Altezza?

[rlngtngku]

My buddy just loves the altezza and thinks its just the best car ever.

And im trying to tell him that it's really not that great of a car. In my Fujifast DVD some guy tests a TRD prepped one and says that normally, the car has poor cornering balance.

Can somebody please help me and give me some pros/cons about this car from a technical point of view?

PS. chassis code JCE10L, i think :P

[DoriAltis]

I haven't seen that Best Motoring, but Altezzas are suppose to have very good handling, they were made to compete with BMW's 3 series. also on the contrary, the IS300 we have in the States has near 50/50 weight distribution.

Altezzas use a BEAMS 3S-GE engine, which was used in the late model MR2's. It accelerates smoothly

I think a reason why someone might say the Altezza might have sluggish balance is the fact that there's a million systems and computers governing the car. I heard the traction control really rags on your fun.

Altezzas are probably not as refined as a 3 series car, but they're definately pretty cool. A personal favorite.

Also, Imamura used to drive one in D1 before his FD

[Darkstar]

The Altezza has very good traction and it rides great. I can tell, because my dad owns a one... And I used to drift it. Despite having no torque at all (in contrast to the US-spec, it has a 1G-FE 2,0 liter six-banger, probably available only here in EU) it's a lot of fun to drift one of these. Swap a latest generation 3S-GE (210 horses - nice one) and upgrade it with a Blitz supercharger for additional 'wheel-spinning' ( ) or some high compression pistons + cams. Dunno if you've seen the "Best Motoring Roaring Vtec" movie (I personally dislike Hondas except NSX, which was the main car in the DVD), but in one race, a 3S-powered Altezza did pretty well hanging on a butt of a Spoon S2000. This car's simply great, and I love it!

[rlngtngku]

thanks for the info folks!