how much faster will it feel

[TurboHatchback]

dieseluser07 said:

a lot of people on this forum seem to think 9 seconds is slow which is why i was asking

9 Seconds to 60 is absolutely adequate on the road. It's not blisteringly fast but more than comfortably so.

[jamieduff1981]

LordHaveMurci said:

jamieduff1981 said:

My perception was the opposite to be honest. Something like a 911 turbo doing 0-60 in just under 4 seconds feels absolutely blistering compared to something like an E39 M5 doing it in just over 5 seconds. I'm not sure I could get in to a car blind folded now and tell you whether I just experienced 0-60 in 9 seconds or 16 seconds. I suppose I could count, but that's not feeling, that's measuring.

The fastest feeling car I've been in was a remapped RS6, I'm sure it was down to turbocharged torque as it's not the quickest car I've been in I'm sure. I wonder if's the same with you in the 911 Turbo?

Haven't been in a 911 in a while - but I wanted to mention other cars of similar performance than the ones I currently have and keep mentioning.

My greatest "F*** ME!" moment accelerating in a car was as a passenger in a Tuscan S. Rather than turbocharged torque, it was the frantic delivery from the rather top-end happy 4.0 straight 6 that starts off strong then all hell breaks loose.

I guess everyone is different, but I think part of my perception of fast isn't so much the push in the seat but how fast the situation is changing. The first time I went on Disney World's Aerosmith roller coaster with the catapult launch that does 0-60 in 2.8 seconds as a teenager was almost disorientating for me at the time.

[kambites]

The thing that makes a car feel fast is a steep torque curve - the human body/brain is much better at sensing rate of change of acceleration (m/s/s/s) than linear acceleration (m/s/s). I think that's why turbos, especially turbo diesels, tend to feel faster than they are.

[MC Bodge]

We have cars with similar performance differences. Unladen, the slower car is fine and fun to drive. With passengers it can be a bit slow.
The quicker car (Mondeo TDCI) isn't fast, but never feels lacking.

Both cars feel slow compared with my 675cc motorbike, which is slower than a 1000cc sports bike.

[Howard-]

dieseluser07 said:

a lot of people on this forum seem to think 9 seconds is slow which is why i was asking

9 seconds is slow. But a 60bhp car that gets there in 15 seconds is beyond slow, it's glacial. So yes, the faster car will feel a great deal faster and be perfectly adequate for all manner of day to day driving, despite being "slow" to a car enthusiast.

[br d]

The perception of speed does get blunted, each time I've bought a faster car I've been shocked by the increase but you quickly get used to it. Well, up to a point!

[BL Fanboy]

Howard- said:

9 seconds is slow. But a 60bhp car that gets there in 15 seconds is beyond slow, it's glacial. So yes, the faster car will feel a great deal faster and be perfectly adequate for all manner of day to day driving, despite being "slow" to a car enthusiast.

At what self acceptable nought to sixty can someone be called an enthusiast vs just interested?

[MC Bodge]

Howard- said:

9 seconds is slow. But a 60bhp car that gets there in 15 seconds is beyond slow, it's glacial.

I can cope with driving a glacial car, sometimes, and can even overtake and enjoy driving it! I am a hero!

Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 22 October 16:59

[greggy50]

I went from a 1.25 Fiesta Mk5 (Around 14 seconds to 60) aged 17 to a MG ZR 105 (Around 9.5 seconds to 60) aged 18 and I will be honest it felt like a fking rocket ship at the time.

I remember seeing what I could get out of it down the A46 from Lincoln trying to overtake a van at approx 100 and then realising when I could not get past it was not that fast at all as he pulled away laughing...

[bobmcgod]

So I went from a 64bhp Ibiza with a 14.9s 0-60 to a 150bhp Astra with 0-60 of 8.3. I can definitely say it feels much, much, much faster.

[Tim662]

I went from a 68bhp 1.0 Citroen C1 to a 136bhp 1.6 Swift Sport.

Yes, it feels a lot faster. Not saying the swift is a rocket ship but it's so much better to drive. Hardly ever feels strained, and I can now join motorways/dual carriage ways with short slip roads without fear of having a lorry rear end me.

C1 was listed as 13.3 to 60, Swift is listed 8.7 but I've done 7.8. Never bothered to time the C1 myself.

[LukeR94]

At 19 I went from a 74hp 1.2 Corsa to a 240bhp Astra VXR.


Safe to say it felt much faster, but as you do, I sonn got used to the speed (well so I thought)


Crashed it 6 months later. Breaking 5 ribs, both bones in left arm and multiple facial fractures.


Lesson learnt. Go up in stages children.


Yours Sincerly, a stupid 20 year old

[clockworks]

My E61 525d feels like it accelerates more rapidly than my 964. Obviously it doesn't, because the 911 is around 2 seconds faster to 60 on paper, weighs less, and has 25% more power.
Put your foot down in the 525, and you get a kick, then another as it changes gear. The 911 accelerates smoothly, and just keeps going. You have to check the speedo to see that you've gone from 50 to illegal.

[Wills2]

I went from an allroad with 100hp/tonne to an e92 M3 with 254hp/tonne, that was quite an eye opener.

I don't agree that turbo diesels feel quicker though for me they feel slow (even if they're not).

[Meoricin]

BL Fanboy said:

At what self acceptable nought to sixty can someone be called an enthusiast vs just interested?

You can be a car enthusiast without a fast car, or even without wanting one. It's just that people who don't like cars will have a different perception of what 'fast' is compared to people who have experienced it, or spend time around other car enthusiasts.

[MC Bodge]

clockworks said:

My E61 525d feels like it accelerates more rapidly than my 964. Obviously it doesn't, because the 911 is around 2 seconds faster to 60 on paper, weighs less, and has 25% more power.

Does the Porsche need a service and throttle cable adjustment?

Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 22 October 19:26

[clockworks]

MC Bodge said:

Does the Porsche need a service and throttle cable adjustment?

Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 22 October 19:26

LOL - going for a service next week as it happens.

No, it is obviously faster than the 525d, but the smoothness of the power delivery means that you don't get the "kick, pause, kick" of the beemer, just a steadily building shove. You know that you are going fast by what you can see, rather than what you can feel.

Back in the day, when I had company cars, I went from a 2 litre petrol Mondeo to a 1.9 diesel (150) Vectra. Very similar outright performance and power, but the Vauxhall felt a lot quicker.
Strangely, the Vauxhall's replacement - a Mazda 6 diesel - felt a lot slower and more "petrol-like", so I can see why some people say that diesels feel faster, while others say they feel slower. It all depends on the cars you are comparing.

Edited by clockworks on Wednesday 22 October 20:13

[996TT02]

Howard- said:

dieseluser07 said:

a lot of people on this forum seem to think 9 seconds is slow which is why i was asking

kambites said:

I'd guess 9 seconds to 60 is probably about the median point for new cars sold in the UK. It's certainly not slow in any meaningful sense.

9 seconds is slow. But a 60bhp car that gets there in 15 seconds is beyond slow, it's glacial. So yes, the faster car will feel a great deal faster and be perfectly adequate for all manner of day to day driving, despite being "slow" to a car enthusiast.

Slow? In real terms? That's not far off Escort RS Turbo performance. An XR3i took 10 seconds. No-one complained back then.

[dieseluser07]

i wonder how much a good exhaust note/engine sound can make a car seem quicker or not compared tp another with not much noise

[g7jhp]

You can actually trick your senses.

My 996 turbo X50 (450bhp) is shockingly quick, but my old Caterham 7 HPC (175bhp) also felt as quick to 60.

It was of course just being propelled down the road in a car without any form of creature comfort.

The classic mini gives you a similar feeling of going faster than you are.