GT2 FF 4-Cyl. Sedan Comparo (Accord, 406, Avenger, 166, G20)

[GT_Prologue5]

This is the Gran Turismo 2 Front-Engined Front-Wheel-Drive Sedan Comparo.
I have listed the cars and some things I had to say about them

1999 Peugeot 406 Sedan- 2.0L 139hp 3064lbs. $44,390 One of the heavier cars of our group. Weird French look is unadored.

1998 Alfa Romeo 166 2.0 TS- 2.0L 148hp 3,130lbs. $40,850 The heaviest car, and only has 9 more horses than the similair 406. Very good Italian look.

1999 Dodge Avenger ES- 2.0L (est) 138hp 2,996lbs. $22,110 Lightness takes the place of less power, and has some sharp looks.

1998 Infiniti G20 2.0TE-V- 2.0L 184hp 2,843lbs. $25,630 Theoretically speaking, this is the fastest car here. Not a fan of the styling, especially the split grille.

1998 Honda Accord SiR-T- 2.0L 190hp 2,865lbs. $21,480 Right on the heels of the G20, but a lot better looking.

Test 1 Time Trial at Laguna Seca Raceway
This is our time test, the most important. It shows that the car can take a good consistent lap around a very technical circuit. We brought the challengers here to see which one could pull the best lap.
We took all cars through 2 laps, the first being a warm-up and the second being the timed lap. Any spins mean the lap was invalidated and kept going until a complete lap.

Here's how they did:

406: 1'50.562 @ 92.79mph
166: 1'48.789 @ 93.48mph
Accord: 1'48.445 @ 100.28mph
Avenger: 1'48.252 @ 95.10mph
G20: 1'45.347 @ 103.34mph
From our data this tells us things. It definitely tells us that the Accord was underachieving, and the Avenger was our overachiever.

Accord- felt good, quick, easy, although requires too much mid-corner braking. Engine needs to be revved high in the powerband. Nimble. Looks are fading.

406- felt good for a run, for being as heavy as it is, it has great turn-in. Still, it is slow, not even hitting 95mph, and the engine note just isn't there.

166- Feels like the fastest of our group, does everything an Accord does with less power and more weight. Styling is odd up front but good all over. Excellent.

Avenger- well this places very high for its engine, beats an Accord and looks as good as an Alfa for 20K less.

G20- Fast. The whole way through, this felt fastest. High revving engine is nice, don't like the front fascias.

Test 2 Test Course 400M
This is a pure acceleration test. Pretty much just rev and launch, full speed for 400 meters.

Avenger: 0'17.169
166: 0'17.158
406: 0'17.012
Accord: 0'15.984
G20: 0'15.695

From this you can tell this whole thing is based on power, which you can expect in acceleration test.

Test 3 FF Race @ Tahiti Road

Accord: 1st
406: 5th
166: 3rd
Avenger: 3rd
G20: 2nd

Accord- gained 1st early, never really looked back, but had to pass 2 cars in the final turns. Lead most of the race.

406- This car is pathetic. Bad looks, bad ride, bad performance.

166- very good, held its ground. Style is so fresh.

G20- strong performer, lost on second to last turn.

-Overall-

5th place- Peugeot 406 Sedan
This car just feels like it's boring. It has last place performance and looks are not stellar at all. The steering is crisp for its heft though, and the car is the largest. But when you have a performance test, the car that has the least performance finishes last. And its price is too high for a 4 Cylinder.

4th place- Alfa Romeo 166 2.0TS
This car was very good. It has great style, and Alfas have a great heritage for beauty. This astounded us with its performance per hp, but it just didn't push our buttons to the limit.

3rd place- Honda Accord SiR-T
This car was one of the best performers. Super cheap, but it could easily be beaten by a car with more weight and less horsepower. Block style is o.k. at first but becomes bland as the miles wear on. Also, very compact.

2nd place- Dodge Avenger ES
This car has super competitive performance for so cheap and looks better than an Alfa. Its also large and spacious. It just has the classes throatiest engine and has swift handling. Couldn't accelerate very well, though.

1st place- Infiniti G20 2.0TE-V
This car had performance in a different league. This thing can power with Civics and out handle with Mustangs. It is a little small but it just performs exceptionally. If you need a nice drive around this is a relaxed car anyone can drive. It won 2 out of 3 performance tests by drastic numbers. The top choice.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

I would agree about those results. I did note the Infiniti G20 is pretty competent in GT2 (if a bit underpowered) when I reviewed it long ago. IN GT4, though, it's a mess. Not nearly as easy to drive and stuff.

 

[GT_Prologue5]

Yeah the G20 in GT4 was my 1st car once and I just couldn't drive the damn thing. Felt slow compared to the competition. Still felt like the best out of them all, hopefully I'll come up with some more ideas for comparos.

 

[DK]

This thread reminds me a lot of niky's comparison tests.

 

[GT_Prologue5]

Thanks driftking.
Also looked at the last part of your signature, you must play a lot of Grand Theft Auto to remember that.
Soon I'm hoping to do a V8 Comparison, but it seems that America is the stronghold (unlike Japan for the first one). Maybe get a R390, GT40, Venturi Atlantique (if a V8 model is available) maybe Mustang and Corvette for some long drifting FR sides and some MR sports cars for the super handling. What do I want, speed or style? Let us wait and see....
Also if you have any suggestions (please, no one-makes, I'm not battling every Skyline GT-R ever made). Keep it to engine size, turbo group, race car classes, drive train, etc.
What I tried to do with the FF 4-cylinder comparison is 2 cars from every city, but we didn't have that. Hope to make some more, and help out!
And for the V8 thing, maybe a DB6. Sweet.

 

[Parnelli Bone]

I'd rather see speed over style, unless you can put up vids.

I think Venturis are all V6s

 

[GT_Prologue5]

Forget what I said I can get videos to GTPlanet
Thank you so much Parnelli Bone for making me think of this.

 

[Tornado]

I would suggest some kind of MR comparison. The '97 NSX (to keep things fair, probably not the Type S or Type S Zero), the Venturi Atlantique 300, an MR2 GT-S, the Tom's T020 and the Clio RS. There may be more cars in that rough performance category, but that would make quite a good read by itself.

 

[GT_Prologue5]

Wow sounds like a great idea but it's late right now so I'm tired.

 

[jeffgoddin]

New here, on and off GT2 fanatic. Browsing threads and this one caught my eye because I'm in the early stages of very thoroughly comparing all the cars in the game. Starting with FF. Looking at categorical things like (couple, hatch, sedan, and wagon), (K class, compact, normal wt, and luxury), (historic, 80's, 90's), etc.

Note that in such a process at least at this hp level the best courses to test on regularly are Tahiti in the 80's cup, and Red Rock and Grand Valley in the GT car cup, since all these races are essentially easy for most tuned vehicles and deliver $125K or $250K prize vehicles so you never have to worry about money as you throw down for all the mods. Also, these races are all 3 laps so you get two tries at a lap time each time you race.

Though I'm not through with the non-Japanese FF's yet, I have to say I expect my opinion on which FF sedan is the best is not going to change, although I too was surprised at first. It's the Mazda 323 4 door sedan '89 (aka Protege). Super light weight and 370hp gives me lap times in the high 1:02's at tahiti, 1:14's at Red rock, and 1:53's at Grand Valley, without even trying to carefully tune it. It has the Infinity '98 beat by 50% in the power:weight ratio.

Not that the infinity is a bad car, handles great. Stratus is the better dodge to look at, btw. Taurus is pretty hot unmodified, but who needs 500+ hp FF? Not done with the 156 2.5 yet, but it looks to be one of the best around, but I bet it still won't beat that damn '89 Protege.

 

[VXR]

Unless there's a difference in versions, isn't the 406 a 3.0 V6?

Edit: Never mind, it's the coupe that's a V6. I've only recently got the game again after almost a decade without it, so for some reason I assumed it was a V6 in the 4-door, too.

 

[maniak300]

Try test:
Alfa Romeo 156 2.5 V6 24V
Ford Mondeo GhiaX 2.5i 24V
Honda Civic Vti '98 (Ferio)
Renault Laguna V6

 

[GT_Prologue5]

Try test:
Alfa Romeo 156 2.5 V6 24V
Ford Mondeo GhiaX 2.5i 24V
Honda Civic Vti '98 (Ferio)
Renault Laguna V6

I don't know if I'm going to be doing another comparison test, GT2 playing has become rare for me lately. I've been stuck with GT5 getting ready for GT5. It's cool that people still play this though.

 

[VXR]

If you do it, the Opel/Vauxhall Vectra GSI fits in with those cars, too.

I recently bought it again as the car variety is brilliant and it's a nice nostalgia trip. It always seemed like the most fun of the four main games and on playing it again, I reckon it is.

 

[jeffgoddin]

Actually just finished my review of the Vectra. Boy Howdy!

1:04.2 at tahiti and 1:17.3 at red rock without trying too hard, times comparable to what I could do with the 98 Civic Type R similarly modded (which is to say, fully, including R, but not so far as ASC or TCS or whatever) with a quarter less hp per pound!

Interesting to note about the Vectra is how broad its power band is (NA-3 even). Very easy to set gears to keep it above 80-85% max hp once you're out of second, and that's not too common (usually shoot for 75%).

 

[VXR]

Opel/Vauxhall engines are renowned for being very strong. My car only has 125hp, but it's clean horsepower with very few flat spots through the gears.

 

[jeffgoddin]

Comparing:

Alfa Romeo 156 2.5 V6 24V
Ford Mondeo GhiaX 2.5i 24V
Honda Civic Vti '98 (Ferio)
Renault Laguna V6
Vauxhall Vectra Gsi 2.5 V6

Basic stocks stats:
Price: Civic and Mondeo were everyday cars, the others more high end
Mass: Civic is a compact, the rest are normal weight sedans with Laguna heaviest and 156 lightest of the four
Peak Power: Civic and Mondeo come with a little less power than the other three
Power band: Civic has the narrowest by far, Vectra the broadest followed by 156, Mondeo, and Laguna
Engine: Mondeo and 156 are V6 DOHC, the rest I4 DOHC
Displacement: Laguna's a 3, Civic's a 1.6, the others are all 2.5L
Aero: Mondeo sleekest, Laguna chunkiest
Tires: looks like Vectra fattest, Civic and Mondeo skinniest
Transmission: 156 has 6 gears, the rest 5
Power per mass: 156, Civic, Vectra, Laguna, Mondeo
Est. Handling potential: Civic, Vectra, 156, Mondeo, Laguna

I only track tested the fully tuned versions, though, sorry. Fully tuned means all mods except ASC and TCS and an attempt at tweaking settings has been made. Ran for best times at Tahiti and Red Rock.

Fully Tuned R modded track test results

Tahiti:

1:03 Laguna
1:03.2 156
1:04.2 Vectra
1:06 Civic
1:06.2 Mondeo​

Red Rock:

1:15.2 156
1:17 Laguna
1:17.3 Vectra
1:19 Mondeo
1:19.7 Civic​

My personal conclusion is that the 156 is clearly the best vehicle of the bunch, though it may require careful handling to bring out the best it can offer (I think I could have gotten a 1:02.5 at tahiti...) The Laguna is next best, and the Vectra third. Civic and Mondeo don't deserve to be compared to these three cars. We knew that about the Civic, though, so the Mondeo is the only real underachiever here.

The details about the fully tuned stats:
final power to mass: 156 clearly the best, Laguna next, Mondeo and Vectra about the same, and Civic last
power band: Vectra clearly the best, then Mondeo and 156, then Laguna, then Civic
final tuning: Civic is NA-2, the rest NA-3

Final thoughts: the Civic has a disappointing engine really, though it's probably a decent stock car. Mondeo might shine in somebody else's hands, and I didn't dislike it or anything, but numbers not so hot. Laguna and Vectra were both beautiful and fun to drive. 156 simply superb, but not a real surprise, and 6 gears helps it to keep purring for sure. But, the cheapest car in the lot still beats them all (just under 1:03 tahiti and 1:14.4 at Red Rock), the damn '89 Protege 4 door, which fully tuned has the best power to mass ratio of any FF car available, 4 door, coupe, hatch, whatever (except maybe the Weds Celica,) and its handling doesn't suck!

 

[Joker-GTBR]

A good comparative would be Lancer Evo vs. Impreza WRX STI through the times. Evo II vs. WRX Sti I, and so on

 

[jeffgoddin]

Just finished looking at this again. I really like this sort of topic!

First of all, though the Spec sheets on the Laguna and Vectra both claim I4 DOHC, their names, power profiles, and internet data all call them V6's, so they're out of consideration.

Second, sorry GT_Prologue5, but the Dodge Avenger is a 2-door so it's out.

In all I looked at 19 4-cyl 4-door models that the game offers, and my method for comparison was not stock performance or ultimate performance, but normalized performance with tuning set at 12.35 lb/hp or just above for all models considered, trying also to get weights as close to 2580lbs as weight reductions would allow. Then I added sport suspension and ran the 1000m to see if I needed close or super-close gearing to get me close to the red line in 5th at the 1000m line.

For gearing, interesting to note perhaps that most took close gears, the 156, G20 '98, and Galant took super-close, and even super-close wasn't close enough for the Accord Type R which got custom gears auto set at 6. The Peugot 406 sedan meanwhile was perfectly happy with stock gears at this tuning.

I took each car as tuned above and then ran the 1000m and 400m and then ran the 2nd 80's race at SSR5, which is very competitive at this tuning, to see how the cars fared in traffic while also looking at handling.

Then I added SS tires and a racing flywheel and ran the 1st Lux Sedan race at Rome, which wasn't really competitive after the 1st hard 90 degree right, to get a slightly different picture of handling at this wt/power ratio.

I added one more data point, the 1000m time minus the 400m time to look specifically at high speed acceleration/aerodynamics.

I had some bad runs, sure, but that's part of handling. I did get better at both races at this tuning as I worked through the cars, though, so I gave the cars I tested first a small bonus in ranking consideration. I also gave the cars I tuned the most above 12.35lb/hp a small bonus. Then I ranked all cars in each of the five categories and added the totals, with the smallest total being the best overall car.

The results:

1) Alfa 166 2.0 TS by far and the fastest car off the line
2 and 3) Accord Type R and Alfa 156 2.0 TS
4) G20 '95
5) Corona Exiv 200GT
6) G20 '90
7) Accord SiR-T Mugen
8) Neon ACR
9) and 10) Alfa 155 2.0 TS and Sunny VZ-R '98
11) Peugot 406 Sedan
12) G20 '98
13) Galant VR-G
14) Civic Ferio '93
15) Accord SiR-T '98
16) Civic Ferio Mugen
17) Accord SiR-T '97
18) Civic Ferio '98
19) Mazda 323 4Door Sedan '89 by far


The Alfa 166 is the heaviest (and most powerful) and the Mazda 4door the lightest (and least powerful) of the cars considered, but in general there didn't seem to be a close correlation between weight and ranking.

In terms of ultimate potential, the 323 will eventually be the force to be reckoned with, but the 156, Accord SiR-T '98 and '97, G20 '98, Corona Exiv, Neon ACR, 166, Accord Type R, and G20 '95 will all take you far into the game. Considering performance given tuning demonstrated above however, I'd avoid the the Accord SiR-T's even if they do eventually offer a lot of punch per pound.

In terms of stock potential, the Accord Type R, Corona Exiv, and Civic Ferio '93 will show you the best performance, with other Accords and Ferios, the G20 '98, and the Sunny VZ-R '98 also looking respectable, though as we see above most of the Accords and Ferios don't offer the best performance given tuning.

In terms of cost, the bargain tuners high in the rankings are the Corona Exiv and the G20 '95 and '90.

Overall therefore I have to conclude that the Corona Exiv is the most outstanding 4-cyl 4-door out there, offering budget price and tuning, good stock and tuned potential, and good handling. The Accord Type R in an unsurprising quality award car. And finally those Alfa's (not 155) though pricey will offer you the ultimate in driving pleasure and performance.

 

[With a EG6]

The 'infiniti G20' is a 'Nissan Prima' over here in the UK and Japan , why use a infiniti badge ? there sold in America GT4 and GTPSP have them both , they were trying to cram as many cars in as they could or something