Vauxhall Astra GTE vs Ford Escort: '80s Shootout
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- Опубликовано: 5 окт 2024
- In this weeks #ThrowbackThursday we revisit a special Shootout between two iconic cars from the '80s.
For more fantastic car reviews, shoot-outs and all your favourite Fifth Gear moments, subscribe to our Official Channel: goo.gl/IPXAgl
Fifth Gear needs to do more of these Throwback comparisons!
@Karl Juice how old are you?
Got to love a old school hot hatch
My dad had a black GTE when I was a kid. With the digital speedo, I felt like Knightrider. It was the first car I was ever in at 100mph (for about 10 seconds until mum screamed at dad to slow down!) 😂
Every kid remembers his first 100mph run like it's a rite of passage. Mine was in a series 1 E-Type coupe Jag on the M6 coming back from a motor show at the NEC in Birmingham back in the late 80's. The old man had borrowed the car from his boss (they worked in the classic car restoration business and had a stand there) and was telling me all about how it could hit 150mph back in the day. Like any over eager kid, I was egging him on to make the old girl do it, but fully aware that my mum in the passenger seat would scream blue murder, he kept giving the sensible 'no son, it's illegal' answer...whilst ever so slowly building up the speed. The beauty of that E-Type was that the engine was so smooth and so unlaboured that when my old man fixed his eyes on me in the rear view mirror and gave me a subtle, knowing nod towards the speedo, my mum with her head stuck in a copy of some typical mum magazine never had any idea that we were bombing along nudging 110mph and climbing.
Then we hit Stoke and with Stoke comes traffic. I know we were tickling 120mph by then, but from there on in until the rest of the way home, it was usual motorway speeds, But for a good few miles prior to that we were travelling at well over the ton, splashing everything in sight for at least a couple of junctions. To me, in terms of ambition, popping my ton cherry in an E-Type was up there with snogging the fittest girl in school at the leavers party in later years.
Sadly, only one of those ambitions was ever achieved. The other failed miserably and embarrassingly.
Heheh my old man had a red one. Two actually. Both were stolen, the second one was recovered.
Had exact same car .
i have a S2 rs turbo since i was 17 now 40 now my weekend car . used to piss over golf gtis and GTE back in the day .. fully restored 3 years ago bare shell looks amazing still puts a smile on my face .
Waoh
Loved watching this!! Could do a full show idea on this concept!!! Renault 5 gt... uno turbo.... xr2.... golf gti 16v.... Renault 19 16v. God I miss my youth!
And the vaxhall Nova sri
Peugeot 1.9 gti
The Escort was a German car not British. Most of the design and development was done in Cologne and it was signed off at the Lommel test track in Belgium. If you bought a fleet spec L or GL it might have been assembled at Halewood but this RS will have been built at Saarlouis in the Rhineland.
like wise, while ellesmere port were building nearly all of the uk astras from sheet metal, every one of the 16v gte were uk specific models built in bochum west germany and imported
In South Africa we had the Opel Kadett 2.0 GSI Superboss homologation special which made between 165-170HP, they were designed to challenge the BMW 325Is Evo 2 homologation cars, they were real monsters on track and came with a trick diff, Cosworth head, hand ported by Keith Duckworth, 276° Schrick Cams(7000RPM red line), Promotec remapped ECU's, and Irmscher suspension. True Unicorn cars out here and they sell for a pretty penny.
Tiff drifted the Vauxhall so many times that it couldn't be faster.
damp track and tyres?
Hahha i love the same comment on other video hahah
@Jambo lift off and bury the throttle used to sort that out on mine 🙂
We have astras in Australia terrible cars.
Those RS escorts looks so good
Astra GTE. EVERY... SINGLE... TIME...
Yep.
Thumbnail cars:
E785 DAN is SORN and hasn’t had MOT for 4 years, only had 55k miles.
H544 RYG is SORN but still has MOT for another 6 months with 38k miles!
Vauxhall heritage centre looking after the gte well
Such a nerd thing to do Freddie Boi, and we appreciate it very much, cheers.
@@jlc5639 That’s me in a nutshell, no problem :)
Best thing to do when your bored: check reg’s up 😂
@@isaacsrandomvideos667 You got it! 😄
Opel Kadett GSi 2.0 16V, still a monster. (Vauxhall Astra GTE)
Just needed some stiffer lower springs on the GTE and it transformed its handling. Brilliant cars
My mate did that with his and it kept the rear end in, along with strut braces front and rear as the astra chassis wasn't quite as firm, that and a set of 205s on the axles and it was a different animal.
I wish I could drive like that
SabreLilly which one?
yeah, Tiff is a world class driver, no arguments there.
Like an old bloke in an angry dad's work hack-
No
. You really do not want your wish to come true
You can, but you might crash
I had a Mk 1 GTE new when they first came out and I loved it! My mate had one too and we used to go out looking to blow away GTI's lol! Then I had this GTE 16v and had the motor breathed on. It was great in the dry!!
Mk1 GTE was quicker than Mk2 as standard.
The Escort was a quick car but those engines were rough units, the Vauxhall units were far superior in every aspect.
I agree the Ford CVH unit wasn’t great
Massive Ford fan here. Had an XR2i that I loved and had a lot of mates with CVH turbo cars but got to agree, that engine was as rough as Camilla Parker Bowles after a night on the tiles with Charles 😆
@@craivold it still felt like a massive upgrade coming from those Kent pushrod units haha
Might be rough but my xr3i has been reliable and coming over 200k on its original mfi engine from 1987. Can’t say I’ve seen a gte with near the millage
The motor was a dog in the RS but nothing epitomised the 90’s car scene more than a CVH turbo with a 3in exhaust and the boost wound up. Glorious sound from the rear.
The Astras Redtop was ahead of its time and a legend in its own right…
That result was a surprise. Not so much as a surprise as that unforgiving circuit they were being driven on though. Great stuff.
Comfiest seats ever in that escort, lovely recaros
Back in the early 80s a good set of fishnet recaros were v much desired by boy racers for mk2 Escorts
beautiful to look at too. the seats and everything else about it, except the steering wheel.
Lucky the Escort didn't rust away before the end of the clip.
What? The mk 2 astra had a 24hr rear wheel arch corrosion warranty that started the day before you picked it up lol,they rusted for fun.
@@deanj846 true...majority of Vauxhalls from that era were kak....and dont get me started on the Cavalier 🤢🤢🤢 lol.
All cars were shite for rust back then. Only Peugeot were galvanising.
@@ReValveiT_01 I dunno about that...the only car we owned that rusted was a Cavalier...not even the Alegro we had, suffered from that...infact the opposite, when it rained pools of water would form in the rear passenger footwell lol 🤷♂️
@@ReValveiT_01 Ford did offer a gypsum anti rust paint as an extra in 1983 & 84 that I know of - my Dad took this option on his granny (Granada) (he had 4 at one time 2 of them were X pack models, but this one wasn't), it was a bright red 2.3ltr ghia - that thing we had for about 10 years, when we finally sold it, it was one of the only versions that did not have the rust bubbles around the keyholes and under the rubber seals etc...... they guy that bought it did not even try to drag us down on the price (as we had a couple of interests lined up afterwards), he literally loved the car straight away I wished we kept it - would have been worth a fortune now, more people should have taken Ford up on the offer back then, the cars would be in better condition for today! but yeah every car prior to the nineties were rust buckets in general, most in the nineties too....
I used to have a mk4 RST and my mate had the GTE. Never had a straight race but mine was the quicker at the lights when it finally hit its boost, still always liked the astra as well tho with it's high tech digi dash, great times.
Lol...utter rubbish...the escort is over a second slower 0-60...fact!
@@djdeejdjay8669 That was my youth, why you we used to race about in standard cars?
@@djdeejdjay8669 - Escort may have been quicker from say 0-40 mph though?
@@djdeejdjay8669 not with turbosystems 2 stage boost control and bigger intercooler bye bye
@@6bigears135turbo the 20xe bye bye
I have owned both an Opel Kadett GSI and an Escort RS Turbo. Both were special. The Kadett GSI was my first car. The RS Turbo, well, because it was an RS Turbo. Both nice cars. Both very different. Miss them both.
Both great cars. I was lucky enough to own a 1989 Kadett GSi16v here in Germany. Real autobahn cruiser.
I had the Astra gte 1989 , good times.
The Astra was a complete animal compared to the RS
I'm surprised I'm still alive after owning my one!
My friend drove me to Southampton in his gte to swap it with a lotus carlton that was about 20 years ago now those was the days
The lotus Carlton was and still is a very special car!
All individually numbered inside the glovebox lid.
The Gte would eat that RST in a straight line.. Top end was also much higher. I chewed up and spat out 2 RSTs back in 96. The time comparison would be different depending on the driver.
I will have the Vauxhall please
That escort with DAN on the plate, I had an 1988 ford orion with E710DAN.
I would still go for the old 80-90s hot hatches compared to today's cars they were super cool can't beat them
They had character mate. Todays cars are sterile.
my first car whas a kadett 2l gsi 16....and this was a real good car... very powerfull
Before I chipped my RsTurbo my friends GTE 16V faster at the top end of the speed range. Then things changed. Great rivals back in the day :).
I drove the 1990 Kadett GSi16v and have to say it was a beast. The Golf II's were no match for it in performance. The Escort turbo was a real power house as well. The problem with the Escort turbo it had no catalyst (emissions control) so was disqualified in tests against the 1991 Kadett GSi16v and the Golf II GTI16v which both were more "modern" than the old school Escort turbo.
Peco exhaust on the GTE..,what a combination!! Also, if you pulled the standard gearbox out and put the F16 (think that’s the one) it increased the top end...believe it or not I hit 130mph in my old GTE!
you wanted the F28 mate over 150
Mine was good for over 140mph. Nearly got pinched for it too, very lucky for me that another car pulled into the fast lane ahead of me and I had to back off. Just before a speed trap on the M1 near Leeds. Copper said I averaged 92mph through the speed trap and was on the brakes all the way through. Loved that car!
@@leftmono1016 I take it that was 16vrs? me and my mate had the 1.8 and were the rare 4 doors...we would both race each other around Bristol and the surrounding areas and would get reported to the police on a regular basis, back then most of the coppers had Peugeot diesel and by the time they warmed their heater plugs up we’d be a mile down the road lol
When they did finally catch up when we were normally parked up they would tell us about all the complains and just give us a producer and give us a bollocking, they’d probably shoot you nowadays!
@@PillSharks - funny you mention Peugeots, I went from a 306 D Turbo company car to the 2.0l 16v GTE. Quite a step up in performance!
Loved the LCD display, and the red top engine was pretty much bullet proof.
@@leftmono1016 I’ve still got the original 1.8 engine in my garage from the car I had, the cars itself is long gone after the lad I sold it to decided to have a go at dukes of hazard and took it off a local railway bridge at over 70mph, luckily they all survived but he had some bad face injuries I remember!
The LCD dash was fun as you could change it to kilometres which made you look like you were doing 180mph to anyone in the car who didn’t know! Lol. The good old days
FUN! Woudl love to see a battle between all the 80's bad boys!
MK2 16v Golf
Escort RS Turbo
Renault 65 GT Turbo
Astra GTE
could even throw an E30 M3
Add the 205 1.9 GTI 🤪
Add the crx vtec
Hatch backs only. take out the M3.
@@todareistodo908 1.6 was better
Interesting Fact.
When the newer model of each hatchback came out, The Peugeot 206 GTi was the only one faster than it's previous model.
To the guys that love Mk2 Golf GTi's (me included), Try the 206 GTi, Same weight more or less, Similar power, both 64% front weight dist.
miss my "kadette" aka Astra GTE
I tried on of those some years ago, it was a hoot to drive!
had a silver one in 1994 she did 90 mph in third
Still love my kadett gte 16v. (Vauxhall) still can surprise modern cars with it.
I've been in both but driven neither, and personally prefer the GTE.
Ive been in both. RS Turbo is shite. I had an old Prelude non turbo which beat that. 133bhp is crap for a turbo.
@Joshua Francis lol RS turbo is 133bhp idiot. Prelude 160bhp. 133? My rubber duck in bath is more than that. Facts are facts though....rs turbo are wank Was u there? No, nowere evem close. Fookin Rs fanboy.. He will still think 133bhp would beat 160bhp? Hahahahabababa. Stick to Playstation.
@Joshua Francis I've got a Astra Bertone with the Z18XE running around 145bhp with modifications, the slowest engine fitted to a Bertone and performance figures match a stock RS Turbo.
@Joshua Francis It's not a powerful car by no means but my car standard is only 10bhp less than the RS Turbo 👍🏻 still love the RS Turbo 😁
I had a 16vGTE 1990 model in 1993, fantastic cars, no idea where Tiff says 148BHP, the 16v GTE was just on 160BHP. Escort RS was a good car undoubtedly driven many, but the GTE 16v for me, far far better tech and engine. Saying that, era I had my Astra the Japanese nuts were coming through with the GT4 Celica and the Mk4 Supra Turbo, COMPLETELY different animals but out my price league that era.
Tiff has a uniquely playful way of getting the rear out. I could spot him driving a car just by the way he was driving!
I don't know in UK, but here in Italy this was the last Kadett model.Then Astra came out.
Any hot hatch review is unfortunately tailored to the Brand who pays you much! A lesson in life 😉
My unmodified GTE would (and often did) leave an unmodified RS in its dust back in the day, even my SRi would hold its own with an RS.
Had a mk3 gte and it was head and shoulders above any mk3 ecsort
Think the escorts were 25bhp down on the 16v astra so wouldnt be surprised. Thats a huge difference back in the day.
Astra had a racing engine....cheating???😂
The only thing wrong with the Astra GTE 16v was the handling which is easily fixed with more modern dampers and thicker anti roll bars, everything else the car excels in over the Escort.
The Escort RS Turbo is very retro-cool, the Astra ever so slightly more so and looks like it's going fast even when it's stood still. I don't understand how or why the values of the RS Turbo have shot up over the GTE 16v. The 20XE engine in the Astra has a long racing heritage from the WRC and BTCC, it's a dynamic and strong engine. The car is more advanced and better equipped than the Escort. They both have similar levels of dowdy 80s build quality and materials and the dash and switch gear in the Astra is terrible (digital dash aside), they also rust about the same (both terrible).
I like both of them though, they're the epitome of 80s motoring and having driven both, I'd choose the Astra GTE 16v over the Escort RS Turbo, but love both of them! Definitely something from my childhood!
Same here GTE all the way, my mate had 16v and my ex gf and i had a bertone convertible GTE, 2.0 8v so not as fast as my mates but still quick.
"This Vauxhalls very own cherished version" Hoons it round the track like a man possessed. 🙈🙄
Its still a car owned by a company, so I dont think he would feel that guilty
Steering wheel nearly coming off in that escort 😂
Astra all day long !! the turbo escort had far to heavy steering and super slow in comparison to the 16v Astra I had loads of them
I had a G reg red top in Monaco Blue before the Ecotech came on the H. Amazing beast and would beat the RS all day
The Astra was power assisted steering which meant it was just as light at steering at 30mph as it was at 130mph....bad set up if you asked me coz it scared the crap out of me!
NA > Turbo for the best driving feel for me. You can't beat the feeling when the majority of your power is top end, though turbos are better for those lazy overtakes on the motorway at mid range, when you're on a track they (generally) lose their puff and leave you disappointed.
Yeah, I prefer naturally aspirated too
My 16v Astra was 158 bhp
My rs turbo was 162 hp. Turbo pressure from 0,5 to 0.8 bars. It was fun to drive against bmw and mercs.
Great times! What people forget is that the cars weighed less than a ton. These were lively and agile monsters. A modern BMW1 would need 270 proper bhp, measured in the same way? to come anywhere near the power to weight ratio? I went the Opel route, a 2 litre Manta, I WISH I still had her. But I don't. so with old age coming on ... I have a '96 Z28, a "yank tank" that weighs a lot less than a Focus?.
Pleaseeeeeeeee make a comparation between a golf mk3 16v and the astra Gsi 16v pleaseeeeeee
I think you mean the MK2 golf..?
The MK3 was a bag of shite with the worst clutch ever!
Had a GTE 16v leather edition. The engines were brilliant. So much so they were often taken out and used in other cars. The handling wasn’t so great with a lot of body roll, which was a bit hairy at times!
Leather means you had a Champion edition
@@simonturner10 vauxhall didnt call them champion, the official name was leather edition. but its definitely a nickname that has stuck fast !
In South Africa we had the Opel Kadett 2.0 GSI Superboss homologation special which made between 165-170HP, they were designed to challenge the BMW 325Is Evo 2 homologation cars, they were real monsters on track and came with a trick diff, Cosworth head, hand ported by Keith Duckworth, 276° Schrick Cams, Promotec remapped ECU's, and Irmscher suspension. True Unicorn cars out here and they sell for a pretty penny.
Yep we put them in nova SR's
Moved the running gear and wheels as well.They were rocket ships and loads of fun.
As of now ( Nov 19 ) the Escort is SORN and MOT ran out April 17. The Astra is still taxed feb 20 MOT’d aug 20
Escort's probably in dry storage with the owner awaiting them hitting £40k.
Lovely Cars All The Best Everyone.
Yes but a drag race would be better, it would show acceleration, which is what counts most out on the road
Remember racing my mate me in the RS turbo mate in a GTE 130mph in a 30 zone the days.
The vauxhall had much more class... and it wasn't a huge job to improve the handling.. I really miss mine
The 16v motor was fantastic, torque and great top end power all the way to 7k. The CVH was an absolute dog, better in turbo form where you could use the mid range as it was done by 5k. Owned both, if only the RS had the GTE engine.
Agreed. My Dad had an Orion Ghia with the CVH and it was nothing but trouble engine-wise. Shame, as the rest of the car was pretty sound at the time
Mine had a stage 2 chip, piper t2 cam, turbo technics stage 2 hybrid turbo, ported and gasket matched head, ran 14psi boost and drank petrol, sold 20y ago.
I loved my 90 spec escort RS turbo
This generation of hot hatches was the best
Had a 16vGTE in 1993, 1990 model, glacier white with 30k on clock when bought, what a car, far far superior to Escort, working in trade I had driven many Escort RS, My first cars were PROPER Escorts MK2 1600 sport then RS2000 with Xpack, great cars. But lost love for the Escort in the 80s, Vauxhall were superior in mid 80s into early 90s
Clueless
@@6bigears135 whos clueless exactly
@@ElleyElley-et4ky you la
@@6bigears135 I've forgotten typing this more than you'll ever know about cars.
@@6bigears135 Poor English also haha
My 21st birthday I had the day at the Jim Russell racing at donington in the gte , I loved the Astra and bought one a couple of years later j637 bnn
Series 1 rs turbo looked loads better! 👌👍
148 bhp? I had an original 1988 GTE 16v. It was 157 bhp but they dropped it down to 150bhp a year later.
Yes first batch of 16v engines were stronger more powerful
154 and 148 with the cat
The only more powerful hatch was the bx 16 v with 160
Red top and blue top I believe
@@rikkiej28 They fitted a CAT after 89, I had an 88 with 157bhp, that engine loved to rev.
The Coscast engine was the one to have with 156BHP the later ones had a smaller exhaust valve so were 148
Having driven both in the 90s I'm not surprised by this at all. The Astra GTE felt a bit more powerful, responsive and refined in comparison to the Escort, right up until you chucked it around some corners. The Escort kind of wanted to be driven hard and foot to the floor, keeping the revs up to keep the turbo spinning. Once you got used to the Escort, it was easy to drive it at it's limit, the Astra you kind of felt a little nervous to drive it the same way because if you did it you could end up on the roof.
I'm a GM guy, my dad had a mk1 Astra 1300S estate, and my uncle had a white Astra mk2 GTE 16v just like this one with a digital speedo BUT I had a mk4 Escort as my first car, so I didn't mind which one won.
Be intersting to see a Corolla Gti-16v put through its paces by someone like tiff or Jason P
Yes.. I think the corrola gti would be faster than these 2.. I had one it beat the xr3 turbo easy but I never saw a gte so who knows..
Astra is the fastest in a straight line but cannot match the ford in the handling stakes that's why it won.
Both classics and great looking.
Wow I had a G reg 16V GTE it was quite quick but handled like a shopping trolley. @20 something I wanted an RS but the insurance was half the price for a GTE, felt like a no brainer. I think the H reg featured may have been the very last before GM moved to the mark 3 and the replacement GSi. I feel now that the car was not great but at the time it was probably shamazing, certainly better than an XR3i.
First thing most people did when they bought one was strip the stock suspension out for some harder spring and slap strut braces on, changed the car entirely.
Remember my big brother introduced me to handbrake turns in a black RS turbo
Soz I had the Astra GTE 16v and completely killed escort rs turbos with easz
Not with 2 stage boost ya never and a reliable 200bhp
Correct me if I'm wrong but that looks like an xr31 spoiler. The rs turbo one lipped down on the ends.
The MK1 GTE Astra was a nice car ,Pitty they rust and rot bad, Dont see many on the roads these days.
Neil S. I had a white one, insurance was at least 12 times more than it was worth and you could see through the floor pans
I can tell you for a fact that even the 8v gte would leave the rs turbo standing. Owned one and been plenty of both
And the 16v was better too. 140mph.
I agree, GTE was miles better.....saw many an RST shamed back in the day......happy days them 😎
Not when you’re rst is 195bhp stage 2 😉
@@gdfggggg if you're talking modifications. But stock the Astra has it. (will also tune up better than the Ford)
Rs streets ahead.......look what they are worth , ive had 4 2x of each , all 200bhp ......astras are ok but not a patch
The RS turbo had it's issues, my neighbours used to shoot away when standing at junctions and he suffered multiple turbo failures. My best mates GTE was bulletproof, it. Was light, fast and had viscous acceleration.
Give the astra to someone who knows how to drive you'd get a different result.
Tiff Needell is an ex F1 and British Touring car driver. He definitely knows how to drive! 😂
opel kadett gsi
Prefered the Astra no matter what tiff said. I had a poster on my way and it was a black GTE called 'Fat attack'...Mint looking car.
Were there any Escorts that did not have wrinkled lining on the windscreen pillars!
I don't normally like Vauxhall's but on this occasion the Astra GTE wins hands down. Better engine , better build quality
On a short twisty track the RS would win all day long. A few more straights and the Astra would leave it for dust. GTE has a stonking engine but I always found it lacked grip and rolled too much in corners.
Nice vid I like both cars, shame the modern cars have no style anymore or character
Had a 90 RST with the mech ABS. pain in the backside keeping the two rubber belts for the ABS sensors at the right tension. In the end traded it in for a Cav SRI as the RST just ate bearings, tyres, and everything, you name it. SRI had a much better gear shift and driveability. Ended up getting over 100K miles on the clock before needing a new exhaust and radiator on the SRI. If I had kept the RST that long, whilst I know it would have been more fun, I would have spent 4 times as much keeping it going.
The gbox used to explode, especially when it was 195bhp like mine.
Would be interesting to test the rs turbo against a peugeot 205 1.9 gti around the track.
Greg hall my money would be on the Peugeot
The 1.6 205 was the one that handled the best and not the 1.9
@@djdeejdjay8669 handling yes, but acceleration, top speed and braking, no way. :-)
205 grit were the most fun as your bum was about 12 inches from the floor,like a go cart ,you could wheel spin them through every year and fur the time they gripped well .Maybe they didn't grip that well ,but you were always in a comfortable drift that you felt in control.But they were alot slower than the GTE or Escort..
Straight line drag race would've been interesting, I reckon the Astra would be quicker
Nah' 0 - 60 escort is quicker, the Turbo is its advantage.
Put on subtitles at 3:15
My G plate GTE 16v was definitely hands down quicker than an rs turbo plus my mates sounded like an empty biscuit tin being kicked down a stone staircase
Had four RS turbos all 200bhp+ no chance in that valver
Ok fair one if it was running 200bhp but most rs turbos I came across when I had my valver were running like tug boats, the GTE made power everywhere and was really light
@@martinslawther5626 the fanny preferred the S1 too haha
How can you compare these cars when they're both being driven by a Ford biased driver who clearly wasn't throwing the Escort into oversteer in the corners like he was the GTE?
Because the Astra has a great engine bolted onto a shopping cart of a chassis.
Coming fron an ford household and we had an xr3i for a while I'll always favour the escort 3 door. Though my mate hot older sister had a red GTE and that was a quick car in its day.
What is coincidental though is i now own a Astra GTC SRI 2L d165, and it's mid range torque with the 165 hp match with the GTC suspension set up is just brilliant and forgiving. Forgiving unlike the bonkers VXR variant.
Had both of these cars. Tiff got the power wrong, My GTE 16V (non CAT) had 157 bhp, My RS had 135. The Astra was definitely quicker in a straight line. The engine was also much nicer. The CVH engine in the Ford was a bit asthmatic to say the least, When revved past 5 grand it felt awful, the twin can 16V in the Vauxhall was the opposite, It loved to rev. I think that engine would still be relevant today...Which was a shame because it was wasted in the terrible chassis of the Vauxhall... Horrible fading weak brakes, Spongy suspension, chronic understeer, and a very un-nerving wallowing at higher corner speeds followed by totally un-predictable loss of rear end grip. I always thought an Escort RS with the Twin cam Vauxhall engine would have been a nice car
well said.
this is a cat version (H reg)
There was one problem with the Escort. As soon she saw a hill, the power collapsed. The Vauxehall Astra GTE was called Opel Kadett GSI in Germany. Was a bit stronger than a Golf GTI, but the GTI was more car for the money and better in every way.
Golf was a way more classy car...
Astra/Kadett gsi fact: that 2.0 16v was developed by cosworth
Everyone who owned one knew that...
Also a kit car favourite engine transplant
Astra GTE 16v 156bhp in 88 then 148bhp 90 onwards thanks to catalyst's.
88-90 the heads were made or designed by coscast (cosworth). i had a 91/92 cav gsi and head was porous, apparently at the time there was many complaints about the non coscast heads failing on watchdog.
@@allothernamesbutthis Thanks for that info i did not know that.(:-)
@@1066gaz no probs, searched it again last night, loads more information about it now.
Those 16v Vauxhall engines were great back in the day. I still would've had the Escort tho - it was all about the Turbo in the 80s
1989 to 2005 Stole many of them both been chased all over Yorkshire misspent youth . All makes and models
Well my G plate RST had a LSD and ABS as standard.
Tiff must have been flying in that Escort as all the white touch up paint has flown off exposing all the rust.
i had the gte and best mate had the turbo and yes the turbo holds better so in that small track it would just beat it but i have raced against him and beat him all the time.and on straight road the gte pulls away from the turbo when both get to 60mph and leaves it behind. got up to 120mph and i could just see mate in mirror so i no the gte in every day racing wins easy...
They should add that circuit to the Formula 1 calendar.
The RS Turbo understeers less and that why it won. I reckon the GTE is faster in a straight line though. (Stock vs Stock)
My stepdad brought one of these (GTE) when I was at school. I got peer promotion
Just wondering if they were both in standard tune? The escort may have been running a bit of extra boost for example
Trevor England The RS having a LSD will make it faster on a damp track. Long straights and the GTE will be faster but wet twisty stuff the RS wins hands down...
Weird that you call this an Astra. This is a Kadett E for the rest of Europe.
Coz it was called an Astra. The Cavalier was a Vectra, the Carlton was an Omega and the Nova was the Corsa.
It's Vauxhall not Opel that's why.
Which is it tiff? 12 or 15bhp more than the Escort? This is a car show...you should have the figures spot on!
neither, as the RS turbo had filter exhaust and chip (according to the owner)
@@DarrenH_76 as standard the Astra was more powerful and a lot faster....
@@djdeejdjay8669 agree. the feature was skewed but i dont know if it was on purpose. however this was part of a bigger feature to launch the new focus RS, so you'd be forgiven for smelling a rat !!!
@@DarrenH_76 I owned the 16v astra....so I know how good it was...
@@djdeejdjay8669 good to know. i still own two and am one of the admins for the owners club 👍