How much power can a FWD car have?
Discussion
When up and running a FWD can have plenty. It's when pulling away from a standstill or accelerating out of corners the fronts can become overwhelmed.
But there are plenty of fast saabs and volvos out here. And modern suspension trickery ie Ford Focus is minimising the traditional limitations.
But there are plenty of fast saabs and volvos out here. And modern suspension trickery ie Ford Focus is minimising the traditional limitations.
About 1250bhp if you ask Nissan...
Although without a team of engineers and a couple of million spare this might be difficult
Do they come with an LSD? I'm sure someone with Saab know how will be far more help but I'd want to know the limitations of the transmission, particularly the driveshafts, bearings in the box, clutch etc. If it's got a DMF can it take the torque?
On a purely performance based mindset I'd say 350bhp or so would be about right for fun, useable power on the road. But you might want to be looking at suspension and appropriate wheel/tyre combos to match. Maybe wider fronts, some Goodyear Eagle asymmetric's and a bush/shock refresh or some mid range bilsteins. Power without control is rubbish!
Although without a team of engineers and a couple of million spare this might be difficult
Do they come with an LSD? I'm sure someone with Saab know how will be far more help but I'd want to know the limitations of the transmission, particularly the driveshafts, bearings in the box, clutch etc. If it's got a DMF can it take the torque?
On a purely performance based mindset I'd say 350bhp or so would be about right for fun, useable power on the road. But you might want to be looking at suspension and appropriate wheel/tyre combos to match. Maybe wider fronts, some Goodyear Eagle asymmetric's and a bush/shock refresh or some mid range bilsteins. Power without control is rubbish!
Edited by Repent on Saturday 25th April 14:01
About 1250bhp if you ask Nissan...
Although without a team of engineers and a couple of million square this might be difficult
Do they come with an LSD? I'm sure someone with Saab know how will be far more help but I'd want to know the limitations of the transmission, particularly the driveshafts, bearings in the box, clutch etc. If it's got a DMF can it take the torque?
On a purely performance based mindset I'd say 350bhp or so would be about right for fun, useable power on the road. But you might want to be looking at suspension and appropriate wheel/tyre combos to match. Maybe wider fronts, some Goodyear Eagle asymmetric's and a bush/shock refresh with some mid range bilsteins. Power without control is rubbish!
Although without a team of engineers and a couple of million square this might be difficult
Do they come with an LSD? I'm sure someone with Saab know how will be far more help but I'd want to know the limitations of the transmission, particularly the driveshafts, bearings in the box, clutch etc. If it's got a DMF can it take the torque?
On a purely performance based mindset I'd say 350bhp or so would be about right for fun, useable power on the road. But you might want to be looking at suspension and appropriate wheel/tyre combos to match. Maybe wider fronts, some Goodyear Eagle asymmetric's and a bush/shock refresh with some mid range bilsteins. Power without control is rubbish!
Edited by Repent on Saturday 25th April 14:19
About 1250bhp if you ask Nissan...
Although without a team of engineers and a couple of million spare this might be difficult
Do they come with an LSD? I'm sure someone with Saab know how will be far more help but I'd want to know the limitations of the transmission, particularly the driveshafts, bearings in the box, clutch etc. If it's got a DMF can it take the torque?
On a purely performance based mindset I'd say 350bhp or so would be about right for fun, useable power on the road. But you might want to be looking at suspension and appropriate wheel/tyre combos to match. Maybe wider fronts, some Goodyear Eagle asymmetric's and a bush/shock refresh or some mid range bilsteins. Power without control is rubbish!
Although without a team of engineers and a couple of million spare this might be difficult
Do they come with an LSD? I'm sure someone with Saab know how will be far more help but I'd want to know the limitations of the transmission, particularly the driveshafts, bearings in the box, clutch etc. If it's got a DMF can it take the torque?
On a purely performance based mindset I'd say 350bhp or so would be about right for fun, useable power on the road. But you might want to be looking at suspension and appropriate wheel/tyre combos to match. Maybe wider fronts, some Goodyear Eagle asymmetric's and a bush/shock refresh or some mid range bilsteins. Power without control is rubbish!
Edited by Repent on Saturday 25th April 14:20
John D. said:
V8RX7 said:
It can have as much as you can afford.
But trying to make a fast exit from an uphill T junction I can tell you that even a mere 180bhp can't be deployed by a Leon Cupra.
Did you just floor it?But trying to make a fast exit from an uphill T junction I can tell you that even a mere 180bhp can't be deployed by a Leon Cupra.
As it's a T junction and I was turning right with another car turning left next to me, I had to apply some lock too, combined with the uphill slope it's the nightmare situation for a FWD and as this junction was on my daily commute it's the main reason I sold the Leon - TC on or off, it failed miserably.
RWD (and obviously 4WD) coped fine and with a LOT more power / torque too.
I've always been a FWD hater - just not my cup of tea spinning its tits off. Had a phase 1 V70 R at one point. Would just spin every time you lit the turbo. Move forward to modern day and my mates Leon Cupra R shocked me. We went on a road trip and he was plodding along nicely, then gave it some beans off a roundabout and up a sliproad. It gripped like no other with the fancy diff / good tyres. There is not much in it between his and my quattro B5 S4 round a few corners (road use obviously, im sure there would be a big gap on a track)
Launch though gotta be a quattro, i pull 4 car lengths by the end of 1st gear hah
EDIT: another mate recently bought (stupidly) a 472bhp corsa. That was too much. Even with semi slicks and a diff. Just no.
Launch though gotta be a quattro, i pull 4 car lengths by the end of 1st gear hah
EDIT: another mate recently bought (stupidly) a 472bhp corsa. That was too much. Even with semi slicks and a diff. Just no.
Corbeliere said:
My missus has a V70 2.4 petrol turbo which is BSR tuned. It's about 252BHP with 410Nm torque. To be honest, that's about all I would consider as if you floor it from a stand it simply spins the wheels. On the move it's a different story though, it really does get a move on.
I had a vanilla P2 T5. (250bhp IIRC)If you planted your foot, the traction control light would be flickering all the way through 1st, 2nd and 3rd all the way up to about 90mph. (allegedly!)
It certainly had 'adequate' power for the drivetrain!
kapiteinlangzaam said:
Another ex-t5 owner here (P2 with 230bhp).
It had decent tyres, but in anything other than bone dry conditions it would spin up the wheels in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Bloody good fun for an anonymous dog wagon.
And another (P1 with 450bhp).It had decent tyres, but in anything other than bone dry conditions it would spin up the wheels in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Bloody good fun for an anonymous dog wagon.
Mine had semi slicks, quaife diff and KW v2 coilovers. If the tyres were cold it could spin up in 4th. Exiting a corner on track at full throttle would leave the inside tyre spinning up even if the tyres were nice and hot. I did go for the wrong diff, should have gone for the Gripper, but at the time it had its issues.
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