The death of the slow car
Discussion
My TVR Tuscan S in skilled hands can do 0-60 in 3.8s, and 0-100 in 8s. Back in 2001 when it came out that was devastating pace for a road car, faster than the 911 Turbo of the time, and I can't think of any contempoary super car that would have had it beat. When I first got it, it seemed impossibly fast, and it could leave literally anything for dead.
It's still a fast car by any measure, but today my 2+ ton A8L 4.0T luxo barge can (almost unbelievably) do those sprints quicker.
Although one thing that won't change is the TVR is much more fun and involving, although in either car the opportunities to deploy their full firepower are increasingly rare unless you go out of your way to do so.
It's still a fast car by any measure, but today my 2+ ton A8L 4.0T luxo barge can (almost unbelievably) do those sprints quicker.
Although one thing that won't change is the TVR is much more fun and involving, although in either car the opportunities to deploy their full firepower are increasingly rare unless you go out of your way to do so.
Interesting topic. The outputs of my cars have varied quite a lot, sometimes trippling or halving power output in search for the most enjoyable power level on real roads.
I fondly remember my first car, a Austin Rover Montego Estate 2.0 DSL Turbo, with the 2l boat turbodiesel pumping out a massive 80hp and 158Nm. 1600l boot so a big estate to current standards, and kerb weight 1200kg. As frugal as ever for a diesel already then, one of the very first direct injection diesels. It had scary but fun snap oversteer and felt fast when flooring it, all 16s 0-60 and 100mph top speed. Which I did, often. Flooring it that is, passing most other traffic in the nineties. Today, it would still do so as long as any other driver in almost any car would not decide to use the loud pedal. Just a little...
Fast forward to today, I note the Ferrari vs Golf comparison. The Golf R stg3+, kit for probably 10k £ without install as you're not done with the Turbo kit, you'll need new exhaust, intake, charge pipes, IC, additional oil transmission coolers, extra clutch plate and then still you'll be hoping the stock (part forged) internals don't go pop. That's hot hatch cliché turned up to eleven in a nutshell. Of course you can't compare it to an F12. The Golf is much better on fuel and much more practical. And a real 300kg or so lighter, wasn't that a generally good thing on PH? Not completely serious now, nothing compares to the aural and right foot connection of that masterful naturally aspirated V12. But the Ferrari isn't exactly the essence of light footed tactility either or handling subtlety, and realistically at most a theoretical proposition for most as a actual car used for driving and enjoying on public roads on a regular basis. If you can use it like that, good for you, I'm sure you're enjoying it. Or so one would hope.
Anyhow. Estate, hot hatch, naturally aspirated. My daily car is quicker than my NA fun car. Estate because I need the space. Manual obviously. Hot hatch based because compared to other fast estates, it is plenty refined and comfortable and the lightest proposition by far for handling fun whenever the opportunity arises. Definitely not naturally aspirated, but modern turbo engines a so powerful and linear that they are neither fun as a boosty turbo could be before, but don't really reward like a NA engine either. Now comes the interesting part that ties it together a bit. I've carefully recalibrated that same engine as in that Golf R to mimic some of that NA fun. Carefully as in minimal boost increase. It will never have the throttle sharpness of an NA, but considering that the forced induction more than doubles the output, its quite amazing how well it can hide it. Electronic wastegate acting fast and accurately. Added a catted (still eu6) downpipe effectively removing any lag from interfering with the driving experience. And a slight reprogramming of the boost curve to let power be on a clear rise all the way to redline. And not too bad on fuel when not on it most of the time, part of the wallet fun so to speak. Blends in with traffic and nobody tries to influence your driving particularly, but 250bhp/tonne gives some options just in case. And should one find a desolate twisty road in front of you, its thoroughly enjoyable by itself without having to outperform someone or something else, or without having to floor it all the time. But if one decides to do the latter, that is fun too. In traffic it is kind of boring, but such is the beast and then at least it's comfortable and has a good stereo.
But still had the most fun with my first car...
I fondly remember my first car, a Austin Rover Montego Estate 2.0 DSL Turbo, with the 2l boat turbodiesel pumping out a massive 80hp and 158Nm. 1600l boot so a big estate to current standards, and kerb weight 1200kg. As frugal as ever for a diesel already then, one of the very first direct injection diesels. It had scary but fun snap oversteer and felt fast when flooring it, all 16s 0-60 and 100mph top speed. Which I did, often. Flooring it that is, passing most other traffic in the nineties. Today, it would still do so as long as any other driver in almost any car would not decide to use the loud pedal. Just a little...
Fast forward to today, I note the Ferrari vs Golf comparison. The Golf R stg3+, kit for probably 10k £ without install as you're not done with the Turbo kit, you'll need new exhaust, intake, charge pipes, IC, additional oil transmission coolers, extra clutch plate and then still you'll be hoping the stock (part forged) internals don't go pop. That's hot hatch cliché turned up to eleven in a nutshell. Of course you can't compare it to an F12. The Golf is much better on fuel and much more practical. And a real 300kg or so lighter, wasn't that a generally good thing on PH? Not completely serious now, nothing compares to the aural and right foot connection of that masterful naturally aspirated V12. But the Ferrari isn't exactly the essence of light footed tactility either or handling subtlety, and realistically at most a theoretical proposition for most as a actual car used for driving and enjoying on public roads on a regular basis. If you can use it like that, good for you, I'm sure you're enjoying it. Or so one would hope.
Anyhow. Estate, hot hatch, naturally aspirated. My daily car is quicker than my NA fun car. Estate because I need the space. Manual obviously. Hot hatch based because compared to other fast estates, it is plenty refined and comfortable and the lightest proposition by far for handling fun whenever the opportunity arises. Definitely not naturally aspirated, but modern turbo engines a so powerful and linear that they are neither fun as a boosty turbo could be before, but don't really reward like a NA engine either. Now comes the interesting part that ties it together a bit. I've carefully recalibrated that same engine as in that Golf R to mimic some of that NA fun. Carefully as in minimal boost increase. It will never have the throttle sharpness of an NA, but considering that the forced induction more than doubles the output, its quite amazing how well it can hide it. Electronic wastegate acting fast and accurately. Added a catted (still eu6) downpipe effectively removing any lag from interfering with the driving experience. And a slight reprogramming of the boost curve to let power be on a clear rise all the way to redline. And not too bad on fuel when not on it most of the time, part of the wallet fun so to speak. Blends in with traffic and nobody tries to influence your driving particularly, but 250bhp/tonne gives some options just in case. And should one find a desolate twisty road in front of you, its thoroughly enjoyable by itself without having to outperform someone or something else, or without having to floor it all the time. But if one decides to do the latter, that is fun too. In traffic it is kind of boring, but such is the beast and then at least it's comfortable and has a good stereo.
But still had the most fun with my first car...
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