This review will not have a before/after thing involved. It’ll all be about after. I will waste no time testing this car out stock, my motivation won’t last half as long if I have to put up with crap handling and understeer. One more thing, I’ve moved to Fuji Speedway F for testing cars for some strange reason, have no idea why…
So, this Emperor, or rather
the Emperor. Easily the most hardcore Evo there is…or is it? Well, I’ll answer that later, but a bit about the car first. Regarded by some to be the last great Evo, it has a lot to live up to. And from the very moment you get onto a track, you know that this isn’t going to be a disappointment. It used to understeer in slow, tight bends, now it just grips like it’s rooted there. Before, it would grip hard to the track, but leave you with a hint of fear to hold you back from attacking each corner like a lunatic, now, it’ll grip just as much, if not even more, but the sense of impending death by understeer is gone, replaced with…let’s see…grip, grip, mild understeer, mild oversteer, still grip and then exit turn. Part of this is, I think, due to the AYC. It’s slow to respond but the response it gives is so quick that any sign of understeer is instantly banished with all 500+hp fired through the rear wheels. And when you get out of the corners and onto the straights, anything in its rear view mirror will just become a tiny speck with a frowning face on the driver’s face. It is just blisteringly fast. I got pass 175mph on the back straight. That kind of speed is ridiculous, but the way it loses this speed just blows you away and sends all fear and doubt out the exhaust pipe. It stops so quickly that on multiple occasions I had to stop braking and get on the power to even see the corner. If you want to drive this car, know one thing. It will look after you, it will take care of you. But don’t take this kindness for granted or it’ll show you why it has been labeled as the ultimate Emperor. Get a corner wrong, it’ll catch you. But if you fight it away and insist to play hero, you’d be buried in a wall and begging for it to take control again almost instantly.
This is a very good car. But as always, there’s something ready to snatch the crown from this Emperor’s head. And it’s this. The HKS CT230R. The Emperor’s arch rival. And also the very reason I’m here writing this review. You see, if it wasn’t for my need to push the HKS even faster than before, I wouldn’t have tested the Audi TT-R. And it was that car that had left the impression on me that you guys knew what you were doing. More than that, you guys could do it to just about anything. Still, enough of the ‘walking down memory lane‘ rubbish. Let’s see if my CT230R (which has done 1769.5km from new, a record for me
) has the pace to take the title of the fastest Emperor to date.
Laptime:
HKS CT230R-1:41.769 (RJ tuned, sports soft)
Emperor-1:43.399
But the laptimes don’t tell the full story. These two cars are actually completely different, despite looking rather similar and having the same beginnings, so they really can’t be compared. One is a loose, wild, red dragon of a thing hidden behind a Evo body shell while the other is a representation of what happens when an Evo is pushed to the limits of its sanity. So where the HKS is a quick, responsive thing which can pull remarkably well from a standing start in 4th, the Emperor has monumental turbo-lag if you drop off the revs in any gear. One is a lightning quick monster of a thing which is as agile as a lotus, whereas the Emperor is more majestic (hence the name, you can’t have an emperor who acts like a punk, can you), taking its time to get up to speed and then sorting out any problems. Think of it this way, the HKS is the 22B of Evos. Very loose, very fun, very fast. While the Emperor is a grown up racer, more sensible, more grippy, and just slightly slower. Oh and just in case you’re interested, the HKS has 618hp. Need I say more about the 2 second gap?
So…what do I think of it now I’ve done what I’ve been dying to do? Well, most people are given 2 option if they want a hyper fast Evo.
Use this tune, and adapt to the grown up grip
Ignore it and try something else
And I would say to those people, chose option 1. You may not like the understeer (who does?) and you may think you can do better with a 10/90 F/R bias to get the tail out to cure the understeer, but try to live with it. If you do, it can be one hell of a car to drive. And if you’re wondering why I said ‘most people’, it’s because I have option 3. Keep the Emperor in the garage for when I grow to appreciate the safe and steady-ness of it, and get in the CT230R for now and just rack up the miles.
a few others are like it too. Also, what does it mean when your parts list includes a 'header'?
