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Carter Brothers XRV Interceptor GTR 250 |
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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 17 March 2007 |
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Page 3 of 4 The controls are first class quality. The shifters are heavy duty and have nicely crafted chrome knobs. The transmission selector has forward, neutral and reverse. The steering wheel is molded and feels very sturdy. When we first got our new buggy home from the dealership, there were a few issues. Initially I had an issue with the CV joint at the CV tripot. This is the inboard side. It was determined by me and Chad from Carter Brothers R&D that the retaining clip preventing the center axle from moving to far either way had come off the axle. It was causing a heavy clicking noise. The Axle itself had no damage and the clip was still OK as well. I simply removed the passenger's side shock and A-arm and then pulled the boot off of the CV cup. Once I had this removed I was able to pull the CV cup off the center axle. I took the clip and reshaped it and reinstalled it. It was clear the causative factor for this was faulty dealer prep. My center axle bearing's set screws were never tightened. This allowed the axle to slide from side to side with enough force to pop the clip off the axle. After I tightened everything up it was fine. Also, our GTR250 has had an issue with the speedometer since we got it. It does not work at all. While the background lighting, tachometer and the indicators are operable the speedometer are not. Honestly, I have not attempted to have this fixed yet due to ergonimics issues with the cockpit layout that I will describe later.
 I was somewhat disappointed when I drove this buggy for the first time. The power is adequate and has a good amount of grunt but I expected much more performance with all of the hype on the Internet stating outrageous claims of high horse power and “pin you back in your seat” take offs. Needless to say, the buggy could not do either in the way I was led to believe! In addition, take offs are hampered an annoyingly loud clunk that is produced by the drive train engaging. I find the noise troubling and feel like I am going to break something if I don’t allow the engine rpms to come up moderately to first engage the clutch before I stomp on it. Overall impressions is that the buggy will certainly do well in an open field or gravel pit.
 My biggest disappointment has to be the turning radius. I have found from experience that it takes 40 feet to turn this machine around in a controlled slow manner. I wanted to see how it would perform in the tighter trails while turning around trees where the machine could not be driven fast to slide the rear end around. I can say this is a sore spot for this machine. Where it excels in performance and comfort it lacks in the areas of drivability from a steering stand point. The kart also has a heavy feel in the steering and it is somewhat difficult for smaller kids to turn the wheels while the buggy is stationary. While increasing in speed, the steering tends to wander and drift.
There are a few ergonomic issues with the GTR 250. While driving, the speedometer cluster is almost completely out of view rendering it functionally useless. Also, While sitting in the driver’s seat the steering wheel feels unnatural with regard to the angle. The front suspension is very stiff and has minimal travel. I have posted video of this buggy going over small whoops and it is a bouncy ride to say the least. The rear suspension is very heavy duty and has a lot of potential. The overall width of our GTR250 is 64 inches. That is 4 inches wider than the prototype. The rear shocks are nice but not enough spring rate or dampening. Our GTR 250 has bottomed out on the chain and brake guard many times just traveling over rocks and small bumps.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 17 March 2007 )
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