What Bhp do you feel is comfortable?

[pbirkett]

G_T said:

pbirkett said:

Anyone who 'needs' 200 bhp per tonne for safely driving needs to learn how to drive, simple as.

The criteria isn't "safe to drive". It was "comfortable" and, with that being a relative term, I fail to see how you can make any assumptions about someone's driving?

My current shed is about 70bhp/ton. I can drive it perfectly safely but I do not personally find it comfortable. I cannot accelerate myself out of any tricky situations and I cannot overtake in many instances.

It's all relative mate.

You're probably right about the willy waving though.

Well OK then, but I dont think you can really use BHP as an indicator of how comfortably a car can accelerate in any case.

One of my old cars was a Fabia vRS. 128 bhp and 1,315 kg, so actually less than 100 bhp per tonne. However, it has 228 lb ft of torque at 1900 rpm. Not only was that car a lot faster than it had any right to be (on paper), but it was probably more comfortable and easier to drive fast than another one of my old cars, my DC2 ITR, which has 180 bhp per tonne, nearly twice as much! It was all down to the power and torque delivery.

I get the impression that some people on here think that less than 100 bhp per tonne would either be unsafe or uncomfortable, but in the little Fabia's case, it felt like plenty

[G_T]

Agreed.

I said 200bhp/ton as a general statement. But yes there are other factors like power delivery, torqs and all manner of other contributing factors.

[RobM77]

Strangely power's never bothered me much, moreso handling and response. Given the choice though, I normally try and buy cars with at least 150bhp/tonne or 200bhp ish for a normal sized car, because I find it more relaxing to get up to speed quicker and be able to overtake on A/B roads more easily.

[Lefty Guns]

kambites said:

To my mind 150bhp/tonne is fine for day-to-day driving. 200bhp/tonne starts to feel quick enough that straights are fun as well as corners. 300bhp/tonne is starting to get proper fast.

I drive a 60bhp 900kg Fiat Punto quite a bit and it's depressing. It wont maintain 70mph on some motorway hills.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 29th July 18:03

I agree that bhp/mT is a much more useful measurement.

100 is really the minimum I think
150 is fun
200 is quick
300 is fast
>400 is crazy and probably best for track-only

[ipwn]

Im thinking

Hatch 160
3 series type car - 220
5 series type - 250
7 series type - 280

[RobCrezz]

125bhp in my girlfriends puma feels enough to have fun with. But anything under 300bhp just doesnt feel "rapid" anymore.

[HellDiver]

Ordinary_Chap said:

I drive a Golf TDI 140 which has more than enough power and can make swift progress when needed and is far more comfortable than my old 200bhp CTR.

The torque of that engine makes up for it's lack of power. I have the same 2.0TDi 140hp engine in my Lancer, and it moves along much easier than the 150hp 1.9CDTi Astra I had in the past, even considering the Astra was 200kg lighter and had 10hp more.

[CraigW]

I've had from a 1 litre mini to a 540BHP RS6. Lots of power is great, but generally, in an average car,day to day, for me, about 300BHP is nice.

[Plotloss]

Lefty Guns said:

>400 is crazy and probably best for track-only

S65AMG
X6M
M6
M5
Continental GT Speed

etc etc etc

[Ordinary_Chap]

G_T said:

pbirkett said:

Anyone who 'needs' 200 bhp per tonne for safely driving needs to learn how to drive, simple as.

The criteria isn't "safe to drive". It was "comfortable" and, with that being a relative term, I fail to see how you can make any assumptions about someone's driving?

My current shed is about 70bhp/ton. I can drive it perfectly safely but I do not personally find it comfortable. I cannot accelerate myself out of any tricky situations and I cannot overtake in many instances.

It's all relative mate.

You're probably right about the willy waving though.

I don't he was intending that statement to be directed towards you but those who say a car needs a certain amount of power to be safe.

[Chris71]

My Seven has about 140bhp, which I'd say is more than enough. It does equate to just over 270bhp/ton though, which is nigh-on 996 turbo levels.

Sadly (lack of) weight only does so much, come motorway speed the brick lick aerodynamics put a real dampener on things.

[ewenm]

Plotloss said:

Lefty Guns said:

>400 is crazy and probably best for track-only

S65AMG
X6M
M6
M5
Continental GT Speed

etc etc etc

I think he was refering to bhp/ton not absolute bhp. Unfortunately your trimmed quote has missed that bit out.

[900T-R]

Plotloss said:

Lefty Guns said:

>400 is crazy and probably best for track-only

S65AMG
X6M
M6
M5
Continental GT Speed

etc etc etc

Per tonne, Plotty.

[snoopstah]

After going from ~160bhp/tonne to ~300bhp/tonne last year I've come to the conclusion that however much power you have, you'll always want more. It took me about 2 months before my current car stopped feeling 'fast' to me.

Doesn't help that it's my only car though, I'm sure if I had some crappy hatchback that I used most of the time then it would feel like a rocket-ship when I got back in!

As for what you need, I'd say around 125bhp/tonne is sufficient, any more is just for fun.

[reg_slr]

It doesn't matter what you start with you will always get used to it and crave more. However there is something very satisfying about wringing the neck out of something that doesn't need to be travelling at silly speeds to get the best out of. An ITR was a pretty good overall balance of power and with the lowish amounts of torque it didn't threaten to get too out of control even in the wet. IMO >400 HP/T is where it stops becoming about handling and more about managing how brtual the engine is, totally changing whatever dynamics the car has.

[Eddh]

I have a ~200 bhp ~850kg CRX which gives me around 235 bhp/tonne. This to me has started to feel a bit slow...

Is it enough for road use? Yes
Do I want more power? Yes

Hence why I am losing more weight and going for around 300 bhp. Will hopefully be as light as 800-825 Kg, that would give me around 360-375 bhp/tonne, plenty for a 20 year old. I think that would be perfectly fine for any road situation I can think of.

I also have a BMW 316 compact, that is dog slow and I always wish I had more power in that.

[robm3]

Delivery of said power is important as well.

My old E46 CSL had around 375bhp and was perfect for all situations really.

My old Mitsubishi Starion had around 200bhp and was a right handful due to awful turbo lag, no LSD, poor suspension etc..

[blueg33]

Everyone should have enough BHP to ensure that THEY DO NOT HOLD ME UP EXCESSIVELY ON HILLS, THEY CAN OVERTAKE CARAVANS LORRIES TRACTORS

Sorry for the shouty caps, just had a very annoying drive through Hampshire where i have been mega held up by people going up hills at 30mph and failing to overtake, meaning I have had to pass 4 plus vehicles at a time. Surely its not hard on a straight road with 1-2 miles of clear road ahead to pass a car doing 40mph! where the speed limit is 60mph? Or am I naieve?

For the record, todays car is Audi A6 3.0 with about 237 bhp, and for most circumstances that is quite fast enough and certainly faster than most (or is that my heavy foot?)

[Don]

Comfortable?

My 2.2 Vectra is underpowered but OK. I think that's about 100bhp per tonne.

My Boxster S is about 210 bhp per tonne and the TVR about 240 per tonne.

Quick enough for most situations and certainly "comfortable". One can always use more power, though.

[shamrock]

For me comfortable is at least 350bhp or 250bhp per tonne for daily use.