Réf. 57-0392, price about 180€

First, you have to know that Freed (http://go.to/freeed) has found a way to mount an Astra OPC Kit, which is really cheaper. Since I'm not as gifted with "do it yourself", I wanted to try the official Kit for VX220 / Speedster

The price seems high since other kits are half price. Well, I won't complain about it, since I'm already happy that a kit does exist for my preferred car. I suppose it's expensive because of the few kits they're going to sell and the time they took designing it.

Nevertheless, for the price I expected a specific kit with fresh air intake in order not to loose power with the engine's heat. Good news : it's the case. By the way, don't expect to gain power ; the kit's main aim is to improve the sound.

Building the kit was really more difficult than I expected ; for example, you have to remove the rear right hand wheel and a protection in order to access the filter place ! If you intend to do it yourself, be sure you have all the tools needed and that you lift is stable enough !

Finally, all these efforts are rewarded by a much better sound, which has the avantage to be heard only if you push the pedal. It's just perfect for having fun but still being able to drive sliently in a town or around the police :-) .

We can hear a difference from the lowerest revs, then at 3000RPM it wakes up pretty well and at 6000RPM, wow ! My God ! It's more than I expected ! We can also hear a very intersting inhaling sound when you push the pedal.

To make you an idea, please go to the Sounds section. Unfortunately, the sound is so strong that my poor microphone was unable to take everything, so keep in mind that the real sound is much better than on the MP3 file. It's really loud and gives the impression the engine wants to bite at high revs. What a pleasure !!!

Conclusion : this kit is expensive, but is a very good opportunity to boost the so-much-criticized original sound. It's nevertheless much cheaper than an sport exhaust with in addition the ability to drive silently if needed. Driving pleasure is then even stronger. It's definitely the sound which corresponds to such a fabulous car !