Unfortunately continental Europe never got the taste of the Vauxhall/Holden Monaro or Pontiac GTO, the Aussie version of n affordable musclecar, although there were plans for a launch (as Opel or Chevrolet Monaro). The small and German manufacturer Bitter used it as a base for his new car and unfortunately also had to scrap the idea of producing it.

If I lived in a any country were the Monaro is on offer, I probably couldn’t resist the temptation of owning one – at least for a while. It may not offer the raw sportscar character as the Corvette C6, but hey it’s much cheaper and more usable as a daily car. In the UK three models were imported and rebadged Vauxhall, the plain vanilla Monaro, the VXR and the VXR 500. The 500 is completely mad max and Britain being usually wet and traction therefore a topic, I don’t know if the 500 is such a good idea, but then madness rules.

The VXR has been critizised for not handling as well as the basic Monaro, because they not only upgraded the engine, which is perfectly fine. No, they also did some other changes, for example moving the fuel tank.

So either I’ll go mad and choose the 500 or I’ll take an innocently looking stock Monaro, preferrably black and show executive car club members what true understatement means.

Fifth Gear on the VXR500

First TopGear preview with Clarkson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTg3hVxhyYI

Top Gear on the beach with the Monaro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OcxVw6qxfs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcwm4NJXDjs

Top Gear on the VXR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G99DE4VMl4k