Giblet's Galant VR4
Discussion
So following on from my XJR thread and then its sensible replacement the 9-3 Aero I figured I would start a thread for my current car. I seem to have a habit of repeat buying. Did it with some of the Rovers I owned and with the Preludes. Whatever I buy (with the exception of the Preludes) needs to have enough space to fit my old man in comfortably and space for his wheelchair in the boot.
I was browsing ebay late at night as per usual in February when I spotted this advert -
As you can see, thin on the ground in terms of information and pictures and listed in the parts section. Still I'm a sucker for punishment so I stuck a bid in. Given that it was ending at lunchtime on a Friday it wasn't surprising that I was the only person bidding and it ended for it's starting price. I contacted the owner, did a HPI check and booked a coach for Milton Keynes. Having owned two of them before I am fairly familiar with what to look for (despite my f
k up when buying the last one).
When I got to the car it was pretty much spot on and unlike my last VR4 it was solid underneath and completely standard bar the stereo. It's one of the "official" imports so it was undersealed when it was imported, seems to have held up well. Only niggle was the AYC warning light which is a common issue so I handed over the cash and set off home. Looked through the folder of history and it seems a previous owner traded in his Evo IV GSR plus just over £3k for this back in 2004. Also found a for sale sign in the boot with a price which was more than double the amount I paid!
Pics from the service station stop -
Shot of the interior (from one of my older ones but its the same in this)
I had all the fluids changed a few weeks later with the help of some more knowledgeable CVR4 forum members.
With some more illustrious company at a rolling road day that I organised -
Dyno run showed that it was down on power by 34bhp. Since then I had fun changing the plugs with assistance from another CVR4 forum member along with uprated leads.
Plenty of bits to unbolt first -
Plus a bigger intercooler. Stock one -
Aftermarket one looking suitable subtle as it was a second hand unit -
Getting hand my hands dirty for once
Decided to treat myself on my birthday last week and got some uprated downpipes plus decat and gave it another oil change at the same time -
In the process of buying some coilovers and a few other bits and waiting for the uprated brake calipers to come back from the refurb place. Planning to get it converted to LPG soon as well as an average of 19mpg on V Power isn't good on the wallet. Hoping to keep the mods as subtle as possible, need to debadge the rear to add to the q car nature of this old Japanese rustbucket.
I was browsing ebay late at night as per usual in February when I spotted this advert -
As you can see, thin on the ground in terms of information and pictures and listed in the parts section. Still I'm a sucker for punishment so I stuck a bid in. Given that it was ending at lunchtime on a Friday it wasn't surprising that I was the only person bidding and it ended for it's starting price. I contacted the owner, did a HPI check and booked a coach for Milton Keynes. Having owned two of them before I am fairly familiar with what to look for (despite my f
k up when buying the last one).When I got to the car it was pretty much spot on and unlike my last VR4 it was solid underneath and completely standard bar the stereo. It's one of the "official" imports so it was undersealed when it was imported, seems to have held up well. Only niggle was the AYC warning light which is a common issue so I handed over the cash and set off home. Looked through the folder of history and it seems a previous owner traded in his Evo IV GSR plus just over £3k for this back in 2004. Also found a for sale sign in the boot with a price which was more than double the amount I paid!
Pics from the service station stop -
Shot of the interior (from one of my older ones but its the same in this)
I had all the fluids changed a few weeks later with the help of some more knowledgeable CVR4 forum members.
With some more illustrious company at a rolling road day that I organised -
Dyno run showed that it was down on power by 34bhp. Since then I had fun changing the plugs with assistance from another CVR4 forum member along with uprated leads.
Plenty of bits to unbolt first -
Plus a bigger intercooler. Stock one -
Aftermarket one looking suitable subtle as it was a second hand unit -
Getting hand my hands dirty for once
Decided to treat myself on my birthday last week and got some uprated downpipes plus decat and gave it another oil change at the same time -
In the process of buying some coilovers and a few other bits and waiting for the uprated brake calipers to come back from the refurb place. Planning to get it converted to LPG soon as well as an average of 19mpg on V Power isn't good on the wallet. Hoping to keep the mods as subtle as possible, need to debadge the rear to add to the q car nature of this old Japanese rustbucket.
Beedub said:
that down pipe looks terribly made, the abrupt angles etc.... love the car however!
Cheers. The angles are not as abrupt in the flesh, bit of a dodgy pic. Its a work of art compared to the stock ones that I took off which were well overdue a replacement. carinaman said:
That seems like a lot of car for shed money plus 40%! I love the Recaros.
Thats what I thought too, my last one cost twice as much. Granted that had a few mods but it also had nearly three times the miles and was 50% rust. One thing I learnt from my £1300 XJR last year is old performance cars might cheap to buy but they are not cheap to run. Already spent more than the purchase price on fuel and I've done less than 5000 miles!griffin dai said:
Nice mate, have you still got the 9-3?
Cheers, nope the 9-3 was sold on a few weeks after I bought this. Was a good car for the money but it had a few annoying things like the stereo, something you know all about!Shadow R1 said:
Nice mate, I like that. 
Cheersthatguy11 said:
That interior is well retro! Love it
Cheers, theres something about 90's Jap interior that I love. Need to get the red parts of the wheel dyed black as it stands out too much. I have a stupid tendency to change cars every 6-12 months. Hoping this is one that I keep for quite a while. Always buy a car and make a todo list but never get round to completing it. Maybe this one will be different!
Roverload said:
Love love love these! Nice alternative to the normal evo / impreza, didn't realise they had come down so much so I may be having to hit ebay soon! Look forward to the updates!
Cheers. My change wouldn't stretch to an Evo and the only Impreza I lust after is a V5 Type R which is again out of budget and impractical! Nice ZS180 by the way, always had a soft spot for them. Jayessgee said:
Looks ace OP. Very underrated and often over looked car. Keep the updates coming.
Cheers.Rtig said:
And the welding 
Lovely car though op, I've looked at them a few times but just havnt been able to warrant the fuel bill in one!
Earlier today I (or rather the chap who will be fitting the LPG) discovered that I had a loose vacum pipe which meant that the car has been overfuelling. Here I was thinking the overly rich smell from the exhaust was as a result of the decat. Seems its been using 15% more fuel than it should. Hasn't helped the MPG! Fuel light has come on after 210 miles and thats half urban half sensible motorway run. Lovely car though op, I've looked at them a few times but just havnt been able to warrant the fuel bill in one!
All booked in for the LPG conversion next week. Having to go for a smaller tank than we first planned but should still have a range of 200 miles or so pure urban. Bring on the cheaper fuel costs!
giblet said:
Roverload said:
Love love love these! Nice alternative to the normal evo / impreza, didn't realise they had come down so much so I may be having to hit ebay soon! Look forward to the updates!
Cheers. My change wouldn't stretch to an Evo and the only Impreza I lust after is a V5 Type R which is again out of budget and impractical! Nice ZS180 by the way, always had a soft spot for them. Jayessgee said:
Looks ace OP. Very underrated and often over looked car. Keep the updates coming.
Cheers.
A bit of an update a few months on. The VR4 was converted to LPG at the start of September. Went with a 60 litre tank which fits just about perfectly in the spare wheel well -
The boot carpet now sits a little higher but it's not too bad -
Had some coilovers fitted at the same time plus uprated anti roll bars. My fuel spend per month is pretty much half of what it used to be. LPG is currently 62.9p a litre at the nearest station whereas premium unleaded (V Power in my case) is around 132.9p per litre. I tend to average around 14-15 mpg on LPG as most of my driving is stop start but that's the equivalent of 28-30 mpg on petrol. Cost per mile for fuel is pretty much the same as my sisters 1.0 CVT K11 Micra!
Got a set of 17" wheels from an Evo sat in storage, will be fitting those along with the uprated brakes after winter. In the meantime the plan is to just keep on driving it. Added up my total spends since purchasing the car back in November and it's not pretty, need to behave for a while!
Took the car out on track today for the first time. Really should have lowered the coilovers beforehand though. Hoping to get to some more trackdays next year.
The boot carpet now sits a little higher but it's not too bad -
Had some coilovers fitted at the same time plus uprated anti roll bars. My fuel spend per month is pretty much half of what it used to be. LPG is currently 62.9p a litre at the nearest station whereas premium unleaded (V Power in my case) is around 132.9p per litre. I tend to average around 14-15 mpg on LPG as most of my driving is stop start but that's the equivalent of 28-30 mpg on petrol. Cost per mile for fuel is pretty much the same as my sisters 1.0 CVT K11 Micra!
Got a set of 17" wheels from an Evo sat in storage, will be fitting those along with the uprated brakes after winter. In the meantime the plan is to just keep on driving it. Added up my total spends since purchasing the car back in November and it's not pretty, need to behave for a while!
Took the car out on track today for the first time. Really should have lowered the coilovers beforehand though. Hoping to get to some more trackdays next year.
I'm starting to REALLY want a Galant/Legnum VR4 recently...
Spoke to the owner of a nice Legnum at a trackday on Sunday, he said the running costs are really reasonable once converted to LPG. I always assumed the parts would be super rare/expensive as the much more common Evos have a horrendous reputation for being moneypits.
Manuals seem really rare though
Spoke to the owner of a nice Legnum at a trackday on Sunday, he said the running costs are really reasonable once converted to LPG. I always assumed the parts would be super rare/expensive as the much more common Evos have a horrendous reputation for being moneypits.
Manuals seem really rare though
Jaaack said:
I'm starting to REALLY want a Galant/Legnum VR4 recently...
Spoke to the owner of a nice Legnum at a trackday on Sunday, he said the running costs are really reasonable once converted to LPG. I always assumed the parts would be super rare/expensive as the much more common Evos have a horrendous reputation for being moneypits.
Manuals seem really rare though
I'm guessing it was the three sisters meet that you were at and it was the following Legnum -Spoke to the owner of a nice Legnum at a trackday on Sunday, he said the running costs are really reasonable once converted to LPG. I always assumed the parts would be super rare/expensive as the much more common Evos have a horrendous reputation for being moneypits.
Manuals seem really rare though
Funnily enough I was there too
Adam's Legnum is a well sorted example with a fair few small mods that all add up. He's the bloke who did my LPG conversion along with a few other bits. Manuals are harder to find but they tend to pop up for sale over on ClubVR4 every so often. Rust is the major issue given the age of the car though. Mine is booked in for a full underseal job in January. Not cheap but will be a thorough job
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff