Vauxhall VXR8 Supercharged (2007) CAR review

So Vauxhall reckons the VXR8 isn't fast enough?

You got it in one. Vauxhall's UK performance arm VXR (sister division to the Continentals' OPC Opel brand) is becoming seemingly more power-crazed by the day. It's all very out of keeping with the caring, sharing zeitgeist - think tarmac-rubbing spoilers, lairy exhausts and horsepower adulation. VXR's staple diet is the hot hatchback, and it already produces warmed-over Corsa, Meriva, Astra, Vectra and Zafira models. Now they're being supplemented by a genuine cut-price alternative to super-saloons such as the BMW M5. Yes, they've gone and bolted a whopping great supercharger to the VXR8.

So talk me through what they've done to the VXR8

Vauxhall has gone to renowned tuning specialists Walkinshaw Performance of Oxfordshire for the heart surgery. And let's get one thing straight right away: only the very hard-core horsepower hero will find the basic model under-nourished. Read our VXR8 first drive here to find out why. But if you find that car wanting, you can splash out £6990 (including fitting) for the supercharger package. Walkinshaw fit the supercharger, new fuel injectors, spark plugs and a bigger intercooler to ram more chilled air to the hungry 6.0-litre V8. And then they reprogramme the ECU to stop it going into meltdown every time you prod the throttle.