GTA Turbo questions from a possible future owner

Hello there all,

I am about to return to the UK with work and will be purchasing a car(s) on my return, and a GTA turbo is a possible on my list. I've done a quick search on the forum but haven't been able to answer all my questions yet, sorry if I am asking the obvious.

1. Track Days

How suitable is the GTA Turbo for track days? I don't want to be the fastest guy out there but do want to have fun. So far I've mainly been to the Nurburgring (in diesels and Type R civics, apologies!) and am looking for a car that you can drive near the edge without it snapping away, how suitable is the GTA Turbo for this? Is the standard suspension set up adequate for 3-4 track days a year? For example my dad's Lotus I drive is not the best for track days in its standard trim as the suspension can become tired quickly and the brakes aren't great.

2. Running and Servicing

When running day to day what fuel consumption, tyre wear, average servicing costs do you guys budget for? I expect this depends on how you drive the car to some extent, but just a general idea, I would likely purchase another car as my daily runner.

Any other advice/comments on running and owning the car would also be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Tim

Hi Tim, Welcome!

One or two others can probably advise you more on trackdays than me, I've only done a couple in the five years I've owned my GTA. However, in my limited experience, I found it drove very well on track with standard brakes and suspension. Depends how you drive I suppose, but if you use a couple of cooling down laps every few 'hot' laps, then I found my brakes perfectly adequate. If you're a more experienced track driver, then you might find the brakes a little lacking by modern standards. Lots of people have upgraded brakes and it's probably not a bad idea to do so. Again, depends how you drive, but grip and traction out of corners (rear engine) is excellent (in the dry! ) They tend to understeer first when pushed through corners, but lift off the throttle sharply and the rear will break traction!

As regards daily driving, you do get a real sense of occasion, even pottering in traffic and the feel on the road is very different to more mundane cars and you do turn alot of heads! I used my car as my daly driver for 3/4 years but you will encounter lots of niggly problems. It's probably best if you keep it as a second car and have something else for use as a daily driver. But in my experience they still like lots of regular use and maintenance to keep running properly. I average about 22mpg in urban driving when I use it for commuting (30 odd mpg possible on a long steady motorway cruise) and rear tires wear out quickly if used regulary. Fronts seem to last forever!

When looking to buy one, try to buy one that's been used regulary (so you know everything works) rather than one that has been used little or stood ages (everything about to break! - probably! ) I'm sure you've checked the rest of the forum for the most common problems to check for!

Other than that - buy, shed a few tears (probably!), shed some knuckle skin (probably!) but most of all enjoy!

Juzz.

Hi Tim, I've owned GTA turbo's for 16 years so can answer most things about them!
For trackdays they are pretty good in standard form as long as you don't drive them absolutely to their limit for too long. At Crouix for instance they are good for only 2-3 really flat out laps before the brakes start to rumble and the clutch fluid boils due to the proximity of the slave cylinder to the turbo. Driven at 8/10ths they are good fun and you obviously don't break or wear things out so quickly. The handling is great with fantastic steering and turn in although the standard front wheel / tyre combination really leaves the car to power understeer on tight corners. The tail can snap out a bit quickly but no more say than pretty much any other mid or rear engined car i can think of. A few sensible mods can overcome the above problems and make a very quick track car as Peter G has proved over the last couple of years.

As for day to day running they are pretty trouble free with 18-25 mpg in urban driving and 25-32 mpg on the motorway depending on how hard you drive. Mechanical parts are still pretty easy to get hold off and reasonably priced in general and normal servicing isn't too taxing. The only problem is that Renault has discontinued many of the GTA specific parts now or has made them prohibitively expensive so you can be looking and big bills if your unlucky or have an accident.

Great cars to own though!