Nismo's Duel Of The Week showdown- Pickup vs SUV!!!
This week, when I read that we could put any SUV against any Pickup, I didn't know which pair would be best to pit in a duel. I browsed the dealers, picked two cars, and then realised that, standard, they're actually super close in PP. So, let's get on with the duel!!! In one corner, representing the SUVs, we have...
The 2013 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque Coupe Dynamic!!!
...and in the other corner, representing the Pickup trucks, we have an ex-COTW car, give it up for...
The 2003 Chevrolet SSR!!!!
It's on!
FOR YOUR INFORMATION: All performance figures stated are of the vehicle, as is, fresh from the dealership, no oil change, no mods of any sort.
Round 1- Please don't break the bank...
Everyone likes value for money, right?! And cars are no exception. Both vehicles in this duel can be easily purchased by anyone who's racked up a fair portion of wins in career mode, and some more experienced players could probably buy multiple cars without putting so much as a dent in the bank! The Range Rover costs a not at all unreasonable $60,000, but the SSR is the real bargain, at only $44,560!
The SSR takes an early lead, but will it last?
Round 2- Live a colourful life!
Everyone likes having a good choice of colours for their brand new ride. How do the Range Rover and SSR compare? Well, the SSR has only four choices on it's factory colour palette, and they're all the basic sporty colours. Silver, red, black and yellow. Meanwhile, the Range Rover has a far broader selection of twelve colours! If you're willing to consider the variants that come with a black or white roof, then this adds up
to a total of twenty four options! Either way, the Range Rover blows the SSR out of the water for this one!
Round 3- There's no replacement for displacement!
The SSR, as expected from an American sports-hotrod-pickup, it packs a V8 under it's rumbling hood. Naturally, you'd expect the displacement to be quite sizeable, and you'd be right. The SSR boasts 5.3 litres of eight-cylinder goodness. The Range Rover, on the other hand, only has a 2l 4 banger, but it does get help from a decent sized turbo. But turbo or not, when it comes to raw displacement, the SSR is top again.
Round 4- In the wise words of Clarkson... POWWWEEEERRRR!!!!!!!
Do I really need to explain this one?
.....
Good.
The Range Rover, with it's turbo assistance and 4 cylinders makes a good 245bhp, which for a 4 banger is not bad in anyone's books. The SSR however, with double the cylinders and over double the displacement, makes..... 289bhp. Wait a second, what?! For double the engine, the SSR should logically be making 400+bhp without a sweat!!! The SSR still wins over the Range Rover,
but that's a shameful win! Be ashamed, SSR!!!!
Round 4.5- PP
As I mentioned in the beginning, the SSR and Range Rover are actually quite simlar in PP. The Range Rover has 415pp, while the SSR has 413pp.
Round 5- You're fat, and don't sugarcoat it... or you'll eat that too!
SUVs and Pickups are by no means light vehicles. They're built for heavy duty, whether it be trekking through rough off road, carrying heavy loads, or protecting troops in a war stricken city...
...okay, realistically neither the SSR nor the Range Rover are built for such endeavours. But still, what do they weigh??? The Range Rover tips the scales at 1640kgs, while the SSR
flattens the scales at 2248kgs! I've just got no words for that, other than WHAT THE FU-
Round 6- Dayum, you fine lookin!
The SSR has a certainly unique look (Thankfully!), but it's not without it's charm. It will no doubt appeal to some, and not to others, but I don't entirely mind it. However it's standard rendition in GT6 seriously disadvantages it against the premium, fully modelled and textured Range Rover, giving the RR an easy win here.
Stats and facts aside, it's time to head to the Special Stage Route X to determine acceleration and top end speed....
Round 7- Up'nGo!!!
Off the line, these things sure ain't no drag racers. The SSR, with it's underpowered V8 and plenty of weight, goes from 0-100km/h in 9.1 seconds. The Range Rover however destroys it, with it's 0-100km/h done and dusted in 7.3 seconds.
Round 7.5- Sir, do you realise how fast you were going?
After reaching that 100km/h, I kept going down Route X's straight to determine the top speed. I had no aerodynamic aid, no nitrous. The only help I had was that slight decline going down the straight. After that leveled out, they both ran out of puff so I called it there. The Range Rover managed to clock 262km/h, with the SSR just behind it on 252km/h.
And now, we come to the final part of this duel. The lap times. To give us an idea of what these vehicles are like against a typical car, I first went out and set the pace in a Honda Civic Type R. For these time trials, I kept all cars' setups fully stock, but put sport soft tyres of them. I ran no TCS or ASM, 1 ABS and SRF on.
(Also, I picked the Civic cos it's 414pp, placing it right smack in the middle of the SSR and RR!)
Round 8- Tsukuba
Civic- 1:03.545
Range Rover-1:05.512
SSR- 1:08.581
Both the SUV and Pickup are off the pace, but the SSR more than the Range Rover. The SSR feels super wallow-y and understeers quite a bit, you can only make the corners if you slow down a heap first! the Range Rover doesn't get this, but still feels quite slow. You can tell there's more time to be shaved off your lap, if you could only tune it...
Round 9 (finale)- Mid-Field
Civic- 1:22.926
Range Rover- 1:25.844
SSR- 1:28.286
Again, both vehicles well and truly off the pace of the Civic, but also once again, the SSR comes off worse. For the same reasons too, it's too understeer-y and lacks acceleration.
All of this considered, my verdict is that the SUVs leave the pickups in their tyre smoke!!!
And now for some extra photos... Big ups to
@Baron Blitz Red for giving me a hand, dicking around in his SSR so I could get some shots of both the cars on track... means a lot, bro!