Best (or most surprising) car from a standing start?
Discussion
Firstly, I'm not talking about a traffic light grand prix per se or moving off leaving 11s, but about cars which are surprisingly sprightly from the off, although they may lack any real grunt, my own observations seem to be that those small-light Korean numbers fit the bill.
This occurred to me from another thread where (iirc) an Evo owner remarked that a barried up corsa was up and away from the lights before him, despite the Evo's obvious superiority. It is also in my own case, where a normal move-off always seems to feature a pause where the car "thinks" about going, sure I could tear away but try to leave driving like a dick to others.
So, what is best? Small light cars? Rear wheel drive? I've saw a BMW 123d tear away at a fair old lick, so it's obviously not solely a diesel malaise.
Anyone with a nice long list of previous cars care to offer their views?
This occurred to me from another thread where (iirc) an Evo owner remarked that a barried up corsa was up and away from the lights before him, despite the Evo's obvious superiority. It is also in my own case, where a normal move-off always seems to feature a pause where the car "thinks" about going, sure I could tear away but try to leave driving like a dick to others.
So, what is best? Small light cars? Rear wheel drive? I've saw a BMW 123d tear away at a fair old lick, so it's obviously not solely a diesel malaise.
Anyone with a nice long list of previous cars care to offer their views?
I suspect the lighter weight and very short 1st ratio for the 205 might have helped.Light FWD cars are pretty easy to launch as they don't really bog down like AWD or RWD cars. They do wheelspin easily but it's much easier to back off to gain traction than it is to slip the clutch to gain revs.
RWD cars are easy if you give them enough beans, and they obviously generate more grip than a FWD so are potentially much quicker off the line, but they do need a bit more welly to launch smoothly.
AWD is a bit of a nightmare unless you go balls out and drop the clutch at 5,000rpm.
My RWD diesel Volvo is quite entertaining for this. It only has about 120hp which is barely enough to break traction. What this means though is that if you give it full revs and dump the clutch it launches nearly perfectly every time, and for 20 yards at least it looks pretty impressive. Think of it like launch control, where the 'control' is not having quite enough power to wheelspin.
RWD cars are easy if you give them enough beans, and they obviously generate more grip than a FWD so are potentially much quicker off the line, but they do need a bit more welly to launch smoothly.
AWD is a bit of a nightmare unless you go balls out and drop the clutch at 5,000rpm.
My RWD diesel Volvo is quite entertaining for this. It only has about 120hp which is barely enough to break traction. What this means though is that if you give it full revs and dump the clutch it launches nearly perfectly every time, and for 20 yards at least it looks pretty impressive. Think of it like launch control, where the 'control' is not having quite enough power to wheelspin.
My Old Ciroen Dyane was rather good at the traffic light 20m sprint, though it'd pop the r/h engine mount almost every time. It simply involved keeping it floored & dumping the clutch, no skill involved whatsoever. I'm guessing its 400ks of french rust helped.
before you ask it was an our "offroader" on motocross knobblies
before you ask it was an our "offroader" on motocross knobblies
Fleckers said:
if you class a robin reliant as fast
If you drove one you would discover that Reliant Robins are surprisingly quick off the line - at least for the first few yards. Something to do with weighing almost nothing, I suspect. I've driven a few for a trader friend in the past and they were much more fun than I expected. If you go too fast down a bumpy road they bounce all over the place!
Interestingly I found that the works VW Transporter vans, when empty, were surprisingly spritely(sp) off the mark. Guessing it's to do with the torque available and the gearing suitable for heavy vans and steep hills. Didn't do much after about 27mph, though.
O/T: is it just me who enjoys the courtesy 3 cylinder Polos and Aygos that you sometimes get - you can launch them easily (and satisfyingly) and rev them right to the limiter in first and second, and by the time you've changed into third listening to the little hamster engine sing, you're only doing about 40
O/T: is it just me who enjoys the courtesy 3 cylinder Polos and Aygos that you sometimes get - you can launch them easily (and satisfyingly) and rev them right to the limiter in first and second, and by the time you've changed into third listening to the little hamster engine sing, you're only doing about 40
zakelwe said:
Why does this matter?
Apart from Santa Pod?
Does it have to matter? Most stuff on PH doesn't matter. Most stuff everywhere doesn't matter.Apart from Santa Pod?
A well executed 'launch' is fun and rewarding. As AFAIK it's perfectly legal to do a full bore launch away from the lights as long as: you aren't racing anyone, you don't exceed the speedlimit and you are still in control of the vehicle e.g. don't break traction.
So what's not to like?
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