Early Cordia Turbos had a lot of things to like back then but ultimately turbo FrWD cars are a bit diabolical - even Subarus . The Cordia was a neat looking thing in its day and arguably more so the first Starion .
Anyway turbo torque is a handfull with front wheel drives because when you overpower the steerers they can torque steer you into the next life very quickly . Quite a few cops came unstuck in them as mentioned , as well as in the VL Turbos they used for a time .
For some people its hard to judge turbo torque , its not linear torque delivery like say a bigger engine can have . When a turbo engine doubles its torque over 500 revs you need to be aware of what the car tries to do as a result of it .
I was once told that AWD is the answer to turbo torque and my experience going from FrWD to AWD in the RX L Series proved that vividly . It changed the characteristics of how it drove when tyre grip became marginal . I couldn't go back to a FrWD L now because I've been spoilt .
Turbo cars I've owned . FJ20 Turbo converted 81 Bluebird/84 DR30 Skyline/96 R33 Skyline Rwd/99 Evolution Lancer GSR . Oopse , Ellie the RX/T was second last .
As an all round performance car the Lancer is the best package . It doesn't have quite the low down off boost torque that my R33 has but its down half a litre and two cylinders which makes a difference . My R33 loses traction in first second and third if I lean on it in the wet where the Lancer doesn't feel any different in the wet compared to the dry - not that I go looking for its limits BTW .
Back to the Cordia vs RX L Series , the versions of both available here were essentially FrWD even though AWD transmissions were available for each elsewhere . If I had to guess I think the AWD Cordia Turbo would be better because of its slightly more modern engine and suspension . You do end up with a transverse engine layout which makes some things harder to get at , but as we we know some parts of EA82Ts are a major bastard to work on in an L Series .
A .
Cordia Turbo GSR V L Series EA82T
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steptoe
- Master Member
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as always , well said Adrian. One further improvement over AWD on turbo is auto in some respects - saves scrabbling for a slow moving shifter we get with the L Series anyway. The Cordia likely has better gear ratios than the Subes had on offer to suit turbo shove, could look very smart so long as bodgy brothers didn't over ride O2 sensor giving that familiar rich black mist on the rear bodywork. What can be truly grin generation is mixing it with the Land Bruisers etc on hilly dirt terrain where I really thought I was gonna need them for a rescue 
then hit the tar and back into cheeky drive mode 
in same vehicle that also has a boot keeping contents secured and clean. Still to see a Cordia doing this ! Hardly see Cordias full stop now....
then hit the tar and back into cheeky drive mode in same vehicle that also has a boot keeping contents secured and clean. Still to see a Cordia doing this ! Hardly see Cordias full stop now....-
discopotato03
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Sun Mar 18, 2007 9:29 am
- Location: Sydney
Back in the 80s turbo cars had a bit more wow factor than nowdays , seemed anything with a dryer was a bit rad man .
These days OE turbo cars have to be a lot more civilised because they have lots of competition from medium engine size cars .
The real trick seems to be balancing engine capacity against the cars weight so the thing performs reasonably well off boost . Then when a hill or some need to accelerate rapidly arises the turbos there to boost the engines normal performance .
The trap many people including manufacturers fall into is aiming at a healthy looking power number . They can get a bit greedy and end up with turbos that boost from a tad too high rev wise and sadly above expressway cruising revs .
I think the golden rule is size things so you boost the engines torque in the rev ranges used most of the time . High rev high boost performance is a bit pointless in a street car and to use it means making a target out of yourself with the wallopers .
A .
These days OE turbo cars have to be a lot more civilised because they have lots of competition from medium engine size cars .
The real trick seems to be balancing engine capacity against the cars weight so the thing performs reasonably well off boost . Then when a hill or some need to accelerate rapidly arises the turbos there to boost the engines normal performance .
The trap many people including manufacturers fall into is aiming at a healthy looking power number . They can get a bit greedy and end up with turbos that boost from a tad too high rev wise and sadly above expressway cruising revs .
I think the golden rule is size things so you boost the engines torque in the rev ranges used most of the time . High rev high boost performance is a bit pointless in a street car and to use it means making a target out of yourself with the wallopers .
A .