A colleague is thinking about buying a Citroen Saxo VTS modified by LAD motorsport which was originally sold from a dealership in the North of England as a 170 BHP saxo badged as Saxo Tour de Cours. Apparently there were only 20 of these sold as a limited edition model, he has an opportunity to acquire number 1 of 20 with reasonable mileage for the age of the car.

Has anyone any experience of these motors or the tuning company who prepped them?

Any help would be appreciated by either PM, Email or on the board.

Thanks in advance.

TT

 

They have an awful reputation.
Just go and ask on any of the Citreon, Peugeot or Renault forums.
Most cars come out with less power than they started with. They have been invited along with other tuners to rolling road days to show off their demo cars but refuse.

 

LAD = LIE

 

Poor reputation on the Cliosport website.

Steve

 

They've been going years - are they that bad???

 

Avoided like the plague on Pug forums, but I have no direct experience.

 

Yep, had a friend a few years back took his Brand New 106 GTI there and they messed it up. Supposed to be a 160bhp mod and it was well short of that figure!
Spent a lot actually getting it up to a true 160bhp and sorting it!

Avoid!!!

 

FMP might also have some input on this - but..

I have *never* seen any LAD car *ever* put out the figures they claim.

As far as 106's and Saxo's go, in my opinion, the only company worth dealing with is GMC Motorsport. I wouldn't personally buy a LAD tuned car.

 

A few years ago we used to rally an ex-works Talbot Samba (Group B) and at the end of the season after recommendations from a fellow competitor we took it to LAD and good old Ernie et al for an engine rebuild . On the first event of the new season , after LAD completing pre-event checks aswell , at the finish line of stage one we stopped and were greeted by a huge amount of flames from under the bonnet which were extinguished by the marshals . The resulting huge amount of damage was caused by LAD incorrectly fitting and plumbing in the fuel pumps and pipework , and a lot of hassle and litigation followed. Enough said , I rest my case your honour !!.

 

So all in all not looking good for our Northern friends! Need we say more?

 

I have had personal experience with Ernie & the others at LAD

I had a 205gti 1.9 back in '98 and decided to chuck a few quid at it.....the name that most people recommended back then was LAD, so I booked it in and drove to the other end of the country (I live on the south coast) and dropped it off.

I picked it up a week later with all the work carried out, setup and valeted too.

I had new suspension, brakes, exhaust, and engine work which included flowed head and cam. What a car !!!!

LAD claimed 160bhp and had it run on their rollers and it put out a little over 160bhp, a few months later I had it run on a local roller and sure enough it was putting out a little over 160bhp.

It turned a great little car into an awesome tool.


On the basis of my experiences 8 years ago, they are someone that I would
deffinatly consider, but you cant ignore the bad press they have had of late.

 

If you just go and look at the workshop and the antiquated RR would put you off and having been there for an informal RR evening, their safety standards are not only shocking but down right lethal if anything went wrong!!!

 

try Skip Brown

 

as many ahve said, LAD are considered a waste of time. Not once in my past 8 years of being in the saxo scene has LAD had a good review or write up. There cars just dont produce the power that they claim.

The said Tour De Corse saxo was not an officail special edition, just something a dealership knocked together.

If it has a LAD 160 conversion, then its probably far closer to 130bhp.

For the best advice and products go to GMC motorsport.

He is probably better off buying a standard VTS and doing a few bits to it.

 

I had an original Tour de Corse and it wasn't that much quicker than the standard one I also had, it did look better (I had the 5 spoke alloys and a fantastic little Momo steering wheel) and went round corners better. Did 50k very happy miles in it. Totally reliable, never claimed on warranty.

If you ignore the power claim then it might just be a VTS that looks a little different.

LAD dont have that good a reputation BUT when Performance Car (I think) which was the pre-runner to Evo mag tested it they thought it was better than the standard VTS.

 

Old thread - but people need to remember to stay away from them - Ernie Larton is the biggest cowboy out there - Clint Eastwood would have problems keeping up!

 

Had some work done by them on a 1.9 GTi I had more than 15 years ago. NEVER again, nothing but problems, and what with them being so far away I never got it fully sorted. They would never put the cars they modded on a dyno so you had no way of confirming the outputs they claimed.