Today we will be comparing 3 Midsize cars, one is a cheap popular with everyone, one is a favorite among the elders, and another is an all new hot off the assembly line from Sceptre
The new for 2001 Fulsade is Sceptre’s first dip in the water for the sedan market besides its teased for 2004 Merit compact sedan, now that coupes are on their way out from the 90’s and 80’s its time for Sceptre to begin thinking about family cars, so using all of that go fast tech in this sedan how does it compare with the best Sedan from Japan?
The 2000 Ibishu Pessima we have here is a 2.0 LX with the optional 4 Speed automatic, its got a 2.0L 4 pot power plant under the hood and decades of tech backing it up. Our next arrival is the
Bruckell LeGran, fitted in the 2.5 SE trim with the sport intake the LeGran is a huge popular with elders.
NOTE: for this testing all cars are fitted with Automatic transmissions and are mid grade/mid spec trims.
When it comes to weight the Fulsade is the heaviest coming in at 3,211 pounds vs the 3,060 from the Pessima and the 3,025 from the LeGran.
Moving to the topic of power the Fulsade is no slouch making 160 WHP and 166 pound feet of torque from its 2.6L Port Injected Inline 5 engine, coupled to a 5 Speed standard automatic and you have a car capable for spirited driving, the Pessima gets around with a 2.0L Inline 4 mated to a 4 speed standard automatic making 143HP and 140 pound feet, the LeGran has the optional sport intake and its making 124HP and 133 pound feet of torque through its upgraded 4 speed automatic.
Getting to 62 in the Fulsade was a challenge because 1st gear was so short, and despite having 215’s on the front the car spun all though 1st and made it to 60 in 8.68 seconds and our brake test from 62 to 0 took 135.45 feet. The Pessima took 9.16 seconds to 60 and there was minimal to no wheel spin, the brake test from 62 to 0 took the Pessima 122 feet. When first launching off the line the front wheel gave a single chirp and the LeGran was off to its 11.20 second to 62 and the brake test from 60-0 took 133 feet.
Now that we have straight line performance out of the way lets see how well these cars handle themselves in the corners?
For the Fulsade the combination of the Progressive springs + semi soft suspension + Hard Eco tires means its wheel spin city; the Hard ungrippy tires couldn’t properly put down all 160 horses so whenever powering out of corners hard the wheels would spin pretty aggressively but when applying the appropriate throttle control the car can maintain some composure through corners, the 5 Speed auto was more then competent in corners downshifting once you plant your foot down and holding gears for longer then usual once you let up, this is good on track but probably not good for economy, despite having the widest tires here at 215’s the 200 pounds extra this car has over the LeGran and Pessima really shows itself in the corners, with 10 inch vented rotors in front and 8.9 inch rotors in the rear this car’s brakes didnt dare overheat during the two laps around the handling circuit.
The Pessima rides on some 195 Standard tires and its cornering performance is a simple Marginal but the car feels very nose heavy leading to some severe under steer which is only is worsened on the V6 models however a few nips at the handbrake and make the cars handling a lot more neutral albeit at the cost a predictability, the Brakes are strong and have little to no fade during the two laps around the handling circuit.
The LeGran being the weakest here didn’t go as fast as the other cars but it kept the most composure, yes the solid rear axle didn’t let the car corner nearly as well as the Pessima or even the Fulsade when powering out there was no wheel spin when powering out of corners and the car kept much more composure, though the extremely thin tires + tall sidewalls further impair cornering performance.
(NOTE: This is my first time doing this, if I left any important parts out of the review its either I forgot about it or I wasn’t able to test said thing, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!, hope you enjoyed)
