But the VXT's brilliant ride and deft handling, not to mention its thumping any-gear acceleration, more than make up for any sacrifices that you're asked to make as an owner. And when it's clean (which, I admit, isn't often) it looks fab and, more importantly, it always feel like an occasion when you drop behind the tiny steering wheel and push the starter button.

So, eight months on and the VXT is living up to its billing as a mini-supercar. But like a supercar, the VXT can sometimes hit your wallet very hard and frustrate with niggly build quality issues. Paint finish seems to be a particular bugbear of the VXT. Our car is now scarred by countless stone chips at the front, and there's some bubbling on the top of the nearside rear wheelarch. Scanning various website forums (including the excellent www.vx220.org.uk), it's clear that there are plenty of owners experiencing similar problems.

If the paint finish and various squeaks and rattles dent the ownership experience slightly, the cost of consumables is simply frightening. Last month I mentioned that the brake pads were well past their best, so the VXT was booked into Vauxhall dealer York, Ward and Rowlett in Wellingborough. They confirmed that the car needed new pads all round but had neglected to mention they weren't an official VX220 dealership, so would need to order in the parts. This also meant they couldn't fit the new spark plugs that I'd requested under warranty (the originals have gone rusty thanks to water seeping into the plug housings). It would have been nice to have been told all this when I made the booking.

Rather than argue, I simply booked the car into W Grose in Northampton, a sanctioned VX dealer. They fitted the new pads all round and relieved me of a startling ΂£485.28 for doing so. It was a painful moment, made worse when I caught a glimpse of the car outside and it hadn't even been cleaned. With Vauxhall now selling some pretty expensive cars, the level of service needs to improve. Let us know if we were just unlucky with the service we received by emailing fastfleet@evo.co.uk.
Next month the VXT will get a shiny new sports exhaust and some electronic tweaks from AMD tuning. Apparently 250bhp is eminently achievable...