Re: eclipse turbo

[Bill Hussey <vfrboy@home.net>]

In the hands of compitent drivers ... they are tough to beat.  I was lucky when
I test drove, the sales guy was young, an ex Factory Porche pit crew member,
loved Gran Tourismo, and didn't mind me flogging the car at all.

Engine:
210 HP at 6000 RPM
214 ft lbs of tourqe at 3000 RPM

The tourque number is what killed me when I drove it.  I thought it was a typo
or somethin.  "214 at 3 grand ... outofa 4 banger ... that's gotta be a typo!"
Then I took it for a spin.  No matter which gear or which throttle position, at
2800 RPM, you can hear the turbo spool up.  At 3 grand ... you get plastered
back into your seat.  What a rush!  Felt infinately faster than the GTI VR6 I
had test driven earlier that day.

The suspension was tought, and handling was impressive, but it's not German ..
I don't know how to describe it .... other than, it's just not German :-)  Body
roll was minimal, clutch action was quick and responsive, rowing through the
gates was short and quick (although again, not German), and anything about 3000
RPM is what I consider "in the power band".

I would've bought it had I not had to worry about whether or not mom would be
comfortable driving to work in it (I own three vehicles, my parents use 2 ...
go figure!).

I've never raced one in my GLX, but I've hunted them down plenty-o-times on my
VFR and they always seem to wimp out in the turns (drivers that is, not the
cars).  The one guy I did find who actually knew what he was doing was ahead of
me until we hit the straight.  He ran outa steam somwhere around 140 and I kept
going to 160.  Had I not gotten that advantage, had we hit another twisty
section ... things would've resulted differently.

Bill
'98 GLX


MAOberer@aol.com wrote:

> You race turbo eclipses and beat them in an 85 Jetta GL?  Thats impressive.
> I can bearly beat them in my modified VR6!
>
> Matt