Vauxhall's already powerful VXR8 sedan has gotten rave reviews for providing tons of power at an affordable price but now the company has decided to take things to the next level by introducing the VXR8 Bathurst S Edition.

The special edition is outfitted with a Walkinshaw Performance 122 Supercharger that cranks up the standard car's 431 horsepower to an earth shattering 560 horsepower. Horsepower isn't the only big change as the new supercharger also increases the LS3 V8 engine's torque output from 550Nm to a diesel-like 715Nm. Vauxhall insists that they could have gotten even more power out of the supercharger but for drivability and durability reasons, the company decided against it.

As part of the supercharger package Vauxhall added a large capacity intercooler, high-flow fuel injectors, a separate cold air intake and Walkinshaw-developed ECU map. They also had to modify the transmission in order to handle the increased engine output by adding a high-torque capacity clutch.

Other performance changes include the addition of six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers, stiffer height-adjustable springs, and a Walkinshaw-developed coil-over dampners which have 15 separate valve settings and independent corner adjustment. An optional £1600 stainless steel bi-modal exhaust adds 10PS and features two noise settings, in street mode it emits up to 92dbA while in optimum it screams out 102dbA.

Pricing for the Bathurst S starts at £44,995 while the naturally aspirated Bathurst costs £37,995.


Source: Vauxhall