Any Talon TSI or Eclipse GST/GSX owners here?

[theCATman]

I've been looking around for a nice Talon/Eclipse turbo & I'm wondering if there are any owners here that have one, and could give me some advise. It's proving to be tough finding one in decent shape that hasn't been thrashed, modded all to Hell, or a rust bucket.

My main question is..... are they reliable enough for a DD (about 80-100 mi/day)

pros/cons about FWD vs AWD

pros/cons about stick vs auto

I have a line on a '95 TSI, AWD/auto. The car is basicly stock, which is good, but the AWD/auto combo.... ehhhh.... I'm not sure about.

Thanks for any help.

 

[gtfrede]

Awd auto is completely where it is at for a dsm...try and find a pre 92 if at all possible...mine has 192000 miles and ran the time in my sig while driving it every day....its all in how the previous owner treated the car

 

[theCATman]

Awd auto is completely where it is at for a dsm...try and find a pre 92 if at all possible...mine has 192000 miles and ran the time in my sig while driving it every day....its all in how the previous owner treated the car

OK.... why would a '90-'91 be better?

I know with the '96 up, emissions are a bigger concern.

 

[gtfrede]

anything pre 92 1/2 had what they call the six bolt motor which is dam near undestructable when tuned properly and even then they are tuff to hurt if maintained....650hp regularly with higher mileage stock short blocks....anything after that was a redesigned 7 bolt motor which went to a 2 piece fillet thrust bearing arrangement which was known to fail in the 95 through 98 motors....also have skinnier rods and lighter rotating assembly with better volumetrically efficient head with smaller ports...seven bolt also had smaller headstuds....they are good for around 400 reliably....big difference.....stay away from a manual gearbox dsm....just trust me when I tell you that especially if you want a nice reliable car....we scattered a perfectly good manual in my buddies car on the first 3rd gear pull while tuning...good ten minutes in the car and it grenaded.....good manual is 3500 bucks and is useless without a 2200 dollar twin disk setp for the clutch...stock auto is good for high 9's and are regularly taken into the tens....mine had the mileage I mentioned previously and finally sheared the diff gear in the trans after 50,000 miles of over 400 to the ground and driven everyday and beaten to death every single day....

oddly enough my dsm has been extremely reliable and the only time it has spent down was the times I took it down in order to upgrade the thing.....

turst me when I tell you awd is so addictive....granted so is tire smoke....thats why I have the best of both of those worlds....lol

 

[theCATman]

Thanks for the info.

If I get this one I'm looking at, I have zero intention of modding it. Seriously. It would be my DD/work car, so I need reliability, not all out performance. Great to know about the newer engines though.

Are the newer engines known to have the bearing issue on a stock or mostly stock setup, or does the problem occur when the engine is heavily modded & high boost is put to them?

 

[fitz3820]

I had DSMs for 10 years. A '90 GSX, good 6-bolt motor but not a good year for the 5 speed. Then got a '93 Talon TSi, had the non-desirable 7-bolt motor but it had 180k on it when I sold it and it ran like a champ.

I never went nuts with mods, just around 300HP or so, seems like after that you can start breaking things.

Was a great car for New England winters with AWD.

Like a GN, owning an old-ish, fast-ish turbo car can be some work.

-Mark

 

[gtfrede]

The only problem with keeping it stock is I like to upgrade when maintenance is needed...which as with anything it will need a little attention so you feel completely comfortable driving it....

the thing with the dreaded "crank-walk" (which is a tad overrated) it can happen to any of them...look for in and out movement of the crank pulley (could be a balancer issue though as well)....best way to check for walk is to keep your foot on the clutch pedal ever so slightly on the test drive and make a bunch of turns and feel for any feedback through the clutch pedal....if you make a left hand turn and the pedal sinks to the ground run away!!!! ....if its over 100,000 and hasnt walked yet then it probably wont....

they can be very good daily driven cars....use your common sense when looking at it....if it doesnt smoke and starts right up she is probably a good apple

ninja edit::: check out the strut tower rust..the 2g's are known for that problem as well....

 

[theCATman]

^ Thanks for the info.

The one I'm looking at is an auto though. I know the owner & I'm prone to think he's a pretty straight shooter. He says the trans shifts fine & has no issues going into OD. He told me that the 1st sign of auto trans issues with these cars is not wanting to shift into OD.

I'll check out the crank pulley for any wobble.

The car is rust free, but has the normal hazing of the clearcoat.

I know all too well about the strut tower rust issue. One I looked at, the right side had broke, sending the tower stud right thru the hood. AND, the genius who welded it back up.... umm yea, he didn't even peel the label off the soupcan before he booger welded it in as a new brace.

 

[gtfrede]

the auto is very good in the 2nd gens...they also are the only years that had a lockup converter....sounds like you know where the car has been and trust the previous owner which is golden....best way to buy one is from someone who really isnt looking to sell and rely's on the car already....sounds like you have a good potential buy and it being the 7 bolt it will be more streetable and daily driveable with the higher compression and more efficient head etc in combination with the auto....if its a panda (black and white) i would probably be jealous if its that rust free....

I lol'd about the soup can....sounds like the typical owner of those cars.

pics or ban

 

[theCATman]

It is black, but I don't know what the interior is.

I'm not joking one bit about the "repair" job on that strut tower. It was seriously 16 or 18 gauge steel they used. I was super pissed after I got there to look at this heap. The seller described the car as "needs nothing, mechanic owned, cold A/C, newer tires & ready to go" The only thing the car was ready to go for, it was ready to go to the scrapyard. Looked like a 2-stroke idling it burned so much oil, tires were new.... 30,000 miles ago, and that cold A/C... was colder with the windows down at 60 MPH. The moron was asking $3500!! The pictures he took & the line of BS he told me on the phone, I had the cash with me & figured on driving it home. Well, that obviously didn't happen. I told the idiot I'd give him $500 for the POS. LOL!!

I don't have any pics yet of the one I'm looking at, sorry.

 

[corsair231]

I've got a 90 Laser fwd turbo, 5-spd. I had a 92 TSI-AWD manual. Great little runabout cars. Fun to drive and sporty. Easily modified and can be made bloody quick. About like our cars it doesn't take much to make them fast and they can be dd reliable with mild builds. Manual trans are more fun and tend to be faster and are the ticket for autocross or handling events. At moderate power levels a clutch upgrade is really all you need. Manual cars had larger turbos and bigger injectors from the factory but plenty of options available. Stall converters for big turbo autos can be expensive and hard to find but autos may be better for drag racing because of being able to boost on the line and no boost loss between shifts. The fastest in the country though are either manual or converted to rear drive and using GM transmissions. The only tuning downfall I know of is the ECM. Unlike ours they do not have replaceable chips so it either needs to be modified or use a piggy-back system unless you opt for stand alone.

I prefer the 1st gen body style but that is subjective. Totally stock the 1g's may have been a little faster due to weight and engine changes but that is out the window as soon as the mods begin. Better mileage with the fwd, better all round go with the AWD but at stock levels the awd eats up some top end. Best power comes from a combination of 1g and 2g parts with several large sites dedicated to DSMs and loads of information available. The key to finding a good on is not if it has been modded but how much and by whom. Cars that are traded alot tend to lose history so finding one that the owner knows exatcly what has been done to the car is a plus. Not many pure stock ones left. Good luck.