I polished the car myself... Meguiars TechWax and about 1-2 hours maximum to do the work.
I finally got a copy of the magazine today. Most of what they said about my car was true, apart from it having ABS (which is certainly does not) and the drag/v-max are wrong. I have the time slip here which shows 13.213@124mph. I'm having words with them over that mistake, as it would have pushed me up into 4th place for the drag results.
Heheh, just filter out the nagging and it's all good. Seriously though 90% of the work was done between girlfriends, so it was rather easy to accomplish.
Friday, December 29, 2006 - 10:37 pm, by: Paul Fitzsimmons(Oztif)
Fourth position is a great result....but the major criticism levelled at the car regarding "very lazy steering" and something else about its suspension, i cant remember the expression used, were in my opinion some of the worst criticisms that one can give a car. With all the money thrown at this car we still have a car that handles like a boat. Now this comment might ruffle a few feathers and i hope it does. The lack of steering response in my own car is pissing me off. All suspension parts have been checked by reputable mechanics including Niall, Pedders etc. They all give the thumbs up. Steering rack bushes and lower control arm bushes were replaced anyway. It handles like a boat. I'm prepared to pay to make it right and have just bought Tein Flex coilovers and an EDFC unit, (and a pair of Recaros). None have been installed yet. I'm thinking however that this might not be enough. Do i need to remove all rubber bushes and replace with harder units. I am prepared, in fact willing, to sacrifice comfort and some road noise for a precise feel. Well that's my longest post ever. I've had the car for two years and there are a lot of things i like about it, i just cant get used to the vague handling and steering. Maybe i should of bought a sports car?
I'm quite willing to bet that the "tester" simply wrote down what he'd "heard" about Soarers instead of giving the car a proper workout. The car handled amazingly on the track with HKS HiperMax II coilovers set to track settings. I had the car set on comfortable settings during testing (ie. street/daily driver) as this is how I like it 99% of the time. The steering is not soft or unresponsive compared to any other cars I've driven. I have brand new steering rack bushes, as well as relatively new (2 year old) control arm bushes at the front end.
They also commented that the front brakes lock up upon hard braking. I beg to differ, as during my 100km/h to 0km/h test, the only wheel I managed to lock up was the driver's rear wheel (severe weight shift) and that situation was rather extraordinary (I've never had the need to brake from 100-0 in 10 years of driving). Also, I do not have ABS as claimed in the article.
I was disappointed with a few of the untruths in the article, and will point any out which I feel are appropriate as the issues get brought up.
Previous
