1998 G-Limited Beams Review

[Primuf]

Hey Guys,

You can see the car im referring to here, ive just got it all registered, insured etc and now its on the road.

Thoughts:
Most of this will be a comparison to my old mr2, which was a 1990 Aus delivered with a JDM 3sgte conversion and had a manual steering rack, it had had a 3" exhaust, MBC @ 13psi, k&N intake, was good for around 185 rwhp.

The only mods the car has is a k&n panel filter, and a 5zigen Cat back exhaust (which looks to be around 2 - 2.25")
The only mods i plans to do are front and rear after market strut braces for now.

Engine / Driveline
The Beams motor is 10x more responsve than the old genII 3sgtes (or at least my old one). Touch the throttle in neutral and the revs rise instantaneously. On the road a light touch of the throttle sees you pushing forwards its great. I must say the mid range torque of the turbo motor is nice, but the beams gearbox is light and direct, so shifting down a gear (or two) is not a problem to get you into the powerband. The car is also powerful enough to give your passenger the "wow" factor, leaving them not believing its just a 2litre engine.

Suspension
The standard 1998 Jap spec suspension is great, stiff yet compliant, and i dont foresee me making any changes anytime soon. The ride setup is what most impressed me about the car, the suspension setup coupled with the Helical LSD makes for a very enjoyable ride in terms of ride / grip / hanging out the rear end.

Interior
Its nice the interior in the 1998 is new, and i love having a hard top (the novelty of a t-top wore off very quickly with my old car) but really there isnt much difference to my old 1990 version. Although the 1998 steering wheel with airbag looks cool, i actually prefer the old 1990 wheel, as it had better ergonomics with my hands.

Brakes
The bigger rotors / better calipers are great, the ABS seems to kick in pretty early, but the car stops nice and quickly.

Overall
In my opinion, this is the car the sw20 was supposed to be, its controls are light and the car is rev happy, you can throw the car around without getting into too much drama, and when you hit 5000rpm and the vvti kicks in its impossible not to smile, its just an all round fun car which is exactly what i was after. The fact that it has 9 years of devlopment on the car really shows and its going to save my bank account as i dont have to modify many aspects of this car to get it how i like it. As a performance car though, as in you want to go fast, or even really fast, buy the turbo model, there is no point trying to tune the life out of an NA car to only go as fast as a turbo car with basic mods.

Any different opinions / questions are welcome, i know how curious i was about the late model mr2s when i had my 1990. Ill be posting some pics of the car on monday after ive given it a wash and taken some photos.

[WFX]

Awesome stuff buddy, good to hear it arrived and registered without any dramas!

Mate Id love to check it out and perhaps get you to take us for a spin sometime would be great too, would let me compare yours to mine so I know what they should look & feel like!!

Nice work, nows there 2 of us in Perth with BEAMS motors!!

[Roman]

Originally Posted by Primuf

and when you hit 5000rpm and the vvti kicks in its impossible not to smile,

That's one thing I've heard a lot from various people, but have never felt in my car. Mine doesnt seem to 'kick' at a certain RPM, it just keeps pulling harder and harder all the way through.
Perhaps it's thanks to supporting mods I've got, and the fact that my car is lighter than most, meaning low RPM torque (Or lack thereof!) is less of an issue.

As a performance car though, as in you want to go fast, or even really fast, buy the turbo model, there is no point trying to tune the life out of an NA car to only go as fast as a turbo car with basic mods.

I disagree!
I think there's some merit in having a highly strung NA car.
For example. My SW20 weighs in at 1025kgs or so, with full interior, and nothing that I dont miss gone from the car. That's with standard exhaust, standard seats. I could get it under a tonne with no problems.
Imagine how your car would go, if it weighed 20% less.
You're never going to get a turbo car down to that weight, without stripping the hell out of it; As they've got heavier hubs, gearboxes, engines, etc.

Less weight = higher cornering speed, better braking, better inertial properties in general. More power cant give you any of those things.

[canadam]

Nice review and nice car !

[Primuf]

Your right about the power to weight thing roman, but i just think that from 100kmph onwards, with the tuned up turbo cars that ive been in they seem to just keep pulling so hard, i dont think a 4 cy NA can keep up with that, around a track your though your views are spot on.

[Primuf]

WFX: yeah the guy at the pits was great, really nice guy and he could see that the car was nearly brand new and had no safety issues so he really didnt give me any grief.

PM me your email address and we can check out each others cars

[Roman]

Perhaps it's due to other supporting mods that I've got, and that my car's a fair bit lighter, but putting my foot down at 100kph at fifth sends me heading fairly rapidly towards speed cut.
Even more so, if I bother chopping down a gear or two.


Although you're right I suppose, no way it's going to keep pace with a 350hp turbo car or something like that. But what % of turbo cars out there are actually that powerful?

I'd say my car could take on a fair chunk of the turbo population.

[Celica RA45]

how does the vvti kick in at 5000 ,when its working all the time ,The I is ment for intellengence ,you will find it moves all the time and starts to retard at the higher rpm ,what you are feeling is most likely maxium torque at about 5000 rpm some where around there ,but this motor isnt vtec like a honda yo

[tancred]

VIDEO! PLEASE GET SOME VIDEO! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!

[Primuf]

ahh ok i stand corrected its not vvti im feeling, however there is a noticeable steup up in the power and quickening of the tacho needle at ~5000rpm.