BHP figures....& selling your car.
Discussion
So, you want to sell your car and being a 'performance car' you want to give it the best stats possible. Do you:
a) Get it rolling roaded at at local old skool coastdown rolling road and advertise the car as having 185bhp
b) Go to a proper Dyno Dynamics type rolling road that gives real figures and advertise it as having 155bhp
c) Lie and advertise the car as having 250bhp
d) Not give a bhp figure and sell the car as being well balanced, having great torque with a progressive power band and concentrate on handling, braking and condition and tell the buyer not to get too hang up about bhp!
a) Get it rolling roaded at at local old skool coastdown rolling road and advertise the car as having 185bhp
b) Go to a proper Dyno Dynamics type rolling road that gives real figures and advertise it as having 155bhp
c) Lie and advertise the car as having 250bhp
d) Not give a bhp figure and sell the car as being well balanced, having great torque with a progressive power band and concentrate on handling, braking and condition and tell the buyer not to get too hang up about bhp!
Lordbenny said:
No, but I constantly trwl the classifieds and Caterfield sellers seem to be really hung up about bhp figures as if the more the bhp the higher the premium. I know this to be rubbish but why do some people believe its so important?
You really don't see it? Look at the discussions join here about various cars, new, specials, whatever: everyone focuses on power. Everything needs more power, GT86 doesn't have enough power, remap 335d etc etc.Most people are obsessed with the spec sheet, rather than how something feels to drive. Understandable in a way, if they're not going to own or drive the car in question, got to have an opinion on the Internet somehow.
xRIEx said:
Lordbenny said:
No, but I constantly trwl the classifieds and Caterfield sellers seem to be really hung up about bhp figures as if the more the bhp the higher the premium. I know this to be rubbish but why do some people believe its so important?
You really don't see it? Look at the discussions join here about various cars, new, specials, whatever: everyone focuses on power. Everything needs more power, GT86 doesn't have enough power, remap 335d etc etc.Most people are obsessed with the spec sheet, rather than how something feels to drive. Understandable in a way, if they're not going to own or drive the car in question, got to have an opinion on the Internet somehow.
C
CraigyMc said:
The whole point of caterfields for some people is the power to weight ratio, so yes, power is a big selling point.
C
Thats exactly what Im talking about. Anyone who knows anything about lightweight sports cars will know that power to weight isnt the 'whole point' of Caterfields. The R500 Caterham, for example, never gets the accolade of being the best Caterham because its unbalanced and hard to drive on the road and only the very talented can use all of its power on track. My main reason for the initial post was people massaging their car's power outputs to get the sale. I'd rather buy a car from someone who was honest than someone who thought of a number then added an extra 30bhp.C
Lordbenny said:
Thats exactly what Im talking about. Anyone who knows anything about lightweight sports cars will know that power to weight isnt the 'whole point' of Caterfields. The R500 Caterham, for example, never gets the accolade of being the best Caterham because its unbalanced and hard to drive on the road and only the very talented can use all of its power on track. My main reason for the initial post was people massaging their car's power outputs to get the sale. I'd rather buy a car from someone who was honest than someone who thought of a number then added an extra 30bhp.
"...to some people."Yup - Caterhams, Westfields and other lightweight cars are perfect for handling, but some people still like them because of the manic acceleration. For those people (evidently not you, and certainly not me) power to weight *is* the whole point.
Lordbenny said:
CraigyMc said:
The whole point of caterfields for some people is the power to weight ratio, so yes, power is a big selling point.
C
Thats exactly what Im talking about. Anyone who knows anything about lightweight sports cars will know that power to weight isnt the 'whole point' of Caterfields. The R500 Caterham, for example, never gets the accolade of being the best Caterham because its unbalanced and hard to drive on the road and only the very talented can use all of its power on track. My main reason for the initial post was people massaging their car's power outputs to get the sale. I'd rather buy a car from someone who was honest than someone who thought of a number then added an extra 30bhp.C
I call them "bikers".
I think it would be naive to say these folk are any less into enjoying themselves in pistonhead-type activities than any of the rest of us.
Not everyone cares about the nth degree of handling finesse. I count myself as one of the people who does care about handling, but I don't assume that people who value straight line performance are somehow lacking knowledge because they value quarter-mile type performance over the ability to corner in an amusing and quick manner. It you look at the gearheads over in the US, more of them are fixated on drag times than folk from here in Blighty. Does that make them any less? I don't think so.
It's not about cornering or handling. It's just about what people value. I simply don't assume people who have different tastes are somehow less knowledgeable than I am.
C
PhillipM said:
I wouldn't even mention it unless specifically asked.
This.It isn't done that regularly, and then think about the sort of adverts in which it does get mentioned - "heavily modified" saloon cars, chav hatches, etc.
In the performance car domain, if you describe the car, anyone who should be interested will know what sort of power it'll be producing.
But if you insist, I wouldn't ever use a dyno wheel power value because manufacturers don't, and as a result you'll undersell yourself.
And while it's a bit off-topic, Craigy, your post is very well said indeed and I might quote it if people being elitist about such things sometime..
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