Well the final part in my search for the replacement car for the Clio Cup.

Positives:-
I was very impressed with the grip under full acceleration on corners.
A very smooth and comfortable drive.
When kept on the boil, is quite rapid through the gears.
Nice feel to steering and brakes.
Aircon.....well what can I say.....I've missed it.

Negatives;-
The acceleration doesn't have the punch I expected, but put that down to 4 wheel drive and the torque starting a bit late than I expected.
Pulling away fast is only acheivable by keeping the revs above 3,500 RPM and feeding the clutch in with a heavy bite (will take abit of practice, but I can see why the clutch could go early if you do this alot). I tried getting away from a standstill and getting the clutch fully engaged very quickly then getting the pedal to the floor.......What a wait for it to kick, I recon a metro 1.0L would have beat it off the mark that way (won't do that again, could be embarassing).
When on the motorway in 6th there is no power (at all) unless you drop to 4th.

Summary:-
Lovely car, will adapt driving style to suit car characteristics, but will try to avoid too many racing starts (unless I have an M3 beside me).
Fantastic drive and loads of fun, didn't want to take it back.
Will go for the prodrive pack, without a doubt as I think it will reduce some of the negatives with regard to slight turbo lag and being quite so flat at the bottom end.

 

i think the launch is something that will come, but for a 1.0 metro to beat you thats saying something!

I have an 03 sti, there isnt as much pucnh as would be expected but there are tuning accessories such as the PPP and tripple 3 that make up for that. Prodrive springs are a must i think as the handling isnt what it should be, and if you thought the handling was good before its a much better car after spring fitment!

 

That's a must...I got PPP fitted to mine yesterday after 7k miles, and it's now a different car.
Standing starts are much faster and kinder on the clutch; this is very noticeable pulling out onto roundabouts where split second timing is the name of the game
Responsiveness across the whole range is much quicker and the increase in pull out of corners is very pronounced.
The 5th and top gear performance is greatly increased, reducing the need to drop down a gear at motorway speeds.
If I was buying new again I would do the same and run the car in for a few thousand miles (the engine only started to really loosen up at 5k) and then get PPP fitted, hey presto it’s a different car

Dipster

 

Agree, PPP will totally transform the car.

Chip.

 

Thanks for all your comments - PPP it is then. I probably would be able to wait for 5k+ miles to elapse before fitting it. Will get PPP done at 1000 miles with Oil and filter. I will then spent the second 1000 miles gradualy building the revs up every couple of hundred miles (worked for the Cup).

 

Buy this months evo magazine mate. In it is a comparison of the PPP to other alternatives on the market, ranging from 2K to 15K. Its a good read!