If you buy into the view that the Vauxhall Vectra represents all that's best about the fresh face of Vauxhall - and many do - you may perhaps be a little puzzled regarding their solution to plugging a worrisome hole in the Vectra line up. There's no high-tech direct injection, variable valve timing shenanigans here. Vauxhall has apparently gone back to the eighties and bolted a turbo onto the Vectra.

Is this the same Vauxhall who have leaped to the head of the pack with the Meriva, Zafira and the Astra, who rewrote what was acceptable for a big manufacturer when they launched the VX220 and who had everybody scratching their heads with the Signum? Of late, Vauxhall have been one of the most progressive manufacturers; remarkable when you consider their sheer size, but is this Vectra 2.0-litre turbo similarly ground breaking?

Despite its old-school image, the turbocharger is as relevant now as it was back in the heyday of hot hatches with too much power and not enough handling. These days, canny manufacturers have worked out that a turbocharger can be a neat way to sidestep the worst of the CO2 based emissions taxation. With a decent power output and relatively low emissions, a turbocharged car often makes a good deal more sense than a similarly powered normally aspirated one. That's why we are in fact seeing a renaissance in turbocharging with mainstream manufacturers such as Vauxhall and Renault now offering 'blown' models in the middle of their ranges.

The 175bhp Vectra 2.0T is a case in point. Designed to plug the gap between the 147bhp 2.2-litre 16v engine and the range-topping V6 models, it's a development of the popular 2.2-litre aluminium engine used to devastating effect in VX220 and mkIV Astra sports models. As with most turbocharged engines, peak pulling power is impressive, the 2.0T generating 265Nm of torque between 2,500 and 4,000rpm which means that you won't have to wait impotently for the turbo to spool right up before you've got some meaningful oomph to play with.

Naturally, this translates into some healthy performance figures. The 2.0T will sprint to 60mph in a mere 8.1 seconds, and the midrange acceleration figures are equally impressive. Plug the car into fourth gear, floor the throttle at 30mph and it'll take a mere 5.5 seconds for 50mph to register. True, part of the reason the figure looks so good is that the Vectra 2.0T is fitted with a six-speed gearbox, but it still underlines the car's flexibility. Fuel economy is rated at 31.7mpg and emissions are pegged at 214g/km.

Since the facelift that saw the Vectra gain lights and grille not dissimilar to those of the sleek Astra hatchback, just the one trim level is available with the 2.0-litre turbo engine. The SRi is offered in hatchback form and estate form, however, with the two models priced from £18,265 and £19,365 respectively. The SRi trim level itself yields lowered sports suspension, sports seats, 17" alloy wheels, front fog lights and a body-coloured boot lip spoiler amongst other things.

"You won't have to wait impotently for the turbo to spool right up before you've got some meaningful oomph to play with"

The current model Vectra has been subjected to a reasonably thorough facelift for a start. We were told that the car's styling was completely new from the A-pillars forward but on viewing it, there was the sneaking suspicion that the front end had been sighted somewhere before. It had, the Vectra appears to have been driven into the back of an Astra family hatchback at extremely high speed. The resulting concertina-effect sees the bonnet, lights and grille of the smaller car now protruding from the front of its larger sibling. This is no bad thing of course: the Astra has been hailed for its bold, sharky looks since launch and today's Vectra inherits them. The large headlights jut upwards into the bonnet and the grille, married effectively to the under bumper assembly, provides real presence on the road. At the back, the bumper has been reworked on some models and the range of wheel designs has also been given a good going-over.

You'll want to know about the handling - or at least you will if you're not a typical Vectra customer. The answer is that, like the styling, it has been improved in recent times. The trick for engineers working on the current car was to retain those respected comfortable, refined qualities while injecting more by way of driver involvement and improving the car's dynamic abilities. It sounds a fine balancing act but they may have pulled it off. There's more steering feel and better chassis control in today's Vectra but the crown jewels of that silky ride and the whisper-quiet cabin remain intact. In fact, Vauxhall claim that refinement is actually improved as well.

The electro-hydraulic power steering does a decent job but could give more feedback. Then there's a body that's 60% torsionally stiffer than the mkI Vectra, contributing to low body roll and sharp response on the twisty stuff. It's at this point you might also experience ESP+, Vauxhall's stability control system, assuming you've got it fitted. Conventional stability programmes can leave you stranded by cutting the power and braking when you need motion most. This one cuts in more carefully.

The Vectra 2.0T isn't the car many expected it to be. It's not wildly sporting but nor is it obviously the short-term stopgap it at first seemed. Even with the SRi trim level, it's a good deal more mature than you'd give it credit for. Probably the greatest compliment is that it feels like a normally aspirated 2.8-litre powerplant. In successfully reprising an old solution for a modern marketplace, Vauxhall should be congratulated. There's always a place for pragmatism.

TOP 4 VECTRA DEALS

The results below show the top VECTRA deals on buyacar

	Vauxhall Vectra 2.0 T SRi [Sat Nav] 5dr Hatchback
	ETR	Mthly	Saving £4,973	Price £14,672
	Vauxhall Vectra 2.0 T SRi 5dr Estate
	ETR	Mthly £282	Saving £5,064	Price £14,891
	Vauxhall Vectra 2.0 T SRi 5dr Hatchback
	ETR	Mthly £271	Saving £4,742	Price £14,113
	Vauxhall Vectra 2.0 T SRi [Sat Nav] 5dr Estate
	ETR	Mthly	Saving £5,296	Price £15,449

typical 10.58% APR

PCP finance quote over 48 months,  10,000 miles pa,  deposit of £1000