Storm Trooper RGM supercharged 4.8
Posted: 11 Jan 2017 16:20
So I thought I would post a quick review of my new steed. Officially named the Snow Troll and replacing the Troll (my five year old names the cars). I prefer to call it the Storm Trooper.
It is a 2009 4.8 GRX with the Rob Green supercharger on it. I had Graham from G-Tec inspect it before buying and he was generally impressed.
The Patrol 4.2Td was fantastic… it had everything but speed and grunt. I found that a shortcoming in my perfect Patrol. So after a discussion with my dad about petrols I decided to test the waters. There was a supercharged troll on here and I did the research and decided it was perfect… then it sold so I was about to settle for a NA 4.8 when another Rob Green creation surfaced on 4x4community forum. Somewhere I rarely look for vehicles.
Anyway, I picked it up in Pretoria and drove it down to the cape.
WOW WOW WOW
It is an amazing vehicle.
On a private test track somewhere in the Karoo it sailed past 180km/h and wanted to keep going after I chickened out.
On the drive down, I got to know it a bit more. I have driven a few turbos and this is the first supercharger and the linear “thrust” is very different from the lag of a turbo. In fact flooring it to pass trucks kept me very awake. It is just not natural for 2.5t to accelerate like that. I dragged raced a few BMWs up those long uphill climbs as they tried to pass. Lets just say they never got by.
Because of an accident near Touws river and the N1 was closed I had to detour Matjiesfontien to Ceres on the gravel roads Performance and road holding was better than the 4.2td that was maybe raised a little too high.
In the Dunes it truly excelled. Once I had worked out how the engine, auto box and supercharger all worked together it was unstoppable. So an advertised 243 Killer Whales and 680 NM of torques charging up a dune is an experience. Engine temps were all well within in range and the only issue is a squealing supercharger belt at full noise.
Towing… all I knew about the 2t of Xplorer was the clunk as it came off the brake. With a satisfying woosh of acceleration when passing.
Ahhh… I can hear the collective thoughts!! What is the fuel consumption like? Well the trip down was a smitch over 6.1km/l. That is with cruise at 130km/h and I don’t hang around behind very much. So 6.1km/l over 1400km at a brisk cruise.
The dunes was difficult to calculate as I meant to fill up afterward and instead did a bunch of town driving… spirited town driving. So 234km of town and dunes 2.85km/l
Towing and some town driving after we got back 246km averaged 3.83k/l. Of that 100km of towing at 125km/h.
I am very happy.
It is a 2009 4.8 GRX with the Rob Green supercharger on it. I had Graham from G-Tec inspect it before buying and he was generally impressed.
The Patrol 4.2Td was fantastic… it had everything but speed and grunt. I found that a shortcoming in my perfect Patrol. So after a discussion with my dad about petrols I decided to test the waters. There was a supercharged troll on here and I did the research and decided it was perfect… then it sold so I was about to settle for a NA 4.8 when another Rob Green creation surfaced on 4x4community forum. Somewhere I rarely look for vehicles.
Anyway, I picked it up in Pretoria and drove it down to the cape.
WOW WOW WOW
It is an amazing vehicle.
On a private test track somewhere in the Karoo it sailed past 180km/h and wanted to keep going after I chickened out.
On the drive down, I got to know it a bit more. I have driven a few turbos and this is the first supercharger and the linear “thrust” is very different from the lag of a turbo. In fact flooring it to pass trucks kept me very awake. It is just not natural for 2.5t to accelerate like that. I dragged raced a few BMWs up those long uphill climbs as they tried to pass. Lets just say they never got by.
Because of an accident near Touws river and the N1 was closed I had to detour Matjiesfontien to Ceres on the gravel roads Performance and road holding was better than the 4.2td that was maybe raised a little too high.
In the Dunes it truly excelled. Once I had worked out how the engine, auto box and supercharger all worked together it was unstoppable. So an advertised 243 Killer Whales and 680 NM of torques charging up a dune is an experience. Engine temps were all well within in range and the only issue is a squealing supercharger belt at full noise.
Towing… all I knew about the 2t of Xplorer was the clunk as it came off the brake. With a satisfying woosh of acceleration when passing.
Ahhh… I can hear the collective thoughts!! What is the fuel consumption like? Well the trip down was a smitch over 6.1km/l. That is with cruise at 130km/h and I don’t hang around behind very much. So 6.1km/l over 1400km at a brisk cruise.
The dunes was difficult to calculate as I meant to fill up afterward and instead did a bunch of town driving… spirited town driving. So 234km of town and dunes 2.85km/l
Towing and some town driving after we got back 246km averaged 3.83k/l. Of that 100km of towing at 125km/h.
I am very happy.
