Well you obviously haven't been in a GTti with modifications to the engine?! I agree they are not as much fun with the standard set up, but as they are a one litre its excellent! and economical!
Once a downpipe, exhaust and air filter are put on (all straight foward mods) it makes soooooo much difference. I have this with a hybrid turbo and it began to hit fuel cut at 12.5 PSI. Then with a replacement clutch, and a new ecu allowing the boost to go to 15 PSI its unbelieveable!!! saxo VTS have problems!
All these mods are so easy to do the only challenging one would be the clutch! So its so easy to get a hell of a lot of power out of the 993 cc more than a lot of stock hatchbacks with 1600 or 1800 engines!
Its just these cars are fairly unknown, rare and made by a smaller name company that people laugh when they hear the name!! If on the other hand these were made by Honda or Ford (for example) everyone would know about them and believe what sort of power they can produce.
So come on... learn to love Daihatsu!! :)
Well I own and drive a saxo. My first car. The one you will always love and after driving the charade I can't wait to get rid of the saxo. charades win hands down!!! I had the pleasure of driving it some 160 miles and it was a pleasure. I'd do it again anyday.
I agree, it's all because these cars are very unknown - I know these cars & their abilities, so much so that I am currently in the middle of building one of these 'pocket rockets' as a demonstration vehicle for my tuning company - watch this space!
K R Developments
www.krdevelopments.co.uk.
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'pocket rockets' Yeah right!
I owned one and found it to be SLOW, so rid of it and got a focus st170, st is much much quicker.
Like its been stated before... once tuned these things fly!! And I'd put money on my GTti beating an ST170 to 60 MPH any day of the week!
The only thing your motor would beat an st170 on is unreliability.
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Never broken down once in 2 yrs mate! ;) not bad for a 16 yr old car!
In standard trim, these cars are SLOW! No quicker than an xr2i, pathetic!
Yeah...but its only a 993 cc!
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I have a 1988 Charade GTti with a performance downpipe, which replaces the restrictive box like unit, coupled with a performance downpipe.
Performance wise it out accelerates my friends Toyota Starlet GT and a Citroen Saxo VTS with hi lift cams & gutted cat! It certainly doesn't back off past 60 either.
16.4 sec 1/4 mile as standard is almost identical to a brand new Civic Type R.
Being a 16/17 year old car, the suspension system will be worn, you'll need to replace the bushes and shocks for new items to sustain decent handling.
I bought one of these after reading all the hype, only to find that it was slower than my mates saxo vtr! Took it to my local garage to have them check it out as I thought it must be losing power from somewhere, only to be told it was running spot on.
Most People who knock it ain't ever driven one and it s a pitty
also they keep forgetting that its only 993cc and for that 3cyl engine to run on 17/18psi reliably all day long pushing out vtec power figures its amazing, Run most other std engines at that kind of boost and you will have a piece of melted iron under Ur bonnet in 2 min flat.
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I just bought myself one of these beasts last week for $200 AUD...it'd been sitting around for six months, but once I reset the ignition timing and rocking gear valve distances she fired up straight away and it sat there spinning the wheels for ages!!! Not bad for a 1988 cx hatch (the carby model)
I used to have a gt-ti. it was rapid! It had a bigger turbo, dump valve, chipped, boost valve, full through sSorpion exhaust from the turbo, air filter, lowered 15" wheels and I loved it!
I also owned a Saxo VTR and the Charade wins hands down. I raced a BMW 325 and ate it, a VTS and ate it!
The only reason I haven't got it any more is because the boy I bought it off smashed it into a Jeep!
They don't call them death boxes for nothing!
Hi, guys I'm from BARBADOS I have a 1990 GTti. It a nice
little car,i change the air filter to {igt}induction kit
and made my own downpipe,8.5mm plug wires, Apexi springs {35mm} drop,15inch rims. The performance is great now.
On a regular I get over 200km out of it.