Unbelievably the wave of Tuner Challenges promoted by the school of exclusivity continue. Once again GME takes on Shogun but this time instead they have traded 60's styling for wagons. Yep Wagons. For those of you who are still reading and actually somewhat excited by the concept of tuned wagons, lets get on with the tunes.
The Base Model
The wagon in question happens to be a little bit special. More people carrier then wagon, this is the Caldina GT-4 is based around a standard Avensis but body style is where the similarities end. The Caldina unlike the Avensis is all-wheel drive and based around a throaty little 2 liter engine know to it's friends as a 3S-GTE. The turbo charged engine was popular with the Celica GT-4's and MR-2's. The idea of a turbo charged people carrier is daft enough and likely to only sell and small numbers. These boys reckon they can find people who want to buy 400+ horsepower wagons. Whatever. I'm not in marketing, I'm a journalist to if we may continue....
The GME Caldina.
I've picked the GME Caldina as first of all its in a more aesthetically pleasing Orange which I prefer and secondly because without a rear wing it may be the underdog in this challenge. As stated this car as 407 horsepower running through a custom transmission and two custom differentials. GME have fitted a center differential controller as well, but it has been taped down to avoid me playing with it. On the track and understandably from both a all wheel drive car and a gigantic “wagon” it's rather resistant on turn in. In lower speed corner's though when you drop the car back to first gear the size of that turbocharger become pretty obvious, there just isn't enough pull out of first gear at lower rpm. What the GME does do though is make you forget that your driving a wagon. I was ripping around Capri semi-consciously and I forgot that I was driving some big Japanese wagon and not in fact a sports car at all. It is genuinely a sport wagon. The GME Caldina feels planted when going round the track and the centre diff controller is set for rear bias though it's not exactly noticeable. Nice to see once again that Toyota is taking the fight to Nissan with the Stagea, if not from a third party like GME.
Shogun Style.
Now onto the Shogun Caldina. It produced the same power as the GME model, has it's own custom gearbox and differentials and has been tuned differently as well. Now the tuner claims that he felt that this was in the same league as the Audi TT that he also built. Now I cannot begin to describe how good the TT was to drive, especially as it was all wheel drive. All I can say was it was the best four wheel drive car I had ever driven. If this car turns out to be as good as that TT, GME could be in trouble. So is it as good as the legendary TT. No, not by a long shot I'm afraid. It's a bit of a hand full to start off with and you can't shake the feeling that what your doing with the wheel actually translates to purposeful movement at the front wheels and in that regard it's a little disappointing. The centre diff is set for a 35/65 split which is always less then idea for spirited driving compared with a conventional rear drive sports car or wagon. On the upside the Shogun Caldina is easy to get off the line if not for a little bit of wheelspin and the short gearing means that it accelerates rather quickly for what is essentially a block.
So which is best.
There's nothing much to pull these car apart from on the specification sheet, either car wouldn't budge in a game of top trumps. Both have extracted large amounts of power out of the 3S engine, over 200hp per liter in fact and beside a rear wing on the Shogun Caldina it's hard to know where the similarities end and the differences start. So lets depart once again for the drag strip.
The Shogun Caldina likes to spin it's wheels off the line before it really gets into it's own stride. Wheelspin was not something I was expecting in a all wheel drive vehicle. Wheelspin is favorable to the GME Caldina however as it simply bogs down off the line, more like your standard all wheel drive vehicle but as a result the GME car won't get off the line properly without a fight or at least without proper training anyway. In contrast Shogun blitzes the GME model in all the straight line tests. When the GME Caldina catches up though it will sail past the Shogun model because it's top speed is only 257 km/h, the GME model hits 284 km/h.
Out on the track however and I'm afraid the Caldina by GME design has the last laugh again. The GME model is incredibly balanced and very well composed that initially I took advantage of it. Everything about the GME Caldina is a joy. As I said earlier the GME Caldina is so car like that you literally forget that your driving a wagon. In stark contrast to the Shogun model. The Shogun is setup with more understeer where the car doesn't respond to your inputs in quite the way that you where expecting. A lot of the driving done in the Shogun model is with your eyes wide open and your head in the game. That brings us onto consistency. The GME Caldina has something that I like to refer to as natural rhythm. Natural rhythm is what I liken to a Nissan Skyline. The Skyline is hard to get used to but after a few laps you bring out the cars natural rhythm and then it will repeatedly lap good consistant laps. The GME Caldina has this rhythm in spades and unlike the Skyline anyone can get in the Caldina and drive it quickly.
With that said and done lets look at the results.
GME Caldina
Comfort :25
Attitude AND Prowess: 23
Power-to-improvement : 7
Perceived Improvement: 10
It may be as good as it can be and maybe it can be improved but it's too close to call.
Total: 65
Shogun Caldina
Comfort :18
It's quicker then the GME Caldina but you can do it once.
Attitude AND Prowess: 18
Understeer
Power-to-improvement : 7
Perceived Improvement: 7
Total: 50 +5 for quickest lap.
Laptimes @Twin Ring Motegi East Section.
Shogun: 1:29
GME 1:30