Things are going well, still shifting a little stiff from 1st to second, probably take a few thousand miles to loosen up the tranny, engine is not consuming any oil, and gas mileage is steadily increasing. My first tank was 21.7 (nervous) second was 23.4 (with a trip to Toronto) third was 24.1. It has also been really cold, so I expect it to improve at least into the 27-28 range. I am a lead foot after all, so I can't expect to get what our Saturn gets (mid 30's consistantly)
Here is the review I posted last week for interested parties on Audiworld...
First off, this car attracts attention, but so far it has not attracted the attention of any law enforcement...I guess that despite the screaming yellow paint and the polished wheels it's still a small Japanese economy car in their eyes. As long as I keep it stock in appearence I'll be ok. But it sure doesn't drive like a Japanese car, it drives like a German car without the heft (good and bad, I'll get to this in a bit) The steering is razor sharp and quick with excellent feedback, it takes a set quicker than any stock car I have ever driven and refuses to understeer off throttle, it is a FWD car so it eventually will, but controlling it at the limit is easy, it doesn't have as high a limit as my A4 or 4000 did, but that is easily cured with better rubber. Cornering is flat and the rear end seems carve an arc behind you, almost like the suspension is tuned to give extra toe under cornering loads, very cool, best handling FWD car I have ever driven, better than many pure sports cars.
The engine produces good torque, but not much power above 4000 RPM. I still have not been above 5K, up until 600 miles I never passed 4K...but the car I test drove I ran to redline several times
the engine is perfect for around the town driving and even higher speed highway driving, primarily due to it's light weight and high torque, it is geared exactly like a 1.8T A4, or my 80 and 4000, same final drive, and nearly identical gear ratios in all gears, so it's very short. But unlike the Audi's I have owned it lacks sound insulation so it gets a bit buzzy. The brakes on this car are simply amazing, it's like the engineer in charge of brakes was born in Munich or Inglostadt instead of Hiroshima. They are perfect, nuff said.
The interior is not quite up to German car standards, but is far better than any other Japanese car in it's class, it's all black with titanium trim, nice flat black dash top, smooth perforated leather seats with matching perforated door inserts, very tastefully done without cheap feeling and looking plastic like Nissan and Honda. I won't even try to compare it to the American competition...there is none. Another thing I like about the Interior is the low cowl height, like older Honda's. THe steering wheel is leather covered and fat, the seating position is high and comfortable, but with the sunroof I may have to recline the seat a bit with my helmet on for racing because headroom is at a premium, I would have preferred a lower seating position for racing...or a height adjustable seat so I could have the best of both worlds.
The gripes are typical of Japanese cars, short seat bottom (but the angle is adjustable so I can get some thigh support), buzzy engine at highway speeds (75mph or so), the stock tires (sp5000's) are excellent, but this car's suspension setup screams for stickier rubber, it doesn't have the stability of a German car because it only weighs 2700lbs, but I bought this car for how it will handle on an autocross course, which this car is well suited, I can't wait for the first race. Gas mileage so far has been less than stellar, but it's not fully broken in yet, and despite shifting no higher than 4000rpm, 5000 lately I got 21.7mpg on the first tank, and 23.4 on the second. Bit temps were in the single digits that whole time as well and that has a negative impact. I will keep monitoring it.
So far I am extremely happy with this car, it easily outhandles my A4 and my heavily modded 4000
Here is the review I posted last week for interested parties on Audiworld...
First off, this car attracts attention, but so far it has not attracted the attention of any law enforcement...I guess that despite the screaming yellow paint and the polished wheels it's still a small Japanese economy car in their eyes. As long as I keep it stock in appearence I'll be ok. But it sure doesn't drive like a Japanese car, it drives like a German car without the heft (good and bad, I'll get to this in a bit) The steering is razor sharp and quick with excellent feedback, it takes a set quicker than any stock car I have ever driven and refuses to understeer off throttle, it is a FWD car so it eventually will, but controlling it at the limit is easy, it doesn't have as high a limit as my A4 or 4000 did, but that is easily cured with better rubber. Cornering is flat and the rear end seems carve an arc behind you, almost like the suspension is tuned to give extra toe under cornering loads, very cool, best handling FWD car I have ever driven, better than many pure sports cars.
The engine produces good torque, but not much power above 4000 RPM. I still have not been above 5K, up until 600 miles I never passed 4K...but the car I test drove I ran to redline several times
the engine is perfect for around the town driving and even higher speed highway driving, primarily due to it's light weight and high torque, it is geared exactly like a 1.8T A4, or my 80 and 4000, same final drive, and nearly identical gear ratios in all gears, so it's very short. But unlike the Audi's I have owned it lacks sound insulation so it gets a bit buzzy. The brakes on this car are simply amazing, it's like the engineer in charge of brakes was born in Munich or Inglostadt instead of Hiroshima. They are perfect, nuff said.The interior is not quite up to German car standards, but is far better than any other Japanese car in it's class, it's all black with titanium trim, nice flat black dash top, smooth perforated leather seats with matching perforated door inserts, very tastefully done without cheap feeling and looking plastic like Nissan and Honda. I won't even try to compare it to the American competition...there is none. Another thing I like about the Interior is the low cowl height, like older Honda's. THe steering wheel is leather covered and fat, the seating position is high and comfortable, but with the sunroof I may have to recline the seat a bit with my helmet on for racing because headroom is at a premium, I would have preferred a lower seating position for racing...or a height adjustable seat so I could have the best of both worlds.
The gripes are typical of Japanese cars, short seat bottom (but the angle is adjustable so I can get some thigh support), buzzy engine at highway speeds (75mph or so), the stock tires (sp5000's) are excellent, but this car's suspension setup screams for stickier rubber, it doesn't have the stability of a German car because it only weighs 2700lbs, but I bought this car for how it will handle on an autocross course, which this car is well suited, I can't wait for the first race. Gas mileage so far has been less than stellar, but it's not fully broken in yet, and despite shifting no higher than 4000rpm, 5000 lately I got 21.7mpg on the first tank, and 23.4 on the second. Bit temps were in the single digits that whole time as well and that has a negative impact. I will keep monitoring it.
So far I am extremely happy with this car, it easily outhandles my A4 and my heavily modded 4000
