Another day, another pub, somewhere in Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
Finally it was onto the 1990s. Chad was still not 100% sure, maybe a bunch more will help…
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@Knugcab - Saarland Origo Aerocoupé ET4 1993
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Chad: Hm… Saarland Origo Aerocoupé, the sporty ET4 version to be exact. AWD and a turbo I4? Could be cool maybe, I’ll have a peek.
Oof, the looks department don’t have it going on here, though the deep red isn’t bad, it looks rather boring and not too eye-catching… Performance wise it can do 161mph, but 0-60 in 6.3s makes it slower than others I’ve seen right now. It does look rather spacious and with that room might be a bit safer too.
It is priced at… A reasonable £13,850! Quite desirable on the low cost but really it doesn’t go much further than that. It’s neither really sporty or comfortable according to online. Don’t think this is really one for me.
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Pros: Price, Performance, Lore & Presentation, Interior, Service Costs, Prestige, Safety, Practicality, Drivability, Offroad.
Cons: Aesthetics, Sportiness, Comfort, Reliability, Fuel Economy, Yearly Costs, Environmental Resistance.
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OOC notes: The top speed is at redline, so could have been pushed further then had spacing adjusted for some minimal gains to stats.
Not sure why the use of a detuned 2.1L to 2.0L engine, the rules clearly stated it’d count as the base family which added to the insurance costs.
There is chrome trim on reverse light but plastic elsewhere which was quite weird. Interior has a clock where the RPM gauge would normally be which is rather odd, a previous car did this too, still find it weird for a performance car to not have an RPM gauge.
The exterior design is quite basic and invokes a Peugeot 406 coupe with Vauxhall Calibra taillights, not exactly dream car material to Chad. I wouldn’t really say the car is too interesting from it not having much going on but at least the colour is alright.
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Chad: Hot damn, this is what I’m talking about, a true 90’s icon. Faster than an NSX around the 'Nurb, that’s impressive. Potent 4 litre V8 with over 300hp, niceee…
The aggressive but rounded front is radical, followed around to a more neat rear oddly, but it flows nice. Not sure about chrome door handles, might be an aftermarket thing? As with the white wheels? Either way this blows the other cars out in performance so far: 176mph & 5s to 60 with 1.06g skidpad! That’s one hell of a combo. The interior looks hella cosy, and has plenty of room front and back. Overall package is very, very good
This is going to hurt me: £19,350! For the quality of the car and all it holds, it might just be worth that splurge of cash. Though in the long run it could be expensive for me to run, it’s not too bad on fuel, but it has lots of equipment that could fail…
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Pros: Aesthetics, Sportiness, Comfort, Lore & Presentation, Interior, Fuel Economy, Prestige, Safety, Practicality, Drivability, Environmental Resistance.
Cons: Cost, Reliability, Service & Yearly Costs, Offroad.
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OOC notes: KPH without MPH on the gauge too might be hard getting used to, but otherwise it’s super sweet on the interior. There is a bit on the centre dash that indicates it can be switched to MPH though? Not sure if it is or not. The only real downfall here is the costs!
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Chad: Erm, Apex TwinSport R-Spec Coupe… It’s one heck of a colourful tuner mess, look at that interior! Why the red/beige combo? Who even picked that from factory, why!? -Out of pure curiosity to the chaos of the car, Chad checked it out anyway-
The exterior looks truly like it’s from the 00’s tuning period, over the top bodykit style that doesn’t suit me at all, it’s got too much going on at the front to look good, and the back isn’t any better. The overuse of black on inners and wheels looks like some chav had done it to gain maximum street cred yo! Eh, other than this ramble about style, these things are apparently dead cheap to own and maintain thanks to a lively tuning scene.
Priced at £17,300, I don’t think I’d even consider it at less than 10, if it had more refined lines and less weird bubbling with an interior that doesn’t send me into shock from the contrast, maybe I’d be more inclined…
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Pros: Sportiness, Comfort, Lore & Presentation, Interior (In terms of design only), Fuel Economy, Service & Yearly Costs, Prestige, Safety, Practicality, Drivability, Offroad, Environmental Resistance.
Cons: Price, Aesthetics, Performance, Reliability.
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OOC notes: I don’t really appreciate the profanity over lore, having literally as little as a sentence saying something other than plain statistics gives me stuff to write about hence why I even included it in the competition. It is just one factor of many in this competition, so of course the aim is to try your best on all bases… But you delivered minimum of what I asked so well done there!
The exterior is a bit of a 2000’s messy nightmare: It’s not overly attractive and has weird reflections and blobbiness going all over it which stops at the rear somewhat. The deepest black wheels look straight up tacky I find personally along with the black-out everywhere else, adding to the aftermarket tuner look more than OEM.
Interior wise too, the colour scheme is whack: Red and beige-cream do not meld well together to my eyes, I really wouldn’t find myself comfortable in an interior of those tones, it’s not a great contrast at all.
Otherwise surprisingly low service costs and better low priority stats opposed to higher ones.
I’m not a fan of it at all really, I can see there has been effort put into it, though it feels the direction was complete other way, but I guess it’s more opinion at the end.
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@abg7 - SVP Hellblazer GT 4.2 1995
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Chad: What’s this one? SVP Hellblazer GT 4.2? It’s a rare 1 of 1,000 RHD UK model, with a whopping 345hp! It seems interesting, I’ll check it out further.
The looks are quite basic but the strong azure pearlescent colour is very tasteful, not sure how I feel about blue on blue callipers, maybe if they were black or a contrasting solar yellow it might be nice. The performance is off the chart on the Hellblazer, suiting it’s namesake well: It does 176mph, 4.7s to 60 and 1.13gs on skidpad, amazing! Surprisingly good fuel economy too, likely from the aerodynamic sleek slippy shape.
The ad is up for… £20,000?! Sheesh, performance with a price, that’s the maximum I’m prepared to spend, this could be too much really. From afar I can appreciate the looks but get closer and it has quite skewed positioning and placement on front and rear facias. The overall costs to run this beast are way beyond what I’d be happy paying too.
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Pros: Sportiness, Comfort, Interior, Lore & Presentation, Fuel Economy, Prestige, Safety, Practicality, Drivability, Environmental Resistance.
Cons: Cost, Aesthetics, Reliability, Service & Yearly Costs, Offroad.
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OOC notes: The exterior is quite plain and simplistic but the placement and proportions are a bit awry, somewhat goofy. It’s lightning quick performance and good high-star statistics is brought down by the fact it is max price, 4th highest service costs, and has not great exterior and interior aesthetics.
I can see the influence of Dodge Viper & Jaguar XK at front, and more Firebird-y but unique on back, I would analyse these designs closely next time to gauge good proportions and placement into the design.
I don’t think it is by any means a bad design, it just could do with a bit more improving to look more realistic and become stronger and impactful visually. Definitely high marks with the colour though, nice job!
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Chad: FMC Goshawk RC490… 370hp, 0-60 in sub 5 seconds, and almost 170mph top speed, what a rocketship, I gotta check this super-muscle car out.
Well damn, this thing moves like nothing else in comparison to what I’ve seen so far. It is a literal SRAAM (Short-range air-to-air missile) in car form lol. It’s looks are quite questionable though I can’t deny that iridescent is killer! Supposedly it manages almost 28mpg which is extremely good for a SOHC 4.9 V8 I’d say, it’s fairly reliable on forums so to say, and definitely has room for my stuff, though the roof targa means no roof rack, can use that boot maybe.
Damn, it’s up for £19,200. That’s a punch to the kitty. I’m not really sold on the looks of it beyond the colour and t-top. Being a bulky V8 muscle car with extreme performance, low running costs don’t look promising…
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Pros: Sportiness, Performance, Comfort, Lore & Presentation, Interior, Reliability, Fuel Economy, Prestige, Safety, Practicality, Drivability, Environmental Resistance.
Cons: Price, Aesthetics, Service & Yearly Costs, Offroad.
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OOC notes: A nice package overall, the most powerful engine of the entire lot at 370hp (Though the variant name says 390hp? lol) Similarly to abg7’s I can appreciate the design from a far but when up close it gets a bit basic. I think it’s better proportioned, and I really like the side & roof t-top implementation.
The rear taillights look way too modern on it for '95 though, I would have used a different fixture/s there, the headlights look a bit too 1980s, I feel they could have been more in-flow with the body shape rather than a square on a soap-shape flowing coupe. (I realise the early generation 90s Firebird has square pop-ups on a facelift, but the base shape is much more dated and linier compared to the GTO body the Goshawk is based on.)
The colour is the only iridescent/colour-shift entry, I love these paints and it suits the car well. The black & alloy lip wheels look extremely aftermarket alike to ldub’s entry, but I appreciate in your writing it is noted to be a factory upgrade (I suppose similar to the likes of Rays wheels used on Nissan’s 350Z/370Zs). Though at the least the deepest of blacks is accented with a nice silver lip, another personal opinion/taste thing really.
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Chad: Daaaamn, an American legend: The Winchester Warrior. 5.7L V8, 300hp, 0-60 in 5 seconds and 165mph top speed, whooey. What a beast! I gotta look at this ad.
The Ruby Red paint works real well on this sleek and swoopy sports coupe, a growling V8 soundtrack and fantastic performance to boot, what’s not to love about that? Apparently these engines aren’t bad other than the water pump & distributer faults, can go for half a million miles and more if treated right… Looks to have enough boot space for wheels, and can fit a roof rack on it too. Although fibreglass body, this thing has state-of-the-art safety for the 90s which is fair enough.
There isn’t much to dislike on this other than the big £19,100 price it holds perhaps maybe the fuel economy and running costs… Maybe if I stretched I could live with that.
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Pros: Aesthetics, Sportiness, Performance, Comfort, Lore & Presentation, Interior, Reliability, Prestige, Safety, Practicality, Drivability, Offroad, Environmental Resistance.
Cons: Price, Fuel Economy, Service & Yearly Costs.
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OOC notes: The third taillight for some reason acts as indicator which is weird.
The interior is super impressive, it’s essentially a C4 replica, though I couldn’t find interior speakers sadly, either way it’s top notch, scored on par with one other exceptional interior because of the effort and detail you’ve gone to.
Though it being basically a Chevrolet Corvette C4 replica, it isn’t really a bad thing it’s just a little uninspiring but a great car non-the-less!
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Chad: Huwonja Magnica GS5 huh, haven’t really heard of this before. It’s a 2.5L I6 powered GT car by looks of the ad. It’s got quirky styling, but let’s check it out anyway.
The styling is quite strange and unique on this one, I like some areas of it more than others, the upper facia and rear facia aren’t really doing it for me, but the interior is super sweet looking. These are quite economical for a premium GT car it says online, and somewhat reliable too with good service and yearly costs too…
The price is £18,450. Quite steep… But the only real downside is I’m not 100% on the looks and it’s not quite as sporty compared to the other cars I’ve seen.
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Pros: Aesthetics, Performance, Comfort, Lore & Presentation, Interior, Reliability, Fuel Economy, Service & Yearly Costs, Prestige, Safety, Practicality, Drivability, Offroad, Environmental Resistance.
Cons: Price, Sportiness.
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OOC notes: No front seat belts despite the rear having them, and no interior speakers to be found. Would be good for next time!
I’m not sure about the paint, it’s got low shininess and looks half-matte because of it. I’m not really too keen on the front facia, with the squared pop-ups it is similar to what I said in Lanson’s car, it doesn’t really flow too well with the rest of the body. The wide and short lights below the pop-ups aren’t really vibing with me either. I feel as though the rear taillights might have worked better if slimmer, they look very large and tall. It’s very neat otherwise! I like the detailing on this one.
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Chad: Oh wow, Midlands Io Sprint! Lightweight and effective, they’re basically the best track car one could want. I’ll take a closer look on this one for sure!
The mystical dark purple is very nice, it works well on the car, and with the beige/black & wood interior it’s a fantastic combination. The front end looks cute and a little funny/goofy like the car is smiling at you, it’s likely the use of circles that does that hehe. The back end is more boxed off which isn’t really too much to my liking, it’s not bad at all though. After looking on the internet, apparently driven well they can do upwards of 50mpg! That’s on par with my Bass basically, wow. Running costs aren’t bad either as parts are cheap and with so much less fuel needed it really helps the yearly total.
It’s hefty priced at £17,750, but I’m slightly concerned about boot space, and the reliability from the internet seems somewhat questionable although not as bad as some of the other cars I’ve seen. Beyond the price this one is definitely a real superstar!
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Pros: Aesthetics, Sportiness, Performance, Comfort, Lore & Presentation, Interior, Fuel Economy, Service & Yearly Costs, Prestige, Safety, Drivability, Offroad, Environmental Resistance.
Cons: Price, Reliability, Practicality.
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OOC notes:
Totally outstanding entry, only things I would question are the rear-view mirror inside being on the glass, unsure as to why it’s there and not on the dash instead maybe? I’ve never came across it being slap in middle so it’s confusing. The lore says about the CAD developed undertray, it could have been interesting to see it implemented visually as well along the underneath of car model.
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Chad: The Ibis Red Tail GT8? Not heard of it before. It’s quite… Ugly looking? Let’s give it a see anyway.
It’s quite good in terms of performance I suppose, with 149mph top speed, 5.2s to 60 and 1.05g skidpan rating. It has a “mix of comfort and performance” as noted online by review sites, spacious and reliable too.
I’m not quite sure why I looked at this car, it’s up for £19,450 and I don’t like it one bit, the style really doesn’t vibe with what I like, it has really expensive running costs and an interior that looks out of an economy car.
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Pros: Sportiness, Performance, Comfort, Reliability, Service Costs, Prestige, Safety, Practicality, Drivability, Offroad, Environmental Resistance.
Cons: Price, Aesthetics, Lore & Presentation, Interior, Fuel Economy, Yearly Costs.
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OOC notes: The brake balance on this is rather messed up, it could be sorted with more force on the front & maybe larger disks on rear or brake cooling for the fade.
Visually this really needs a major overhaul, the splitter at the front is actually offset to the right side, it has plastic door trim but nowhere else on the car, as well as the door handles being tiny, the wing mirrors are attached to the bonnet? Windscreen wipers are mounted high and obscure driver’s lower view. The rear is really chunky and tall looking with not a lot going on at all.
The bonnet being matte grey/black makes it look more like a beater than a performance muscle car, it was more a thing of the 70’s when bonnets were not sloping, as it was done to avoid sun glare.
Overall I don’t really find the car visually appealing at all, it needs more style and “oompf” because it’s somewhat comparable to an 8th generation Impala with a bit more aero, which is totally not dream car territory. The colour isn’t doing any favours, it’s too dark and doesn’t accent the car well. The interior is okay but again colours are not working in it’s favour I feel like just a few shades of black would have been fine.
Again, hopefully I have not been to offensive with my thoughts and opinion to the build, as I only wish to aid improvement by marking out flaws.
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Chad: A Zephorus RS260, no real info on this one at all beyond the specs, I’ll have a look on the ad and hopefully find something…
What little I could find online suggests it does 0-60 in 5.2s and limited to 155mph top speed, but does a crazy 1.17g on skidpad. It generates 107kg of downforce on the rear and 65.4kg of lift at the front, I wonder if it pulls wheelies into backflips like that one GT1 car did at Le Mans… It’s got to be the sportiest of all I’ve seen today though.
Yikes, price is at £17,975 with the rust-proofing on top, apparently they are extremely susceptible to rust, so I’d need be uber cautious if I inspected it. It might be hard to fit extra tyres for the track inside unless I want to get the passenger seat dirty, though could fit a roof rack. Service cost of these is high due to not a lot of people know about them it seems.
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Pros: Aesthetics, Sportiness, Performance, Comfort, Presentation, Interior, Reliability, Fuel Economy, Yearly Costs, Prestige, Safety, Drivability.
Cons: Price, Lore, Service Costs, Practicality, Offroad, Environmental Resistance.
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OOC notes: Lore is not direct specifications of the car, with it being a 4 star priority (and me forgetting to actually add a rule of requiring a standard of flavour text/lore to avoid this), having nothing has impacted the entry in that segment direly.
Lore doesn’t have to be much as I said when reviewing ldub’s entry, literally just a basic sentence would have been enough such as: Here is the Zephorus RS260, produced in 1997 to compete worldwide with other mid-class sports GT cars, and race against them in JGTC and even in Le Mans one year. The old saying of something is better than nothing applies here indefinitely.
Literally all entries minus bins, bar yourself and oppositelock managed to write some lore (29 entries able to write something) so maybe next time you could at least try.
Interior has some clipping, but no note to change chassis visibility or anything as other people have been able to do which is a shame cause otherwise it’s pretty good, although no penalties for that will be added as I have not for any other entry. Not sure why the diamond effect stops on the doors and isn’t anywhere else like the seats or lower dash.
Exterior looks okay too, it’s no improvement over the obvious inspiration though; I’m not much a fan of the “chubby cheek” bulges between the grille and vents though, the rear side ventilation has a split in it yet the side vent one doesn’t, it would have been nicer to have that visual cohesion as it it solely the rear side vent that has a split. The taillight area has a kind of mass monobrow going on, if the cluster was same height as it, it might have looked better. As far as originality it’s essentially a Mazda RX-7 which is neat although a little uninspiring similar to Texaslav.
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(Not sure why the paint turned out this way in my shots, I think it might be the PBR+ material freaking out)
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Chad: Oh wow, Cascina Lavandula! This used a half-V10 block I5 after running with a boring and lacking power I4 unit, and has crazy computer-controlled aero flaps to adjust drag and improve the economy depending on driving!
Looking further into the Lavandula I’m glad I did, 0-60 in 5.5s, 168mph top speed and 1.13gs, it’s rather rapid indeed. I’m not usually one to go for inline 5, but half a V10 sound note and sheesh I’m in. Supposedly it’s quite comfortable for a sports car it says due to optimised suspension and improved build quality, there is a lot of neat info on it, and I’m interested to hear the “Banshee’s” note in person…
It is priced at £18,100 which is a big whack to the wallet. Though it makes up for that, it’s only really bad in spare parts cost, otherwise it’s quite well built for a sports car, it’s a real good all arounder!
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Pros: Aesthetics, Sportiness, Performance, Comfort, Lore & Presentation, Interior, Reliability, Fuel Economy, Yearly Costs, Prestige, Safety, Practicality, Drivability, Offroad, Environmental Resistance.
Cons: Cost, Service Costs.
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OOC notes: No front forward-facing indicators, I’m unsure if it’s a non EU thing or not.
The funny “engrish” auto-translated Japanese is absolutely hilarious, best lore score alongside AndiD’s video, it cracked me up big time lol.
I really love the front, it’s extreme and well-shaped, but into the sides and rear the design sort of breaks away into something different entirely. Which is a bit of a shame cause I feel like using the front’s wildness into the rest of the design could have made a masterpiece of it. The front’s little fangs in the centre grille and the low-slung pop-ups make it super rad.
On the interior the door cards seem a little short, and the centre transmission tunnel has the windows controls flipped the wrong way, unsure if intentional? It’s quite basic otherwise, but I quite like the red and grey-black tones.
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From this point onwards the new update rolled out, so I am no longer able to gauge the car’s performance statistic due to engines being altered, though pre-update I had kept the judged statistics on spreadsheet. So there will be a lacking of exact figures brought up.
@EnCR - AMB C160C Convertible 1998
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Chad: Next listing is an AMB C160C Convertible. A perky spyder with somehow a 2+2 configuration. Interesting… I’ll check it out.
The front facia looks kinda smug forward-facing on which is kinda funny yet cute, and the rear looks smiley as well with the plate surround. The seating for rear passengers with the soft top up is just not going to work for anyone taller than a baby lol, maybe it was done for tax purposes like other cars did… Apparently they’re very cheap to maintain and good for reliability too.
It is being sold for an amazing £11,150! Wow that’s cracking compared to the rest of this era. There isn’t much downfall to it other than it lacking performance and comfort which is what I’d like really…
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Pros: Price, Aesthetics, Lore & Presentation, Interior, Reliability, Fuel Economy, Service & Yearly Costs, Practicality, Drivability, Offroad, Environmental Resistance.
Cons: Sportiness, Performance, Comfort, Prestige, Safety.
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OOC notes: No rear indicators? At least when tried to activate they aren’t assigned. Assuming they’re taillight/indicator type.
The exterior is nice, though the interior clips on the bonnet slightly, the colour is a bit too yellow-y than it is between yellow & orange like Lotus’ Solar Yellow. Interior clips, but no indication of turning it off in submission. LHD and KPH might be hard for Chad to adjust to if he were to choose it.
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Chad: Ooooh, Kamaka Destiny XS-R, wow, I thought all these sky-rocketed in price… I must be the first to stumble upon it, else it’d be scalped already, lol.
It just oozes the pinnacle of Japanese late 90’s, and the special “Sunset Purple” is a real nice pearlescent, it suits the car and makes it stand out really. I also was a fan of the special “Champ Blue” the earlier model came in. It’s definitely fast enough, but has enough comfort to match my Yamada Bass too it looks like.
Price is… £19,650. Hey at least it’s no an extra zero on the end like most of these seem to be, maybe it’s actually a fake “XS-T” model to look like an XS-R? Eh… Anyway, according to some sources online it’s somewhat expensive to run, but not too extreme as the cost of inflation on these badass machines…
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Pros: Aesthetics, Sportiness, Comfort, Lore & Presentation, Interior, Reliability, Fuel Economy, Prestige, Safety, Practicality, Drivability, Environmental Resistance.
Cons: Price, Service & Yearly Costs, Offroad.
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OOC notes: KPH might be hard to get into like some other entries, or change it to MPH, but nothing bad.
Looks are quite sweet and the colour is very rad, the Skyline inspiration is quite clear, but it’s somewhat original too which I admire! (Also annoyingly the morphs broke, hence floating rear badge)
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Chad: Ooh yes, a Valiant Talon LT-ram package… American muscle with a beefy V8 as well as sleek and flowing flair! I’ll certainly check it out.
The solid orange tangy colour is super rad, I love muscle cars with exotic colours like this one! The styling is on point, performance too, and supposedly the Talon is not overly bad when it comes to reliability, it’s great in fact! There looks to be plenty of room in the boot too, though I’m not sure when it comes to roof racks how safe they are over glass-roof panels…
Price? £18,500. Another very high end one… The fuel economy and overall costs in ownership weigh heavily against it, and apparently the interior isn’t too cracking.
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Pros: Aesthetics, Sportiness, Lore & Presentation, Interior, Reliability, Prestige, Safety, Practicality, Drivability, Environmental Resistance.
Cons: Price, Comfort, Fuel Economy, Service & Yearly Costs, Offroad.
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OOC notes: Brake balance on the front is rather low (About a half square below the dashed line), and the rear is slightly under too.
I like the styling, it’s very much a Firebird WS6, but different enough to make it original in it’s own, sort of in a “GTA car” way? I dig it! I like the rear especially, the whaletail and the unique taillights with the subtle dip to the outside of them is nice, as well as the layering between them where the badge sits. As well as the licence plate lights, glass roof panel are sweet little details that help add a cool level of detail to it.
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(I’d ask on anyone else on the forums to help out if they would too)
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