Our new ride

[Sox]

Well, we've just decided to let our beloved BMW go because of the mileage.
So we needed to replace it with something cheapish at the moment as we haven't enough folding stuff for a TE50 or a Beemer 330 coupe.
An interim car was needed, and in steps an AU3 XR8.

Didn't have many to choose from within 500k's of where we live, 3 in fact, so made a few phone calls, discussed price, looked at one, and bought it.
It's Narooma blue, pretty standard, and in excellent condition.
Cloth trim, standard brakes.

The modifications it does have is -
Lowered springs.
A crappy dual 2.5" and then onto single 3" exhaust.
Tow hitch.
And save the best till last, lovely blue colour coding of the the smaller items on the dashboard. YUK!
Oh, and it had reasonable sized Alpine subwoofer system (which I promptly ripped out).

The engine performance is pretty disappointing, well, at least compared to my P250. By comparison, it's utterly gutless. In isolation, it's adequate and not even too bad across the midrange. Low end power is fairly weak, midrange is good, top end is adequate. It desperately needs the fancy exhaust which the yoot has.

The gearbox feel is typical T5, in that the shifter is all over the show, and bashing the gears in is sometimes needed.
Gearing is decent as is, with the ratios spaced well for it's power delivery.

Handling is quite good, a reasonable amount over and above the P250, particularly on poor surfaces. The yoot will bounce, jiggle and rattle ya teeth out on the wrong roads, whereas the sedan is still reasonably supple, without any wallowing. Body roll is higher, though the yoot has some pretty big bars underneath. A 27mm front bar should fix that.
Over the smooth stuff, there ain't much in it, with the yoot holding on better, but given it's big rubber, that's understandable.
Steering precision/directness is better with the sedan, obviously due to it's shorter wheelbase.

Brakes are worse than I have felt the standard setup feel. I suspect a decent set of pads will sort this out as they feel pretty wooden at normal speeds. Haven't experienced fade, however I know they can work better.

We paid $13200 for this unit with 82000k's, and we're so far pretty happy with it. It's no Beemer, but it's not bad.

Modifications I'd like to do in the near future is really only the exhaust, with the same magical hand made tri-y's from my mate in Blacktown.
Maybe throw some 18's on too, though I don't mind the standard Tickford rims.

Oh and getting rid of all the blue crap from within.

[JC]

Sounds like a good buy - should be fun on that small amount of twisties leading up to your place.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by JC

Sounds like a good buy - should be fun on that small amount of twisties leading up to your place.

Yeh, I think the $$ was reasonable, though not spectacular.
Feels nicer than the ute up these roads, that's for certain, just needs more stick.

Forgot a picture.

[rag top]

got any pics of the blue crap on the interior?

That's pretty good k's!

[Sox]

Originally Posted by rag top

got any pics of the blue crap on the interior?

That's pretty good k's!

Not yet, please don't tell me you want to do it?

There was another unit with 74000k's in Newcastle. Was advertised for nearly $19000, and had him down to $15800.

[FTE217]

Sox congrats though I know how you feel stepping out of a beemer long ago,great little packages those 3series....
Your description is spot on re the AU3 having had one prior to going to the 5.6l....
The XR is a fantastic handling package having the IRS stock, bang some konis/billys and they are even better as you would know.
Exhaust is the achilles heal as you'll fix,a better CAI helps that bit more..
Anyway great colour !

[rag top]

Originally Posted by Sox

Not yet, please don't tell me you want to do it?

absolutely not - just curious to see what lengths some go to in order to ruin an interior.

[Mr Hardware]

wd sox, looks great.
the only people i've known who have *ahem* upgraded the interior like what you suggest have been people i'd quite happily put in the waste-of-space category

[mik]

nice pick up, the blue rocks.

[JC]

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

wd sox, looks great.
the only people i've known who have *ahem* upgraded the interior like what you suggest have been people i'd quite happily put in the waste-of-space category

Gee, thanks for that.

[urbancowboy]

Nice XR8 low mileage too!
Is that the Rebel style kit on it?
Does it have the MoMo option's?

LOVE that colour! although i think i could be a little bit biased as my XR8 is the same colour! I think the stock wheels look pretty good too! but 19" wheels seem to have the right ratio of rim to tyre on a an AU IMO.

These trick extractor's you speak of getting, any chance on a little more info?

[Sox]

FTE217 - The Beemer is something else, superb handling with unbelievable levels of grip. Makes the XR8 look stupid, and you know how good they are.

Ragtop - Yeh well dunno what people are thinking, but each to their own.

Mr Hardware - I sorta think the same, but it appears JC may be into it, so I won't say too much, he seems like a pretty decent fella.

Mik - Thanks.

JC - Ooops.

Urbancowboy - Dunno about the Rebel thing, as far as I know it's the only kit which the AU3's had, but I'm sure someone else knows more.
No Momo options unfortunately, as I'm starting to like the wheel on my ute.
Coulour is ok, I prefer black, then silvers, but can't be all that choosy when buying second hand. And the wheels, haven't thought much about it yet, may still leave these for now.

Ahhh, and the extractors..... I'll talk to the dude who makes them, see if he wants me to spill the beans. I know he doesn't like making them but does it for me as I've known him a long time.

[Sox]

Originally Posted by urbancowboy

These trick extractor's you speak of getting, any chance on a little more info?

Ok, just had a chat to him on the phone and he's happy enough to make them.

He calls them 'step backs'.
Reason being is they exit the port a certain diameter for around 200mm, then step back the next size down in diameter to the first Y section. Then obviously the pipe increases in size until the 3rd Y following into it's final size.

Beyond that is a fairly conventional dual 2.25" system with 2 straight through mufflers and 2 hotdogs in the tail piece.
The hotdogs are optional if you want it fairly quiet like I do.

He is of the opinion that for these capacities 5L-6L a dual 2.25" system is pretty ideal for the majority of applications, providing the broadest spread of power.
Same goes for the extractors.

Unfortunately most people like to talk big numbers and are more interested in peak power. This doesn't always equate to the best on road performance.

The dude is Bruce from Charlestone exhaust in Blacktown.
He's been in the game for along time and hand makes a pile of different custom systems for all sorts of things.

They are more $$ than off the shelf stuff is, but as they say, you get what you pay for.

[JC]

Originally Posted by Sox

FTE217 - The Beemer is something else, superb handling with unbelievable levels of grip. Makes the XR8 look stupid, and you know how good they are.

Ragtop - Yeh well dunno what people are thinking, but each to their own.

Mr Hardware - I sorta think the same, but it appears JC may be into it, so I won't say too much, he seems like a pretty decent fella.

Mik - Thanks.

JC - Ooops.

Urbancowboy - Dunno about the Rebel thing, as far as I know it's the only kit which the AU3's had, but I'm sure someone else knows more.
No Momo options unfortunately, as I'm starting to like the wheel on my ute.
Coulour is ok, I prefer black, then silvers, but can't be all that choosy when buying second hand. And the wheels, haven't thought much about it yet, may still leave these for now.

Ahhh, and the extractors..... I'll talk to the dude who makes them, see if he wants me to spill the beans. I know he doesn't like making them but does it for me as I've known him a long time.

I had colour coded bits in previous cars, but woke up and realised that different is not always better!

[Uncle_Ken]

Originally Posted by Sox

Yeh, I think the $$ was reasonable, though not spectacular.
Feels nicer than the ute up these roads, that's for certain, just needs more stick.

Forgot a picture.

Who's the tall guy on your right

UK

PS Nice pick up

[urbancowboy]

Sox,
It does look like the rebel kit if i squint my eyes! its just that i couldn't get the to pic go very big. The body kits on the AU3 was optional between the rebel style kit also known as the Ford Racing(?), and also the Tickford kit which is the more understated of the two styles. I like both for different reasons! I have the Tickford kit on mine and i'm happy with it. If you are after a MoMo wheel there is a couple on ebay and one is cheaper than the others! I do love Black AU's but i was in the same boat as you since i bought my 2nd hand i dint have much choice, but i do like the Blue, and have grown extremely fond of it, to the point that it will be resprayed soon(ish) and will be redone in the standard Narooma Blue which is in fact a pearl paint.

I will PM you re: the extractor's

Cheers

[AU1monty]

What did you do with the Alpine Subwoofer system?

[Sox]

Originally Posted by AU1monty

What did you do with the Alpine Subwoofer system?

It's still sitting here.
From what I can gather it was purchased and installed in 2003.
It is a split 6" system for the front, and coax 6" for the rear.
2 x 10" subs in a custom box which sat under the parcel shelf.
A fancy single din head unit.
2 medium sized power amps.
And a pile of cables, RCA, power, junctions, etc.

Not sure what it's worth, PM me I spose.
I can email you some phots.

There was mention of it being worth $4000 in it's day, but that seems to be somewhat of a stretch IMO.

[Mr Hardware]

sorry JC! : :

[AU1monty]

Originally Posted by Sox

It's still sitting here.
From what I can gather it was purchased and installed in 2003.
It is a split 6" system for the front, and coax 6" for the rear.
2 x 10" subs in a custom box which sat under the parcel shelf.
A fancy single din head unit.
2 medium sized power amps.
And a pile of cables, RCA, power, junctions, etc.

Not sure what it's worth, PM me I spose.
I can email you some phots.

There was mention of it being worth $4000 in it's day, but that seems to be somewhat of a stretch IMO.

hmm sounds a bit out of my price range

[Sox]

Originally Posted by AU1monty

hmm sounds a bit out of my price range

Try me.
What's your budget?

[AU1monty]

Originally Posted by Sox

Try me.
What's your budget?

haha atm theres 140 bucks in my wallet, dunno when im working next
yay for being a poor uni student