Showing posts with label gremlin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gremlin. Show all posts

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Getting to know about the "little giants"

The United States of America - land of the gas guzzlers, where the big engines with bigger displacements rule right until the Energy Crisis broke out in the mid-70's where America tries to rethink the automotive industry by providing fuel-efficient compacts because back then, gas prices cost like a bag of pretzels. That decade also introduces Japanese cars to the American market as well.

The producers sent me a Forza 4 challenge held at this month's Community Monthly Rivals event titled DON'T BE FUELISH. Turn 10 dev, phREDESIGN, issued us a challenge to take on him for this week's Community Bounty Hunter event, where we will beat phREDESIGN's lap time at the DON'T BE FUELISH event. More info here; http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/1/5577333/ShowThread.aspx

The AMC Pacer, Gremlin, Ford Pinto, and the King Cobra are the cars you'll be using on the Don't Be Fuelish event. Because the restrictions said that it has to be in the F-Class, tuning for these cars are allowed, so you can manage its power, weight, and others, as long as its not exceeding the F-Class limit of F/200. Surely, they want to tune the listed cars up to F/200, but for decision making, were not really sure which of these cars are recommended to beat phREDESIGN's time. To sum up, I drove these cars and observing how are these cars behave. Let's begin with the King Cobra...

1978 King Cobra

The 1978 Ford Mustang King Cobra...as told that the second-generation Ford Mustang is hailed as the worst car in America as told from Top Gear USA's Worst Cars episode but this King Cobra though...this is more like a properly dressed version of America's worst car. Surely I prefer the first generation Mustang because it has class and glamour. It even reminded me of the car Steve McQueen drove on the Bullitt movie, which in fact, the first generation Mustang became pop culture stardom as are the legendary car chase on that film.

This though, this is a bit too rubbish, Mustangs are supposed to be cool but this second-generation though, this is a bit rubbish right until 1979, where the third-generation Mustang broke loose and lost all of its muscle car biceps. This King Cobra is more of a final special edition of the second-generation Mustang and it's limited to 4,313 units made, complete with a deep air-dam, stripes, and a "Pontiac Trans-Am style" cobra snake decal on the hood. Under the hood lies a heavy 4.9L V8 engine that produces 139HP of power and 250lb-ft of torque.

This may have more power than the Pacer and the Pinto but less than the Gremlin. With the F/174 class, tuning is very limited for choices and it's not easy to find the right setup for the King Cobra. As for the handling, it's hopeless to beat phREDESIGN's lap time because it's too dynamic thanks to its rear-wheel drive and its oversteering risks. I would not recommend this car for this challenge...

Gremlin

Now if you watched last year's Cars 2 movie, you might remember that the AMC Gremlin inspired the character named Grem, who was one of the bad guys on Cars 2. For the more mature people, the AMC Gremlin loves to pick the fight against the Ford Pinto. Back in 1977, the AMC Gremlin costs $2995, cheaper than the Ford Pinto Pony's pricing of $3099. The Gremlin lists for less but gives them more. Both have bucket seats but Gremlin has a fold down rear seats and a rear hatch. When they stacked them up, the Gremlin comes on top, true to its slogan: THERE'S MORE TO AN AMC.

Sadly, there's no Chevy Vega on FM4 and if they did put it here, we can all have a good fight between the Vega, the Pinto, and the Gremlin. This will be fun but not now. Anyway, the one I have here on FM4's July Car Pack is powered with a heavyweight 304 cu in (5.0 L) V8 engine that churns out 151HP of power and 245lb-ft of torque. This guy may have more power than the King Cobra but unfortunately, It's difficult to tweak it up. You can't fit it with racing tyres because it may exceed the requirement for that challenge. Wait, you can fit it with racing tires in any races but no, not in the DON'T BE FUELISH challenge. You can lose its weight, you can tweak its power, you can tweak its handling as long as the car is in the required limit but I'm afraid that the Gremlin won't work on this challenge. To be honest, it's too twitchy and sluggish to handle the Gremlin because of its weight, no matter how many weight loss pills you're taking on this car.

Pacer

Hmmm...I already talked about the AMC Pacer two months ago but I'm not sure if this car's up to the challenge but to me, it's got potential because of its F/104 class and you can feel free to tweak Acer as long as it not exceed the F/200 limit. You can put it with racing tires, weight loss, power upgrades, anything but not exceeding the limit. Surely, it maybe the heaviest of the competition but with genius tuning, you'll never know what you can throw next on the Pacer. Being "the first wide small car" seems to be a big deal but I believe that it's just wasn't quite enough to beat phREDESIGN's time.

Pinto

Despite having the reputation of being the most dangerous car ever built because of the fuel tank mounted at the back, the Ford Pinto is highly the recommended car for the challenge. It may have the least power of the required cars but with the F/100 class, you can tweak it up with racing tyres, weight loss, more power, anything, as long as it not exceeds the limit. The lightweight body truly is the "ace in the sleeve" and it shouldn't be a problem cornering through the short spaghetti turns of Positano. If tuning the Pinto for the challenge by yourself isn't enough to beat phREDESIGN's time, try picking up the tuning setup by fat burns, whose lap time was 1:04.934.

As I checked the leaderboards, most people who come on top of this DON'T BE FUELISH challenge are driving Pintos. From top 10 to 100, they're always driving the little carefree car from Ford because the lightweight body makes it a joker in the card game.

I'd recommend the Pinto because most people came on top used this car no matter what setup they're using. The rules is simple, beat phREDESIGN's time and you'll get the RX-7 Spirit R unicorn car to use in the game. If you already have the RX-7 Spirit R, it may be optional to disregard this notice or take it for a spare one. It's your choice but for those looking for some easy money might consider taking this challenge using a tuning setup bought from some guy who made it in the first place. 

I already have two Spirit R's so I'm confident that I won't be needing to take phREDESIGN's challenge but I would rather take this challenge to boost my cash, my experience, or my affinity level. Those Community Bounty Hunters are those kind of challenges made by the producers to make players getting to know more about the car's true talent.

Anyway, you have until 8AM Pacific Tuesday July 24 to beat his time! Don't forget that if you want to get the Spirit R in case you haven't have one!