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Thinking about a 2003 Nobel M12 GTOR


ManwithSupra

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Thinking about one of these next year - looking at lots of info, but has anyone had any experiance with these at all?

 

I have heard they have have the ST220 Mondeo Engine in it with 2 turbos added, that cant be very reliable can it ??:search:

 

 

You wouldn't expect so and I understand this to be the case.

 

Apparently the engine runs way over its' designed limits and is subsequently very highly stressed and suffers because of it.

 

I thought about a Noble instead of the 'vette last year, but went for the 'vette in the end. It's very under-stressed! (Plus I can carry plenty of luggage to Le Mans every year 'cos it has a huge boot!

 

:)

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They are bloody fast thats for sure! as jamesmark says they stick to the road like glue and look very good.. i didnt find it to be very comfortable though inside, the leg room is very limited and seats are not very comfortable. the stereo is in a crap location and there is no storage room whatsoever.. apart from maybe 30-40 cm behind the seats. nicer outside than inside imo.

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The GTO's were 2.5 but these engines ran out so they had to move on to the 3l V6. The GTO3 is pretty much the same as the the 2.5's except for the capacity. The GTO3R (R = Road) had the LSD but apart from this the gearbox was the same as far as I can remember. None of the above mentioned came with antiroll bars, these came on the M400.

 

If you do think about buying one and you look at some of the 2.5's make sure it's a later one with the MBE Systems ECU. The earlier ones came with a Magnetti Morreli system and it was shockingly bad to say the least. Lee Noble had a big hoo haa with Magnetti about this as the ECU was orginally used for a 4 cyl engine which they manipulated for the V6.

 

As previoulsy mentioned they're not the most spacious with only a small bit of space in the cockpit for stowage. They do handle awesomely and they aint slow. As for the parts they were crap when I worked there but this was a few years ago and at the time they were making a very concerted effort to get that sorted.

 

I'm afraid the 2JZ wont fit, the V6 is mounted horizontally so the standard Mondeo (FWD) gearbox could be used. They were looking at trying to fit the engine longitudanally with a different box, as this would allow the engine to sit lower and reduce the centre of gravity.

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There was a chap who raced a Noble M12 GTR in 2006 LMA Euro Saloons, he beat the ex-Super Tourers (Nissan Primera's, Vauxhall Cavaliers, Honda Accords, Ford Mondeo) on most tracks...so its pretty damn fast.

 

I don't think it was that heavily modded, only enough to meet scrutineering for the races.

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Re-badged mondeo!

 

Honestly, an absolute peice of crap! One of the dealerships in leicester i have contracts with used to be a main dealer for them and serviced them and i have a good friend who worked for them.

 

After 6 months the dealer fucked noble off as they were giving the company a bad name!

 

Wait till it sets fire on you :D and im not joking!

half built in indonesia or somewhere like that and then finished off here.

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The same Noble owner that Jamesmark knows took his Noble to Noble for a service. He told them of heavy petrol useage and strong smell of petrol.

 

They told him it was typical and when he collected the car it still had the same issues.

 

Turned out to be, IIRC, a leaking fuel filter.

 

...and that's at Noble themselves.

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The engines on the 2.5 GTO engines used to get oil surge and starvation as they required baffles to steady the oil. This was corrected in the later versions.

The M400 is a very solid car and from the Noble guys who I have spoken to in the past they say it is leaps and bounds above the M12, both in performance and reliability.

 

I've also been looknig into maybe a Noble in the near future but after seeing a few examples and their prices I have been put off due to what you get for what you pay for.

If I had the spare money to keep the Supra and also a Noble then I would get one in no time but it would be either the 3R or the M400 version.

 

They only go wrong generally if they've been mis-treated. It is a ford unit with turbos yes, but it is a strong engine with plenty of torque that is very responsive. You'll have to drive one to see what I'm on about. ;)

They use basic parts mostly and the engine is very easy to work on so I've been told.

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Re-badged mondeo!

 

Honestly, an absolute peice of crap! One of the dealerships in leicester i have contracts with used to be a main dealer for them and serviced them and i have a good friend who worked for them.

 

After 6 months the dealer fucked noble off as they were giving the company a bad name!

 

Wait till it sets fire on you :D and im not joking!

half built in indonesia or somewhere like that and then finished off here.

 

It's good to see that some people on here know what they're talking about. The car is largely built in South Africa by a very large company called Hi-tec which makes various replica cars such as AC Cobras etc. I myself was very surprised with how good the build quality was from them, equal if not better than other comparable specialist car makes from the UK. The rolling body is then shipped over to the UK where the engine, gearbox, turbos, ancillaries, shocks etc are fitted and the car made to run.

 

There was an incident where a car caught fire (I can explain how if you want) but this problem was easily located and all cars were recalled and rectified. The quality is never going to be up there with the likes of an Aston (do you think they're problem free?) with this price tag. Even the best like Pagani have incidents where a hydraulic clutch failed while somebody was trying to reverse out of a garage, engaging the clutch and making them shoot out of the garage only stopping inches from hitting a parked car. TVR were building cars for much longer yet they still couldn't get it right. I even have my own issues with the company but not the product itself.

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