| First Drive | Luton, England | Vauxhall VXR8 Bathurst S Edition |

Vauxhall has been importing the Australian VXR8 for us Poms for a while now. The big Aussie is something of a mongrel in the UK, with a Corvette V8 engine under the bonnet, an antipodean body and the Griffin badges of Vauxhall front and rear. Only this Bathurst S version is a bit crazier than the already bonkers standard car, as someone sneaked under bonnet and popped a supercharger on the big V8. The result? It's great mate.

In the Metal

There's no missing the VXR8 Bathurst S. In white, with a black stripe across its bonnet and a large wing on the boot, subtle it is not. But people aren't going to be buying the big, brash Aussie with any pretensions of being quiet and retiring; the cannon-sized exhausts make sure of that. No, the VXR8 Bathurst S wears its muscularity with pride; a deep jutting chin, huge 20-inch smoked alloy wheels, its four-square stance and that big wing all adding to the VXR8's enhanced presence.

It's a prop forward of a car, but a prop forward of the modern game of rugby: large and powerful, but fast and light of foot. There's an unmitigated purposefulness to its looks, the VXR8 Bathurst S never failing to turn heads whether it's rumbling by or just sat still. For the money there's little else that creates such a stir yet can carry your family, too.

What you get for your Money

The only thing that really matters in the VXR8 Bathurst S is what's under its huge bonnet. Lift it and there's a big red and black crackle paint finished supercharger nestling in the valley between the two banks of cylinders. Red and black in nature regularly signal danger and it's apt that the blower is painted so on the VXR8. It raises the 425bhp of the standard naturally aspirated car to 564bhp; that's more than enough to see off the BMW M3, M5, AMG-ed Mercs and a whole host of other super saloons. At just £44,995 it's cheap too, though spec it like our test car - with a bi-modal exhaust, satnav and those cool 20-inch wheels - and you're looking at £50k. That's still pretty decent for something packing so much power.

Driving it

The formula is simple and well tried: a big V8 engine powers the rear wheels. But to create the Bathurst S there's been more than some simple tweakery under the bonnet. Bruce has gone to Tom (Walkinshaw) and got him to sort out the suspension with new coil-over dampers with multi-adjustment. Just don't think that this brings new levels of sophistication to the VXR8: it doesn't. Driving it is akin to operating a pump engine, big levers and pedals all requiring obvious and hefty input. There's a real physicality to driving the VXR8 Bathurst S, leaving you with the feeling that you're always playing catch up with the engine's mighty performance.

Press the long-travel accelerator and the first thing that strikes you is the noise; it's akin to someone strangling Lucifer's moggy; a devil cat squeal that's ever present when you're on the throttle. That blower breathes some real fire into the V8 too, the big blown 6.2-litre making the bulky saloon accelerate with remarkable alacrity - Vauxhall claiming 4.6 seconds to 60mph. Exercise the powerplant and the back end squirms around constantly as the rubber struggles to contain the 547lb.ft of torque the engine is delivering to the rear wheels. The gearshift is long of throw and slow in action, which does give some brief respite to the accelerative force, but once you engage the next gear the Bathurst just explodes and troubles those tyres all over again.

You'd have to be certifiable to switch the ESP off on the road, as the big Aussie is a bit unruly to be fully unleashed. It's massively quick, but start to ask questions of its chassis on our tight, twisting roads and the suspension gives up on control, lacking the finesse of its potential rivals. The steering is light and quick enough to deal with the constant corrective inputs the Bathurst requires, but it's not exactly the crispest, most feelsome set up. With the rear ever happy to take part in steering the big saloon that can mean some 'interesting' moments too, as the electronic safety nets are not particularly quick in intervening if you're not paying attention.

In truth, in all but a straight drag race the VXR8 would seriously struggle to keep up with the VXR Corsa. That's not really the point though, as it's impossible not to be seduced by the Bathurst when you blipping its accelerator and it rocks purposefully, its huge exhausts providing a rousing aural accompaniment. Sophisticated it isn't, but who wants sophistication when you're packing all that grunt?

Worth Noting

You get lots and lots of power for your money, but don't expect this Vauxhall to offer the sort of quality interior that you'd get in its - admittedly more expensive - rivals. The dash is a very obviously plastic affair, the sports seats surprisingly old armchair in their feel and extremely squishy, while the detailing is a bit rough around the edges. But that's all part of the charm; after all, where else are you going to find a car that can haul the entire family (and loads of gear - the boot is massive) and deliver dragster-rivalling performance for under £50k?

If you're a track-day fan you might want to spec the bi-modal exhaust at £1,600, which according to the man at Vauxhall drops the decibels enough to allow it to pass noise restrictions. We're not so sure; it's either very, very noisy, or err, very, very noisy...

Summary

A niche car that will appeal to a few buyers who like their saloons big and thunderous, the Bathurst S is a wonderful thing. Sure, it's rather politically incorrect and far from sophisticated, but it's a proper blokes' car, in an arm wrestling, not afraid of a bit of a rumble down at the pub kind of way. Gloriously silly but tremendously enjoyable, this is one Aussie export us Poms want to keep.