It’s possible to make something that emulates or attempts to look like it has one as @Madrias, @Kubboz and others have done since I did mention my character would take a keen eye to all vehicles.
3 Likes
pls be faster, pls be faster, pls be faster
and i dont feels there ranking in the review order which probably good to make people more curious
cheeeeezus christ that’s some slick presentation. Each round is becoming more and more of a masterpiece. Where do we go from here!?
2 Likes
jolly good review, i think my little kittie will be eaten by the predator competition
this is going to be like wheel caps vs alloys, sl vs a class
Guys the next winner should probably just write a book or something 
Loving the reviews so far!
2 Likes
well i certainly wasn’t informed that it would actually go up today. 
@denta it’s in order of the entry that i received.
@Speedemon - 1986 Traviss AT170 V8
Now on to the Traviss AT170 V8. It wasn’t the most inspiring name but thankfully it looked far better than it sounded. Traviss took a different approach when trying to bring the 4x4 into the modern age and I have to say it was very attractive design. In a very bright yellow design, it stood out from those earlier dull coloured vehicles. The first thing that was clear were the large flared arches with offset much wider wheels at the back.
Up front it had a nice fancy chrome grill with modern dual square headlights either side and below that it had a smaller grill intakes which integrated the indicators. Door handles were body coloured and very modern design the roof was raised and housed a large chrome set of roof racks and four big spotlights. It all looked like it was set for some serious 4x4ing. At the rear things were a little more spartan, it had modern all in blackout striped tail lights which had an indicator and reversing lights in one. There was nothing else and no clear way to open the tailgate which I think had to be done from within the cabin.
Speaking of which let’s check that out. Well, it seems the folks at Traviss didn’t think very highly of passenger comfort. The interior was very spartan with only five basic bench type seats and no form of entertainment at all. So I guess we’ll have resort to talking to each other or singing our own songs. If all else fails I got a ‘walkman’ I guess. Thankfully Traviss engineers took a keener approach to safety as the basic steering wheel and dash had air bags and those rubbish seats did actually have headrests and proper three-point seatbelts. A quick turn of the wheel revealed power steering and the dash indicated an ABS system too. Also nice to see a column shifter is actually an automatic four-speed.
Oddly though despite a proper 4x4 system it lacked any low gearing, locking hubs instead going with open differentials. As a result of the 4x4 performance actually seemed a bit worse than our current truck. This thing struggled to get the power down on tricky steep and rocky paths this was probably due to the standard road tyres and lack of locking differentials. Worse still the underside was not protected at all from any damage with a skid tray. Besides that the ride was quite plush once again thanks to some type of fancy suspension system although the bench seats were pretty rubbish. Wouldn’t be worth anything one those longer trips. As I pulled back in I was a little disappointed since this thing really looked the part from the outside but was lacking the comfort or 4x4ing prowess to match its looks. But maybe Saolek had a different opinion on this one.
Right, the first monocoque chassis based of the day. It may be light-er-er. But I know that it’s not gonna have the same towing capacity even if the engine has the power for it. Also, it’s a plain steel monocoque chassis and panels. and since it’s a monocoque chassis, the effect of rust is much more significant here. A bad combination from the start. the uses solid axle coil springs, and is a 4x4.
You just can’t miss this one. It looks like a funny/ducky car. You know, the car that’s used only for drag racing. The one with an aeroplane wheel at the back and bike wheel on the front? It has a staggered 195 front and 215 rear. the stagger isn’t that big, but what staggering is the rear wheel offset. 100mm or 10cm out. why? I have no idea, what advantage does it give? I have no idea. is it even a disadvantage even? I’m not sure. let’s just pretend that their engineer knows what they’re doing ok? okay. looking at the brakes. 275mm solid disc with a single piston on the rear, same size with 2 pistons on the front. it’s a nicely setup brake system. it should be plenty.
Under the hood, there’s a 5L V8 OHV. this engine is, how do I say it. optimised, but not really. it’s optimised for the setup that it has, which is a double single barrel eco carb, but with 2 long tubular exhaust headers. but the setup itself is a bit counterproductive. it has a dual high flow long tubular header, and coupled with it, 2 big high-flow catalytic converter. so it can exhale nicely. but on the intake side, it’s fed through 2 very restrictive single barrel carbs. so it’s heavy when inhaling. it’s gonna be pretty powerful up to the mid-range rev, but will be lacklustre at the top end.
Anyway, going into the car. I found 5 basic seats, but no audio players. the crew would have to bring their own ‘walkman’ if they want to listen to some music. It also has both Power Steering and ABS available. and, every single body piece seems very sturdy and there’s a plethora of safety features like the spring loaded seatbelts, 5 point airbag, integrated roll cage. This coupled with the monocoque chassis, managed to give this car a 5-star safety rating for the class. Maybe once retired, this car might be a good car for a destruction derby event. That is if it hasn’t rusted fully yet.
Driving around the facility, this… is the easiest one to drive so far, there’s barely any effort needed to steer the car. Except maybe bearing the bounce, but even the seats are cushioned enough for it to be more than just tolerable. But it still has one last trick. it’s another truck with a hydropneumatic suspension, so really, the bounce is minimal.
But at 5.5km/l at a claimed $3280 cost to run per year. it’s not exactly economical, although, the upfront cost is a bit lower, but not low enough at $11550@10%
The stumbling block is the engine. it’s unclear of which path it wants to go. It wants to be economical with the eco carbs, but it also wants to perform good, resulting in neither good fuel consumption nor high performance
In the end. although it has ample cargo space. The overall build quality of the engine isn’t all that good, and the economy figures isn’t great. I’m sorry, but I’m really reluctant to say yes to this car.
@Der_Bayer - 1986 BAM Bavaria 628 BRX
Now it is one I was looking forward to since I noticed it in the pack. It was unlike anything else in our entries. Low slung and sporty design it looked more like something from Group B Rally than a vehicle for a big multinational conglomerate. Which was hardly surprising once I realised this was a BAM vehicle with all that sporting heritage from those big BRC racing series! The body looked like a mix of a Lancia Delta and Audi Quattro. The grill was nice sharply angled inwards at the edges chrome design with crosshair layout.
Up front and all around it had those modern black protective stripes which not only protected the body but gave a very modern and sporty design. Below were the indicators and subtle lower grill and even lip spoiler! The bonnet showed this thing meant business with twin nostril scopes. Along the side, the body was raked and sporty in a hatchback configuration. Door handles were body coloured and side indicators flowed well with the body. On the rear, a racing-inspired spoiler was mounted up the top of the hatch and looked great.
The tail also featured those modern all in one blackout taillights like the Traviss yet here there were horizontal and slimmer design which looked far sporter. They were integrated with a black plastic number plate mounting and the badging was mounted above that. A little chrome Turbo badge let us know this was going to really fun ride and it was backed up with large chrome exhaust pipe! Enough of exterior I couldn’t wait to check out inside and take this thing for a spin! Getting inside it was a bit harder than the rest of the vehicles so far as it’s so much lower I had to bend down to get in compared with the all those tall 4x4s.
I was greeted with a nice interior with lots of sculpted plastics and cloth I didn’t see any metal finishes here. Even nice door light! Five nice cloth seats, proper manual adjustable stuff for the drive unlike that bench seat on the Traviss. Safety equipment all looked pretty standard stuff so, unfortunately, no airbags. But that meant the steering wheel looked pretty classic and sporty and clearly felt power assisted. The dash had some extra gauge including a boost meter! ABS light was present on the instruments. At the centre console, there was only a basic old eight track system but better than nothing! Starting it up I was met with a whisper quiet and smooth turbocharged straight six.
It hums along nicely but you never really get any power until you hit the 2,000 RPM mark and then this thing really takes off! I had the radio on with Kim Wilde - You Keep Me Hangin’ On and this car really plays with your heart but it just keeps you hangin’ on. It makes you feel like Timo Salonen driving down these unpaved roads around our site. It has a nicely geared five-speed manual transmission and unlike the Traviss has locking hubs and 50/50 split AWD system. Proper 4x4 tyres and protective skid tray which it needs since it’s one of the lower vehicles here although it was never an issue despite overall not quite managing the 4x4 performance of our current truck it does a very commendable job even it’s very clear car-based design.
To sum it up? Totally awesome little hatchback. I’m even considering looking into one of these when I get home! But that said, it’s not a good fit for our business, it’s not a work vehicle, even if it is a load of fun! Unfortunately, it’s advanced design is wholly unsuited for the rough and hard work we do. The body is too small and low for proper work with our crew. That said I’m not the only one interested in purchasing one of these beasts! This thing is a sweet ride right out of the danger zone. Now I wanna see what Saolek thinks of this AWD monster!
This… is a hot hatch… purely a hot hatch.
Monocoque chassis, independent rear suspension. AWD system.
But still. I have to be fair, who know if this brings a surprise not both of us expected.
So. 205 wide offroad tires? On 14" rims and a little bit of an offset on the front tire. The brakes are fully vented all around, with 2 pistons on the front and 1 on the rear. It’s plenty.
Okay, moving on to the power plant. It’s a 2.8 inline 6 DAOHC engine with a turbo on it and it’s a bit overbore. Full cast stuff on the bottom end, and it has ooooh, this I have seen before but never tinkered with. A twin DCOE carburettor, I will need to read the manual, but it should be pretty similar to the usual ones and it packs almost the same amount of horses as ours with almost half the size. Forced induction truly is something, with a turbo, and 2 reverse flow mufflers. I might be able to hear anything. but, all those nice things aside. There’s just soooo much stuff in the engine bay, so much moving parts, so much stuff that can break.
Going inside. it has 5 standard feature seats, well figures, It is a hot hatch after all. But a classic 8 track player. Power steering and ABS are also present. The safety features are pretty usual, nothing too fancy, but a bit more than basic. It has 5 speed manual as the power delivery method. and… a manual locker? I have a hunch that this is supposed to be a road version of a rally car.
Okay, time to start the engine… is it on? there’s no vibration, no sound, but the tachometer says it’s on. a bit of gas pumping might help? A little bit, it just gives off a smooth and silent humm. time for the test drive. It’s really punchy. Although the turbo spools up really early, being used to low revving engine and cruising in sub-2000RPM becomes a bad habit here. since the power only starts to come after 2000RPM. I even stalled it twice at the start. 1 word. TUUURRRRBOOOOOOO
In the end. this isn’t a work truck, It’s doesn’t have the surprise that I hoped it would have, although it did surprise me in other ways. but, the economy figures are relatively abysmal for a car like this. 7.26km/l, and claimed maintenance cost are about the same as a work truck. i’m sorry, but as a work truck, I would have to say no. but as a personal car, well I see at least 2 of the crews are interested on it.
@thecarlover - 1986 Solo Rocky CM
Alright back from the danger zone. Now for something much more practical…but who says practical needs to be boring? Certainly not the folks over at Solo! They’ve sent us the Rocky CM. Now a quick look shows this vehicle is a proper 4x4. Raised roof with roof racks, quad roof mounted spotlights. The blokes at Solo Motors are sticklers for details and I can really appreciate that. The hood has an extra intake at the front bonnet mounted badge and cooling vents either side along with easy to remove externally mounted retro style hinges.
Up front, the Rocky brings yet another take on that classic formula this time with just two large circular headlights inset in black plastic square mounts matching up with the indicators either side and the large horizontally striped grill. It’s a nice looking 4x4 and I think it would fit right in with KRK Corp. Now taking a look at the back we see another variation on those integrated striped all in one taillights matched with a black strip connecting above the number plate mounting and I assume this is where those Solo engineers hide the tailgate latch. Above that is the badge.
Did I mention the wheels? The Rocky comes with a nice classic set of five spoke steelies. Now stepping inside it’s a back to basics 4x4 interior but a really well setup one! You’ve got six seats in a cleverly separated bench setup which still allows the driver some very basic adjustments. The flat plastic and painted metal dash houses a basic eight-track sound system and some quality but rudimentary ventilation and heating systems. I don’t really see any safety equipment besides the basic lap seat belts and the steering wheel flex. Speaking of which there is a one finger light power steering system which is pretty darn good. Starting it up it’s another classic V8 that isn’t quite as in your face as our noisy old truck but nice enough.
Everything is proper 4x4 spec with a nifty five-speed manual box on the floor with locking hubs and low range. As a result, it performs very well off road and even comes with a protective skid tray. I suspect it could do even better with some proper 4x4 tyres instead of these cheap road car tyres it comes equipped with but overall it’s perfectly fine. I pulled back and thought this was a pretty competitive package but would that be enough? I’ll hand over to my colleague for a final look.
Keys on hand. let’s get on to this.
Looking at the chassis underneath. and then rechecking the spec sheets, it is confirmed that they are using galvanised steel for the chassis, albeit, this particular chassis seems to just that tiny bit more robust than what I’ve seen so far.
The black round thing on the side has a width of 215mm hard tires on 16" rims. pretty big. on the front, I see a solid piston disc and a 2 piston calliper. and on the brake, ye 'olde drum brakes. though, those drum brakes are huge. but, there’s a big gaping hole in the well again. brake cooling.
Moving on. opens up the hood. props the hood up, rechecking the spec sheet on hand. 4.2L OHV V8 that is making 182 horses. it’s slightly over bore. but seeing that it revs up to 5300RPM and have peak power at 5000RPM, that bottom end parts can’t be the normal stuff, although they say it’s just a normal cast iron. feeding the fuel is done by a single 4 barrel carb. but again, it’s not the normal stuff. same story with the exhaust systems. there’s quite a bit of thought That goes into this one. but something still irks me about the engine, a gut feeling that says it’s not as good as it seems.
Moving on----to the inside. 6 basic seats, with not so basic quality. an 8 track player with quite a bit of features. it also has power steering, but no ABS, though. and the safety rating is, meh. it’s okay. not like we’re going more than 60km/h everyday. that is if the driver is sane. the gearbox is a 5-speed manual.
Driving around, it’s relatively easy to control. certainly not the easiest, but still significantly nicer to control than our current car. but it’s not exactly the most comfortable either. the engine is pretty nice too, quite linear power band, and does give power when it needs.
Overall. 6.68km/l figures isn’t all that bad, and the maintenance cost is supposedly a bit lower than average. the car as a whole, is really sturdy, there’s a lot of caution and care went into making this car, i’m sure it will last quite a while, and not have much trouble in its life too.
but, while everything in my mind says yes, there’s still that gut feeling that says no to that engine, and just engine in particular. this one, we’ll have to see how it compares.
4 Likes
@AirJordan - 1986 Smooth Rodrigo XT
Now here’s a real futuristic machine! I’ve heard some of my mates call this just a jacked up wagon but then again others have said it’s one of those new Sports Utility Vehicles! Whatever it is it’s very handsome! It’s like something from out of Back to the Future! Very rounded and sleek in a pearly white paint job. The body is blended with black plastic protective strips heavily integrated with the design and matched with the modern black door handles, roof racks and from bullbar.
Up front, it’s a very sleek set of quad circular headlights mounted in modern glass design making it look very modern. They integrate seamlessly with a blacked out grill. On the hood, it even looks like they’ve included window washes. It’s running on a nice set of deep dish steel rims. At the rear, it’s got a unique set of black striped all in one taillights matched by black strip and below another rear crash bar protecting the exhaust pipes.
While the whole exteriors look is great and very modern I couldn’t help but notice some of the lower black plastic protective strips almost appeared to be coming off the body so clearly the fit and finish isn’t as smooth as its name suggests. Despite these irregularities, I couldn’t find any actual major quality issues so maybe the previous tester was too rough? Anyway, let’s check out the rest of the vehicle.
In a striking contrast to the out of this world exterior, the interior is extremely basic. Clearly, Smooth folks spend all their cash on designing that sculpted body they had nothing left to spend on anything else for the passengers. Safety is on par with the Solo with lap belts and no airbags or ABS. it has five basic seats with no adjustment at all. The doors are flat plastic covered with painted metal finishes and manually operated windows.
The dash was a slightly sculpted plastic with a mix of painted metal and featuring a small lightweight glove box and basic eight track. Along with some simple fan and heating instruments and basic gauges with speedo, fuel and temp gauges. A taco would have been a nice option here. The simple steering wheel did have a nice power steering system. Starting it up it was immediately louder than the previous vehicles. It wasn’t as loud as the current truck but had a nice deep V8 burble. Power was delivered via a manual five-speed box on the floor.
Despite those modern looks, this was a proper 4x4 with locking hubs, low range box, off road tyres and skid tray. As such the off-road performance around our site was outstanding although it had unexpectedly poor ground clearance. Nonetheless, I didn’t have any real issues on my drive and despite a bit of disappointing interior, it was actually a pretty reasonable ride and nice package. But would it stand up to the mechanical scrutiny of Saolek?
Ooooohhhhhh the wagon goodness. both the ladder chassis and body panels made out full corrosion resistant steel. The rear suspension is a more flexible coil sprung solid axle.
going around the tru… ahem… wagon. it has relatively thinner tires at 185 wide offroad tires on 14" rims. the brakes are full solid disc all around, with 2 pistons on the front and a single piston on the rear.
Under the hood. It’s a small-ish 3.7 v8 with 3 valves SOHC. That’s another camshaft to worry about, along with another 8 extra rocker arms that could fail. although, I kinda have a feeling it won’t this is one of the better built looking engine compared to the ones from before, it’s not the best, but it certainly is enough for a significantly more complex system. the spec sheet says it packs 186 horses, but it’s only a slightly undersquared engine, I have a feeling this could push out a little bit more with a tune. that is if we know how to do it. it’s also using the more complex MPFI, yet they offer no maintenance training lesson. It’s gonna be a few midnight overwork trying to figure this thing out.
Opening the doors, inside it still has an interior, but it’s as basic as you could imagine. 5 seats, and a basic 8 track player. Power steering is installed, but no ABS. Safety systems seem just barely enough to get a 3-star rating. By the look of things, this could very well be both a basic budget family car or a working vehicle. Well, the cars from before could too, but it just looks the part more.
Strolling around the grounds. While the seats are meh, I noticed I could only feel the more major bumps through the steering wheel, only to recall it has progressive springs. But, still, this car is not exactly the easiest one to drive around, and the brake got squishy at the end of the run. Brake fade is real. though, it is one of the quieter cars.
So. 7.15km/l and $2787 is both a bit better than average. and the car overall seems to be nicely built and is built to last. the only downfall is it’s a bit unpleasant to drive around compared to the cars I drove before it. this might get into the final scrutiny list. but for now, it’s in the “we’ll have to see” list. Oh yeah, almost forgot. We need to take that EFI thingy into consideration too.
@Spool - 1986 Crank Performance PistonBroke
I mean I’m not sure what the blokes at Crank Performance were thinking when they came up with the colour but don’t buy the whole claim from their sales pitch which claims that as well as being “massive supporters of boobs, both at work and at home”. They paint all of the cars pink to “raise breast cancer awareness with 5% of profits going to Breast Cancer charities” All very noble stuff besides that highly questionable bit at the start.
But I’m hardly going to suggest to my superiors that we replace our hardy work vehicle with this bridge pink monstrosity. Although I perhaps …maybe it might come in another colour? Certainly, it would be madness to refuse to accept a bulk order because we wanted another colour I think you would have to make an exception for any KRK Corp. order as our we would very much prefer to stay in business then become a laughing stock on the international stage.
So let’s try and be objective here. The blindingly terrible colour choice notwithstanding it’s still a vehicle that’s had some very strange design choices. Sure from a distance if you squint your eyes while wearing some wayfarers it almost looks like a normal 4x4 in shape. It’s a twin cab ute style setup with almost more of spacecab sort of design going on with smaller rear doors and with huge modern yet oddly placed door handles. The rear one doesn’t even appear to be attached to the door but rather sits behind it. I’m not sure what sort of wizardry those Crank Performance chaps are up to with that…perhaps this was the work of their “award winning engineers from the Far East” but I didn’t get around to testing it.
Now despite all these wild claims that is is a “revolutionary design, ” the front is actually quite a basic and fairly conventional look with circular headlights and body coloured grill. Skinny tall indicators off to the sides. Below the main headlights are an extra set of smaller integrated quad headlights and indicators which seem kind of out of place. At the rear you have a very retro style with chrome rounded circular taillight and separate indicators below that the modern rectangular reversing lights.
On the tail of the cabin are extra US truck style lights and extra ones for lighting up the ute bed which is a clever idea. Stepping inside I find to my surprise it’s actually a fairly nice interior sculpted plastic dash with five cloth seats that are fully adjustable for the driver. Nice amount of sound insulation when I close the door. But I soon notice that there is no sound system. Safety is fairly basic with only lap belts although they are actually pretty nice ones. It’s got a four-speed manual box with locking hubs and low range. It misses out on proper 4x4 tyres but it does have a underbody skid tray.
Starting it up I hear it’s got a loud inline six with a pretty unpleasant sounding idle. Maybe that’s because of the turbo setup as I notice the boost gauge in the instruments. As I set off and put it into gear I realise it’s a bit a bit of rubbish gearbox that’s hard to find the right gear. But that said this thing really moves! I think it might be a bit faster than the BAM a straight line. As I try to turn the corner I realise this had the worse power steering system I’ve ever used! It’s so vague and floaty and this cheap road tyres only make it worse to steer.
Overall there seems to be a real lack of quality in the build and even the protective skid tray felt like it might break over some of the rough stuff. As I struggled to get this thing manoeuvred back into our site. I realised this was even worse than the LVC amazonian. Clearly, they need to stop giving so much of their profits to Breast Cancer charities as they really desperately need to invest more cash into making well…just about everything better. I wasn’t keen on the outside looks but that appalling quality all round really sealed the deal. I was very glad to be handing the keys off to Saolek.
Uhh… can skip this one? “THIS AIN’T A WORK TRUCK. IT’S A PIMPMOBILE”
Everything is horrendous. The build quality is just horrible. I’m pretty sure it’s the worse one we have here today. I’ve been really reluctant to get to this car.
If this is isn’t a pimpmobile, then this is a perfect hipster truck
“4 valves per cyl YO”
“It’s got turbo to boot”
“Fancy Multi Point Syringe. You know it does the same thing that a syringes do. It INJECTS”
“SICK SOUNDS YO. That’s straight through mufflers, my brother” yeah. It’s sounds sick. No I mean like an actual disease.
Okay, that’s enough. I could go on and on and on. But I’m gonna stop it there.
Though. I have to admit, it does have some, weirdly, good points to it. That is, able to get 7.87km/l figure, not the best, but still good, and somehow only $2617 claimed maintenance cost per year. I guess, if you could ignore the panels that it sheds while it’s going at highway speeds, you may not need to fix that since it’s just gonna fall again anyway.
@Denta - 1986 Pragata Nusa 4x4
Ah, back to the something more sensible and less err…pink. The Pragate Nusa 4x4 is a brand I haven’t heard of before but it looked the part in a more muted yellow colour. It came with a low roof but with chrome roof racks, quad roof mounted spotlights. Up front, it was a nice modern design with some classic elements. Rounded square main headlights and lower rectangular fog lights either side of the main headlights were the round indicators. The grill was a black plastic cross hair design like a Dodge or Hilux but this one integrated the badging which looked great.
Along the side, there is a stylish black strip from the doors to the back. It really added a distinctive touch to the design. At the back, that cool strip continues finishing at the tailgate which has a full-size spare mounted. The cohesive taillights design are an all in one black plastic mounted. Right at the top, you have extra central tail light for safety and extra indicators. Overall it’s a very nice design that I could see working with KRK Corp. but let’s check out the interior first.
Well, it’s got six seats in a basic bench set up. The interior is very basic mostly painted metal and some fairly poor quality plastics and a bit of odd new car smell which must be those cheap plastic bits. A few bits don’t seem to be very well fitted or put together. But at last! A modern cassette radio sound system! A bit of rubbish quality one from a brand I’ve never heard of but still I want to check it out. In a strange setup, it’s got very basic safety with lap belts and nothing else but I noticed on the dash it has ABS lights and I felt the wheel I think it has power steering. I start it up and wow this thing is loud! Louder than our current beast. I put the five-speed into gear and it’s really mean sounding and pretty quick! It’s also a proper fully setup 4x4 with manual locking hubs, low range, off-road tyres and even a protective skid tray.
As such this was I believe probably the best off-roader of the bunch it pretty much made its own trail. I never ever felt there was a situation it couldn’t handle. Very impressive. I tried to enjoy the fancy sound system but it nearly drowned out by the roar of that V8! But I could still hear the radio with Jaki Graham - Set me free and that’s exactly what this Nusa 4x4 did. It sets you free to explore anywhere and everywhere. As I pulled it back I in a good mood although my back was a little sore those bench seats were pretty bad and the lap belts didn’t keep me in place. So you end up bouncing around the cabin. Still, it was a complete machine here. Let’s see what Saolek thought of it.
Corrosion resistant ladder chassis, but plain steel panels. One of those strip truck again. Will drive off until it’s naked :P. I don’t see anything different or unusual underneath it. What is unusual is DAT GAPS. The panel gaps are sooo big.
It has super wide 235 wide offroad tires and paired with a nice setup full round solid disc brakes. But nothing to note other than that.
Right, let’s see what’s under the power sheathe. It’s an OOHHHH…4 valve SOHC slightly oversquared 4.4L V8 and do I see a tubular exhaust header there? This is a modern machine built for power I see. On the bottom end, it has reinforced I beam steel, and forged pistons feeding the fuel is done through 2 4 barrel carbs, and it has a performance air filter on top of it. Sure enough, it packs 243 horses. I think that’s the highest one I’ve seen so far. although, it only has a single baffled muffler. It’s fancy, and it works, but for how long? it’s so complex, something is bound to break soon.
Okay. going I nnnnnn… it stinks. You’re supposed to like the smell of a new car’s interior, but this one has too much of it. I’ll put my mask first. it has 6 seats inside, but it’s really cheaply done and it has a cheap standard feature cassette player. Well even if it’s cheap, it’s still an upgrade from the 8 track player.
Okay, let’s take this one around. first gear… it’s… really long. I got up to 40km/h and it’s still not near the rev limit, but the other gears are super short. performance engine, narrow power band engine. Something tells me that they took an engine and the gearbox from another car. some kind of performance oriented car. The seats are pretty bad, I’m bouncing all over. But how it drives is actually pretty okay. Not good, but okay.
Fuel figures claimed is 6.39km/l and it costs $3033 per year. Overall this car is a compilation of, “okay”, except for the engine where it’s alien tech and overly complex, though it works, I doubt the guys are gonna like it. Well, they might like the power, though.
Still more to come…
9 Likes
Once again all of your reviews have been on point. Well done @Rk38!
Edit: @Denta has a point, no doubt, although I still used an OHV L4 to ensure greater reliability and reduce servicing costs.
OHC is your future mate, especially when you can find the camshaft outside the block and dont need to steel rod to push your valve
Thanks! But I hope it’s clear that @koolkei has done the second half of all these reviews. First part of half each review is my character Hamish then @koolkei’s character Saolek handles the other part. 
3 Likes
keep this up. it’s quite nice to see two perspectives
Really loving all the work, clear structure and it reads so well I don’t even bother trying to look for typos. Love it!
1 Like
Great stuff so far guys, keep up the good work still haven’t seen anyone with remotely the same gearbox as mine, looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it 
i think it’s the 80’s Aero mod IIRC
well that was released in an even earlier note than i expected. i now declare that i’m the cause of holding the last part, and the finalist section back… 3 cars to goooooooo
######(40 pages of reviews and we’re still not done. it’s pretty much a small story book by itself)
4 Likes
If it’s not there it’s a steam mod
Great reviews so far! Clearly my interpretation of the drag racing part of the challenge was completely off as it hasn’t even been mentioned in the reviews. 
Some food for thought on my ways of attaining major design goals.
I will challenge the reviewers to post 1/4 mile times of all entrants though. Clearly the pink turned them off that much they didn’t take my entry over 60km/hr! 
i searched whole steam, couldn’t find it