior, but it's hard to argue with anything with an LS1 under the hood. Seems like a great car, pictures I've seen of the Monaro VXR look much better than our version, more agressive anyways.
Dan