If citroen made a 200+ bhp Xsara with 4 wheel drive and maybe a WRC kit would you buy it? On the strength of my wife's Xsara Vts I would as the front wheel drive 167Bhp car is a joy to drive but I find it slow compared to the scoob. If only!

its french... never in a month of sundays :)

It would cost a fortune, look how hard it is for Ford to come out with a Focus Cosworth,
and to add a WRC kit would make it even more expensive.
I'd rather go with a cheaper, more reliable, available STI.
And while we're in dreamland, why not a 206 WRC for the road its better looking, or a WRC Impreza?

I think the French werc teams will do quite well this year, i think they are missing out on quite a good market, by not providing drivers with a car suitable.

I know i bought my scoob somewhere along the lines with my fascination and love of rally.

If pug wins the drives title, makes good sense to have a replica to go with it, or why they in the rally? if not to holster their image of quality cars?

I've never understood manufacturers who poor so much money into sprts like rallying and then fail to produce a matching range topping car to bridge the link between raod and rally. I think A really quick range topping model can "lift" the rest of the range.

With F1 its so far removed that mere association seems enough. But to me because the cars look so similair in Rallying its important that a manufacturer has a reasonable performimg road equivalent.

Deano

1: as have been said it's french - no chance :)

2: it's only good on the tarmack, lets see it do some good in the arse end of the good old UK, mud, snow, ice, the odd rabbit :eek:

3: "Anyone got any spare tyres", naughty naughty :rolleyes:

WRC skoda?

I was curious about it as well, did a search
and came across this

http://www.rallyracing.nl/hansen.htm

550 bhp 0-62 2.5 secs
uses the haldex diff - same as the s3, tt, 4motion, octavia 4x4 etc

no reason why they couldn't produce something along the lines of the S3 for alot less money

Of course you have to remember that if you did by a Xsara WRC, you have to change the tyres in an illegal place, and then put together a huge legal team to try and get you off the hook.

Or am I just being cynical? ;)

Did he gain an advantage by doing that or was it a genuine mistake

Citroen claim that it was a genuine mistake and that he didn't gain anything by doing it, because there were no more competitive stages between the change and the next service.

However, mistake that it may have been, they surely gained from it as it would have given them more time in the service to do other things.

Tommi Makinen also claims to have eased off once they found out about the penalty too - although nobody can say if that would have made any difference.

SWRTWannabe

It WAS a mistake, that they will pay for in dropping to second overall. No advantage was made as there were no stages immediately afterwards. How long do you think it takes to fit 4 wheels?

oh well, Loeb will win the championship this year despite only contesting 7 rounds. ;) IMO

Yep, without a doubt, have been waiting for one of the PSA manufacturers to get around to releasing a 4WD 300bhp car for a while now, if they get a good one released for November I'll guarantee them at least one sale :)

Skoda, Yes :D

Citreon/Peugeot, No thanks. :(

Throughout my driving life the worst, most unreliable, tinny cars I've driven have all been French.

Lee

what about the hyundai accent. Saw it close up at the Newtwork Q.... There's a nice car if they made it!!

If they did, it would probably cost £50000. Ford don't have a 4WD Turbo Cossie because they couldn't make one anywhere near the performance & price of the Impreza & Evo. Of course, being French, they could just be good Europeans and get a backhand from the government. *ahem& :rolleyes: ;)

As for the tyres, rules are rules. Remember Ferrari and the "barge boards"? If there wasn't an advantage to be had, then they wouldn't have done it.

Not a chance Monsieur!

I agree with catflap though, a few manufacturers a missing out. A friend of mine is a Hyundai driver who'd kill for something like their WRC. The only thing they make is a standard car with a naff body kit.

Then again, it's only Imprezas and Evos that even available with 4WD, so it's probably not financially viable for them to build anything that's so far removed from their showroom models.

Josh

There's a really good reason why there is not a WRC replica of every car going around.....the WRC technical regs were brought in to allow the manufacturers who couldn't sell 5000 (like old Gp A regs) 4WD turbo cars, to compete. Before, the Gp A rally cars were compromised by the 5000 road cars needed to be built "the same", so only a few manufacturers could effectively compete. Now, you can have a Hyundai Accent, which is in real life a crappy shopping car, finishing in the top 6 of WRC events, and everybody wants to watch it on the TV.

I am sure that Skoda are missing a trick - they have their 4wd variant and they have the RS - combine the 4wd with the RS and I am sure they would have a car that was a very good alternative to the Impreza (even better than the RS).

Why the downer on French cars, I was surprised how good some of the old french bangers are, by the way the 205 GTI is till one of the best handling cars ever and through the twisties I think a standard scoob would get a nasty surprise (cetrtainly off a 1.9). I have a mate who had a 4 WD 911 Turbo and he had one all over him down the lanes round Manchester airport so dont think you lot are immune !

and yes he can drive it !

A as a general car enthusiast I'm not going to slate the French cars, had a Laguna in which I did almost 80K in 2 years without a single problem.

However didn't 2 of the Xsara WRC cars break down on the the way to the FIRST stage?

Skoda could easily produce a high performace 4x4 for less than 20k
They only have to Nick the 225 engine from the S3 TT
A.M.D sell 225 engines straight off the test bed from germany for £3300 for everything included 6 speed g/box & intercoolers

Saw an S3 at Scotts sloane sq Audi dealer -bigger turbo 330 bhp, Porsche Turbo Brakes etc 7000mls £26,900...

>>> Skoda could easily produce a high performace 4x4 for less than 20k <<<

Yes, so could Audi, VW or SEAT, but they decided NOT to do it because they would sell a lot more cars and that's bad for the environment. Or maybe SKODA wants to stay an 'exclusive' brand...

Skoda and SEAT could add another car to their list without upsetting the pricing....Don't think Audi VW could because they have a couple of 4x4 200/225bhp around the £20,000 mark