R36 Driving Impressions

[Cro]

I've now had my R36 for 3500kms, and have had a good chance to learn its capabilities and limits in every possible imaginable scenario. It’s been through twisty road, track, alpine roads, snow, ice, dirt road, mountain passes, rained out and damp roads.

The first moment I drove the car through a windy section of road I knew this thing was good, but the tyres (Dunlop SP01’s) let it down big time. It will understeer if no throttle is given before entering a corner, it will understeer if too much throttle is given in a corner. I’ve even had it oversteering on direction changes under full load. All this under/over steer was accentuated on the track astronomically. These tyres are good for nothing but cruising around town and on the hwy. The only other problem I’ve had with the car is if you hit a bump mid corner the body of the car wollows around a bit, but the wheels stay planted to the road and keep on powering on. This doesn’t affect the performance but the first few times you notice it you get very very scared, especially on a cliff face.

I’ve since fixed the tyre problem by fitting a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 2’s on the car. These are rated as the best road use tyres in the world, standard on all Porsche 911’s and the Carerra GT, Bugatti Veryron, All Koniegsegg’s, McLaren SLR, Audi R8 / RS4 / RS6, BMW M3/M5 and the list goes on. You can call them a super tyre, and unfortunately they have the price tag to go along with it. The best I could get is $590 a corner for 235/40/18 95Y. I’ve run these on some previous cars and they are worth every cent. Most of the performance tyres out there will be better than the Dunlop SP01’s, Michelin Pilot Preceda 2, Pirelli P Zero Rosso, Dunlop Sport Maxx, Bridgestone RE050’s, Continental CSC3’s are names that spring to mind. I just wanted the best.

The car now has now been absolutely transformed into a cornering weapon in all conditions. Turn in is precise, it just goes where you point it. It stays on track all the way through the corner, going where you’re pointing it no matter how much throttle you give. It even gets rid of the plow on understeer problem, as the tyres just grip so much. To get the best cornering speed it’s best to come in to a corner trailing on the throttle and flooring it once you’re past the apex. I spent the last two days cruising along every twisty road I knew about in southern NSW, and I haven’t yet found a road this car and these tyres can’t handle exceptionally well. For example, you know those yellow signs advising what speed is safe to do in a corner I have been more than doubling it in the dry and wet conditions. You can just keep on pushing and pushing well beyond where you think the limit is. The weak link in the whole scenario is me the driver. I just didn’t have enough bravery or stupidity to push the car further even though you can tell the car and tyre package can handle it.
The suspension is very firm, and so it should be for a performance car. It has no problem navigating a bumpy country road, or even a smoothish unsealed road. The only time it got unsettled was when I hit some corrugations on an unsealed road.

Power wise, this car is fantastic. The power delivery is so smooth and deceptive you never realise how fast you are going till you look at the speedo. The acceleration is insane when using launch control, and also when dropping back a gear or two. There is so much torque in the middle of the rev range (3000 – 6000) that it is happy just staying in 3rd gear all the way up through a twisty mountain pass. The DSG is just fantastic, before I picked up the car I wasn’t happy about the fact that it changes gears up when it reaches the redline. I now realise that it just does not matter with a DSG, as the change is seamless and doesn’t unbalance the car in anyway. This car has more than enough power and speed to keep me satisfied for the next 5 years.

The comfort of this car is very very good. The seats are very supportive, and comfortable even after 14 hours a day on the road over consecutive days. The Climate Control and heated seats did a great job of keeping me comfortable, even when the outside temp was at -3. My only real annoyances are that the lower side bolster dug into my thighs (I need to lose weight), and the brake pedal is too high to keep your foot hovering above it for long periods of time when using cruise control. I did a lot of night time driving in kangaroo country so this was quite annoying. The Xenon lights do a great job of lighting up the road, the cornering is great too. I find that the right cornering visibility is better than left cornering visibility for some reason though. I also think I will put some spot lights on the car when I go into the country at night, I want just an extra 100 or so meters of vision as I had a few close calls.

The Dynaudio system is flawless, playing everything near full volume created no distortion. I tried all types of music from Heavy Metal, Korn, Rock, Dance, and even Opera. The SAT NAV on the other hand gave me the ****s, on several occasions after adding a touring route the system froze on me and the only way I could reset it was to turn the car off for 10 – 15 mins. I need to get this looked at. On some occasions it also sent me the wrong way, and I found that many country towns are not mapped.

Fuel economy has me amazed, I was used to using 19 – 22 litres per 100kms in my old XR6 Turbo which had similar performance but the R36 is so far averaging 14L per 100kms since I picked it up. Through twisty country I get about 400kms to a tank, and over 600km on the highway. I’ve learned to trust the range guide, as when it got down to 0 a few times I filled up 65 litres (70 litre tank). I’ve run 98 Octane mostly, but on the last tank I couldn’t find any so it now has 95 Octane in it. I don’t know how much of a performance impact it has, as the fill was in Tumut and I just did a cruise control hwy drive back home.

Anyway, it’s been an absolute pleasure so far and I don’t regret buying this car one little bit  Here are some details and pics on where I’ve been.. I look forward to my next twisty drive.

The route took me from Sydney – Bowral and Kangaroo Valley, then down to Batemans Bay where I went up and down the Clyde Mountain. I took off to Dalmeny, then Bermagui, Tathra, Bega and the Brown Mountain. At this point it was night time, so the drive to Bombala and back to Pambula through roo country was a bit of a worry, especially through the twisty bits. I went south through Eden into Victoria and then back to Eden for an overnight stay. The next day I went back to Bega for 98 Fuel, up the Brown again over to Dalgety via some dirt, into Jindabyne and down to Khancoban. Over to the Murry River, then back again through Tooma and turning on the Elliott way to Cabramurra. From Cabramurra I went to Adaminaby and back tracked a bit to Tumut, Gundagai and then back to Sydney.

Pooh’s corner, Clyde Mountain (near Batemans Bay)
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Dalmeny, South Coast NSW (near Narooma)
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Narooma
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Tathra
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Top of the Brown Mountain (near Bega)
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Over the border south of Eden
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Eden
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Just south of Thredbo
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Geehi Rest Area
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Murray 1 Power Station
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Murray River
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Cross roads
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Near Cabramura (highest town in Australia)
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Cabramurra
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Getting unstuck in Cabramurra
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
Near Kiandra
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...mg?action=page
All the rest of the pics:
http://doncro.dyndns.org/pics/events...-%20July%2008/

[R36 Dreamer]

Excellent Write up Cro, and I agree with your comments re the tyres....

[R36]

Are the Dunlop SP01's really that bad on the R36?

Has anyone from Brisbane/Sydney/Canberra already upgraded them, and interested in selling the SP01's to me at a price reflecting the general feedback on this forum regarding their performance?

If so please call me (Phil) on (0434) 667 410.

[Lance B]

Thanks for the great write up, Cro. Sounds like the R36 is living up to expectations.

[PeterW*]

That is a nice looking car. Window tints make it look great.

Some of those pics had me scared... too close to the water!

[Cro]

Thanks
I had the tints done in 18% by a good mate of mine. If anyone else in Sydney is interested in tints for $250, let me know and I'll give you the details.

I had a moment, as I went to reverse away from the Murray river... As soon as I took my foot of the brake the car rolled forward and I absolutely freaked. The lower bumper got a good wash

[Laurie]

Cro.
Great pictures and synopsis.
What's with the snatch strap and the 4wd ?
Did you bottom out in the snow ?
I was just wondering how that missing 20mm affects general ground clearance.
Laurie

[Mischa]

man that thing is sex on wheels. the snow pics are great. good to see someone using their car for its intended purpose. coming along to the next meet/cruise?

[meltiger69]

Top write up Cro.
I'm collecting my Biscay Blue R36 sedan on Sunday. Can't wait.
Does anyone recommend the Paint & Interior Protection offered by the dealership? I'm sceptical of their Lifetime Warranty claim + they're trying to slug me another $2K before delivery.

[Cro]

Cro.
Great pictures and synopsis.
What's with the snatch strap and the 4wd ?
Did you bottom out in the snow ?
I was just wondering how that missing 20mm affects general ground clearance.
Laurie

I went off the side of the road into some mud with snow on it, road tyres aren't built for that sort of stuff... I was lucky there was someone else there with a 4WD and a snatch strap
The car isn't too low at all, you just need to learn to angle the car at steep driveways, really high speed humps and stuff. On all the bumpy roads I travelled on, sometimes at well over 100 I never bottomed out.

coming along to the next meet/cruise?

As long as I can make the date I'll be there