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Performance Of R33 Skyline Vs Ford Xr5 Turbo Focus

LatinR33

By LatinR33,
in General Automotive Discussion

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LatinR33 Experienced

LatinR33

Posted
Posted

Has anyone driven one of these cars? Im looking at purchasing a car which is abit more practical for me now as im getting older. I have been reading up on ford XR5 turbo focus. Would the performance be similar to my stockish R33 or would I be left craving more. It says it has 2.5 litre volvo engine with 166kw but that doesnt mean squat to me. anyone have any opinions on this car??

black_gtst Proficient

black_gtst

Posted
Posted
Has anyone driven one of these cars? Im looking at purchasing a car which is abit more practical for me now as im getting older. I have been reading up on ford XR5 turbo focus. Would the performance be similar to my stockish R33 or would I be left craving more. It says it has 2.5 litre volvo engine with 166kw but that doesnt mean squat to me. anyone have any opinions on this car??

hey man do a search in the forums section. was someone talkin bout the new xr5 a couple of weeks ago. apparently not a bad little piece of gear!

cheers

brett

BaysideBlue Community Regular

BaysideBlue

Posted
Posted (edited)

FWD SUCKS..XR5's specs might look good on paper but it would never be as complete as the R33 around the track or on the road.

Check out this thread for more XR5 discussion http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...howtopic=180956

Edited by BaysideBlue
DriftyR33 Enthusiast

DriftyR33

Posted
Posted
Has anyone driven one of these cars? Im looking at purchasing a car which is abit more practical for me now as im getting older. I have been reading up on ford XR5 turbo focus. Would the performance be similar to my stockish R33 or would I be left craving more. It says it has 2.5 litre volvo engine with 166kw but that doesnt mean squat to me. anyone have any opinions on this car??

I've had the pleasure of working on the Focus ST before they where re-badged XR5 and shipped over to you guys, yes the engine is a nice piece of kit, and makes the cars a very quick one, lots of torque and power with a 6 speed box and it will quite happily keep up with a stock R33 GTST, the engine is very strong, and so it should be as it was made by engineers at Volvo in Sweden who know what there doing, but thats where all the good points stop, the rest of that car was made by a bunch of hill billys out in Spain (Yes Spain, that country thats renown for its car making ability's?!?!) Having worked on Ford Focus's for over 7 years now I would not own one if it was given to me, They really are the biggest pile of crap to come out of eastern Europe (Except for the Ford Fiesta thats even worse), It wont be long after you purchase one you will see bits flying off in you rear view mirror, as most of it is stuck together with double sided tape and clips made from recycled kids plastic toys.

Hope this has been of some help :D

Raging Demon Apprentice

Raging Demon

Posted
Posted (edited)
FWD SUCKS..XR5's specs might look good on paper but it would never be as complete as the R33 around the track or on the road.

Check out this thread for more XR5 discussion http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/in...howtopic=180956

No offence but have you even driven a XR5 turbo yourself? i haven't driven an XR5 turbo personally but i've been driving around a Volvo S40 T5 AWD. Same motor as the XR5 turbo just a lighter chasis compared to the S40. I can tell you its one damn of a car. Engine is extremely smooth, boost kicks in and the car drives like a treat. Seriously keep your bias comments to yourself. FWD cars are just as quick if they are well balanced. Its the same as RWD cars. RWD cars aren't instantly OMG uleh fully sick and drives like its a go kart because its RWD. Both drives have their advantages and disvantages. The key word is throttle control my friend....

Cheers

Edited by Raging Demon
mad082 Grand Master

mad082

Posted
Posted

for anyone that doesn't like fwd and hasn't actually driven one hard, i suggest you do so. my sister in law was dead against a fwd even though she had never driven on because all of her commodore friends (who also had never driven one) said they were crap and torque steered, etc. i let her take my magna for a drive and she liked it.

the missus has a SSS pulsar and it handles nearly as well as my 33 did. it lacks a bit of stability at high speeds through corners due to it being shorter than a skyline and no wait in the rear, and skinnier tyres. as far as steering response goes it is identical to the skyline. yes it torque steers like a pig but that is due to worn bushes in the steering rack.

if i had the money i would definately be looking at one over a skyline as a daily driver.

r32line Mentor

r32line

Posted
Posted (edited)

My parents have a 99 Magna, and it is a great car to drive, very smooth, excellent engine with plety of response and torque... However, when you drive it through a corner slightly harder it does understeer and powering out of a corner is far more difficult than a Commodore. I would still take the Magna over the Commodore a million times over, it is better built, MUCH better engine, MUCH MUCH better transmission and as a family car it performs its function very well.

But it does highlight the weakness of FWD, but its not a performance car so I don't see it as an issue. A hot hatch is meant to be sporty, but with FWD it will torque steer and understeer, I saw a clip with J Clarkson in the hotted up Astra, he left his hands off the wheel and floored it from stand still, and as boost came on the steering wheel would just turn...

Overall though I think the hot hatches handle well and are good cars, (i'd take the Golf GTI before the XR5 though for sure!!) but I really would not say they handle as well as 33 gts-t etc.

Edited by r32line
vinnie32GTS4 Mentor

vinnie32GTS4

Posted
Posted

if u want a cart thats similar to a 33 get a ford xr6 turbo..there a straight six turbo so u'll have a similar growl to the rb straight six

and there round the same size

or i u want more grunt go for the f6 typhoon same car better engine n what not

HotPlates Proficient

HotPlates

Posted
Posted (edited)
The XR6 Turbo's are heavy as fark though aren't they? You'll definately feel the weight difference.

So is the XR5 turbo coming in at 1437 kg.... with only 166 kW.

The R33 would still be the quicker of the two. I used to own an N15 SSS and that was a fun car to drive! Great handling too being a FWD. But fun only because it was so light. XR5 turbo seems too heavy. But would be an awesome daily though :cheers:

Personally I would get a Golf Gti if you were looking for a hot hatch for $4k more.

Edited by HotPlates

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