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Thinking about buying a Scarlet Turbo....


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Hey guys,

It's time for me have a change of car, and was curious about the Scarlet Turbo. There's one for sale at my local garage, and I'm gonna give her a test drive on saturday. It's totally standard, fresh import. It's here if you want to give your opinion of it please.

But I want to know what it's really like, from you guys, the owners. What are the positives and negatives of the car? I previously owned a 205 gti 1.9, so I have expectations of how a hot hatch should be.

I'm also interested in mild tuning, ie gains in performance on a small budget. So where would you guys start?

In the running for my next car is also another 205 gti, 306 gti6, or a audi coupe 20v quattro.

Any advice always appreciated!

Cheers, Deano!

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welcome to the club mate,

il keep this brief once you have a stab of the throttle you should be hooked

the handling will be bellow par if you knew how to throw about your 205

but 150 quid can bring the handling up to scratch,

tuning wise, the potential for easy extra power is there due to the turbo

please feel free to ask any more questions bud,;)

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Sorry Liam, spelling isn't my strong point, although if i got one I think Scarlet would be a nice name, kinda sexy!

Enzo, have you seen the one for sale I put the link to, what's your opinions on it? What should I look out for when viewing one?

Also you say £150 would sort the handling out, is this from just springs and shocks, or anything else? I need a good handling car for the B roads where I love to drive. The 205 was perfect for this (well appart from in the rain!).

Another (final) question, how easy are these to service and get hold of bits for? I plan to service and repair the car myself (bar the turbo and other specalist jobs).

Cheers, Deano!

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  • Enzo, have you seen the one for sale I put the link to, what's your opinions on it? What should I look out for when viewing one?
    ive just had a deek at it the now, and from the add the moneys right but for my own personal opinion which alot of other dont share i would try and hunt out one with a few modifications already in place fresh off the boat,
    a scour every day of pistonheads, auto trader and ebay could find you something better. but alot of people like to go for totaly standard cars for good reason.
  • Also you say £150 would sort the handling out, is this from just springs and shocks, or anything else? I need a good handling car for the B roads where I love to drive. The 205 was perfect for this (well apart from in the rain!).
    out of the box the steering in the starlet is very numb your constantly guessing how much grip the front end has wheres in the pug you know how much grip you have to play with
    ok most people on here will know by now that i preach these mods but 150 spent on a rear anti roll bar and more importantly anti/lift castor kit will bring your ep on par with the french hatches you have, the anti lift castor kit brings the steering feal bang up to date and some of the thicker rear anti roll bars eradicate understeer. where as in the rain ul have to watch yourself.
  • how easy are these to service and get hold of bits for? I plan to service and repair the car myself (bar the turbo and other specialist jobs).

very easy to get serviceable parts, obviously the more you tinker with a turbo car the more unreliable it gets but because its a toyota they can take some abuse and servicing is pretty easy, if you have air con in place its a total bitch to get into the fuel filter though.

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if your looking for a silver one there is one going at WRC mate. Its got a few little parts on but nothing major.....its a little bit more expensive, but ive seen it and it is mint, not a mark on it.........

Rob

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I agree with Enzo about looking for a one with a few modifications. I bought mine completely standard and it costs a lot of money to tune them lol here is a quick list of what it has cost me so far.

Cat 1 alarm £280

15" rotas £400

3g 20 groove discs and green stuff pads £155

decat £129

field one touch coupler and jam fcc £130

sard r2d2 blow off valve £135

apexi induction kit £70

hks actuator £70

hks platinum and silver spark plugs £40

sard rrfpr £154

4x new michelin pilots £170

samco turbo and coolant pipes £135

whiteline lowering springs £150

As you can see mate it all adds up, if you can pick up a lightly modded one you will save yourself a lot of money.

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Thanks for the advice guys. I think standard is what i want to go for, not being funny, but my general feeling is that modded cars have seen a bit more abuse than a standard ones. and plus this way I can have all the fun of doing stuff, and doing it my way ;)

One more question, I know there are various styling shapes, but are there any differences under the bonnet between the different face lifts?

Cheers, Deano

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Ok, i dont quite understand what you mean with you'll have to watch yourself in the rain, is this refering to a standered starlet or a starlet with rear anti roll bars?

  • Also you say £150 would sort the handling out, is this from just springs and shocks, or anything else? I need a good handling car for the B roads where I love to drive. The 205 was perfect for this (well apart from in the rain!).
    out of the box the steering in the starlet is very numb your constantly guessing how much grip the front end has wheres in the pug you know how much grip you have to play with
    ok most people on here will know by now that i preach these mods but 150 spent on a rear anti roll bar and more importantly anti/lift castor kit will bring your ep on par with the french hatches you have, the anti lift castor kit brings the steering feal bang up to date and some of the thicker rear anti roll bars eradicate understeer. where as in the rain ul have to watch yourself.

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yea thats what i mean that you will have to watch yourself in the wet once you have fitted a rear anti roll bar, same as you would to an extent in any standard french hot hatch

does that make sense

if you have any mroe question just ask ;)

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