xr6 turbo questions

[zymotic]

I've been puttering around http://www.fordxr6turbo.com

keeping a low profile being a skyliner but questions are coming

to mind.

I know these things can be made to go fast in a straight line

with min mods.

But, my question is what are they like around corners and on a

track in the real world? I mean stock do they handle, corner, etc

like a family barge.

I guess any car can be made to handle well with enough wise $

spent but am wondering how much u need to spend on one of

these to make it competitive for say weekend track use? Or do they

handle reasonably well in stock form?

[ferni]

I'm sure you could have fun with them at a track day, as you could with anything, but you have to remember they are based off a family car. They are built with carrying kids and towing a caravan in mind, not hooning around a race track. The skyline on the other hand is opposite, and has some good natural handling characteristics. As you said, if you throw enough $$ anything can go fast.

I think if you want to be competitive at club track days, your 40k+ on an XR6T would be much better spent on a GTR. But if you need to carry the kids and tow a caravan around then the GTR wouldn't be the best car for you. Guess you need to weigh up what you want it for.

[DRFTR33]

every thing he just said is right if you want a real car stick to your skylines. i work for ford and work on a least one xr6 turbo each day and i can tell you, your beter off without one. the skyline was a better built car for starters and id love to do a quality comparison between my car and an xr6 turbo but i would probably loose my job. just remember that the japanese take pride in there work expecialy when it comes to designing and building motor vehicles and i can tell you from experience that the austalian car companys dont even come close

and to answer your question they handle like crap

[2HYPO]

I currently have 2 XR6 turbo's at the moment. One is a ute and one is a sedan for the family. I am a member of the fordxr6turbo.com forum as well. The only reason I still drive a XR6 Turbo is due to the fact I can CHP/Lease them through the business. They are a good car. The ute is fully modified as the sedan is stock standard. The ute has given me a lot of headaches since I have modified it. Such as gearbox. Everything else has been OK. At the moment it makes 330KW at the rear wheels and thats only on 12psi. I have spent 15K though through trial and error. In my eyes you cant go past a Japanese car no matter what.

I took my ute out on atrack day at Eastern creek one day and tell you that it was awesome. The only thing that I couldnt catch around the corners was my mates R32 GTR. He had coilover suspension though, but I have lowered suspension with nolathane bushes etc. as well. He would zip past me through the corners and I would come straight past him in the straight. The other thing with having that amount of power that my ute has it is a bit of a problem trying to keep the power to the ground. Even when I change into second gear with the triptronic and nail it, it wheelspins/fishtails.

I honestly found the XR6Turbos are good family car and work horse in my books.

[zymotic]

I spose in the back of my mind I was comparing the Auto R34GTT to the Auto XR6 Turbo. GTR isn't an option as I need 4 doors.

I have read some track tests giving it to the GTT and others giving it to the XR6t. I'd assume that the XR6t's tiptronic is possibly better and faster than the older GTT's. On paper the power to weight ratio between the 2 (stock) is negligible. Although it blows me away that you can just reprogram the Fords's chip and get approx 300rwkw.

I get the feeling that the GTT would have it on the corners but the XR6t would have it on the straight. Overall I think they would perform similar and that driver skill would be the determining factor provided both vehicles hold it together.

I've heard good things about GTT's in the handling dept, the twisty stuff puts a on my dial.

[Lepperfish]

GTR isn't an option as I need 4 doors.

R33 GTR comes in 4 door..

[zymotic]

and probably at a premium I'm guessing being pretty rare?

[predator]

yes...

You have to question the handling of anything 1700kg or more.. even if it does have a billion kw.

[Mike9]

Don't believe it for second when someone says the XR6T handles

like crap, they don't. They are the best handling Aussie made car at the moment, you only have to read Australian Car Magazine's like Motor and Wheel's where they both score the XR6T best for handling. Motor even took a lightly modified XR6T to Tassie a couple of years ago for a rally and it cained alot of exotics, even a R33 GTR. The GTR owner said it was the first time someone had past him. As for the engines, they are very strong, Nizpro have taken the XR6T beyond 1000 horsepower and the new 6 speed should handle the goods. The beautiful thing about skylines though, is that they are stronger and better engineered.

[predator]

why does each model get heavier though?

soon the aussie cars will be up over 2tonnes.. for a passenger / performance vehicle. It's a bit extreme.

[lwells]

... you have to remember they are based off a family car. They are built with carrying kids and towing a caravan in mind, not hooning around a race track. The skyline on the other hand is opposite

*Cough* BS *Cough*

I am no fan of Commodores/Falcons, but that' not right. The Skyline has always been based on a 4-door family sedan, just like the Commodore/Falcon.

LW

[Mike9]

That is true, they are heavy cars but look at German cars and it's the same deal over there with 4 door sedans. What can you do.

Falcons are getting to their limit in terms of weight, I cant imagine anymore engineering to go into it that would make it heavier, unless it got high tech like Mercs and added lots of computer hardware and other gadgets. The problem is people wont buy them if petrol keeps going up and consumption is increased, so you would think losing kilos would be on Fords agenda.

[ferni]

*Cough* BS *Cough*

I am no fan of Commodores/Falcons, but that' not right.  The Skyline has always been based on a 4-door family sedan, just like the Commodore/Falcon.

LW

Care to explain more? I don't know much about the older skylines, but somehow i don't think the R32/33/34 skylines are/were based off a 4door family sedan?

[lwells]

somehow i don't think the R32/33/34 skylines are/were based off a 4door family sedan?

Somehow I think your wrong

As you can see here -- http://www.japanesesportcars.com/skyline/specs/ -- even the R32/33/34 lines had bargin basemount family carrying models. Base model R32s came with CA18I or RB20E lumps of iron; R33s with RB20Ds, and R34s with RB20DEs. Obviously these cars were hardly performance oriented: they were designed as the high volume models.

LW.

[ferni]

Just because there were some that came with lower end engines etc, doesn't mean they were designed around that.

I dont _know_ but thought the skylines were designed around the GTR, and the rest were based of being the GTR's baby brothers etc... as opposed to Say Falcons, they are based of a family car, and the XR6/XR8's just have a bigger engine and a couple of other things thrown at them? Now you have me intersted - how can we find out?

[ferni]

http://www.japanesesportcars.com/skyline/s...ecs/r33_gtr.php

my GTR is a 5 seater? i thought it was 4

[lwells]

God dammit. Browser crashed and lost reply and I CBF'ed retyping it If you have a search there is a history thread somewhere that discusses the origins of the Skyline and its links to a 4-door sedan.

LW.

[ferni]

use firefox (if you are then *shrugs*) haha

Yeah history/older skylines probably were based on passenger cars etc...

I may be wrong about the late model skylines 32/33/34 being based of more of a race car than family car, but the point i was trying to make, is Falcons/Commodores are good family cars (build quality isn't always the best), good to tow the caravan etc.. things that skylines (GTRs, gtst coupes etc) aren't really made for, the same way falcons and commodores aren't made to race around a track...

[lwells]

I am using firefox, just a slightly unstable trunk build

LW.

[DAN00H]

Care to explain more? I don't know much about the older skylines, but somehow i don't think the R32/33/34 skylines are/were based off a 4door family sedan?

bet you didn't know that the skyline shares the same floorplan structure/design as the silvia....

HPI did a big feature on the linage of the GTR a while back.

I own a GTR with modded handling and it is much sharper than my Father-in-laws XR6, that said, for a big heavy car it handles well and I like to drive it.

It is not as 'involving' as the GTR, and it feels like I'm sitting on the old Massey ferguson from the driving position, but it has good squirt and makes a great family car. I'd get the XR6T especially if leasing.