Way too powerful

[anonymous-user]

Purely out of interest, what are your stories driving cars that you deemed “too fast”?

How much power do you need to make a car wheelspin and bounce of the rev limiter in every gear, and have you experienced it?

[maxdb]

I had a Renault Clio RSI that you could spin in 4th in the wet but that was due to crap tyres. The car only had around 120bhp.

My Mazda 3 mps can give a little wheelspin in 4th in the wet and that has PS4s all around.

Having a car too fast is open for debate. I believe it's all about control and knowing when to use the power. You kind of get used to it over time.

[Berkshire bred]

Whwn I was a lot younger my uncle had a very modified subaru impreza sti. I was to young to really know about these things but I remember him saying it was over 450bhp. we went out in it and I remember under acceleration the car was squirming all over the road, partly addictive and partly st your pants scary, might have been bad tyres I don't know, sadly been long since sold.

[Danxr46]

Berkshire bred said:

Whwn I was a lot younger my uncle had a very modified subaru impreza sti. I was to young to really know about these things but I remember him saying it was over 450bhp. we went out in it and I remember under acceleration the car was squirming all over the road, partly addictive and partly st your pants scary, might have been bad tyres I don't know, sadly been long since sold.

Either bad tyres or crap alignment, especially in a 4wd car like that regardless.

I think there is such thing as too much for useable power where you don’t need it all. For example like having a sports car round town vs a ok city car which would make the same progress. B road blasts on a 1000cc bike vs a 600 etc. It all depends on the driver aswell

[TooMany2cvs]

"Too fast" for what?

For normal traffic on public roads?
For the chassis and suspension?
For your cojones?

[OldGermanHeaps]

20xe nova on jenvey throttlebodies was too much engine for the chassis.

[Hungrymc]

I think a lot of torque, plus a lot of gear ratios (like the ZF8) can make a car a bit frenzied. I wouldn’t say it’s “too much”. But you lose a lot of feeling of the engine characteristics.

[bloomen]

The most powerful car I had was 400-450bhp ish Skyline. Was it too powerful? Nope. It could've used more. It's all down to how it drives and how power is delivered. A Skyline delivers its grunt in a pretty deep chested manner. It's not very zippy so the speed is applied fairly respectfully.

A 205 diesel doesn't need any more power than it has. It's a perfect balance.

The only cars I've driven that felt too fast for the road were varying Mitsubishis Evos. That's not because they were measurably faster, but all they want to do is head bang. They're no fun at all to pootle in so you nail it wherever you can.

[numtumfutunch]

Currently in a 2016 BMW 335d Wagon and TBH it has finally made me realise that barges and wafting are where its at

Dont get me wrong its utterly phenomenal and stamping on the loud pedal is still addictive however after 5 seconds or less you're in licence losing territory and Im just too chicken to go there in the current climate and culture of enforcement

Its the safest car I have ever had with respect to overtaking but as above I am completely paranoid about bagging 3-6 points from a covert camera whilst doing so

My next car will probably be a big Volvo estate with a banging stereo and I cant wait

Cheers

[powerstroke]

I once had a vauxhall astramax .....

[Heaveho]

bloomen said:

The only cars I've driven that felt too fast for the road were varying Mitsubishis Evos. That's not because they were measurably faster, but all they want to do is head bang. They're no fun at all to pootle in so you nail it wherever you can.

As statements go, that is absolutely bang on. It's a fine line in an Evo as to what is too much over just enough. I've just had the map adjusted to take a bit of horsepower and torque out of mine, it's a better car with a little less. 380 brake, 360 ft/lbs is the sweet spot for me, at least as far as that car is concerned.

[OldGermanHeaps]

powerstroke said:

I once had a vauxhall astramax .....

Amen brother. Me too, an e reg ex glasgow city council 1.3. Which received the engine, box, subframe, suspension, rack and interior from a very rusty f plate valver. Tbh though i think that handled the power better than the standard 3dr hatch chassis. It was longer wheelbase and was less prone to lift off oversteer.
Flashing the yellow beacons after leaving an xr3i standing was the icing on the cake.

[normalbloke]

I've had a Caterham with a 2.0 YB turbo running 400bhp. I've just sold a Transit Connect with full RS underpinnings running 320bhp. I've had litre sports bikes. I've also had a 7.5 tonne Unimog with 100bhp. I wouldn't say any had too much power, they could all be exciting in their own way, but as previously said, you do get used to it, and you drive accordingly.

[Mercky]

powerstroke said:

I once had a vauxhall astramax .....

Fastest thing on the roads in the early 90s, especially the white ones.

[Weso]

Heaveho said:

bloomen said:

The only cars I've driven that felt too fast for the road were varying Mitsubishis Evos. That's not because they were measurably faster, but all they want to do is head bang. They're no fun at all to pootle in so you nail it wherever you can.

As statements go, that is absolutely bang on. It's a fine line in an Evo as to what is too much over just enough. I've just had the map adjusted to take a bit of horsepower and torque out of mine, it's a better car with a little less. 380 brake, 360 ft/lbs is the sweet spot for me, at least as far as that car is concerned.

One of the lads at work has an Evo X.
Spent a fortune on it, ended up over 900bhp (I've seen the dyno graph).
Reckons it was undrivable so had it wound down.
Wes

[IanH755]

Had a RWD R34 Skyline with 450hp which didn't like to go straight if you put the power down in any conditions other than perfectly dry and straight, anything else and the back end was "lively"

Now got a AWD 900hp RS6 which is much more stable in more places than the Skyline ever was. Only temperatures below 6'c and rain seem to make a difference.

[The Wookie]

A mate has a 996GT2 tweaked up to over 600bhp, in the cold it’ll spin the wheels in third, and is a handful to catch!

Definitely more power than it needs and all the better for being a bit scary!

[Byker28i]

No cars, but my last bike, a ZZR1200 I only opened the throttle full about 3 times in 9 years of ownership, you just never needed to it was that fast.

[Welshbeef]

sleepera6 said:

Purely out of interest, what are your stories driving cars that you deemed “too fast”?

How much power do you need to make a car wheelspin and bounce of the rev limiter in every gear, and have you experienced it?

When I had the C5 RS6 avant I found that occasionally on B roads I had to back off as it was simply going far too fast for the road. So backing off became frequent.

Proper old school turbo delivery where the 5-7k range was BANG (though the 1-5k was anything but slow)

[daemon]

I remember driving a friends heavily modded 1985 mk1 RS Turbo back at the time and holding on to the steering wheel for grim death to keep control of it. Just a matter of a few years later i did the same speed run in a 200BHP standard 1994 Rover 220GSi Turbo and you could have held the car with one finger on the steering wheel.

Ability to get the power down is whats changed. Our A45 is perfectly tractable and driveable as an everyday car - probably unheard of 10-15 years ago in a car with similar BHP.