Do you prefer usable bhp or more bhp than you need?

[SturdyHSV]

cerb4.5lee said:

J4CKO said:

hmm, you want your Mini back dont you ?

I know we've had this conversation before but I do genuinely miss the Mini. Some might think that I've gone completely mad(and don't get me wrong I do love the M4) but when I had the Mini I really liked how much fun it was for almost all of the time.

The M4 is fun under full throttle and when you can feel the rear moving around for sure, but it feels quite sensible at normal speeds...whereas the Mini was more like a little yappy dog if you like.

We've also had this bit of conversation before, get a Monaro

Many of them will have enough power to give similar fun factor to the M4 and certainly to move the rear around a bit, but thanks to the V8 and the fact it's a bit less refined than the BMW, it never quite feels 'sensible' at any speed. Good long distance cruiser too despite that.

[av185]

OP you need a car that is less detached than your turbo BMW. Reasonably quick yes but a diluted driving experience where driver feedback is poor particularly at lower speeds.

Unfortunately many cars have gone this way.

Try an e92 or e46.

[HappyMidget]

cerb4.5lee said:

wormus said:

Everything’s relative, one of my cars has over 800hp and it hooks up ok ish in the dry. I use it mostly for cruising and putting thrusty German cars back in their box.

I hope I never see you out on the road then! That much be epic for sure!

Just be very careful of any VXR8 or Monaro these days. A couple of years back my VXR8 was one of the first to have 800+, now there are A LOT that are around that sort of power since the community found a decent tuner who could safely extract that power.

Yeah, off the lights any boggo 4wd hot hatch has grip advantage, get to motorway speeds and that advantage is lost.

Also on the latest VXR8, the Gen-F, the launch control is impressive at giving full bore with no slip. Still a measly 4.3ish to 60 (need to change gear at 50ish so impacts a bit in the manual) but you sure know about how hard it is pulling.

[JmatthewB]

In my opinion if you want to have fun in a car the weight figure has more significance than the power figures.

[TREMAiNE]

I drive a 420 bhp Mustang GT as my daily and do find that it's too fast to have most of the time aside from the occasional point and squirt, so ended up buying a 123bhp Suzuki Swift Sport with a friend as a track car which get all my anger

Mile for mile, the Swift gives me a lot more smiles but I wouldn't want to daily it.

BHP is mostly dick-waving, if my Mustang had 300bhp, I'd probably have more fun driving it as I'd get to push it harder, but would I want to drop 120bhp if I could? Of course not.

[SturdyHSV]

av185 said:

Try an e92 or e46.

Telling cerb4.5lee to try an E92 is like telling someone to go back to their ex-wife, he has only just stopped bhing about the lack of torque the first time around

TREMAiNE said:

BHP is mostly dick-waving, if my Mustang had 300bhp, I'd probably have more fun driving it as I'd get to push it harder, but would I want to drop 120bhp if I could? Of course not.

I don't think you'd have more fun driving it around with less power. You still couldn't push the chassis any more, and the chassis is intended to handle 420bhp relatively well. Plus you can already do that by not pressing the pedal all the way down.

If Ford had built the car to have 300bhp, THEN I think you'd have more fun driving it around with 420bhp

Edited by SturdyHSV on Wednesday 9th June 14:33

[HappyMidget]

JmatthewB said:

In my opinion if you want to have fun in a car the weight figure has more significance than the power figures.

Guessing you haven't driven a 1.8T 800+BHP saloon then?

[JmatthewB]

HappyMidget said:

Guessing you haven't driven a 1.8T 800+BHP saloon then?

I haven't, and that does sound exhilarating! But constantly worrying about getting a speeding fine is what would put me off.

I've driven powerful Astons and Ferrari's but the car that made the biggest impact on me was an Ariel Atom.

[HappyMidget]

JmatthewB said:

HappyMidget said:

Guessing you haven't driven a 1.8T 800+BHP saloon then?

I haven't, and that does sound exhilarating! But constantly worrying about getting a speeding fine is what would put me off.

I've driven powerful Astons and Ferrari's but the car that made the biggest impact on me was an Ariel Atom.

I am more at risk of getting speeding fines in the wife's Adam S I tend to just waft in the VXR8, and then hammer it when rep-mobiles try to nick my exhaust pipes

[anonymous-user]

J4CKO said:

wormus said:

Everything’s relative, one of my cars has over 800hp and it hooks up ok ish in the dry. I use it mostly for cruising and putting thrusty German cars back in their box.

That's the point, have you had the car tuned because you enjoy it more or teach some upstart in a 320D a lesson ? The rest of time you cruise not using the performance ?

I am sure its a valuable service you are providing

I just go out when its quiet and just enjoy the drive.

Main reason to do it was because I wanted to know what it would be like and the fun is in the doing of it. It is comical to drop the occasional clown who wants to stick themselves to my back bumper but I don’t go looking for it. Best bit about the car is the noise and gurgling along on a sunny day with the window down is just as fun as humiliating chavs.

[Ratae]

cerb4.5lee said:

... Some might think that I've gone completely mad(and don't get me wrong I do love the M4) but when I had the Mini I really liked how much fun it was for almost all of the time...

...whereas the Mini was more like a little yappy dog if you like.

I completely get this. I've got a lightly modified R53 and its one of the most fun cars I've had, I've got a GR Yaris on order but in my impatience I started looking at alternatives for the money and test drove an LCI F80 M3 this week, stonking performance and presence but no more fun than the GR or R53, if anything, less fun.

[BroadsRS6]

Every day a journey said:

maybe try not driving like a knob?

Pretty pointless and rude post tbh. Don't BE a knob.

[Xenoous]

Usable power will always be more fun on the road. I find the 265 in my Megane is a sweet spot. fast enough to be fun, but not really going to be reaching license losing speeds too quickly. A decent amount of power with great handling is far more important than having 600bhp that you can hardly ever use.

[BroadsRS6]

Horses for courses.
I have a vehicle with 3 wheels and 'only' 160 bhp. But it weighs 375 kgs and revs to 12,000 rpm so fun it certainly is, without having to have huge power.
Then again i have a 2 tonne estate car with 10 cylinders and 761 bhp. It's definitely fun with the wick lit and both turbos fully spooled up! Yes of course it also runs out of road fast as it will do 130 in 4th gear, but you pick your places.

[TurboHatchback]

My car has a mighty 148bhp and I think I've used it all for maybe 3 seconds total in the year that I've owned it. Adding another 300bhp would do absolutely nothing to improve it. I would like some 6-cylinder refinement back in my life but I genuinely couldn't give less of a hoot about getting more performance.

[fido]

SturdyHSV said:

av185 said:

Try an e92 or e46.

Telling cerb4.5lee to try an E92 is like telling someone to go back to their ex-wife, he has only just stopped bhing about the lack of torque the first time around

Except now she has a DCT implants fitted and maybe performs better than before.

[s m]

rotaryjam said:

Definitely something to be said for winding up a slower car like the mini cooper s mentioned. That's one of the reasons I really enjoyed my old Alfa GTV 3.0, you could thrash it and get that lovely busso noise l without ever being worried about going too fast

Not aimed at the OP particularly but it makes me smile when people come up with a nigh-on 150mph car and say they can ‘thrash’ it without worrying about going too fast! When 3rd gear max can land you with a ban there are really only 1st and 2nd gears you can wring out without worrying too much in a national 60 limit - even then you’ll be showing almost 70!

The noise you can enjoy on part-throttle though granted

[Chubbyross]

For me it depends on the journey. For early morning weekend blasts I prefer less power. For longer road trips I prefer more power and torque. The power of my 997.2 Turbo is more than I usually need but it’s useful for easy overtakes and wafting on motorways, but I mainly use the torque most of the time. Red lining will see law-breaking speeds in seconds and, to be honest, is frustrating at times. I’ve bought a 987 Boxster recently and unless I’m on long motorway journeys is far, far more fun. It gets redlined more often than the Turbo, and feels so much more useable.

[exelero]

njw1 said:

Every day a journey said:

maybe try not driving like a knob?

What makes you think the op is driving like a knob?

Well he’s in a beemer to start with
/jokes


ETA
My car is 220 ish bhp but sometimes I feel it too much, the gearing is long so if I boot it in 3rdd gear I run out of speed limit.
Had a Kia Picanto as a ,,courtesy car” for a week. I had fun in that just revving the nuts out of it and not being worried about the limit at the same time.

If you want a car that’s really fun to drive get a Celica. Not the t sport just the normal one. You can Rev that, it sits low so you think you’re going fast but then reality hits when you see the speedo

Edited by exelero on Wednesday 9th June 16:33

[s m]

exelero said:

If you want a car that’s really fun to drive get a Celica. Not the t sport just the normal one. You can Rev that, it sits low so you think you’re going fast but then reality hits when you see the speedo

Edited by exelero on Wednesday 9th June 16:33

One of these?