Sorry for the review being a day late, i legitimately forgot to finish the writing and post it, sorry! Anyways, today we have a hyper car, brought to us by Gryphon Gear. With only 400 being made, it was an honor to review it. A short word from Gryphon Gear:
In stark contrast to the utter madmobiles that Gryphon Gear builds, this may be the signs of their looking to take on the rest of the real world, or even, a sign of their maturing? Salamander is a car of many firsts: the first time they've released a model in the increasingly popular M-AWD format, the first time they've used an engine from another major manufacturer, the first time the cabin is appointed with proper six speaker stereo system plus Bluetooth and aux-in, the first time the fuel economy breaks 20MPG, and the first time you won't have to enter a multi-million dollar bidding war with a dozen oil sheikhs from the Arab Emirates or Chinese magnate fuerdai to get your hands on one.
As opposed to cars that attempt to break the sound barrier or break your neck, this is the car that you're supposed to be able to live with, and maybe, even the car you might even be able to afford. It's certainly more affordable than its closest rival for performance, the 2015 Lamborghini Aventador SV. What's special about this model is that the powerplant is among the last batch of 3.6L V6 LFX High Feature engines to come out of Australia's Holden manufacturing plant. Just reforged, rebalanced, tuned, and turboed to high heaven.Quick StatsMID ENGINE ALL WHEEL DRIVE
3.6L DOHC 24 VALVE V6 TWIN TURBO
Horsepower : 800 @ 8400RPM
Torque :553 ft-lb @ 6900RPM
Top Speed : 218.6 MPH
Transmission : 6 Speed Sequential Dual Clutch
Weight : 2707 Lbs
Mpg(US) : 20.0
Driveability8/10Being a hyper car, you would expect driveability to be somewhat poor, but it simply isnt. Even with a race suspension setup and an 800hp turbo charged engine, we found that keeping control of the car was pretty simple thanks to its advanced driver assist technology. It features every form of driver assist you can order on a car. Driveability is also helped out by an advanced awd system. Thanks to extra wide 345 tires in the rear and the awd system, rear end grip loss does not exist. The car also tends to understeer, giving it predictable handling on road and on the track.
The only downside in terms of driveability is the engine, put your foot down and power is sudden, potentially making the speedometer climb much higher than your right foot intended it to. Its not the worst turbo lag we have seen, but we have seen better. Again, the awd system along with driver assist makes this a rather minor fault, just watch how fast your going, because this car hauls ass.
Performance and Sportiness9/10This is a hypercar, one big reason people buy these cars is for the performance. Well, does this car have it you asked? Yes it does, with one caveat, unfortunately, more on that later. With launch control, and a 6 speed Dual Cluch transmission connected to an AWD system, we got one hell of a time. Call your Orthopedic specialist, because a 0-62 time of 2.5 seconds will snap your neck. The car steam rolls down the rest of track, earning an impressive 9.42 second quarter mile at 156 mph. Power was very strong as long as you kept the engine above 7000rpms. Below 4500 rpms it felt like a stock V6 Camaro.
Stopping this lighting quick car is a baffling, but somehow effective 1 piston front and rear with vented disc, measuring 320mm front and 305mms rear, using your run of the mill break pads. Stops from 62mph where a very short 94ft. We had zero brake fade at the track, but we found we had to brake early for higher speed corners. At higher speeds the brakes were simply not sufficient. Pedal feel at low speeds was very good, but at high speeds the pedal would simply sink to the floor. We did not like this, a car this fast at this price and class needs a better braking system.
The car also did not feel as sporty and racy as one would expect it to be. The car had severe understeer at higher speeds, primarily due to its smallish 255mm front tires and massive 345mm rear tires. The braking and understeering issue held this car back so much that we had to deduct points from an otherwise great performing car.
Handling9/10Handling is still good, despite the understeer previously mentioned. Utilizing race car derived front and rear pushrod suspension, along with that, a very stiff and lightweight carbon fiber chassis and body. This gave the car an impressive 2707lb curb weight, very light for its size and class. This gave the car an impressive lap time of 1:53:38 around the Automation test track. The car was very flat around corners, offering neck snapping acceleration out of the corners. Its just a shame that the higher the cornering speed, the more this car understeered. The car did not inspire confidence in high speed cornering, but the car was still extremely fast and offered extreme grip at any speed. Offering 1.30gs at 20 meters, and 1.50gs at 250 meters on our skidpad.
Comfort6/10Comfort in a hypercar is not a very big priority, and it shows here. Comfort is average here using a standard entertainment system with just a simple 6 speaker stereo system, no touch screen here. The rest of the interior is good, utilizing sport oriented seats and weight saving materials around the cabin. Its a decent place to sit in, no real complaints can be made about it, its just not anything special.
Interior Quality6/10Like stated above, interior quality is decent, designed for weight savings, quality metals for the seats and roll cage, and weight saving plastics elsewhere. The stereo is decent, and the controls respond quickly, but the buttons feel a little cheap. Lots of lightweight and hard plastic cover most of the car, they do not feel nice when touched.
AestheticsN/AThe car features small oval headlights, with a large lip just below the 2 front grilles, the car is angry and willing to snap necks when it pleases. The side features 2 nicely placed go fast arrow shaped indents into the door and rear quarter panel, +100hp. The rear has to much going on for my taste, alot of curved small grilles form the top, with larger grills forming the center and bottom. The center grill contains the small pagani style quad exhaust. Finishing the rear is a nice 2 splitter with reverse lights centered between. The large wheels use a nice 5 spoke design
Safety5/10Safety, what is that? This car uses "advanced" saftey features, maybe advanced for a Lada, the quality here is abysmal. The backup camera looks worse than a 144p youtube video from 2006, even made worse by the tiny non touch screen. Airbags were probably supplied by takata and will be recalled shortly. Maybe we should add in that the ignition will probably be recalled too. Jokes aside, the car is safe enough to drive, thanks to its extremely stiff carbon construction, just dont expect it to avoid a crash for you.
Cost10/10Take all the downfalls of this car, and throw it out the window. Find me a car on a showroom floor that is this fast and prestiges, you simple cant. In terms of hypercars, this car is a downright bargain. How does 166,000 dollars sound, yes, read that again, a little more than 150k gets you word class performance without extreme sacrifices in other categories. Do we even need to talk about anything else? Well, to cover all aspects 20 mpg is pretty good for a car of its class, only using premium grade fuel. Running cost are just under 6500 dollars, very cheap for a car of this caliber.
Reliability7/10Nothing special to say here, the car has a slightly below average reliability rating. Expect the crap safety equipment to fail. Just keep up on general maintenance thats common with a high power turbo car. Do pay some special attention to the valvetrain when mileage starts to climb.
Overall8/10This is a hypercar, a very cheap one, you get damn good performance without buttfucking your wallet(relative to other hypers). The car sacrifices little for the cost and would be a great buy. Just be sure to order one, as only 400 examples of this car are being made. If you want a hyper car and dont have millions to spend, your car is right here, buy it.
For any feedback on the review, message me!