Sorry for the delay guys, all reviews are ranked chronologically as the entries came in, and I had fun reviewing all of them, all being unique and impressive in their own way, so letâs begin 
[size=150]Kirk Tillibt[/size]
A base model Kirk Tillibt was the first car I went to take a look at. A fun and comfortable convertible. My first impressions were that the front looks pretty classy, maybe even too classy for its era with its grill and trimming, the rear on the other hand is sporty and modern, the Tillibt even has some aggression in it with the subtle hood vent and sporty rims, I quite like it.
Firing up the engine, a small V8 came with a modest yet confident purr to life, however, to my surprise the purr didnât come from the front, but the rear of the car. A rear engined V8 convertible, interesting! MacPhersons all round definitely wasnât too shabby either, meaning that there was some significant storage space in front.
Taking the Tillibt for a test drive it turned out to be a very smooth ride indeed with its soft suspension and thick tyres, comfortably absorbing all bumps, however after going somewhat fast over a speed bump, the car shortly scraped over the ground, oops! The interior sufficed as well with its standard 4 seater trim and cd player, with airbags placed all over. I wasnât exactly looking for a convertible, but it sure adds to the fun of cruising on sunny days. However, it being a softtop it caused wind noise to leak in while on the highway.
Now letâs talk performance. The engine has some amazingly flat torque in the mid range, and delivered a very broad 146 hp at most, sweet lil V8 right there. While cornering the tail could easily be persuaded to go wide, especially with TC and ESP turned off, hell, it would even be a decent drift car if it werenât for the automatic transmission. A quirky thing that I noticed is that the front tyres have positive camber, whilst definitely being a way to reduce the carâs oversteer, this does increase front tyre wear, especially when cornering a lot, where camber gets even more positive. The running costs were decent however, at $2014 in Gasmea. Whilst being fun and still driveable, the natural oversteer, and the automatic transmission didnât make the Kirk Tillibt one of the fastest around Circuit Zolder, but thatâs not where it belongs. It lives to be cruised, and does a great job at that, fulfilling one of my needs in a great way.
[size=150]2012 Needle Production Cars Burleigh HardHead[/size]
On I went from one convertible to the next, this time a hard top. The HardHead looks like a happy little sporty car, wait, what do you mean it has 500 hp? Iâll never in my youngster life be able to insure that. Well, Iâll check it out anyhow, you never know.
Double wishbones all round and a turbocharged inline 6. You know this car is the proper stuff, although partial alu is an odd choice in this era. Firing up the 3L inline 6 no trace of a turbocharger was to be found, odd. I took it down the road, nearly shifted to second gear until suddenly the turbo kicked in, hell, tyres screaming the car sure took off, the engine roaring gloriously. Tremendous turbo lag, with the turbo spooling up at 4900 rpm, but so much power, even with assists on it was a challenge. The sport seats kept my buttock where they belonged during high speed cornering aswell, although it just had a basic cd player and standard airbags. The HardHead quite possibly is the opposite of the Kirk Tillibt, whilst both convertibles they clearly belong in an entirely different habitat. The HardHead is in full race spec, with active sport suspension, which, whilst being active, still was quite hard on the bumps. The mileage was pretty high aswell at 12L/100km. When breaking for the corners I noticed that the brakes slowly began to fade, so I took a look. And sure the brake discs werenât up for the job, despite the front brake discs being ventilated and the rear brake discs being carbon ceramic. Hell, the rear brake discs were nearly small enough for philosophers to start argue whether they exist or not, theyâre that tiny and cute.
It was pretty clear, whilst being great at the track, the HardHead wasnât any good as daily driver, being probably impossible to insure for me with its 496 hp, and having high running costs at $3001. It would have been good as track exclusive car, requiring no insurance, if it werenât 50% over my budget, with its new price at 32.400, and even then I wouldnât be able to daily it.
[size=150]Baltazar Zeppelin 1.95 Lux[/size]
Next I went to check out a Baltazar Zeppelin. The moment I laid eyes upon it, its sleek aggressive front and back gave me the âboss monsterâ kind of vibe. You know, something youâd encounter at the end of a dungeon in a game. Not like itâs big, itâs a low pretty small MR machine, I sure liked it.
The material used for the monocoque and panels was a pleasant surprise too, full aluminium, and that at a pricetag of easily 10% under my budget. Double wishbones all around aswell.
Turning the key an aluminium 2L inline 4 came to life, or a 1.95L inline 4 to be more precise. The performance intake was quite scary at first, considering itâs generally noisier and more intensive to maintain, but the Zeppelin doesnât have high running costs and is quiet when it wants to be. Above 4000 rpm though, the bypass valves do their thing, and the performance intake adds to the sound of the engine, giving it a lovely little aggressive roar. Performance wise the engine fared well despite being relatively simplistic in design, over 170 Nm of torque at low-mid range with a broad 140 hp up top. Although its torque curve starts pretty late, Itâs economical aswell, doing merely 6.13l/100km combined, although its lightweight aluminium body sure mustâve given a helping hand with that. All in all it was easy to drive, and a very fun car to drive despite the understeer, and resulted in an impressive lap time around Zolder at 2:07.62.
The Zeppelin makes a good cruiser aswell, with premium seats giving plenty of comfort, standard entertainment and advanced safety precautions, although some of the advanced airbags seemed quite small. However it did not escape from the MR Achilles heel of having an uncomfortable front suspension, which was progressive, gas and passive respectively by the way, although the premium seats make up for some of this.
All in all, it was an impressive car to drive in any condition, being pretty much fully aluminium, making it as lightweight as it might get nowadays whilst being below budget and very economical.
[size=150]Solo Hare PM-4T[/size]
The following car to go see was a modern MR car aswell, albeit was quite different. Looking like a gentle MR sports car. Especially the headlights were nice, although the indicators gave the car a frowning look, and you just canât help but be reminded of a Ferrari when looking at the rear. The car doors opening in McLaren wing style made me worry about clearance issues when parking in a garage, but since the car is this low this didnât turn out to be an issue.
This time round the chassis didnât use Aluminium but AHS steel with aluminium panels, was very pleased to see the car still rocked a full double wishbones setup. In the middle a turbocharged 1.8L inline 4 is tucked away coupled with a quick sequential gearbox, giving 220+ NM of torque quite early at 2400 rpm, while slowly dropping past 4000 rpm, which resulted into a very pleasing engine to cruise. Despite being a turbocharged engine, the economy wasnât phenomenal, but still quite good at 6.81L/100 km, which probably is due to the quite rich fuel mixture for 13.3:1. This engine didnât rock bypass valves which made me feel like the engine gave a sporty, yet quite contained sound, just like the exterior, this made the car feel like a somewhat business-like sports car, responsibly sporty.
Next comes the handling. Bang on neutral and predictable at lower speeds and very tame at high speeds, this whilst being fitted with same sized tyres, allowing for tyre rotation, neat! Although the front end does have positive camber, but being able to rotate the tyres makes this very forgivable. Despite the air suspension, the front end is quite harsh and has a rapid rebound compared to the rear, which rebounds relatively slow. Interior wise the car is very well equipped though, making the car comfortable after all with its premium seats, standard entertainment and also equipped with standard safety.
Ah yes, to conclude: asides from being a great cruiser asides from the front suspension, it makes a good track car aswell, having sweet neutral handling, lots of torque and being quite fast around Zolder with a time of 2:07.63. Its running costs are higher though, at $2163.
[size=150]
Storm Breeze[/size]
Ohboy, along came the practical car. American styling with a trunk large enough to not just hide one body in but two! Next to looking American it gave me the mafia vibe as well with its dark blue colour. Itâs big too for its wheelbase, with the front and rear sticking out significantly, which may make parking a bit harder, but ohwell. The minivan rear doors were a surprise as well, not a bad one though, sure makes it easier for possible passengers to get out in a tight parking spot, still an unusual thing to see though.
Right, letâs check out the chassis. Looking at the materials itâs clear why the car, despite its small wheelbase, weighs 1671 kg. Full corrosion resistant steel. What it does have however, is sweet double wishbones all around. Opening the bonnet a blue 2.6L V6 appears. Twin turbo charged that is, damn. Itâs the holy mother of torque, 268nm of it at 2500 rpm, with an incredibly broad 157hp at top, making this car a proper pony in my opinion. I did hear some rumours about the engine blowing up after hard track use though, with the pistons being unable to cope with long term high rpms. The car in whole is just 2 cylinders away from earning the bald eagleâs seal of approval. The car also is AWD! Resulting together with a viscous LSD in seemingly endless traction.
Comfortwise was satisfying aswell, with standard interior features and simple, yet ok/reasonably comfortable suspension, the car does suffer from clear understeer though, especially at speed. Together with thin tyres and high weight this made the car handle poorly, which can be told from its laptime of 2:19.89 around Circuit Zolder. In a straight line it is pretty quick though, especially for a low power sedan, so once again, I canât help but be reminded of America when checking this car out.
So, itâs a great practical cruiser, but doesnât quite cut it for me in the corners.
[size=150]
Centauri Phoenix GT386[/size]
My next visit was to go see a Phoenix in GT 386 trim, the first âoldtimerâ to go see. Itâs styling is very 80âs indeed, having a certain elegance about it, although quite 80âs boxy. The rear is quite aggressive aswell, with 4 exhausts with the diameter of a cannon barrel.
The chassis and panels are made or ordinairy corrosion resistant steel, good, so it wonât rust. Under the well vented bonnet, a V8 , a 3.9L flatplane V8 with aluminium heads that is, making 356Nm of torque and 280 hp. Sure gives the car quite some power, without being too much, revving up to 7300 rpm producing an elegant sporty whine. On internet fora it is said that the MPFI and the valves are utterly indestructible, but engines with high mileage driven hard do get their engine blown due to piston failure, something Iâve got to pay attention to it seems. But how the engine pulls is incredible, 0-100 in less than 5 seconds, madness.
Now on to the track. Sadly due to that amount of power, despite being ventilated, the brakes do suffer from some fade, very slight, but itâs there. At low speeds the car got quite tame, neutral handling, but sadly at high speed the car seems to understeer a fair bit. But, how fast is it actually? âVeryâ seems to be the answer, going around Zolder in 2 minutes and just one second.
Sadly the suspension is quite firm though, although unlike most MR cars the front isnât especially much harder than the rear. Together with standard equipment itâs good enough to be driven around to trackdays, whilst avoiding speed bumps that is.
Great classic, lovely V8 engine, but to be completely honest I canât help feeling like something âwowâ is missing about it, all components do their job in making it a great sportscar, but none really stood out and made me fall in love enough to pick this over something I can daily drive, possibly yet sadly due to personal preference.
[size=150]
Bogliq Fox Touring[/size]
Next I went to look at a more recent car, the Bogliq Fox. Hey, havenât I seen this car beforeâŚHmm, it reminds me of the Mazda Rx7 with modified headlights. Looks good though, yet simple, with an quirky Stratoslike spoiler on the B pillar.
Chassiswise, sweet, just 1335 kg, AHS steel, aluminium panels, double wishbones, RWD, yep, itâs a proper sportscar. Lifting the bonnet up, an orange 2L AlSi inline 6 is found, with relatively flat torque from 2500 to 4500, making it quite a comfy cruising engine, and with a flat 155 hp on top a quite fast engine aswell, revving to nearly 8000 rpm, premium internals too. And the engine just keeps on giving, being super responsive, gives a great sound and is economical too, resulting in an economy of 6.36L/100 km. It was too good to be true, and so it was, requiring super unleaded. Slightly more expensive, and broadly available in Europe, okay, it isnât that bad at all, but if the engine has a downside, thatâs it.
Comfortwise, it might just be the best, premium interior and entertainment. Not too many airbags though, but thanks to its size still scored well on the NCAP tests. Taking the car on an imperfect road made it clear that it does have a firm suspension though, such a shame. What the car does have is incredibly neutral handling, which, together with its engine, makes it an absolute joy to drive. Taking it to Zolder, it turned out not that fast, yet still a good time at 2:10.05, most likely due to its thin tyres which can be rotated, resulting in reasonable running costs, despite running on super unleaded⌠and having -3 degrees of camber in the rear, wait what? Although tyre rotation is possible, it wouldnât make much sense with such extreme camber in the rear.
The Fox was so great, yet has some downfalls, such as running on super unleaded, a quite firm suspension and extreme rear camber.
[size=150]Revera R270[/size]
Back to the oldtimers, the R270. My God, it just looks soâŚmasculine, but without the chest hair showing. I really like how it looks for some reason, looks like a proper supercar, yet significantly cheaper.
The chassis is standard sportscar, no fancy materials, but corrosion resistant with double wishbones, and a longitudinally mounted 4L V8. Also, the build quality on this engine is incredible, rendering it very reliable indeed. In the midrange thereâs lots of torque, together with a pretty flat 275 Hp. And just like the body, this engine is manly as hell, delivering a deep powerful grunt.
The rest of the car is built damn well too, with premium features inside and advanced safety for it time. Sadly enough, the suspension is just as manly, being rock hard at front, yet still bottoming out. Quite the compromises to make the car very low with just 135 mm of clearance. Itâs so fun to drive though, oversteering (in a properly manly fashion) at low speeds, but understeering significantly at high speed. It has modest camber too, which is good for the tyre wear, resulting into reasonable running costs for an oldtimer. Itâs very fast as well, going around Zolder in less than 2 minutes despite oversteering, Christ on a bike. The front brakes were insufficient at speed though, although just barely.
All in all, I liked this car, itâs rock solid in reliability, has a sweet engine and good handling, but sadly the suspension is a lacklustre being so hard and still bottoming out.
[size=150]
Zestra Valiant[/size]
Next up, a sedan. The Valiant sure looks sporty, especially for a sedan, but does it have the guts to back it up?
The chassis is made of AHS steel with partial Alu panels, giving it, for a sedan, a low weight of just 1382 kg. The suspension setup is quiteâŚlow end though, with McPherson struts and semi trailing arms, this doesnât have to mean anything, since Hondas can be quite sporty aswell with such a setup, so letâs continue to the engine. Itâs an all-aluminium 1.6L inline 4. With VVL that is, quite Honda indeed. It has a small strip of flat torque between 2000 and 3000 rpm, which is nice for cruising. Just 150Nm though, same up top, giving a pretty short 137 hp with some pretty flat torque. Sure is going to be cheaper on the insurance. Having direct injection means itâs pretty responsive, so it got that going for it, and itâs very quiet. But, despite having direct injection it isnât very economical, which may be due to itâs quite rich mixture of 13.6:1.
This cute little engine is coupled to a manual 5 speedâŚwith electric LSD. Thatâs right, despite itâs puny small 165 mm tyres in front, it does have some wizardry to get some grip out of these tyres. Sadly the brakes slowing these wheels suffer from great brake fade, which may be a serious issue on the track.
Its interior is quiteâŚwell, standard 5 seater. Itâs practical as hell though, having more space than I probably will need. The electronic wizardry doesnât end with the diff though, having active sport spring, resulting in a comfortable ride, sweet!
Sadly, the car is an understeer nightmare, even more so at high speed, pretty much killing all fun. A shame indeed, resulting in a slow lap time aswell at 2:25.
All in all, a decent sedan, but not the car Iâm looking for.
[size=150]
Smooth Piston V12 Sport[/size]
Back to the classics! Ah, the Smooth Piston V12 sport. Looks slightly quirky, but very elegant, I do like the front and the rear is just very classy.
To the chassis, standard corrosion resistant steel, but with aluminium panels, adding to the fancy of the car. With double wishbones, resulting into a weight of just 1092 kg, very nice indeed. Speaking of fancy, under the hood is a V12! Just 3 litres, but it does perform and gives a sweet sound. Sadly, these engines were infamous for blowing when being tracked, and pushed beyond. The engine does make good cruising material though, being nice n flat from 2500 to 4500 rpm with 270 Nm of torque and giving the car a good economy of merely 7.5L/100 km!
The car is an absolute joy to drive too, with sport seats keeping you in place and with pretty tame, but not really that understeering handling. Sadly the suspension indeed is trackday material though, and bottoms out slightly. The Smooth Piston is fast too, going round Zolder in just over 2 minutes. Just a damn shame that the engine isnât up to the challenge of trackdays in the long term.
[size=150]Erin Nasaro 2.0L S[/size]
This must be the smallest car of the competition, also the lightest. The styling tooks pretty tight and modest, although cooling in the back surely mustâve been sufficient with all the ventilation.
Rocking the seemingly standard Corrosion Resistant steel with aluminium panels, itâs clear why the car is this light, however, some reinforcements for added stiffness seem to be in place, a nice touch indeed. Under the bonnet is one of the few turbocharged engines of this round, yet sadly, despite the high quality components, the pistons and conrods do have reliability issues when the engine is pushed. Also, the slow spool makes this a tough engine to utilise, especially in an MR car.
The inside is pretty nicely done, with quality components and premium interior, yet sadly this doesnât result into good comfort as the suspension is rock hardâŚAnd oversteers a fair bit.
The Nasaro, despite being fun, is a good challenge both on my back and keeping the car on the track. It was however, capable of doing 2:04.75 around Zolder, making this car quite damn fast after all.
Erin Nasaro, a fun lightweight car thatâs sadly held back by engine reliability, drivability and comfort.
[size=150]
Schack Etera GT-P
[/size]
A classy early 90âs coupe, having a slight European look about it, although looking somewhatâŚblunt, yet cute in a way. Also, I donât quite see how the trunk can be opened with the wing in place, but something might be foreseen for this.
Its weight of 1529 kg Is partly due to laking full alu panels, but also due to being equipped with AWD, giving this car, the Etera, an incredible amount of traction. Although, surprisingly enough, the chassis is of ladder type.
However, the real charm in this car is found under the bonnet, a nearly lag-free (spooling up at 2200 rpm) aluminium inline 6, with up to 380 Nm of torque! Which makes it the more of a shame that this engine does suffer from reliability issues at high rpm. Such a shame, really is.
The thing making it thus the worse is that the car is very comfortable indeed, with very nicely finished premium interior, high tech advanced safety (to make up for the ladder type chassis is my guess). And quite comfortable suspension indeed.
Sadly the car does suffer from a fair bit of understeer at speed, but, gets a good time around Zolder: 2:03.46.
The Schack Etera has been great, yet sadly is held back by engine reliability and a ladder chassis.
[size=150]1990 Luther Moderna GT[/size]
A cute, spacious coupe with quite a sporty edge. Quite practical indeed for a coupe.
Although the car is made of corrosion resistant steel, it does have multilink rear suspension, a pleasant surprise!
Under the bonnet is a 30 valve 2.4L inline 6 with cast iron block, and aluminium head. Although definitely not being a bad engine, it does lack the low-mid range power that the other choices do have. Also, it sure does have an impressive reliability, mainly thanks to the incredibly high quality fuel system.
Inside of the car I got overwhelmed with comfort and luxury, luxury interior, entertainment and advanced safety, together with comfortable suspension.
The car handles reasonably well too, fully tame at speed and near neutral at tighter corners, this, but with its more modest engine gives it a time of 2:13 around Zolder, thus not being one of the faster options.
Great luxury cruiser, yet lacks some performance.
[size=150]
Proto AX[/size]
âŚItâs so small! And so light! But especially, very, very boxy. Looks quite aggressive too, although maybe slightly rice-y to my taste. The car is well within budget aswell.
Rocking aluminium panels and multilink suspension, the car weighs in at just 874 kg. Really, really light. And really short with a wheelbase of just 2.17m. Being this small, it only required a small 174 hp 20V Inline 4. Although it does have flat torque up top, it doesnât have a lot of it down below, a shame. The engine however, is really well put together, especially the internals.
Despite being boxy, a lot of time seems to have gotten into the aerodynamics of the Proto to make up for this boxiness. Its highspeed handling is superb too, being near neutral, being pretty muchperfectly neutral at tight corners. Going around Zolder in 2:01.18. So so lovely. Itâs a shame then that it just has basic entertainment and harsh suspension.
Overall, a great sporty car for the track, but not as safe and comfortable as Iâd have liked, even for an oldtimer.
[size=150]
Komodo Zygot XZ[/size]
Well, Iâve heard of this fella before in a more budget spec, but letâs see what itâs worth with a higher pricetag. It sure has a fun, sporty looking front, with an interesting fastback design and pretty basic behind.
Looking at its bones, itâs clear that it will get rusting problems though, being fully made of non-resistant steel, real shame, mustâve been a leftover from the hardcore budget spec. It does rock double wishbones all round though, which is sweet.
Under the bonnet is a 1.5L inline 4 with direct injection and VVL, having sufficient yet pretty modest torque on the whole range. A quirky negative of this engine is that the redline is right after it produces the most power (156hp). The internals arenât stressed for another 800 rpm or so either, so that turned out to be quite an odd design choice. The engine is very economical and reliable though, resulting in a low economy of 5.34L/100km and low running costs of just $1741. Thanks to the engine, DCT transmission and electric LSD the car is very driveable as well.
The interior is made of premium stuff, but the suspension is somewhat harsh for a daily driver, which is a shame. The handling of the car however, is quite neutral at tight corners and tame at speed, neat. This resulted into a laptime of 2:11.15 around Zolder, probably due to the engine lacking torque and being cut off early.
Great car, this Zygot, yet such a shame that itâs a rustbucket, which I canât deal with when buying secondhand, its engine lacking torque and cutting off early, and its suspension being quite hard.
[size=150]Conclusion[/size]
All great cars each with their up and downsides, and believe me, this decision really, really is tough, making a ranking was even more impossible, thus I will only call out a single winner.
First of all, I do have a favourite of the approach that did not end up winning, but was a very, very close call in the end: The Revera R270. It just has loads of character and incredible reliability, yet just couldnât bring enough to the table to be chosen over the daily driveable option: the Balthazar Zeppelin. Despite lacking some refinement it was fast, cheap to run, reasonably comfortable, not too powerful at all to insure and under budget.
Congratulations Leonardo!
