As such, one of the first things I did following the purchase of the car was to book it into Thorney Motorsport for this work to be done, not only for the additional power, but because the car was very unpleasant to drive, with numerous flatspots around the rev range, huge amounts of lag, and what appeared to be fuelling that couldn't decide whether it wanted to be rich or lean.
As a first-time visitor to Thorney Motorsport, I thought a review wouldn't be out of order -- as we all know, Thorney Motorsport has had some less than satisfied customers on this forum, which I must admit had me a little concerned as someone who hasn't used them before.
Milton Keynes is about 100 miles away from me, which meant that I'd be waiting for the car whilst the work was done. In an effort to get my car in first, I asked at booking when they opened, which was 8:30. Unfortunately it appears that other people have realised that there are people there a little earlier, as despite arriving at bang on 8:30 there were already a large number of cars there. Sadly it appears that they don't have a prioritisation system in place, which meant that although I was the only person waiting, the car didn't get looked at until after 12pm.
Having said that, the waiting room is a lot better than that at most garages, with free internet access, free hot drinks, and a TV available, as well as a large viewing area into the main workshop. There were three other VXs there at the time, a Moonland turbo which appeared to be having a service, a yellow turbo which was having CF seats fitted, and a silver NA which wasn't being worked on but looked like a longer-term project (no gearbox from what I could see).
The first thing they did was take my car for a short test drive, and upon returning confirmed my view that the engine currently had flatspots at various points. They then took the car into the garage to begin work on it - applying the new map, changing the injectors, and moving the air intake temperature sensor to just before the throttle body.
At around 4.30pm the work was completed and they took it out for another drive before handing me the keys and inviting me to try it out. First impressions were that it was a lot smoother at full throttle, although on the short drive I couldn't really gather too much about it - it was certainly much improved however. Upon returning I asked them if they would put it on the rolling road, which they did. The end results are, however, a little disappointing, with it producing 272bhp and, more importantly, 265lb/ft of torque. This is quite a bit less than a 'normal' stage 4 car (without the engine internals that mine has) usually produces. Their explanation was that the turbo may be on the way out (which seems unlikely to me as it's an Astra VXR turbo with a maximum of 8,500 miles on it, but not impossible I guess).
However, the shape of the graphs is quite pleasing, with a very smooth power curve and a very flat torque curve, so despite the rather low figures it was promising to drive quite nicely.
At the fly:
At the wheels:
Unfortunately, the biggest surprise was still to come - the bill. Having had a chat with John before buying Mike's car, he'd advised me that the temperature sensor and injectors needed doing, as well as the new map (which was free), and had informally mentioned a price to me of 'a couple of hundred quid'. I had also contacted Courtenay to find out how much it would cost for them to do the work, and to do the injectors and move the temp sensor would have cost £345 (of course it would have also required their remap, which would have been an extra cost). To be presented with a bill of £664.35 therefore was somewhat of an unpleasant shock!
Admittedly part of that was my fault for asking for the rolling road run (I had assumed that it was a standard part of the remap, but obviously it is not - and had I known it cost £65 + VAT I would not have had it done). However, that still leaves a bill of over £580 - not far off double what Courtenay would charge, and a far cry from a couple of hundred quid.
The largest cost was, of course, the labour - apparently 4.5 hours of labour was done on the car, which seems very excessive for what are, to my admittedly limited understanding, two quite simple jobs. Given that the car went in after 12 and was out for the test drive at 4.30, and given that a few times when I looked out the window it was not being worked on (except possibly by the laptop uploading the remap) it does seem unlikely, although I don't know whether two people were working on it at various times. John explained that labour costs are dictated by the state of the vehicle, but I wasn't made aware of any other issues with it.
In conclusion, I am very happy with the improvement in drivability of the car, which has gone from being a complete nightmare on anything other than a straight bit of road to having power delivery that allows you to exploit the superb handling of the car. I still feel that the part-throttle power delivery can be a little hesitant and lumpy. In addition it doesn't honestly feel that fast to me, which I suspect is mostly due to the rather paltry torque figures.
Would I go back to Thorney Motorsport? Probably, but only for simple things like servicing. I understand that many VX owners are rather replete with cash, but unfortunately that's not me -- I've scrimped and saved to buy my car, and while I can afford to run and maintain it, I can't afford open-ended bills. It's a shame as I found their facilities excellent and their staff appeared knowlegeable, professional and happy in their work. My car is far better than it went in - in some ways the improvement is worth way more than £664.35, as I almost certainly would have sold the car if the power delivery couldn't be improved. But looking at what actually got done and what it cost me, the value for money simply isn't there.
Edited by snoopstah, 28 August 2008 - 09:37 PM.
i paid CMS for injectors, new actuator, setup on RR = £360
I thought you had the super duper manifold and turbo not astra vxr??
