Whenever we see old vs new battles on the drag strip, we instantly know it’s not a matter of who wins, but rather how badly is the old model going to lose. Such is the case here, indeed.
Even if there always has to be a loser in a 1 on 1 battle, not a lot of Vauxhall/Opel fans would deny the MK1 Astra GTE a well-earned smile. It was quite an impressive machine back in its day, thanks to a 1.8 liter 115 HP engine – replaced by a 2.0 liter 124 HP unit in the MK2 model.
Since we’re talking history, it’s worth mentioning that the first generation Astra was one of the UK’s best selling cars and second most popular small family car. Despite its success however, it was never able to pass the Ford Escort in terms of sales.
So here’s one more thing it’s not going to be able to pass, namely a 2015 Astra VXR or OPC for mainland Europe. This modern day speedster features a 2.0 liter turbocharged engine, good for 280 PS and 400 Nm (295 lb-ft) of torque.
This means that the VXR can put its 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint time of just 6 seconds flat to good use against something as slow (by modern standards) as the old GTE. In fact, they even went and gave the GTE a 3 second head start over the VXR (a second for every decade it’s been around), which is fair considering the power output difference.
Sure enough, the VXR rallies and wins the drag race, but that may not stop you from feeling a bit melancholic while watching the GTE give it its best.