Splendid Auto Monthly - A Motoring Man's Meanderings (Gavin Anderson's Blog)

[strop]

Aw shit I had no idea this was happening! I would have jumped in on it for sure!

[abg7]

That was an enthralling contest! I wish I’d sent in either of my competitors to those four, though.

[Leonardo9613]

The Baltazar being the sane, serious and most comfortable offer, not a huge surprise

[DeusExMackia]

@squidhead The SL trim, it was the most roadworthy of the lot imo

@strop and @abg7, if you want stuff reviewed, send it in to me and I’ll put it on Gavin’s schedule!

@Leonardo9613 I dunno about entirely “sane” tbh. Saner than the rest of them here

[DeusExMackia]

A Motoring Man’s Meanderings

Review: Merciel Corsaire GTE

“French race car on an English road - that surely should mean something, but all I know is that it’s scaring me to hell”

Sorry folks, but unless you have any intention of becoming a race driver for Merciel, you aren’t ever going to be able to drive car I’m sitting in today. The Merciel Corsaire GTE will make it’s motorsport debut next year in a number of big GT and endurance competitions, marking a big return for the company who will be entering into one of the fiercest times for the disciplines we’ve ever seen. It’s a good job this baby comes packing 722 hp and weighs about as much as a tea towel.

We’ve also got some nice quiet Yorkshire Dales roads to ourselves, courtesy of the lovely guys at Merciel (thanks also for that rally event you got me into back at Geneva earlier this year), which at least means the chance of me soiling myself isn’t quite as high as it would otherwise be. I don’t often drive race cars, you see.

The Corsaire GTE is clever. It combats on costs to make it cheaper to run, whilst still remaining very, very competitive. Fibreglass body with aluminum chassis instead of going all-aluminum or adding in some carbon fibre for good measure; turbocharging a homologated engine instead of designing something all new; taking away the heavy active spring sets but keeping the active dampers to keep it agile. Little things like that make a big difference on the track.

I won’t be able to properly see just what this thing is capable of, as we aren’t at a track, we’re in overcast late-August Yorkshire. Plus, it isn’t exactly setup properly for such roads. But that doesn’t stop it from being wildly able out here. It’s so bloody nippy, with razor sharp precision in the throttle and an absolute response, by which I mean it feels like even the Earth itself trembles a little when you hit the magical 3500 rpm and the turbos spool up fully. There was never once a moment when I accelerated this thing where I didn’t feel on the edge of death all day.

It’s remarkably refreshing to hear a straight-six race engine. It’s somehow more sophisticated - in an upper class, stately fashion that is - than brash V8s and brummy V6s more common in this sort of racing these days. It’s also a symphony of noise in itself, and the epic valleys that we drive above echo with its reverberations. I almost wish I could sit 2 miles away and hear this drive past more than I wish I could drive it on a track, just to experience how it would sound.

Obviously, this is not something unique to just this particular car. A lot of race cars sound pretty darn good however near or far you are from, but it’s very different when you’re actually driving one. You forget just how much of an impact even a basic interior can make on sound insulation, meaning that when you have nothing at all, you have absolute nothing to shield you from every fiery vibration. Along with standing next to the amps at an Oasis concert, it’s the only other way I’d want to go deaf.

Strangely enough for a race car though, it’s not quite as sharp on the steering as you’d expect. By god it’s hard to drive, but you can trust it to respond when you turn the wheel, and it feels weirdly soft for such a car. It’s the one I’d want to be in at Le Mans given how comfortable it is for such a car. The French clearly care about the welfare of their drivers it seems (and yes, I did try to think of a politically relevant joke regarding France’s age-old traditions of being absolutley subservient to their working class. Which is a good thing, I might point out, though I’ll stop being this becomes an article in a politics textbook)

It feels tight at the rear end, and subtle else where. It’s balanced, but has it’s limits and will understeer eventually. But, it can pull some serious G in the corners, and especially on the banked bends on the roads I drove it on, it held its own phenomenally. You can fly through the twisties with this thing all day, every day.

Of course, I can’t really give a sutible judgement on this car, as I’m not a race driver. Give it about 7 months though, and we’ll be able to see what this thing is really capable of when it gets its racing debut. For now, I’ve got the memory of driving this fantastic machine and you’ve got the text I’ve written here about it. Driving a race car is not something for everyone, I should point out, and it’s about as un-easy as driving gets. This is a perfect example; the Corsaire GTE is a stupidly fast car, that does deep down probably want to kill you, but thankfully the Merciel team behind it have reduced such tendencies a bit.

- Gavin Anderson

Thanks to @Dorifto_Dorito for lending me the car!

[DeusExMackia]

A Motoring Man’s Meanderings

Review: Albury CMS-20T and Harris RMA-4

“One’s a work horse, the other’s a hit-and-miss”

Editors note:
We didn’t quite have time to get every single mid-engined sub £50k sports reviewed in the big shoot out last week, hence why I’m back here today reporting on two more cars. Consider this as additions to that previous review.

---

What of the Harris RMA-4? Well, it seems to have been named after a photocopier. Speaking of inspirations, it’s styling cues seem to be a knock-off GTA-esque Honda NSX at the front and a cheap homage to a generic late 90s/early 00s Ferrari. It looks tired and dull, and doesn’t evoke…well, anything,

Specs wise, it’s the slowest of any of the sports cars I’ve tested recently, being more a competitor for the entry level market (the likes of the Adenine Essence and Maesima MRZ-3) with its 200hp 1.6l i4 turbo. Small engine means low weight of course, yet at 1190kg it seems awfully heavy, especially for an all aluminum car. The equipment levels are at least good, but it still doesn’t really explain where the hell that extra mass is coming from, except for safety equipment.

But on a sports car? Really? This thing needs to be as light as possible, and it just isn’t. It isn’t a slouch though, capable of 0-60 in 5.5 seconds, meaning it’ll out run most hot hatches in a straight line. It’s also remarkably sharp in the corners, and changes direction like a Swallow chasing flies. It drives with a knife-edge level of precision all the time, making for a real on-your-toes experience. At least it’s exciting then.

As an entry level sports car, it’s perfectly acceptable, and the price will be tempting to those wanting to get a slice of MR action on the cheap. But as a car to own? I certainly haven’t been convinced. It’s the styling that really lets it down, while the rest of it feels too standard to be any good. It’s ‘good enough’ in too many places to stand out and make up for its flaws. A confused car, that simply doesn’t cut the mustard.

The Albury CMS-20T’s styling has left me perplexed. From a distance, its perfect. Everything you’d expect from a micro-supercar sorta thing. But study the details, and it doesn’t quite hit the mark. The positioning of everything is a just a bit off. Not hugely, just minutely. But it still adds up. And yet, it still looks good. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just not put together perfectly. Or maybe I’m just being picky.

Still, I’ve still got my Yorkshire Dales playground to have some fun in, and the weather still seems to be holding. Let’s see what an Aussie sports car goes like.

Fast, that’s what. 0-60 in 4.2 seconds puts it a tad behind the other cars in its class, but that’ll be made up for by the lower price and forgiven due to its lovely manual gearbox. The spacing is absolutely spot on and you can slam it through the ratios.

The suspension is setup in the same mind. All analogue; stiff without being too twitchy; beautifully, wonderfully sharp. It’s a ballet dancer in walking boots through the corners, and knows exactly how to handle its weight. It’s considerably heavier than its rivals though at 1230kg, and that’s despite all aluminum construction. But they clearly didn’t try to work around that and instead worked with it. Once you, the driver, get used to it, the car is very happy to be driven hard.

Malleable - yes, that’s the word. This thing can take a beating, but still demands that you don’t hit it too hard.

It’s surprisingly sketchy to drive sometimes though. It isn’t afraid to cut you loose sometimes, though I like that. It shows the designers weren’t keen to just shut it up everytime it lashed out at them during testing.

The engine? It’s a bit redundant in character. 2.0l i4 turbo, lovely thrum and the usual 3500 rpm turbo spool. I approve, but don’t expect it to be any more exciting than equivalent cars.

I get out again to have a look at this thing. I’m still not convinced by it, and looking at the front, it it definitely lacking something. More to the point, it’s a bit without soul. It’s efficient and hardy in being a performance machine. It’d be the one that never talks and just shoots in an infantry platoon. For a sportscar that just gets the job done, this is great, especially with its price. Just don’t expect it to be very memorable.

- Gavin Anderson

Thanks to @abg7 for lending me the cars!

[abg7]

It is worth noting that since this review was posted, both cars have been revised somewhat, and ought to be available with both the 1.6T and 2. 0T engines. But your reviews have once again hit the spot, and I will use your feedback to improve the pair further.

In particular I’ll most likely give the Harris more grunt and, more importantly, much more distinctive (but not repulsive) styling, which it needs more than any mechanical upgrades.

[DeusExMackia]

Review: 2017 Armada Fore (Birdie and Eagle GTi)

“The automotive version of the neighbour who always organises the community bake sales and never asks for anything in return”

Hell yeah! It’s a double review today of the Armada Fore. Wait, Armada? Not a clue. A company that I’ve only ever “known” about, in that it’s one of those companies everyone seems to have heard of but couldn’t tell you a thing about other than “I think I saw one when I was on holiday a few years back?”.

Which is quite surprising, because this is the 5th gen Fore I’m driving today. As to the other ones, you’ll have to consult someone else. Still, means I’m coming into this clean. First impresions from the look? Nice, and well laid out, but lacking in flare. It’s a bit blocky, and doesn’t have much of a soul to it.

The Birdie trim is the base model, which specs wise seems very standard for a compact. Good. I’d expect a bit more than 48.8 mpg combined for an aluminum bodied, 1251 kg car, but the trade off is 139hp. 0-60 in just under 10 seconds is also decent, certainly enough in my eyes for any family who might buy this. What won’t be fun for the family though is the erratically small rear doors. Seriously, imagine trying to get any decent car seat out of that thing, let alone in a car park or confined space. The boot is well sized though, thanks to its sloped rear that provides plenty of room behind the rear seats.

On the road, it feels civilised and actually responsive. Doesn’t roll that much at all, holds in decently when you push it a bit more and feels malleable and predictable. The sporty looks aren’t for nothing; the Fore can handle very decently. The power is a bit iffy though. You have to redline its 1.6l engine before it shifts’ - the auto box is nice on this model to be fair, wide gears to keep the hypermilers happy - but I can imagine a manual being more effort to use with this engine if you just want something easy to drive.

The interior is as standard as it gets, certainly making it enough for anyone who just wants a car with the usual modern amenities. I’ve already mentioned rear space, and you’ll be glad to know the front is much more roomy and also easier to get into.

Most of all, the ease of driving impressed me most when driving the Birdie trim. It was just so hassle free and nice. Oh god that word taunts me. I had a teacher in school who always complained whenever anyone used it during English lessons. Yet, I can’t think of a more appropriate word to describe this car’s characteristic. To phrase it better, you warm to it very quickly. I would love to commute in this thing, and that’s saying something.

So then, what happens when you shove a bit of extra power under the bonnet and tune this thing to be sharper? Well, the Eagle GTi is the result. Apart from sounding like something out of a Burnout game, it looks good. Red stripe and black spoiler? Yes please. Lovely chunky fenders, and an overall sense of toughness to it. There aren’t too many thin and finicky aero details here, it looks solid and purposeful.

All of which only begin to hint at the madness going on here. 340 hp only going to the front wheels, meaning this car ought to just wear a “I LOVE TORQUE STEER” t shirt wherever it goes. At least it has a geared LSD to deal with that. More remarkable is that it’s a 1779cc i4 turbo powering this thing, unlike the standard 2.0l turbo. It saves on weight a bit, and something tells me this is a car where every gram saved matters.

Onto the road, and boy is it fast. That’s to be expected though. The manual gearbox is lively, though the engine is surprisingly manageable. Punch in the guts from the turbo at 3.5k rpm, but after that, it’s no madder than any other hot hatch. What is different is the front wheel drive. The only other cars I’ve driven with this kind of power have had RWD or AWD, where I’m used to less wheelspin and the feeling of being shoved from behind, not pulled along. No prizes for guessing that maintaining traction requires a keen control of your feet and bigger balls than I have.

Once you’re used to the power, however, it’s a buzzy little machine to drive, and quite the fun one too. There’s no doubt that it can handle, and that it’s sharp, but it doesn’t bash you for it. It feels precise but also soft, much less race car-y than I was expecting. What amazes you most of all though is just how fast it wants you to go.

It grips and grips and doesn’t stop. You can drive constantly on the edge all day and it never gives in. I love it. This feels less like a hot hatch and more of a performance tool. The 0-60 time isn’t as fast as some cars, and it doesn’t have the power of the top end performance cars, but I have few doubts that it wouldn’t be able to keep up with sports coupes more than double its price.

What it feels is well intentioned. It’s been honed and focused and sculpted into this performance weapon. What an experience to drive.

The Armada Fore then. My first drive in this little known hatchback line and I’s say it does the job for a compact car range. The speedy Eagle GTi trim is a stellar hot hatch. Some will be after an even sharper experience at this price range, but if you can learn to handle its tower of power, you’ll be rewarded with something that drives far better than the size of car it competes with on the showroom floor. The entry level Birdie trim is more forgetabble, but drives well and is well equipped. Just don’t get it if you are going to be needing the rear seats a lot, the door is a nightmare and you’ll probably end up throwing your £140 Graco childseat on the multistorey carpark floor and curb stomping it once you’ve been suitably annoyed by trying to get it in there.

If you can deal with the dulled looks and that rear space issue, it’s well worth considering for a hatchback, especially with such competitive prices and the niceness of its driving habits. Well rounded, fairly well designed in general and capable as far as hatchbacks go.

-Gavin Anderson

Eagle GTi left, Birdie right

Cheers to @strop for lending me the car!

[abg7]

I must also admit that either Fore is great value for money and a fine drive, especially in Eagle trim, which is a real giant-killer! It was developed before the Birdie, though, and it shows.

[strop]

Perfectly pitched. The Birdie is indeed the “afterthought” where the Eagle GTi is the mainstay. Its strengths and weaknesses that Gavin so accurately captured are somewhat modelled after the 9th Gen UK Civic Hatch: same strangely disappointing power to eco ratio, lazy auto with long gears, strangely deficient rear legroom and teeny rear doors, but also really nice and pleasant to sit in and drive. The main point of difference is that it has alu panels so it’s lighter. But also a bit more expensive than the entry-level it aimed to compete at, which is why it’s the afterthought: it can’t really make up its mind because it is in essence a heavily detuned, toothless Eagle. You’d get it if you were struggling to eke out a little enjoyment in your commute in a life dictated by practical concerns and people wanting you to get a car with all the amenities so they didn’t have to suffer, a situation I know very well. As a result I would expect the Birdie to sell about as well as the 9th Gen Civic Hatch, which is to say, not particularly, especially since the hatches of 2017 are so damn competitive I wouldn’t be surprised if rear leg room was actually a major determinant in market share.

As for the Eagle, well, it’s pretty much been said. You might ask “why not just make it FR, MR or AWD, anything but FF” but, again, like the FK2 and FK8 Type R, that’s precisely the point and Armada simply won’t do otherwise, because they have cars in other formats already, duh. This is out to prove that FF can do real sporty, and for that to happen it had to be light.

With markups accounted for, you can get the Fore Birdie for under 17k AMU, and the Eagle GTi for 27.7k AMU. The latter is expected to compete with sport cars in the 30-35k AMU bracket.

[DeusExMackia]

The question now is, where next for Armada?

[strop]

This is a very good question. One of the reasons they aren’t well known is that they’re not very large (if GG is a micro company, then Matteo Miglia is a tiny company, and Armada would be small), but the Fore was supposed to be the one thing that they had that was mainstream appeal. The other reason is that I never got around to creating a thread for them. Which I’ll eventually have to rectify, but I have a lot to do before that.

Armada is supposed to be making, in 2017 (not all released at the same time):

• The Fore range, which is their all-in-one FF platform from zippy eco-box to stripped rev-box to GTi to trophy hatch racer with engine borrowed from a larger car. The Fore will continue development as the backbone of Armada’s revenue, so long as the hot hatch remains relevant
• said larger car: Ceres, a midsize FR sedan that would compete with the M4
• probably: a small i6 coupe which is a remake of the Talon, from the late 70s, an early turbo car
• also hopefully: an MR coupe which would probably be their flagship, though I don’t have any concrete plans yet because I haven’t backfilled the lore. All I know is that I need this to be there otherwise where the heck is the Lotus clone part of the company

[DeusExMackia]

So a fairly small and focused company then basically? With a definite performance edge to it? Gavin will remember that for next time

[DeusExMackia]

Gavin meets his childhood hero - the Assoluto Crinale.

Assoluto Automobili S.p.A (2009 Fatalita UE4 Remake)

Review: 1988 Assoluto Crinale "Ignore those who say don’t meet your heroes, they’re missing the point" Thanks to @Deskyx for lending me the car!

[Hshan]

Ok. So now, where is Porsche 959 Himmel ??? to compare, Mr. Hamm… umm, Anderson?

[abg7]

Quite a fitting verdict for such an unhinged machine! Once again your writing has clearly hit the bullseye, without a single word out of place.

[DeusExMackia]

A rear-engined city car that’s awfully fast; the Conte Pulga RR Sportpackage gets roadtested.

http://discourse.automationgame.com/t/contendiente-a-car-forged-for-you/21453/49?u=deusexmackia

[DeusExMackia]

A new review of an old car - it’s the Dolphine Mk. 1 Sprint!

Blue Marlin Motori Auto & Žnoprešk Avtomobil

Classic Review: 1964 MMM Dolphine 1.9 Sprint GT “Midlife crisis step 1: buy a fast car from your childhood”

[DeusExMackia]

Gavin drives the final edition of the Hodan Okayama.

Hodan SC - 砲弾

Review: 2017 Hodan Okayama FE “Dazed and confused”

[DeusExMackia]

Gavin drives another budget supercar - the Scarab Ceres SR.

Scandinavian Car and Racing AB (Scarab) Designs '65 - '17

Review: 2017 Scarab Ceres SR “The question is: are you willing to settle for store-brand ketchup instead of Heinz?”