I was also surprised at how unreliable the engine was myself, and I guess I overlooked the forged pistons.
if you want to pay 178 swiss franc the relevant ISO doc is ISO 4000-1:2015
4 Likes
(Note: In each individual reviews, the quotes indicate something Shock is saying, and everything else is told by Vince).
CSR138 Part 3
Tier 3 Mechanicâs Rejection bins, part 2
After a lunch break at an undisclosed restaurant
âWell, uhhâŠI hope youâre better now that weâve got the Wells out of the wayâ
I BETTER BE!
âI guess youâre still not ok.â
Anyways, letâs get back to it. The next few ones have better be good.
âHey, Iâm still the final decision!â
âHold your horses,â pleaded Thomas.
âMy wifeâs Polish, and she often talks about how common the old generations were while she was growing up in the USSR. I suppose that they still have some prestige down there as many of her friends state that many state officials like to use them.â
âVery interesting,â remarked Vince as he poked around the chassis.
Mara Kavaler Prakty
Ahh yes⊠how much you win my heart with a nice little two valve sohc V8. Itâs also RWD for some reason, which would probably draw a ton of scrutiny from you. Interestingly enough, it has manual lockers, something that you are more likely to see on a pickup truck. Anyways, we all know that it hasnât done well in crash testing. And the interior is quite outdated by our modern standards. To be honest, I still donât understand why they donât bother with 4x4. Things seem to be simply thrown together here.
âI donât think it would know what it would make of my driving. I donât see any rear anti-roll bar and other features that would greatly improve performance. And that engine doesnât seem very potent. As for the fact that they raise little suspicion in Russia even when the driver commits traffic violations, that really only applies to the local police. Anyways, I think this carâs functionality is a bit compromised for what weâre looking for.â
Shock ponders on the fact that MI6âs information unveiled several armed and hostile groups operating in the area, and he doesnât know if its cover will actually be useful, or have any positive effect on the government or any opposition forces.
The Mara gets a Tier 3 Mechanicâs Rejection for the lack of a rear anti-roll bar. Both of them, while not finding much technical fault with it, felt that this car felt way too out of place to even be considered.
(Note: The only 2wd car in this competition, also the second-lowest safety rating in this competition)
Vince stares in awe at the engine of the Akari.
Akari Chikara SE V6 4-Trac
Amazing⊠this seems like a nice little wagon we got here. It has long revs with its very advanced valvetrain. Long and steady torque curve through itâs range with power near the top end. Engine seems pretty standard everywhere else. Chassis wise itâs very solid. A high speed automatic transmission with AWD, a limited slip differential, brakes are proper sized and well tuned, a standard interior but pretty good quality at that. You donât need something that fancy I hope. ESC even though itâs in itâs newer tech, and a proper suspension setup with tune. Overall, I would recommend it.
âHopefully this can rise up to the occasion. It looks particularly well suited to the task, even if itâs a wagon.â
Vince notices something interesting in the wheel wells of the Hayes.
Hyades-CX-5 Turbo
Design wise, it could be a bit more cleaner with the lights, especially not a fan of the rear taillights. At least we have a big turbo I4 that is actually usable. Engineering is overall nice, but it uses non-variable springs, so Load and handling wonât be as great. Overall, Iâd say you take a look at it.
âHonestly, Iâm not so sure about this, because I think there are better options. We shall see later. Very awkward styling.â
Vince knocks on the panels of the Masca, and is seemingly grimacing as a result.
Masca Utilia
Another case of what were you thinking putting those cast pistons with forged rods and crank⊠the engine tune doesnât even make itâs full power at redline and itâs burning really rich. Your fuel choice is premium yet youâre not even reaching the knock levels for even regular. The use of full aluminum panels is interesting, yeah it lowers weight but kills your cost and production efficiency and is much harder to repair. I donât think using a rear solid axle on an AWD wagon is the best idea here. Design wise, itâs meh⊠what is with the rear ball hitch though. We ainât towing ya know. This is a strong case of just walk away.
âI concur. Also, look at those tiresâŠâ
The Masca gets a Tier 3 Mechanicâs Rejection for aluminum panels and the weird tire sizes.
(Note: Had the worst drivability in this competition by a pretty big margin.)
âWell this looks like something straight from Jurassic Park,â remarked Shock.
Westland Constellation
I appreciate the work and detail that was put into this. It does appear to be a brute of a vehicle, although I would say itâs a face only a mother could love. Performance is surprisingly potent. Overall capability isnât neglected, and for a manual transmission car, I think itâs pretty easy to drive. Letâs see what our driver thinks about this.
âYeah, this definitely seems promising. Wait a secondâŠâ
Vena remarks on how the Bowie reminds him of mudbogging back in the US.
Bowie Alamo Uplift - LTR
Oh look, another two-door, and another sweet V8. This thing is all American and it shows, even in the name. And apparently, it does that so well that our driver might not like it. The rear seat layout is interesting. If only you werenât so snobbishâŠ
Wait a second, there is no rear anti-roll bar.
âI donât think itâs good for what weâre doing at all.â
The Bowie gets a Tier 3 Mechanicâs Rejection for the lack of a rear anti-roll bar.
Vince lifts up the Electi.
Electi Defender 44
Yes⊠quite good and it looks very nice. My only gripe is the gearing setup and how the power is very close to redline. The choice of using a fully clad undertray is interesting, to say the least. Electric power steering is also an interesting choice. But if I say so myself, I would pick this over many of the others in terms of style and engineering.
âOh for sure, this is definitely a very good entry. It looks pretty ugly though, and looks like quite the lowrider for an SUV.â
Both of them are commenting about the general stance of the IP.
IP Rexetta 2500DX AWD
This thing ainât half bad, but itâs kind of ⊠simple. A little bit on the tall side when it comes to ride height, engineering is basic but sound. Not too shabby if I say so myself.
âHonestly, I donât see much wrong with it, seems pretty sturdy too, if a bit pedestrian for what we expect to push it through.â
Vince takes a seat in the Decarlis.
Decarlis Frontier
It is very comfortable and has great drivability. The automatic transmission definitely contributes to these characteristics, but I fear that it might be too outdated for this class of car. Overall, a solid entry, with good looks.
âThis might be a little too sedate for me.â
As the Cutler is lifted up, both of them express surprise at whatâs underneath.
Cutler Adiona OA
Now this⊠this is a true offroader. You have to be nuts to pass up this baby.
âYou idiot.â
Oh wait, what do you mean that is not what youâre looking for? And why are you calling me an idiot? You just have no taste⊠I love this thing. Too bad you had to be picky.
âSHUT THE FUCK UP!â
Wait a secondâŠlook at those rims, they seem way too fragile for off-road.
The Cutler gets a Tier 3 Mechanicâs Rejection for the impractically large rims.
Vince shines his flashlight at the undercarriage of the RCM.
RCM Atlantic Borealis AV
Itâs not that much of a looker honestly, but I do like some of the details. The engineering is reasonable. The wheels seem a little large for the fenders and it has a little bit too high of a ride height for my liking. But I think their marketing is going on the misleading side.
âSomethingâs clearly not right with this otherwise nice car. I need to take a look at it.â
Shock wonders how a pickup truck managed to walk into a comparison test of SUVs and wagons.
GMV Alpine Conquest
Visually⊠this is not going to win any awards at many car shows unless itâs one of those niche car shows. The front looks decent, yet side and rear profile is⊠questionable. This has nice mechanicals though, you might really like this one, well maybe except its steering and the fact that itâs still a truck.
âI need to think about the fact that itâs a pickup truck. But maybe its outright performance may convince me. It definitely almost has all my boxes ticked.â
(Note: I tried to find the missing headlight mod, apparently something old that I was not able to access. For any viewers, hereâs another picture for reference)
Vince inspects the brakes of the Seikatsu
Seikatsu StarCruiser 4.5 Wagon HT Q4
@Tzuyu_main and @Ryan93
Another solid little offroader, just⊠why the solid front brake rotors? It looks really nice, the blindspot mirror is interesting. Maybe if it werenât for the front brakes I would suggest this.
âI donât think I am looking for cars like this anyways.â
The Seikatsu gets a Tier 3 Mechanicâs Rejection for solid front brake rotors.
Shock takes a peek in the Regalâs interior.
RĂ©gal Horizon TX4 - VSO
This is a quirky little thing. An offroad buggy van with good mechanicals. Automatic like from meâŠ
âI think youâre a bit too easy to impress,â stated Shock as he cut Vince off. âShall I take over?â
âWell, I mean this is the last car anyways. I was going to let you do your thing anyway,â gestured Vince.
Garage diorama by @Executive
The entries that have passed the Tier 3 Mechanicâs Rejection bins are @Aruna, @Petakabras, @Hilbert, @mart1n2005, @vero94773, @z2bbgr and @conan, @Kyorg, @GROOV3ST3R, @Knugcab, @Arn38fr, @thecarlover, @Endfinity, and @karhgath
13 Likes
I must say that I expected a more sour review. I knew that it was kind of too simple, but it was what I had lore wise (sort of, the other one being BOF would probably have had troubles with the safety requirement), and I decided to check out how far I could come with it. I can agree about the ride height. Since there was hard to find a good body I had to use the AE90 based body, and to make it look like a SUV and not just something like a Sprinter Carib, well⊠
EDIT: WHAT? Now I realize that I was not even binned? 
even more of a surprise I must say.
3 Likes
I hate to say this, but yeah it was generally very unremarkable, but it does have the virtue of doing quite a bit of things right, even if itâs not the best.
Nah, it is supposed to be. There is room for unremarkable cars in the world too, so no need to hate the truth. I entered a wildcard and I knew it.
1 Like
Yeah nothing wrong with that approach, especially considering what Vena went through reviewing them.
Welp, my dream is dead - and on Tier 3, no less.
In a private exchange just now, Mazda said that my engine was the carâs greatest strength - and given that itâs the same engine family used by all of my companyâs large/high-performance cars, it spells good things for my creations in general. I will improve it further in UE4.26.
I wouldnât have thought that the lack of an anti-roll bar in a solid-rear-axle vehicle would strike me down - I thought it would have been my poor fuel economy, or large weight, or the offroad tiresâ horrendous onroad grip - but Iâm just happy to have made the Alamo Uplift. By this point in time itâs set the conceptual basis for a lot of my companyâs planned offroaders, and Iâm glad this competition inspired me to develop it.
I wish the best of luck to all remaining contestants - but if the hostsâ words are anything to go by, thereâs a slaughter coming up.
5 Likes
Well, happy to have made it this far! Itâs definitely on the sporty end of the spectrum. Took a gamble on cladding too as it provides a bunch of quirky benefits on top of boosting economy. Maybe not the most realistic approach but glad it didnât see me binned.
Looks like the front morph got reset somehow, as its supposed to be slanted along with the grille, which is unfortunate.
Curious to see how it fares in Tier 2!
2 Likes
At least you made it as far as you did.
Iâd like to thank you for helping me with the naming conventions. You may or may not remember but you helped, which got me past instabins of before from failing to adhere to simple things.
Now I know more things I need to work on.
4 Likes
Shit. I should have gone with my gut and left the car with smaller wheels. After many do the cars had a premium feel to them I thought it necessary in order to compete. In hindsight I donât know why I thought that as prestige wasnât mentioned as criteria.
3 Likes
Good write up, narrowing them down to our winner, who I suspect you already picked at this point. I am curious how far the Fossa would have made it if I could follow basic requirements⊠Iâd like to think this round at least.
3 Likes
Iâm glad it made into tier 3⊠I was thinking it would get instabinned.
About the drivability, I really need to be better at the engineering part. 
Good luck to other competitiors!
3 Likes
CSR138 Part 4
Tier 3 Driverâs Rejection bins
Shock is still in the garage, having received permission from both Thomas and Vince to inspect the cars any way he wants, as long as they are on standby and he follows safety protocols.
He meticulously takes notes about the vehicles in his notebook, scribbling away in his Pilot V5.
Arion Polaris 4.5I
Cabrera Aneto
Hayaku Seiko 2300 All-Terrain LTD
Matsuma 4-Cross GTf
Akari Chikara SE V6 4-Trac
Hyades-CX-5 Turbo
Westland Constellation
Electi Defender 44
IP Rexetta 2500DX AWD
Decarlis Frontier
RCM Atlantic Borealis AV
GMV Alpine Conquest
RĂ©gal Horizon TX4 - VSO
The entries that have passed the Tier 3 Driverâs Rejection bins are @mart1n2005, @vero94773, and @GROOV3ST3R
16 Likes
Your handwriting is shit, but it gets the job done at least 
Now who is it going to be for the winner.
Of course I know the winner, they were already chosen by the time subs closed
4 Likes
What does âunproven steeringâ mean?
For 2000, I suspect it refers to electric power steering - back then, very few cars had it, while most other cars had a hydraulic system of some kind, or none at all.
4 Likes
My favorite part of electric steering is that you are trusting your life to a vacuum cleaner belt.
2 Likes
13 Likes
What you will lose is the power assist, not the steering altogether. That will happen if the drive belt breaks on a hydraulic pump too.
3 Likes