- Edit: this article was put up ages ago (circa Jan 2004) for melbccr.com. It copped a lot of flak as to whether it’s a geniune OPC Astra or not. Without divulging too much, you’ll just have to take my word for it. Sure it’s a naff claim, but try and find an Astra with these specifications.
That was when Mohammed (well Modsy for sake of key strokes) threw me the keys to his OPC Astra turbo. Now a lot of good things have been said about the Astra already, so what’s so remarkable about Mod’s? It’s a very rare Opel Performance Cars (OPC) version. Now it’s getting interesting.
Moh’d got the car from her native Germany as a personal import after working there for a while. It’s basically stock except for the 16” stocky rims (the 17”s were cop bait and too expensive on rubber) and some Holden badges. After all, some people don’t want to stand out. And with cops and the EPA ‘dicking’ anything shiny these days, that’s definitely wise. But he has got the Recaro seats, Opel spec front bar and OPC gauges that come with this OPC version (kinda like the HSV of Europe). And these rare puppies are worth their weight in shiny metal objects and monster tachos to a Riceboy.
So anyway, how does it drive you ask? Modsy reckons that the 17’s make a huge difference to the mid-corner handling, but 16’s work well enough in the twisties. Unlike its convertible brethren, you don’t feel every bump in the road. It’s firm yet comfortable. At speed, it’s purely effortless. There’s not a hint of turbo lag and the harsh, Hiace-like whine of the NA motor is replaced with sweet, usable grunt all through the torque curve.
There’s no ‘brrrrr wa-tish’ sound of a blow off valve or melee of sexy VTEC noises, but hey you want sexy sounds, bung on a Barry White CD. It’s very linear, top shelf smoothness that sees you at the end of the tach in no time.
What this car does so well is that effortless grunt that makes you wonder if it’s a turbo at all. While you can at times feel the turbo kick in, this car is so quick off the mark for a stocker you won’t have time to notice it. It would do 0-100 in about 7.5 seconds. I really like the short shift of the 5 speed manual. Unlike the Peugeot and the Honda tested earlier, it’s got the perfect throw (I kept shifting from 2nd to 5 th in the Pug!) and the clutch is a little soft, but just right. She chirps a bit on 16s but Modsy says the 17s appease a lot of that.
Like any good performance car, she stops quicker than Justin Timberlake’s hands at a Superbowl half-time show. There is an ABS system but it doesn’t rob the driver of feel. So too the traction control, which really helps at the traffic light Gran Prix. Nor does the car buck or axle hop to a stop. So brake and chassis wise, this car is the business. Modsy for some reason knows a thing or two about cornering and down the same roads we put the Peugeot through, the Astra could match it 100%. Albeit, there is no real comparison with the Pug. This wasn’t designed to be a rally car, just a bloody good performer.
This car to me feels more like an S15 Nissan Silvia to drive: smooth, capable and likes a good poke more than a Frankston town bike. But that’s where the similarities end. This is probably as good as an Astra gets. You can’t go much harder modification wise, because all that grunt’s going through the front hoops and if she was any more boosted, she’d well and truly be a handful. So the Astra’s more the go if you want something to keep stock standard. It’s not a Rex beater, but it doesn’t set out to be. Dare I say to drive it’s probably more fun. Hell Modsy reckons you can just about drift them!
Would I own one? Hell yes, providing I needed a stock car that wasn’t cop bait and had a weekend car, you can’t get much better! Big thanks to Mohammed for his time! Can’t wait to see your next German import.
It’s pretty easy to rattle the cage of a Honda driver. They tend to be a bit headstrong about their beloved VTEC. It was causing a bit of friction in the melbccr.com car club forums. So we decided to put them to the test. Is the Honda brigade seriously running on hopes and dreams, as so many turbo lovers would suggest?
The gauntlet was laid down to the Honda contingent for a contender. The challenge: to match a Honda against our French connection, a Peugeot 306. Enter Vinh, our Honda owner, who had the gall (more sense of humour) to step up to the plate.
Some of you might laugh at the notion of the Peugeot vs Honda. But this particular Pug came highly recommended by MCCR club loyals the perfect FWD Euro challenger.
Firstly we wanted to make this a clean fight. So both cars have relatively mild mods.
Vinh’s ‘Del Sol’ Honda CRX has mods, but just the cool stuff. “A muffler, intake and alloys are all you really want as a P Plater” He reckons. He’s also fitted some King springs and drilled brake rotors and an arsenal of Clarion sub woofers behind him. But essentially, most of this car’s motorvation is from the stock package. No forged pistons or worked cams.
Enter Alex, our Peugeot 306 owner. Although the Pug was born the base model and unremarkable, a trip to the auctions found him a written off GTI-6 with tip-top running gear. It was an upgrade he just couldn’t say no to. Otherwise except for the 17” ROH rims, it’s relatively stock.
“It was a torquey family car, but it had no power” he reckons of the former 75kw single cam donk, pre upgrade. Now the Pug has a 124-kilowatt, DOHC beasty in front of the firewall.
First ride is with Vinh in the Del Sol Honda. With the rear window down and the targa top open, there is just no better way to hear that trademark VTEC praaaaah kick in. It certainly makes enough noise through the tunnels and skyscrapers of Melbourne.
First thing you realise with this CRX is that despite it revving reasonably freely to the upper rev ranges, VTEC seems to kick in quite late. Quite often when you are just about to stamp on the brakes. For the unacquainted (reading me), it takes a bit of getting used to.
As a passenger, it takes a bit of getting used to. As a driver, you need to know how to use that short-throw gear stick (I find Honda shifts too short a throw personally) to the full to make the most of each throaty rev this sucker puts out. And it’s something that Vinh has certainly mastered.
The CRX is certainly a nice package to be wrapped in (literally) and a good performer. It comes as no surprise that fellow melbccr.com club member Jame’s CRX is soon to be the fastest FWD in Australia. In slightly modified form, she’s a noisy and feisty little package, albeit not to everyone’s taste.
Our Pug on the other hand is surprisingly similar to the Japanese rocket. It keeps up on the straights, has an exhaust note full of praaaaahy goodness. The Pug has a variable length inlet runners thingo (Alex assures me this means something) it uses to get a similar effect to Honda’s VTEC. And like the Honda, just when you think (it sounds like) you’ve hit the redline, you’re only half way there.
How the Pug differs though, is that it has a lot more low-down torque than the Honda. Go from second to fifth (even sixth) and it doesn’t miss a beat.
The steering wheel is about the perfect size (reading small) for fast fangs through the twisties too. Probably the best of any car I’ve driven.
The shifter is also a very short throw, but a bit more fluent to the unacquainted. I am used to the wide throw of the Nissan Pulsar SSS, which is truck like in comparison.
Now speaking of twisties, the Peugeot comes into its own. Where normally you’d steering wheel locking torque steer mid-corner, you get lift-off over steer. She can be pushed round a corner with her arse out worse than on of Sir Mix-a-lot’s girlfriends! Alex reckons it’s because the Frenchies put in equally balanced drive shafts and an LSD. And by god does it make a difference.
The CRX in comparison loves the twisties, but after the Pug experience, feels more like a straight-line car. I’m not quite sure id be so comfortable if the VTEC to kick in mid-corner, whereas the Pug is, for lack of a better word, is less laggy when it kicks in. Albeit I’m a bit biased, as most VTECs I’ve been in were straight up set up for drag racing.
In a straight line, the Peugeot’s, variable intake technology is a bit more noticeable, kicking in at about 3.5 grand. It’s own trademark praaaaah (through a stock pipe, Vinh has the Japanese ‘grapefruit’ style massive muffler) kept ringing it’s sweet symphony in my head for days. Vinh’s CRX has all the subtlety of a Slayer concert in a retirement home – which can be a good thing!
As the Pug’s revs build, Mercedes and Beamers all quite wisely let this French puppy through in a most surprising show of respect. As the French would say, it’s a tour de force and as George W Bush would say, should not be misunderestimated.
For a first timer to Pugtech, VTEC and praaaahtech in general, both cars were addictively sexy sounding, a riot to drive* and just a great experience. But the Frenchy won on the day. And that should rattle the Honda cage for a long time yet.
* Alex would like to thank Con from Muzzatech Performance of Altona for the engine set up on the day. He had been tuning the car by ear all morning.
* The CRX was the less experienced car on the day because of overcast weather. So this story will be continued!