So the Integra I was looking at didn't happen. Now I have my eyes on a stock Eagle Talon Turbo FWD. Any opinions on this car? I'm looking for something that is fast and has potential to get faster without breaking my bank account initially. I'm prepared to dump about 4k into the engine over a year or so but want something that is already decently quick.

4/22/2007 10:26:36 PM

get an AWD

and you won't need to spend 4k to make it pretty fast

4/22/2007 10:29:52 PM

My brother had a NA Talon. I think it was a '94. He took it to the dragstrip on two different occasions and messed up the engine. I think he broke some valves in both cases. I've also heard of people's turbos going out on Eclipse GST's at about 80K. I'm not saying to avoid it, but definitely check it over very well and get some other people's opinions.

4/22/2007 10:35:23 PM

Yea, from what I've seen the AWD's are the ones to get. The price on the FWD is decent, thats what even got me looking at the DSM to begin with. I'm going to try to take it out for a test drive tomorrow and see how it goes. I might end up holding out for something different or an AWD model.

This guy claims to have replaced the turbo and computer recently. I think it has around 140k now.


[Edited on April 22, 2007 at 10:37 PM. Reason : turbo]

4/22/2007 10:35:57 PM

you'll have better luck finding a GSX than a TSI AWD. I owned a 2G NA dsm FWD and I got bored of it pretty quickly. AWD can be fun on those little cars

hit up carolinadsm.com

[Edited on April 22, 2007 at 10:43 PM. Reason : ]

4/22/2007 10:40:26 PM

build a fwd highway queen ftw. i'd go front wheel

one whee terrors are fun.

4/22/2007 10:42:04 PM

The guy wants $2500, I'm fairly certain he'll drop below that. I have no clue about the condition yet other than he says it drives strong. I know these cars like to blow belts that take out all sorts of stuff with it pretty often which is a minor concern but for the price it seems like it could be a quick car with a lot of potential to be extremely quick.

4/22/2007 10:43:15 PM

i would also reccomend getting an awd. i had a fwd laser. it was a damn fun little car, and handled really well for a fwd with the h&r springs/adjustable kyb's. traction was definitely an issue with the engine mods. i just had basic bolts ons/free mods, $1k at the most and it was in the mid-high 13's. with traction it should have been a low 13 sec. car. still knocked down 32mpg on the highway as long as i stayed out of the boost. i could drive from here to atlanta on a single tank.

it's one car i really miss. some lady turned out of a shopping center right in front if me and it was totalled.

your only concerns should be the t-belt and the head gasket.

[Edited on April 22, 2007 at 10:48 PM. Reason : .]

4/22/2007 10:47:12 PM

So far it seems that the opinion is AWD is the way to go but the FWD's aren't that bad. After driving the Integra I've got it in my blood that I have to have another fast car. The damn Matrix isn't cutting it anymore.

$5k for a 95 AWD Talon Turbo on craigslist. That makes things interesting.

[Edited on April 22, 2007 at 10:52 PM. Reason : AWD]

4/22/2007 10:48:52 PM

1g or 2g? Depending on condition, I would set aside 2k at least for maintenance, cause dsm's break often and hard. If you know how to work on them, they aren't that bad and they are a lot of fun, even the fwd turbo's. Very easy to get some respectable power out of them and there's a huge after-market for them so prices for parts are reasonable. Transmission in those cars are pretty crappy at best and the 1g's syncro's go out fairly fast.

Definitely try to look for an awd version and then save up to mod it, instead of getting a fwd turbo and mod it.

4/22/2007 10:52:32 PM

The FWD is a 1G and AWD is a 2G. 2GAWD is double the price but isn't a huge deal. Working on the car shouldn't be that big of a deal. I've never worked on any DSM stuff but should be able to figure most of it out without too much of a hassle.

4/22/2007 10:55:03 PM

the thing is that with DSM's, they are temperamental SOB's, if you don't follow the exact directions, shit could blow up or fall off. Personally, I love 2g's. I wish I could afford a 2g awd

4/22/2007 10:59:22 PM

they're not complicated to work on at all. some things are a little tight/hard to reach, but so is every other japanese car.

also, imo, they're not that unreliable. they have a couple of common issues like any other car, but nothing major. my favorite one is all the people that scream about crank walk on 2g's. in reality, only a VERY small percentage of cars are affected.

problems usually come from people modding them and not doing proper supporting mods or modding them and not having a clue how to properly tune them. anything is going to have some failures when you start throwing alot more power at it. the thing is they get such substantial gains from very little work, people don't realize the abuse other parts are taking.

4/23/2007 12:11:37 AM

I had a 1g awd and kept it practically bone stock. It had a lot of small problems(alt, radiator, leaking seals, etc) but it still had great compression when I sold it with 150k+.
I did have to go through the transmission twice.
Fun car, but not something you'd want if you are looking for worry free commuting.

4/23/2007 7:51:55 AM

^^ concur.

people double the power, put an ACT clutch in it, then do a bunch of hard AWD launches...and blame it on "unreliable DSMs" when driveline parts break.

either that, or they start doing power mods without knowing what they're doing and pop the engine.

Quote :

"After driving the Integra I've got it in my blood that I have to have another fast car"

haha

we're speaking two different languages. the FWD will probably be fine for you.

[Edited on April 23, 2007 at 7:58 AM. Reason : the tranny synchros are a little problematic]

4/23/2007 7:58:15 AM

I've got a '95 talon FWD and it's been very reliable. bought in '96 with 26,000
I replaced the turbo at 104,000. Swapping the turbo was fairly easy.
The best bang for the buck mod I've done was new wheels and good rubber (the stock alloys are HEAVY) and strut tower braces front and back.

4/23/2007 8:27:58 AM

smoothcrim knows alot about DSMs

4/23/2007 9:15:26 AM

yeah... but he never did finish his dsm and ended up selling the damn project for like 5k... man, did he loose a lot of money on that sob. They aren't hard to work on, but once you get into it, you're car will always stay a project car, one more thing you want to add and add and add...

4/23/2007 9:20:42 AM

^^i hope that's scarcasm.

4/23/2007 10:05:23 AM

I'm trying to get a friend of mine to sell me his 92 S4 but thats not happening. I appreciate AWD and would love to have one. I'm just willing to settle for FWD although it is probably a crap idea.

4/23/2007 11:00:37 AM

if your used to a teg, then a fwd turbo dsm would feel faster. You can get almost 300 whp and still be a reliable DD if you do it right and take care of it.

4/23/2007 12:31:44 PM

i wants one, jk

[Edited on April 23, 2007 at 2:13 PM. Reason : d]

4/23/2007 2:12:44 PM

just curious, what kind of integra did you have?

4/23/2007 2:40:08 PM

^doesnt matter, they're all slow in comparison to a mildly modded dsm

4/23/2007 3:54:59 PM

a 95 awd is the way to go for a 2g. especially if it's an early 95 with the lsd rear end and bigger rear brakes. a 92 6bolt/4bolt is the probably the most mod friendly. if you have 4k to dump into an engine, don't dick around building your own, get a 2.1L (or a 2.4/2.3 if you want more torque) long block from marco at magnus. it's worth your time (and money) to read as much as you possibly can before jumping into one of these cars though, they've got pretty piss pour quality control and overall engineering.

4/23/2007 4:09:22 PM

its jdm, y0

4/23/2007 4:15:44 PM

^^u evAr gonna get a bike?!

4/23/2007 4:31:17 PM

I didn't have a teg. I was trying to buy one and someone else got the money together faster than I did. It was a 95 LS w/ a decent turbo on it. I liked it and was bummed when I called to buy it and it had just left.

After getting back into something decently quick (I used to have a 92 3000GT) I have it in my blood or some shit now to get back into these type of cars. I don't really care what I get too terribly much but I'm looking to start off with something thats around 2-3k and work up from there. Thats why I've been looking at the Talon as there are a few on craigslist that fit the bill.

A dude from Fayetteville has a 95 AWD for $2500 but says its running rough and needs some work.

4/23/2007 5:47:49 PM

i cant picture a 3000gt being too quick without a lot of work

4/23/2007 8:07:26 PM

definitely not. unless it's a vr4.

4/23/2007 8:18:13 PM

It was a vr4.

4/23/2007 8:26:24 PM

my first car was almost a 3000GT vr4.



my dad wanted me to get it.



I wanted a civic.



should've listened to Dad.

4/23/2007 9:25:30 PM

Wow. That sucks.

4/23/2007 9:31:36 PM

yeah, I knew dick-all about cars when I was 16.



My dad likes to remind me how stupid I was at every opportunity, though.

4/23/2007 10:57:36 PM

thats a dickish thing to do

4/23/2007 11:23:02 PM

shame, that would've been a perfect first car

4/24/2007 9:29:37 PM