Sadly we've decided to sell our beloved MX5

**Ocean1** · 7th February 2013, 07:15

Originally Posted by Laava

So a blade is an upspec corolla with 130ish hp?

Edit, holy fuck it has a 3.5l v6!
Aaaaaaand 276hp!

Hoeri shit!

You see me ever owning something pedestrian? But hers is the less thirsty 2.4 camry engine, a bulletproof 180hp.

Originally Posted by ducatilover

The Blade Master is an interesting idea.
I've always wondered if it'd torque steer off every corner, straight line, wet road, driveway...

They don't, much. And the traction control keeps it straight.

Originally Posted by ducatilover

Or a down spec RUNX?

Think the Blade superceded the Runx. Supposed to be their "flagship" up-spec hatch.

Originally Posted by Sable

Got a first generation Poobaru Legacy GT. Brilliant bang for buck, mine owes me $1300 although I did build it out of two separate cars. Not as unreliable as everyone says, parts are very cheap and a lot of stuff from later WRXs bolts straight up - alloy A arms, 4 pot brembos, struts, drivelines, transmissions, engines, seats.

I had a GT30 for a couple of years. Similar HP, but smooth as silk. Only sold it because it was getting up towards 150k, and local inteligence had it they were best owned by someone else after that. I think they've got that same motor in a legacy shell nowadays, (not NZ) but blown.

**ducatilover** · 7th February 2013, 08:13

Originally Posted by unstuck

Shit, no ones mentioned Fiat yet. Had a nice 131. Wrote it off out the back of puhoi. And had the misfortune to own a couple of 127,s, absolute junk.

I like old FIATs.
But I'm fucked in the head

Originally Posted by Ocean1

They don't, much. And the traction control keeps it straight.

Think the Blade superceded the Runx. Supposed to be their "flagship" up-spec hatch.

I'd like to drive one, that's a mighty motor for a "small" (by today's standards) FWD hatch

I liked the RUNX, was the car to buy if you didn't want a Honda that goes better. Real fun little things.

**huff3r** · 7th February 2013, 08:25

Originally Posted by ducatilover

I like Rangies. But they scare the beejesus out of me

The old 3.5 V8s are reliable, and a shedload of fun... for a $1900 car!

**Ocean1** · 7th February 2013, 09:03

Originally Posted by ducatilover

I'd like to drive one, that's a mighty motor for a "small" (by today's standards) FWD hatch

I liked the RUNX, was the car to buy if you didn't want a Honda that goes better. Real fun little things.

Hers has a CVT gearbox, which I had to talk to my local expert about. He said it's fine, faster than either manual or auto and reliable. Feels weird, though. You can switch it to flappypaddle mode if you insist on having actual "gears", in which case it simply divides the range into 7 set ratios and pretends it's a particularly smooth 7 stage auto. Tell you what, though, it takes a minute to figure out what's going on when the traction control kicks in.

And you can get an AWD version, which I'd probably have looked at if I'd decided on the V6 option. But by that stage common sense is pretty well out the window anyway.

**ducatilover** · 7th February 2013, 09:08

Originally Posted by huff3r

The old 3.5 V8s are reliable, and a shedload of fun... for a $1900 car!

I do like 'em. My 3.5 P6B was relaible... but I never really drove it

Originally Posted by Ocean1

Hers has a CVT gearbox, which I had to talk to my local expert about. He said it's fine, faster than either manual or auto and reliable. Feels weird, though. You can switch it to flappypaddle mode if you insist on having actual "gears", in which case it simply divides the range into 7 set ratios and pretends it's a particularly smooth 7 stage auto. Tell you what, though, it takes a minute to figure out what's going on when the traction control kicks in.

I'm a fan of CVT in theory, but not any CVT with a torque converter, defeats the purpose.
Having the option to play flappy paddle is great
A mate of mine had a '10 Corolla 1.5 VVTi CVT AIDS etc, was a useless pile of shit. Hungry for a 1.5, very gutless and handled like a penis in a vacuum on Jupiter. Never enjoyed the feeling of CVT
The Blade does look pretty well specced, I'd like to drive one and see what I think of it

TC with CVT would be...err interesting!

**neels** · 7th February 2013, 09:33

Originally Posted by ducatilover

I like old FIATs.

I like cheap fiats.

I've seen both of the ones I used to own driving around recently, when I sold them the Uno was at 340k's and the Tipo about 250k's, great engines it's just a shame the rest of the car falls apart around them.

**Ocean1** · 7th February 2013, 14:13

Originally Posted by ducatilover

I'm a fan of CVT in theory, but not any CVT with a torque converter, defeats the purpose.
Having the option to play flappy paddle is great
A mate of mine had a '10 Corolla 1.5 VVTi CVT AIDS etc, was a useless pile of shit. Hungry for a 1.5, very gutless and handled like a penis in a vacuum on Jupiter. Never enjoyed the feeling of CVT
The Blade does look pretty well specced, I'd like to drive one and see what I think of it

TC with CVT would be...err interesting!

There's no "kick" as it changes, so it feels decidedly sluggardly, it's not until you look down at the speedo after a couple of seconds that you realise it's not.

Toyota's version looks like this:

**ducatilover** · 7th February 2013, 14:18

Originally Posted by Ocean1

There's no "kick" as it changes, so it feels decidedly sluggardly, it's not until you look down at the speedo after a couple of seconds that you realise it's not.

Toyota's version looks like this:

That's quite a neat bit of kit

I bet it's leaps and bounds ahead of the earlier CVT stuff

**Edbear** · 7th February 2013, 14:59

Modern CVT's are very good. The Kizashi is a wee bit sluggish just off the mark but by the time you are halfway across the intersection it is really picking up speed. Trick is not to use full throttle, about half and then feed it in as speed increases.

Stated 0 - 100 is 8 sec which is ballpark for the class and top speed is supposed to be 205, and I have little doubt that it would do that easily. Manual is a bit quicker and faster. On the open road and especially in the twisties it is a very fast car and recently had fun with a Commodore with
a young fellow behind the wheel. He couldn't keep up even though I had the Missus with me and had to keep reasonably safe for her.

Very quick from about 75km/h for overtaking. About the best torque figure in its class even though a couple of Kw down at the top end. It's torque that counts on the road.

**Kickaha** · 7th February 2013, 17:52

Originally Posted by ducatilover

Having the option to play flappy paddle is great
A mate of mine had a '10 Corolla 1.5 VVTi CVT AIDS etc, was a useless pile of shit. Hungry for a 1.5, very gutless and handled like a penis in a vacuum on Jupiter. Never enjoyed the feeling of CVT
The Blade does look pretty well specced, I'd like to drive one and see what I think of it

TC with CVT would be...err interesting!

Flappy paddle on the Nissan CVT is fucking rubbish

I have a 2011 Corolla 1.5 VVTi CVT and it has none of the problems you describe although that all depends on what they're bing compared to

**unstuck** · 7th February 2013, 17:57

This one sounds alright.

**ducatilover** · 7th February 2013, 18:48

Originally Posted by Kickaha

Flappy paddle on the Nissan CVT is fucking rubbish

I have a 2011 Corolla 1.5 VVTi CVT and it has none of the problems you describe although that all depends on what they're bing compared to

I was comparing it to how I expect $30,000 to drive in a new car... a Swift, or Polo for instance. Or something that's not a vague flexi-chassis

Mind you, 'rolla wagons have never driven well.

**carburator** · 7th February 2013, 19:56

my road car does'nt have gearbox issues, though it tends to be amusing at VTNZ when the guy get's in
and is faced with a fourspeed lenco..

the other amusing part one night raced a guy backwards up one of the local roads as the lenco runs
four speeds in forwards or reverse... ( though a bit twitcy in reverse )