1992 Eagle Talon DOHC non-turbo from North America

Summary:

Awesome car for the money, but be sure to maintain it properly

Faults:

I had a major engine surging problem that was daunting to track down. I had the throttle body cleaned at the dealer. That made the surging manageable. As it turns out it was probably fresh air leaking into the intake because after she heated up the apparent gap in the intake sealed itself and the idle calmed down.

My Talon burned oil and smoked badly if left to idle, (valve stem seals)

I had the clutch done after I bought the car, my tranny guy said he had never seen so little clutch left on a running car. That really surprised me because it still felt good and tight when driving normally. (careful, I waited to replace the clutch and toasted my pressure plate)

General Comments:

Other than the problems associated with a fairly high mileage car it seemed to be fairly tight.

The car is a quick little machine although I longed for the turbo and especially the AWD.

It handled amazing save for a little under steer at the limit, likely because of the FWD only drive train.

Love the seats nd interior although only really made for two.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 24th December, 2003

17th Feb 2010, 14:37

The car is definitely worth the hassle. I have a 1992 Talon that runs absolutely amazing, the car still has its original clutch.

The only problems with it is that one of the teeth is broken in the shifter, so when switching into third, the car makes a quick noise; nothing unpleasant.

The car picks up so well, I'm going to get it painted soon. The car is a little cramped though, that's the only down side to the car.

I myself might be obligated to sell mine; they're tiny cars, and trying to move band equipment with it doesn't work well.

1992 Eagle Talon DOHC 4 cylinder. from North America

Summary:

Really fun car

Faults:

Timing.

General Comments:

This car had problems with the timing, plugs and wires. I never could get the timing right. Other than that, this car was super fast and super fun to drive. I really didn't know what I had until it was gone.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 16th November, 2003

1992 Eagle Talon TSi L4 2.0 turbo from North America

Summary:

Best mid-performance car for under 4G

Faults:

When I first acquired the car it ran great except it had a little bit of lifter noise. No big deal, lifters are $8.65/lifter... I still haven't replaced them, however.

The first thing to go out was the water pump. Then the clutch. Then the brake rotors became very warped. I replaced the front rotors, and everything was great. The rear rotors are starting to shake a little, I'll probably look at replacing those shortly. Next, the BISS screw fell out. That's the throttle adjustment. After the free mods (which I HIGHLY recommend doing if you have some spare time... be warned it causes other issues though) the plastic BISS screw just popped off.

Most recently (and my car is currently in the shop) one of the two radiator fans stopped spinning. The car overheated and antifreeze was scattered all over the compUSA parking lot. On the way to my driveway my father noticed blue smoke coming out of the tail pipe when I shifted. Burning oil is fun and educational! So we took it into the shop. I have a feeling the blue smoke may be a result of the free mods in some twisted way, but we'll see as soon as I get it back.

The only other thing that's "wrong" is a squeak. One of the rear wheels makes a strange squeaking when in motion, as soon as you apply breaks it stops. So far every shop I've been to has told me nothing is wrong, and to just live with the sound.

General Comments:

If you have the time/money to keep it running it's the coolest car ever. It runs between 195-210hp stock. It's curb weight is 2,650lbs, and it's AWD. It's light, quick, and launches like a beast. If you're into pissing off "street" racing teenagers, this is the car to do it in. I've pulled up next to an SVT Cobra that was ready to race me. In all reality that thing would tear the TSi apart, but the I got off the line with the AWD was enough to scare him into giving up right away.

The AWD handles insanely well also. I live in CO and it snows... a lot. AWD helps out so much. Just try to keep away from "rally" racing on the streets... cops don't like that too much.

The only complains I have are that the car tops out at 130-something. Wait... I shouldn't know that!

The interior is awkward at first, but after a while it's the only thing you'll want to be in. The backseat sucks, but I love that. Nobody wants me to drive them around anymore!

The bottom line is that if you want a car that's pretty fast stock, and handles like crazy (drag racing is for lazy people ~.O), the first generation AWD turbos are the cars to do it in. At firs they look like the cheapest choice (you can pick one up in mint body condition, pretty good mechanical condition for about $3000), but double the money you spent on the car to get a realistic value of how much you're going to spend in total. You will have repairs to do, and those go-fast mods are just too atractive to pass up. that 250hp mark is a pretty easy hit.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 22nd October, 2003

6th Sep 2004, 22:49

A TSi tops out at only 130? I, err...umm...my friend, that is...:) got my stock '92NT to 110 once or twice with a 16 foot kayak strapped on top.

24th Feb 2005, 06:55

I own a 92 Eagle Talon TSi AWD. Great car, but topping off at 130? I'm hoping that MPH Cause up here in Canada I got mine up to 247KM/H Before it shut down... Needle buried in the speedometer side, and about 2 grand left to red line on the tach in 5th!

2nd Mar 2005, 14:21

I agree with the above review on all fronts (I own a 1993 AWD Talon). Yes you will have to put money into this car to keep it running. You will become addicted to driving this car and won't want to drive anything else, ever!

30th May 2008, 23:09

There is no way in the world you hit 160MPH in an AWD car. At 60MPH AWD will have 3k RPM. So you are saying that you were at 5k RPM doing 250KM/H?

18th Dec 2009, 07:17

What mods did you do? I have a 91 AWD and I got "roughly" 140 at about 6000 r's??? I have 3" exhaust all the way from turbo and that's it... for now... LOL... let you know in about a month or so what ECM link, bigger turbo and manifold setup is gonna do... talk soon.