New Trophy owner.

[J333EVO]

Hi,

Recently purchased a Clio Trophy as my everyday runner to replace my beautiful Toyota Celica GT4 ST205 that only went after someone saw it at a show and asked me how much I wanted, I gave a price he paid it went, it all happened pretty quickly and I was a bit in shock at first. The Clio is going some way to getting me over it.

I also have a Lancia Delta integrale EVO1, hence the forum name, been using it for years since I got my 'grale and makes it easy when going from one forum to another. And for anyone of a certain age the GT4 & integrale EVO mean one thing SEGA Rally

Always had a soft spot for Renault's from having 2 R5GTT's back in the day, a 1988 black one, and my late 1990 Tungsten grey one which I loved, very nearly bought it back about 2 1/2 years ago when it came up for sale. I know Jamie86 on this forum and like his car a lot which made me look at Renault's again.

I did consider a Honda integra Type R DC2, test drove a great UK 2001 2 owner 50k FSH model in my preferred Milano red, and I liked it, but felt a bit cheap compared to Celica, almost a step back. My mate bought one new back in 1999 and I remember it being great, but maybe the years have diluted it as it didn't quite live up to expectations. That red one sold to next person who looked at it1 hour after me, I was 1st viewer, then every other red one that came up looked poor in comparison, it just wasn't meant to be.

Then test drove the new Civic which was better than expectations, but could only get £1K discount on Championship Edition, yet over £3K off normal GT model, & 0% finance, tempting, but not enough, so walked away.

Other cars at home are the g/f's Mitsubishi FTO GP version R, 1 of only 350ish made, in white which is best colour and manual gearbox with Torsen LSD the best combo. Brilliant car, the 2L V6 sounds awesome revving easily to 8000+rpm making 197bhp & only 1170kgs to lug about make it quick, with great chassis, image slightly tarred by slow witted 4 speed auto's and dog rough examples.

We also have a Fiat Seicento Abarth fitted with a 1.4 16V 6speed gearbox from a Panda 100HP running Emerald ECU, but looks standard unless you spot the bigger front brakes and rear disc conversion from a Punto GT Turbo.

And in process of building a track day toy out of a Cinquecento Abarth again running 1.4 16V 6speed but running Canems ECU this time as got a good deal through a industry contact.

Already signed up to owners club, been reading lots, looks like a good place to be.

Aaron.

 

[ForceIndia]

Welcome. Pics of the Delta!

 

[DannoTheGreat]

howdy!
yep pics of the evo!!

 

[Rocky_24]

welcome, im also going to ask for pics of the evo.

 

[Alexander]

Delta pics please.

 

[Daz.]

Hi, I'll be different - pics of the missus

 

[stuart1989]

Hi, I'll be different - pics of the missus

i lol'd

 

[Matt@Stealthsport]

Hi Aaron your on here now too then.............

 

[Fletcher]

Welcome to CS.

 

[J333EVO]

OK Firstly the car the Clio replaced, Toyota Celica GT4 ST205. The outside pictures were taken by the new owner.

 

[J333EVO]

I've not got any recent pictures of the integrale, most recent are about a year old next to the GT4, and a few from about a year before, but still looks pretty much the same apart from an EVO2 alloy filler cap surround & EVO2 rain gutters, which to anyone outside integrale's cirles means little and Porsche 911(996)/Boxster S Brembo 4pot radial mount monoblock front brake calipers with 310mm Alfa 166 brake disc conversion from Brembo 4pot lug mount 282mm brake discs as standard.

 

[Matt@Stealthsport]

Please stop posting pics of your 'grale it just makes me want another one.

LOL

 

[JoedotwasT5phy]

Welcome mate.

How does the Trophy stack up aginst everything in the scheme of things?

 

[nathanH]

That Integrate Is immense!

 

[J333EVO]

Welcome mate.

How does the Trophy stack up aginst everything in the scheme of things?

It's hard to judge it against everything else as I'd say the cars are in different categories, but...

The Trophy replaces the Celica as the everyday car so maybe better to make a comparison against it, which is a little unfair as the Celica was £32K new, and mine was not 100% standard, you do get a hell of a lot of car for what they go for now.

The Celica was much more of an occasion to drive, the brakes are very strong, 315X32mm vented front disc's large 4pot callipers, 315X20mm vented rear disc's with 2pot callipers handbrake working with a little drum brake built into the bell of the disc, though the Trophy has Brembo Max disc's and Pagid Blue fronts so it stops very well.

The Celica's driving position was better, you are sat much lower down, and everything just falls to hand, and ultimately the Celica has much more grip and with a longer wheel base corners very flat, and it was quicker in a straight line, though the Whilteline adjustable rear anti-roll bar dialled out a lot of natural under-steer it has as standard. It's interesting to see they do one for the Clio as well. I used to have a Suzuki Ignis Sport with front and rear Whiteline anti-roll bars and it was very pointy, in fact on the edge of being nervous, but I liked it like that. though the Clio being fairly small is pretty pointy as well.

The Clio's throttle response is razor sharp though, feels really eager to get up and go, and for an electric power steering rack feel is pretty good, not up to hydraulic steering for feedback, but best electric I have driven.

The integrale is a totally different beast altogether, the sense of theatre when driving it almost overwhelms you, its not that much quicker than the Clio, if at all, though mine does run smidge more power by having a tubular manifold and 3" turbo back exhaust. But the surge when the turbo comes on is intoxicating. The feedback through the fantastic MOMO Corse steering wheel is absolute, the car rolls compared to modern cars, but just finds grip not matter the conditions and is so easy to balance on the throttle. The seating position is pretty poor, but the beautiful leather Recaro's feel brilliant and make up for it. The integrale is an emotional car, and in many way the GT4 was better, but the integrale just gets under the skin and you can't help but love it.

The FTO has an amazingly balanced chassis, and although as standard the brakes are fairly poor ours runs Nissan 350Z 322X32mm vented disc's with Mitsubishi GTO 4pot calipers (GTO's weighed over 1800kgs) which considering it only weighs 1150kgs stops it very well, but at same time have so much feel to the pedal. In a straight line I don't think there'd be much in it FTO's are meant to make 197bhp 0-60 6.5secs 145mph top end, most put out about 185-190ish now, & the FTO really needs to be in the 5500-8000rpm zone to really fly, its fairly long geared as well, 2nd gear is over 70mph, though it is very tractable low down.

This is on account of its clever variable cams and inlet track length, short inlet track length for high rpm and top end power, long inlet track length for low down torque, mixed with two cam profiles makes pretty clever stuff for late 1990's. Ultimately though, the longer wheelbase & the LSD makes the difference and driven hard our FTO would be quicker of that I have no doubt, BUT I think it all comes down to it being a GPvR, which not only benefits from being slightly lighter, has beefier lowered suspension, the anti-roll bars, drop links, dampers and springs are all unique to it, it has the LSD & manual gearbox, even though the change is not as slick as the Trophy or GT4. Otherwise a 4speed tiptronic GPX or the alike with open LSD is not at the races to be fair.

All said and done though the Trophy is a fantastic car, I love it, as it has something about it, much like the integrale, its fun, has a benign chassis that rewards every input, wants to play, has fantastic Recaro's, yet is civil enough to drive everyday. It's a dam fine all round car.

 

[dave120]

Love the Lancia, One of the coolest cars ever!!

Not a fan of the Celica but i've never driven one.

And FTOs are just not my cup of tea at all.

 

[Jamie86]

Pics of the missus still please? lol

Not going to post pics of the Sei then?

 

[ForceIndia]

The Trophy doesn't have an electric rack?

 

[Dazza1]

Welcome mate my mate has a evo8 raileyart its a fat car he has got a s1 escort turbo aswel

 

[J333EVO]

Pics of the missus still please? lol

Not going to post pics of the Sei then?

I'll try and find some Seicento and FTO pictrues!

And my mistake, the Clio doesn't have electric power steering, the power steering fluid reservior should sat next to collant expansion tank really should have given it away, which explanes why it has much better feel than I expected, still not quite integrale feel, but it is very good.