VW POLO 1.9 TDI

[Accelebrate]

ILoveCorners said:

Its got brembo pads back and front Cant have that power and no stopping.

I wouldn't really count that as a brake 'upgrade'. The Brembo pads I've fitted in the past have been a good alternative to OE pads. Good pads at a good price, but in my case the performance of basic Brembo discs and pads was no better or worse than the OE parts they replaced (which was all I was really expecting).

[C.A.R.]

Brembo are an OEM pad anyway? I had Brembo discs and pads on my Celica, they were the cheapest OE spec combination at the time. Unless it's a specific 'upgrade' compound?

[Accelebrate]

I'm guessing VW didn't use them as a supplier for diesel polos, but I could be wrong.

[BritishRacinGrin]

Accelebrate said:

I'm guessing VW didn't use them as a supplier for diesel polos, but I could be wrong.

They wouldn't have been Brembo, that doesn't mean they were not as good though. People see the Brembo name and assume it's like wot a racing car's got innit, when really (like most pad manufacturers) Brembo make a normal OEM-equivalent pad which is supposed to perform the same as OEM.

[LukeDM]

ORD said:

Hudson said:

GregK2 said:

ORD said:

Really? 200bhp in a 1270kg car isn't enough? Sounds like a pretty damn good power to weight ratio for a 'pop to the shops and pick up the kids' kind of car.

Isn't that over 150bhp per ton? You'd need 300bhp in a big BMW to have that kind of ratio.

75, I agree, would be a bit gutless!

I believe he's referring to the Golf, which is ~1400Kg

MK4 Golf 4motion i was referring to, which is a big fat wallowy beast. Sounds good though

MK7 is much lighter - see the specs on the VW website. I was impressed.

Would the MK7 still be lighter with a 2.8 VR6 engine and 4WD?

[ORD]

Pretty sure all MK7 are 4 pots, aren't they? Fair point re AWD.

[LukeDM]

ORD said:

Pretty sure all MK7 are 4 pots, aren't they? Fair point re AWD.

I think so, do you think you would notice the fairly small weight difference in this type of car anyway?

[ORD]

LukeDM said:

ORD said:

Pretty sure all MK7 are 4 pots, aren't they? Fair point re AWD.

I think so, do you think you would notice the fairly small weight difference in this type of car anyway?

Assuming the same torque and power, yes. 50kg in a car with 100-150bhp is noticeable. I recently test drove a bunch of small cars and could have told you their approximate weights to within 50kg without looking it up (maybe...kinda...).

That said, some cars feel lighter or heavier than they are - thanks to those clever engineers. A 3 series disguises its weight well (to my mind), whereas I feel every kg of my car (strangely given that the power should mask it). Part of it is probably the shape of torque curve - cars that gain torque as you accel hard suddenly feel much lighter, making them seem heavy the rest of the time; cars with relatively flat torque curves probably don't give you that feeling (which, I imagine, is one the reasons new shopping cars often feel lighter than they are).