I seem to have brought a viper to a lotus fight. Let’s see if smooth torque and that little something different is worth the MPG hit.
I seem to have brought a brazillian-american-japanese orgy to the party
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Dunno, my 2L v12 is rather smooth…
And I brought a car to a car fight
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ditto.
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can we stop now pls
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CSR61 Reviews and Results, Part 1: First Day of Cuts
Up to now, I have been content with having a tame daily driver as the only car in my garage, but now that I have a few years of driving experience under my belt, I realized that it was time to cut loose and buy a sports car for weekend duties. Thus, I had the (un)enviable task of examining the many choices available in this part of the market. With the next millennium just a matter of months away, I had to make sure that my next purchase would carry me towards Y2K and beyond with confidence. So to start things off, I started looking at the pile of brochures stacked on top of the coffee table right in front of me.
The first brochure was for the Orion XMS-1. This bright yellow supercar definitely looked like a machine from the 21st century, despite (or because of) its immense fender flares. Its engine, a 10.0L twin-turbo V8, cranked out 666 horsepower and >750 lb-ft of torque, distributed across all four wheels. Orion claimed that it could reach 60 mph in 3.4 seconds and top out at 210, all with a premium interior, CD player, and a full set of driving aids for just $24960. With so much performance and standard equipment on offer, the XMS-1 is the first car to join my shortlist.
The Zasteros XS1, on the other hand, did not. It was nowhere near as attractive as the Orion, especially in sludgy grey-green, and despite having 266 horsepower, it would have been horrid to drive thanks to reverse-staggered tires. In a mid-engined car like the XS-1, that’s asking for trouble, and so its brochure was the first of many to end up on the discard pile.
Next was the Letto Evpra Mk5. Silly name aside (a portmanteau of Evolution and Supra?), it was much better looking than the ghastly Zast, and Letto claimed to have hit the bullseye with a twin-turbo V12 driving all four wheels. Unfortunately, that engine only displaced 2 litres, and also suffered from an enormous amount of turbo lag. That lack of responsiveness ensured that the little Letto also got the thumbs down from me, and headed to the discard pile.
I took a glance at the next brochure without any hesitation. This one was for the Centauri Buffalo GTZ. As soon as I saw a picture of the car, I was hooked. Finished in deep metallic blue, this thing was drop-dead gorgeous, with more curves than Malibu Stacey Blitsch. Centauri saw fit to give it an engine commensurate with its aggressive styling, and endowed the Buffalo with a 9.0L pushrod V8 delivering 401 bhp and 500 lb-ft. Despite not having a passenger airbag or stability control, the Buffalo is still good value at just $23160, so it joins the Orion XMS-1 on my shortlist.
Another brochure, another blue car. The Bogliq Dolphin 33R was next up, and the spec sheet was fairly promising, with pushrod-actuated suspension and a 3.3L normally aspirated flat-crank V8 driving the rear wheels. But I disliked its bizarre bug-eyed front end, having realized that I would prefer my car to be an object of desire, not derision. For that, the Dolphin heads straight to the discard pile.
Moving on to the next car, the Townsend Templar Grandmaster, should have brought some relief, but it didn’t. Yes, it was powered by a 5.3L V8 developing 342 horsepower, but it’s wrapped up in a two-door sedan bodyshell that’s actually too big for my tastes, and has dated styling to boot. The big rear wing is also at odds with the car’s refined premium image. It’s no wonder that the Templar also ends up in the discard pile, just because it doesn’t know what it’s trying to look like.
The DNV T3 TaC turned out to be something of a conundrum. The spec sheet listed a 3.3L V8 with 325 bhp, enough for 0-60 in 4.5 seconds and just over 150 mph, plus all the latest driving aids, a premium interior and seating for four. But all of this was wrapped up in a blocky, boxy three-door hatchback body that looked like one of those giant abominations called SUVs. Listen, I love a good wildcard entry, but this is not it, and sadly the DNV ends up in the discard pile.
The Kharmin Diego looked like a much more understated version of the Bogliq Dolphin, despite its bright yellow paintjob. However, as with the Dolphin, I couldn’t bring myself to like the front end of this one either, with disproportionately slim headlights making it look as if it had hardly any discernible face, which didn’t feel right in my view. So it joined the Dolphin in the discard pile.
On the other hand, the dark red Tishillyman Vata was much better resolved aesthetically, with a futuristic eagle-eyed nose to complement its giant whale-tail spoiler. Given that it packed a 370-horsepower punch and had pushrod suspension at each corner to match its looks, it was not surprising that it entered the shortlist, and would stay there for the time being.
Another dark red car, the LLA SR70 V12, appeared to be a tempting proposition at first glance, especially when LLA claimed to have actually put a twin-turbo V12 in its engine bay. Unfortunately, as in the Letto, this one only has 2.0L of displacement, which results in massive turbo lag. The relatively crude semi-trailing arm rear suspension is a cost-saving measure totally at odds with the use of complicated active springs, but what really kills this car is its reverse staggered tires. For not knowing what it wants to be, the SR70 is sent straight to the discard pile.
Also ending up in the discard pile is the Caliban Type FuK. I wanted to like this car, but couldn’t. The nose is too similar to that of a New Beetle, and considering that the new Bug has a reputation for being a chick car, I had to pass on this one straight away. The fact that its name is one letter away from being a swear word doesn’t help.
I had never heard of Alstrena before, so to see them dabbling in mid-engined sports cars with the AlSport was a surprise. Finished in deep teal, this was a genuinely attractive proposition, with its distinctive biplane rear wing complementing its sleek, futuristic lines. It also had a flat-crank V8 under its rear deck and pushrod suspension all around. With a package like that, and at a price of just $22560, the AlSport ends up on my shortlist…
…as does the Megacorp TC-1. No, it doesn’t have the AlSport’s giant double rear wing (it has a smaller single item instead), but it looks equally purposeful, costs the same, and also has the familiar flatplane V8/pushrod suspension combination that seems so commonplace in this sector. The bright yellow paintjob suits this car slightly better, but not by much. Still, right now, I’m struggling to come up with an argument against the TC-1.
The Cornaldie 22SRR Gullwing was next. This front-engined GT was presented in a deep, lustrous metallic green, and powered by a 300 bhp twin-turbo 2.8L V8. Unfortunately, the engineers apparently had been forced to cut corners during development, and so the engine suffers from poor reliability and throttle response. The use of solid rear disc brakes also makes the Gullwing prone to brake fade. Since you don’t buy a new car just to swap out its engine internals and/or add more throttle bodies, let alone replace the brakes, the Gullwing ends up in the discard pile.
However, the JHW Huntsman doesn’t, and for good reason. With a lusty 300 bhp 3.5L inline six under its hood, and classic GT proportions concealing a premium interior, all for just $18,600, the Huntsman has no trouble making it into my shortlist - again, despite lacking stability control or a passenger airbag. And to be honest, dark green looks so much better on this car than the Gullwing.
Looking at the Gabatron Le Petit Desire almost made me vomit in disgust. Not only was it dark brown, but it also looked like it had giant eyes with equally humongous eyelashes - which is cartoonish to say the least. Those Frenchmen claim it’s all-wheel drive, but it’s set up to be almost front-drive. And with a puny inline 3 up front and a leaf-sprung rigid axle at the back, this thing is totally pointless. Instead of ending up in the discard pile, this brochure was sent to a document shredder.
The Sincker Zeta was also French, but at least it had the running gear to back up its futuristic shape - a flat-crank V8 and pushrod suspension for just $22560 seem awfully tempting. But I got hung up on that awkward nose, which made the Zeta look like a bizarre caricature of an A110 put through a photocopier at 150%. For trying too hard to be retro, the Zeta joins the growing list of cars whose brochures wound up in the discard pile.
The EcaMobile Tropicana, on the other hand, wasn’t even fast enough to merit my consideration - although I am partial to the bright exterior colors they offer. Those crazy marketing guys sent me a brochure of a cheeky little city car, not a sports coupe, claiming that tiny cars like this one are the way of the future. In the dense urban areas of Europe and Asia, where space is limited, it might make sense, but not here in the Golden State, let alone the whole of North America. And with a puny 90-bhp 1.0L I4 for propulsion, this is definitely an economy car with no sporting pretensions whatsoever. So without further ado, I put this one in the shredder and skipped the discard pile altogether.
Seeing the brochure of the Dragotec Vienna brought relief for several reasons. Not only did it look like a sports car, it actually was one, and a very powerful one at that, with 417 horsepower courtesy of a 3.8L turbocharged inline six. The flat torque curve, however, impressed me even more, with the boost coming in at just past 2000 rpm and not letting up until 7000 rpm. Amazingly, the Vienna had a luxury stereo as standard, even though at $24,960, it comes in at just under my budget. On looks alone, the Vienna joins the shortlist, but the generous standard equipment and punchy powertrain strengthen its case.
The Kelet Guzzler, on the other hand, didn’t even look right, although I liked the deep purple exterior color in which it came. Despite having a punchy mid-mounted V8 and race-tuned suspension, it seems that this car was designed by a bunch of drunk and/or blind men. This is unsurprising considering that, like the Bogliq, it is an Eastern Bloc product, and people over there rarely know how to give us Americans a good-looking car. So the Guzzler, like so many cars before it, gets the thumbs down from me.
In complete contrast, the GBF La Astuzia inspired instant lust deep within me. With purposefully aggressive front-end styling, and a rear end that will make other drivers envious every time they see it, this orange machine really had to live up to its looks. And it did, thanks to its race-bred flat-crank V8 and pushrod suspension. I had no choice but to put the La Astuzia on my shortlist immediately. The base price of $22,560 was just icing on the cake.
The same could not be said of the Berry City. Yes, it had carbon-fiber panels on a steel space frame for reduced weight, but with a pathetic pushrod 0.3L inline 3 under its rear deck and crappy bicycle tires, there was no way I was not going to put the brochure in the shredder. A short while afterwards, I sighed and muttered, “No. Just… no.”
What about the next car, the Doberman Alphadog RSR 6.1? Well, for starters, it looked blobby and sad from most angles, especially the front, and the standard cloth interior didn’t help matters either, making the premium stereo look very incongruous indeed. It didn’t have driving aids other than ABS either, and the solid disc brakes are a deal-breaker in what is ostensibly a performance car due to their greater susceptibility to fade. Maybe that’s why it comes in at just under 20 grand. No wonder the Alphadog - presented here as a Capacity Increase Millennium Edition - goes straight to the discard pile for being so tempting on paper, only to be a lame duck in practice.
The Zeal AFM200 was just awful. No airbags, no driving aids, and no stereo. This thing wouldn’t even be street-legal in most countries, especially the United States. And they paired its 2.0L turbo inline 4 - an engine more commonly found under the hood of a sports compact - to a three-speed automatic, while wrapping it all up in a badly built fiberglass body over a steel tube frame. They also made it too much like a knockoff of a '70 Challenger, right down to the live rear axle and hideous bright teal exterior color. Even worse, they set up the AWD system to act like it’s FWD. This car is totally wrong on so many levels, which is why its brochure doesn’t even end up on the discard pile, instead going straight to the shredder.
The last car I examined was the Komodo Turol. It pulled off the neo-A110 look so much better than the Zeta, especially in an understated dark navy blue, and had the combination of a race-tuned mid-mounted V8 and pushrod suspension I am now all too familiar with. At $22,560, this car seemed like a steal for how much performance it had. I added it to my shortlist without hesitation…
…but just a few minutes later, my best friend Jake entered the room and told me, “So, you’ve been compiling a shortlist of cars to test drive tomorrow… But what’s with all these crazy cookie-cutter clone-mobiles? Why are they all so similar?” My response was, “They’re not similar, they’re actually all identical under the skin! They all have the same chassis and engine; the only thing setting them apart is the exterior styling. And in a world where looks matter, there should be room for only one of these Identikit sports coupes. So of all those clone cars still on the shortlist, the only one I’ll be test-driving is the GBF La Astuzia - the AlSport, Vata, Turol and TC-1 must all unfortunately be cut.” Jake’s reply was: “You’re right. Somewhere in the motoring world, a group of manufacturers decided to manufacture the exact same car under license and give it a different set of badges and exterior fixtures for each carmaker. It’s OK if each of those cars has something that makes it truly unique, but that’s definitely not the case here. You don’t want to roll up to a party in the exact same car as someone else, do you?”
I answered, “No, not at all; I can’t stand the embarrassment!” and thanked Jake for his time. He thanked me in return and quickly left. Making the initial shortlist was tough, but having to cut even more cars just for being identical to another car was simply painful. And I still had to test drive the XMS-1, Buffalo GTZ, Huntsman, Vienna, and La Astuzia tomorrow. I had a hunch that deciding between those five would be the toughest choice I would have to make as a car buyer for quite some time…
Stay tuned for Part 2 of the reviews!
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so… would mine be test driver too or not?
Afraid not. A careful check of the .lua files on my end revealed that the engine in the Turol is in fact shared with the La Astuzia, AlSport, Vata and TC-1, as is the rest of the running gear. So in order to break the tie, I had to choose the best-looking car to be built on that platform, and the Turol wasn’t it.
Edit: @VicVictory you have a point. It really is that hard to make that body look good with a spoiler as big as the one you chose for the Templar. And I did not know how hard it really was to read until you told me about it.
Oh, I know exactly what I was aiming for, style-wise. But given the crappy-ass selection of short spoilers that actually fits that body, it was hard. I grabbed the only wing that would fit and wasn’t 100% offensive. But I guess it was anyway. As for “dated” design, please do realize I was aiming for a car that was 7 years NEWER than your design challenge.
You’re also asking for beauty out of a non-exotic sports car during an era that historically was utter and complete blah (with the exception of exotics).
I don’t think I’ve ever really complained about a round runner’s lack of clarity, but really… you made this one REALLY hard to read, and there is, at least in my mind, a pretty big schism between what you’re asking for and what you’re picking.
Edit: @abg7 I appreciate the acknowledgement of that.
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For Future Reference, How can I tell how much lag there is in a Engine? is it Throttle Response & if so, What would normally be Considered a Good/Normal Amount, Like 50+?
I think this is the first time I’ve ever witnessed someone lamenting a lack of traction control in a 1990s Mustang.
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You need to read the engine’s power/torque x rpm graphic. The line will start low and suddenly will jump, all the rpm before the jump is turbo-lag, it’s the rpm where the turbo’s pressure is low and it isn’t sending any extra power to the engine.
See this example:
This is the dyno run of a Lexus SC300 with a turboed engine doing 600+hp, you can notice how the power and torque are low up to 4500rpm, then they jump
So this engine has a turbo lag up to 4500rpm, which isn’t bad, considering this is a racing engine, but for a street engine it sucks, for streets it depends on which year your car is sold, for 1999 3000~3500rpm should be good enough, for 2017 you should go for 1500~2000rpm (but it’s impossible in automation now, they are still working on this)
You can also watch this:
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You know nothing, Jon Snow. Nothing is impossible with I6 magic! Too bad I can’t support it now with a screen of one of my engines getting maximum boost in that range, and I have some. But believe me, it is possible, in a reasonable engine.
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(also for @LordLetto 's interest perhaps)
Actually I have to correct you on the “So this engine has a turbo lag up to 4500rpm”, it does have turbo lag above that rpm, it does give a good idea at what rpm range the turbo starts getting responsive though, just have a play yourself in manual testing in automation to see how easily an engine can hit max boost.
Dyno graphs are just measurements of the car with pedal to the floor going from low rpm to its maximum rpm, so the turbo lag, or rather the turbo spooling up, can be seen in the graph itself. There however is a “spool rpm” that turbocharged engines have, at which the airflow is strong enough for the turbocharger to start spooling up, which is quite visible in Automation: the rpm at which the boost starts rising exponentially. So it is possible to hit a decent amount of boost there under heavy load (engine rpm increasing slowly enough under full throttle), in theory. But then again, going full throttle in a turbocharged engine under 2000 rpm can cause “lugging”, aka knocking, at low rpm. So a turbocharged engine which fully spools up at say, 2000 rpm in a dyno test will have lag even at much higher rpm, but for example, at 6000 rpm the turbo lag will be small enough to be near instant, while one spooling up at 4000 rpm in a dyno test still could lag significantly at 6000 rpm.
On a drag strip or a circuit with fast corners and long straights this isn’t much of an issue, but it is on the public road a heavily laggy engine will hit full boost only after you’re already past the speed limit, or when the next corner already is there on a tight racetrack.
Long story short: the rpm at which the car hits full boost in a dyno gives a good idea for the amount of turbo lag, but is not in real driving the rpm at which turbo lag suddenly disappears, nor is it the lowest rpm at which you can hit good boost.
@szafirowy01 Did you also try in UE4? I’m struggling there to even get an i6 to get full boost under 2000 at 0.5+ bar.
Edit: Also engine response is also something affecting naturally aspirated engines: How fast an engine responds to a change of input. Delays in this can be caused due to various reasons, such the path air still has to travel from the throttle body (so that’s why individual throttle bodies right next to the cylinders are better in Automation), ECU mapping, turbo piping, ignition electronics,…
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I had only one turbo I6 in UE4, so hard to tell. Well, I still have it, but in open beta, while now I’m unintentionally switched to stable… I’ll change that and update this post.
Update 1: Yeah, I have even two turbo I6s, though they both have 1 bar of boost, so they spool at 2500 rpm. I’ll try building another one with lower boost and earlier spool.
Update 2: Here’s a quicker spooling I6 - full 0.8 bar of boost at just 1800 rpm (in fact 0.79 @ 1700):
84.5x95 mm, smallest turbine, maximum A/R ratio, 37.5 mm compressor, 446 hp intercooler, VVL at 0/55 profile.
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10-4, I Used the Race Tune Preset for more HP & it looks like it hits boost at ~4500RPM in the Manual Engine test & Looking at the Graph Peak Boost is 18.1 PSI@4800RPM though looking at the Manual Engine Test, Gauge is like a Hair over 15PSI at Redline. Going with the Performance Tune without changing anything else to make use of the freed up octane, it’s a little under 3500RPM for it to hit boost, maybe 33-3400RPM & Graph shows Peak at 12 PSI@3500 though it don’t Hit 10 PSI on the Gauge till a little above 5500RPM, Maybe around 5600RPM.
so with it being just under 3500RPM for 0PSI, Maybe I should have went with the Performance Tune instead of the Race Tune, After using the Freed up Octane I was able to get 185 HP@7600RPM, 167 Ft-Lb@3700RPM & 8.80 L/100km (Without changing gearing or anything to make up for the power difference), Originally with the Race Tune it was 257 HP@8300RPM, 209 Ft-Lb@5000RPM & 9.28 L/100km with the Performance Tune i’d lose 72HP though it’d hit peak 700RPM Sooner, 42 Ft-Lb though it would peak 1300RPM Sooner & Save 0.48 L/100km (Without Trim Tuning for Gearing)
With Turbo Lag in Hindsight, Maybe I Should have went for the Performance Tune despite Less Power.
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I’d like to add here that confusingly, the term “turbo lag” is typically applied to both actual turbo lag and a thing more appropriately called “boost threshold” (or rather, the rpm range below the boost threshold) - these are two distinct things. the boost threshold is the jump in the rpm graph, below which the exhaust gases can’t build enough pressure to drive the turbo, turbo lag is the delay between hitting the throttle and the actual onset of acceleration, which is caused by the turbo needing to spool up. As @Dragawn pointed out, turbo lag occurs at any rpm, but gets better at higher engine speeds.
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