Really close to buying one of these

[Tym]

Hi everyone,

Skip to the bold down the bottom is you wanna.

So on my hunt for a new boosty boi car - I sold my motorbike, and was ready to experience the lovely world of floaty driver feel, unexpected moments of under-steering and enough power to demonstrate that I'm totally not over compensating; I was ready to buy an AWD Turbo car.

I looked at the obvious options: WRX with no HG, Evo's & overpriced parts and other JayDeEm things. I had been really sold on a Hawkeye WRX (have only driven a BugEye though) for the last 3-4 months, until I came across these things and their cute 3 bars of yellow on the dash.

I drove one finally the other day which had a few little problems:

• Body condition was bad. Little dents and paint fade everywhere.
• Spoiler was removed, replaced with expanding foam, and $2 black spray can fun.
• Diff mounts felt done (or AYC pump).
• Huge smells of petrol driving, felt like was missing power; possible turbo leak cause of the gas smell.
• I thought the lifters were ****ed, but the ticking was in time with the RPM, so was probably knocking a bit.
• Steering looked worse for wear - complete with split dust boots.
• Front right CV joint make some fun noises and not getting power through it very well.
• Economy tyres, where I swear the tread pattern was running backwards.
• Actually had Tanabe coils... I didn't realise anyone ever bought these...
• Evo 6/7? Brakes front and rear... with warped rotors on the front, and faded pads...
• Super floaty feel through the steering wheel.
• But y'kno, had nice interior.

So after that I was thinking, well yeah; this thing handled pretty ****, my race car driving friend even got it to spin out in a roundabout (but it over-steered interestingly).

Now that you've read that crap up there, I only really have one and a bit question(s):

How does a fully functioning VR4 Galant actually handle?

and,​

After investing money into some good tyres (i.e. RE003s) and some good suspension (i.e. ShockWorks or MCA), how well do they handle?

Is it comparable to a WRX, Evo, Liberty, MPS6 or Skyline?

I get they're a bigger car than a WRX or Evo, but they seem to hold close dimensions to Skylines, and are smaller than Libs or MPS6's.

Thanks for reading all my crap, mate.

[Nick Mann]

Nice first post!

I haven't driven many of the other cars you mentioned but in my experience these cars do very well. They are heavier than the evo and feel it but if you go into a corner slightly slow to avoid the understeer and then bury the throttle you will come out of the corner faster than almost anything.

Somewhere there are a couple of you tube videos of the VR4 vs Legacg and Stagea. From a handling point of view it does well.

[TAR]

Welcome.

The VR4 is not a sports car, its a luxury saloon and not direct competition to the other cars you mention. The car you've driven sounds like a dog and wouldn't be representative of a sorted car.
Our cars are suprisingly quick off the line and can be hussled through corners at a fair rate.

Try and drive a good one, even if its out of your budget to see what you think.

[Tym]

Nice first post!
I haven't driven many of the other cars you mentioned but in my experience these cars do very well. They are heavier than the evo and feel it but if you go into a corner slightly slow to avoid the understeer and then bury the throttle you will come out of the corner faster than almost anything.

Somewhere there are a couple of you tube videos of the VR4 vs Legacg and Stagea. From a handling point of view it does well.

Good to hear! I think I found the video: https://youtu.be/CXqj_UGnHnQ?t=196

Tagged it to where the cornering is compared, crazy to see how little the rear end slides out and how much faster the Legnum charges through the slalom course.

[Tym]

Welcome.

The VR4 is not a sports car, its a luxury saloon and not direct competition to the other cars you mention. The car you've driven sounds like a dog and wouldn't be representative of a sorted car.
Our cars are suprisingly quick off the line and can be hussled through corners at a fair rate.

Try and drive a good one, even if its out of your budget to see what you think.

That's a good point, they seems to be a strange cross between luxury saloon and a 4-door Grand Tourer - sharing dimensions with cars like 4-door R34s. The biggest thing that worries me is how the big iron block engine sits of the front axle line though...

And I definitely will! Might be seeing one this Monday, so I'll make my decision from there. They're actually not too pricey here! Can get some really good conditions ones here from $6-8k.

[hbkuk1]

They handle very well I had mine for 8 years and have moved on to an evo x, it is better than the vr4 but only just in the grip department the vr4 had sophisticated double wishbone suspension where the evo does not, Cusco arbs help out the vr4 a great deal

[Tym]

Drove a really good one today - super clean, in amazing condition (like actually wow!) and had just had a major service (was around the 100,000km on the odo).

It actually handled really well, the only weird thing was the steering had a big 'dead zone' in the middle. Also I only noticed after driving it that it was non-AYC model (FL model manual V-spec).

The only two things I didn't like about this one was:
- No AYC (does this make a huge difference? Is it more worthwhile just getting a 1.5 way).
- Not in Black; was in a weird Gray/Purple colour(?).

[Nick Mann]

The dead zone is sometimes wear on the tie rods. This often goes unnoticed. Change the tie rods and track rod ends, check other ball joints on the front suspension and get the tracking set up properly.

AYC is personal choice. Inmy opinion it makes me look like a better driver. However the open diff in the type v is stronger and if I remember correctly can take lsd internals relatively easily.

[Tym]

The dead zone is sometimes wear on the tie rods. This often goes unnoticed. Change the tie rods and track rod ends, check other ball joints on the front suspension and get the tracking set up properly.

AYC is personal choice. Inmy opinion it makes me look like a better driver. However the open diff in the type v is stronger and if I remember correctly can take lsd internals relatively easily.

Oh I had no idea, thanks for pointing that out, I'll definitely make sure to look into it.

That's a good point, it is also 15-20 year old tech (good tech no doubt), that requires a bit of specialist care and servicing - so I guess there's pros/cons on both sides.

Reading through some articles on another forum, I did learn a few good things about about the Type-V FaceLift Galants.

• Brembo brakes from an Evolution 5-9 will bolt straight.
• These [Type-V FaceLift Galants] were the lightest of all VR-4’s, with the manual weighing in at 1460kg.
• Stock facelifts tend to run slightly higher boost.

I think I might buy this one! The fact that they're lighter and I think look better (compared to PFL) is swaying me. Hopefully in the future I can get a mechanical 1.5 way or something LSD, as a nice-to-have, and maybe a High-Vis dash too, haha.

The fact it's not black will always bother me a little, but I really doubt I'll find one this clean for quite some time if I skip out on it.

[Nick Mann]

All facelift cars will take Brembos from an evo 5 to 9. Prefacelifts need the hub carriers from a facelift. The caliper mounting points and the abs sensor are slightly different but everything else is the same.