Daz WRX

Obviously P1 currently running 2 cylinders

It will definately do you next time though with that extra door weigth now removed.

Richie1

Exactly....

As I say, if it was a Phase II (280BHP), Phase III (315BHP) or Phase IV (380BHP) then its a diff story but he said its a standard Cally Turbo.

scoobynutta555

hence why i said 204 versus 276

The Zohan

I like them, driven all of them except the 8v which is dead slow entry level stuff and best avoided.

When first introduced the motoring pres described them as a 'hedge seeking missiles', not keen on the handling.

16V goes great, early non-ecotecs where better breathing and wuicker
16V 4x4 is a rare beast and handles!
16V turbo has a 6 speed g/box introduced in '92 so well ahead of the competition - just a great car and underrated. Goes well, handles well and is a great car.
V6 is smooth and fun to drive.

Lot of parts interchangable with cavaliers which can keep cost down, some not and expensive, so are thou' - steering racks where £ 700.00 for example.

As far as sharing Cav bits so what, helped keep the cost down, Scoobs can hardly be said to have plush interiors can they.

I recon they still look pretty modern even today. Nice ones a rareity and could be an appeciating asset if you do find and look after one.

Lot of Maxxed ones about and now quite cheap, which is why there are a lot of maxxed ones about.

Look for an unmolested one.
My choice would be a Turbo or a v6

[Edited by Paul Habgood - 5/25/2003 5:30:48 PM]

dnb

A friend has recently sold a mint totally standard calibra turbo. He always seemed to be having it serviced... It blew a head gasket, broke a rear spring and a couple of other little niggles.
Most of these were just unfortunate.

He had no trouble with the transfer box at all - you tend not to do if the car is well maintained from day 1. I would say that a good service history is more important on a calibra than a Scoob.

As for performance, it was easily up there with my UK Scoob turbo. It always looked good - nicer to look at than the Impreza, and many more creature comforts & toys inside.

si325i

just cos you got a fast car (P1) don't mean you can drive fast. calibra was been driven better.

oj

only if they have a bl**dy big V8 in them, like Steve Pateman who runs one in the Custom Car Street Eliminator... quarter mile under 8 secs, with top speed of 170MPH... all on street tyres and street legal as well.... otherwise, they are okay....

Russs

Nice post, but I think that was written about the Mk2 Astra GTE 16v.
Performance Car wasn't it?

A decent Calibra is good looking, spacious, smooth and comfortable.
Cheap to run (depending upon model). Good motorway/A road mile eater.
Damn cheap to buy now too.

Throw £1k at a turbo and you have one rapid piece of kit.
Rapid as in quicker than an standard Evo VI,VII and most Scoobs on the 1/4 mile. No bull**** here. Have done it myself, plenty of people witnessing.

Just like Richie said.....

The Zohan

Russ
Hi there, was it the Astra, i was sure it was the Calibra, oh well would not be the first time i was wrong.

Ironicaaly i saw a dk met green V6 today and it looked a peach. a V6 or Turbo could well be a future classic in the making if kept original and tidy.

My mate used to work for Vauxhall in Leicester, he had one of the first Calibra Turbos in the UK back in 91/92. It was a damn fine car and a great pose as it was pretty unique back then, i had an indicated 160+ MPH out of it, slipprey aerodynamic shape so capable of a good top speed, i am sure Liecester Constabulary clocked it at 155 as i said a 6speed g/box (Gretag) i think back in 91/92 unheard of! There was a ltd edition of the Turbo back in 93 i think - Irmisher badged with body styling bits, engine tweaked a bit(?) only in black i seem to remember.
Great cars and i said underrated.

bazil2582

alright mate,

i have also looked at the cally's in auto trader, and have been to see some of them with a mate who is looking for one.

have driven the 8v and the 16v now, and the 8v is awful!!! my girls vtr has more grunt and thats saying something!!!

if u can insure it, go for the turbo!!!!!!!! id have one myself but i have to sell my lovely RX7 first!!! nah, seriously tho, a mate of mine COLIN, had a minded STI scooby and he got a shock when a approx 300bhp cally turbo was keeping up with him!! hee hee

nkh

Don't ride in the back of one. I nearly got knocked out as there is little headroom and I am short.

bluenosewrx

iTrader: (2)

in one word sh**e.get a rover coupe turbo 200 horses(that should put the cat amongst the pigeons).

Big Daz

Having had 4 Cavs and 2 Calibras previously ( last one a 270 / 280 BHP Turbo) My 2 pence worth is ; Go for either pre ecotec 16v or a V6. Turbo is good but transfer boxes are weak, excellent 6 speed box though. Parts are cheap and lowering on Avo springs/dampers transforms handling.
Oh if going for an early model WATCH FOR PORUS HEAD ON 16v MODELS (inc Turbo)
Big Daz

Merc_Cosworth

Had a 92 Turbo for three years. Tweaked to around 240bhp.

Turbo = Stupidly quick straight line performance. Soggy handling allied to incredible grip makes for interesting driving. As a dual carriageway racer, there ain't a lot to match it. But as an A-Road monster, you just can't put enough faith in the chassis. Rule of thumb - if you can get the turn in right, then the rest will follow. Crap brakes.

Excellent aerodynamics make it very very quick up top - although they start to float above 140mph.

Bomb-proof engine and fairly simple to work on.

Weak points = transfer box can go, and the cambelt tensioners used to be suspect points (most changed under warranty.)

Cheap to maintain, as its 85% 16v Cav/Calibra. Expensive to fix on that 15% that is pure turbo parts though.

Suprisingly good on the racetrack though.

I lapped Goodwood 0.5secs seconds quicker than
440bhp Grp A RWD Cossie with a Club Racer at the wheel. There ain't no substitute for grip and pace sometimes!

si325i

how did you see it? "because i was inverted!!"

Merc_Cosworth

Eh?

Pie_n_Chips

ow has little jonny been watching Topgun again?

j_p_h

I use to own a cally turbo a few years back on a n plate. Loved it to bits as it was my first turbod motor. Same performance as a standard 2wd saph cossie to 60. Quicker that the 4x4 saph cossie 6.1 to 6.6 seconds.

Never had one problem with mine untill some dozy bint totalled it in a car park lol. Would have bought another but had always wanted a cossie so opted for that instead.

I want another soon i reckon so soon as ive had my fun in the scoob ill go tune a cally turbo.

juan

16v is pretty slow. dunno bout 8v.

turbo MUST be a lot quicker than 16v or its a complete waste of time.

Merc_Cosworth

The Turbo was a LOT quicker than the 16v.

In fact, it was a lot quicker than a hell of lot of stuff.

The 205/204 power/torque figure belied the engines power delivery.

The torque curve was almost flat at 200lb-ft or more from around 2250rpm until approx 5250rpm. Nearly a bar of boost from about 2000rpm.

Coupled with the six speed box, and aerodynamics, made for extremely rapid motoring.

The best GM engine bar none - the Lotus Carlton doesn't really count.

[Edited by Merc_Cosworth - 5/27/2003 5:00:29 PM]

Big Daz

Turbo IS quicker than 16v 150bhp against 204bhp. The smooth acceleration of the turbo compared to a Scooby is perhaps clouding the judgement slightly.

Big Daz

CavT

I think the man has hit the nail on the head there, its the smooth delivery (not on my Phase 3.5 though!) that belies the Calibra/Cavalier Turbo's speed.

Up to 60, all Scooby Turbo's would have beaten my standard Cavalier Turbo, I have no doubt of that, the gearing on the Scoobs is designed for this, the Getrag 6 Speed is more progressive, less agressive!

But beyond 60, is where the Cavalier/Calibra Turbo's come into their own, and where the 204bhp versus a 237bhp WRX doesn't seem so important.

My standard Turbo kept a WRX at bay on the A303 last year, beyond a *certain speed* the guy couldn't get past me. 3 times he tried, and three times he failed. Fair play to the guy, he didn't get all angry, when it came to a slow part of the dual carriageway, he got along side me and blurted out with a smile 'fvck, that must be fast!'.

Then you get onto the Phased Cavs and Calibras, and you are talking stupid acceleration. I'm not going to get into 'my car is faster than your car' debate, because I simply don't know until I get the chance to try, but its not all down to BHP.

And the special edition Calibra where all the handling issues were resolved was called the DTM Calibra, only available in Black, with yellow discreet badging.

Transfer Boxes suffer from misinformation more than anything else. Most Vauxhall dealers haven't got a clue about Turbo Cavs and Calibras (bearing in mind only 5805 Cavalier Turbos were made), quite a few dealers have never even sold a Turbo related part, and for sure, none of them knew about the rules governing Transfer Boxes. Always keep the tread depth 2mm between front and back, and rotate the tyres every 3000 miles or so for even wear.

I have now had 3 Cavalier Turbo's, and I haven't had a Transfer Box go on me yet!

Most of the Ecotec sensor problems will have been replaced under warranty, or replaced throughout the life of the car.

What you have to remember is Calibra Turbo's are rare, Cavalier Turbo's are like Hens Teeth (estimated 1500 left on the road!), and Phased Cavs and Calibras are rarer still.

I think if some of you Scooby owners actually met a Phase 3.5 Cavalier or Calibra Turbo, I think your opinions of them would change quite a bit

Big Daz

CavT,
You must be lucky then! My Phase 2.5 Calibra Turbo ate 2 Transfer boxes, this was due to oil seals letting go under acceleration.(even keeping to the 2mm rule).
I was under the impression that the DTM cane in glacier white also
recocnisable with previously stated yellow badges and Hockenhiem wheels
Big Daz

chrisp

I think the same if a few of these Vauxhall owners drove a proper 280PS WRX with a short ratio gearbox they maybe impressed .

0-100 in 12 seconds anyone straight out of the box .

CavT

The Scooby you describe is hardly the norm is it?

If it were, I would imagine quite a few supercar owners would be ditching their cars for performance like that!! If you have the money, you can turn just about anything into a rocket, but I think most people in this thread so far as I can tell, are giving experiences of cars in a more realistic world.

We could go on making superfluous comparisons of V8 engined Calibras etc, etc, but thats missing the point I think.

I'm not at all interested in getting into a 'show of the biggest *****' contest, but I would be interested to see how some of the Scoobies on here would fare against my Phase 3.5 Cavalier Turbo, or the other way round (in the interests of fairness you understand! )

Anyone in Bristol?

Keeping it light hearted

wanted

I owned an Astra Gsi 16v before my scoob which shares the same engine as the calibra 16v (red top engine pre ecotech).
IMHO they are quite sluggish in standard form and don't like to be reved hard, but modded in the right way and not spending silly money you can get a reasonably quick car(My Astra had 185bhp).
As someone said before, alot of the 16v engines including the turbo models had pouros heads which to be fixed properly is £600 which is what happened to mine.

I think that cav-t has been lucky with the reliability of his turbo model.
they are definatly quick cars when phased, but most other people i have met with modded cav/calibra turbos have spent quite alot on maintenance, as i did with the astra.

si325i

don't liked to be reved? did you ever drive it. it's the only way to drive it. imo

Si.

wanted

I agree it is the only way to drive them but in standard form the engine sounds very thrashy and is strangled above 5000rpm.
I fixed this with a set of cams and a chip together with a mentzel power cap which replaces the black EFI box.
The car redlined easily in every gear after that but in standard trim it was pretty ****.

chrisp

Yep not many about but its still sold as a standard model from the factory JDM MY00 Impreza WRX Type RA 1240kgs, short ratio gearbox 280PS (ish) and 225bhp/ton. Plenty of people on here have RAs as they are known and 0-100 is high 12s due to the lightweight and gearing, e.g. my car does 103mph in 4th @7,600rpm.

Was the Cav Turbo a factory standard model ?



[Edited by chrisp - 5/28/2003 7:54:28 PM]

The Zohan

Does this have to turn into a my cars faster than yours?

If so my dad's bigger than yours and he will beat your dad up
so there!

I hear 'your momma' is bigger than mine if that helps