How slow are "normal" cars???
Discussion
Just had the experience of having a 2ltr Vectra as a hirecar for a couple of days. HOW SLOW WAS THAT??
I scared myself silly when trying to overtake an Escort on what I thought was a long straight clear road. In the Chim, I may not even have dropped out of 5th to shoot past, but in the Vectra, I dropped to 4th, put my foot down, and.......very little happenned. I hurridly dropped to 3rd, and only then made appreciable progress past.
I cannot believe how you get used to the torque in a Chim! Makes you realise what a gem of a motor we have.
I scared myself silly when trying to overtake an Escort on what I thought was a long straight clear road. In the Chim, I may not even have dropped out of 5th to shoot past, but in the Vectra, I dropped to 4th, put my foot down, and.......very little happenned. I hurridly dropped to 3rd, and only then made appreciable progress past.
I cannot believe how you get used to the torque in a Chim! Makes you realise what a gem of a motor we have.
tobeee said:
I found the same in a Porsche Boxter (2.7) hire car I had for a few weeks!! I didn't bother trying to overtake in it much, as the roads were never really long enough!
I guess the main reason I was disappointed was because I'm used to my Chim's 5 whopping litres! I love my Chim!
What a relief! I thought you'd become a traitor!!
Test drove a A3 1.8 Turbo, got back to showroom sales man says "fast ain't it". Um, yeah - compared to the shed of a ZX I turned up in. Took the Chim when I went back to pick it up, think he realised why I thought the handbrake was stuck on in the Audi. 
>> Edited by alex.tvr on Thursday 18th August 21:33
>> Edited by alex.tvr on Thursday 18th August 21:33
I have a civic type r as a company car. Its no slouch @ 200bhp but you really have to thrash the tits of it. too much hard work. nothing like a bit of low down torque. i agree though...you do get used to it...until your mate jumps in the drivers seat and thrashes it. thats when you realise how quick the chim is.
tobeee said:
I found the same in a Porsche Boxter (2.7) hire car I had for a few weeks!! I didn't bother trying to overtake in it much, as the roads were never really long enough!
I guess the main reason I was disappointed was because I'm used to my Chim's 5 whopping litres! I love my Chim!
I`ve got a boxster S at the mo and its rubbish compared to my 400 chim. have to thrash the nuts off it to get any kind of performance! Glad its a hire car!
should get mine back in a few weeks time, can`t wait!
Gazboy said:
"Aren't we big and clever waving our willy's around."
I take your point Mr Gaz. Plenty of cars out there with good overtaking poke.
You do get used to the grunt though. I'm sure when you get back into the daily driver after a spin in your Supramonster it seems a tad pedestrian?
Although, as a driver of a Boxster S and a Chimaera 4.5, I'd rate the overtaking ability as pretty similar. The 5 litre *should* have quite an edge on both, of course.
I can still overtake in my old Vectra. But it needs to be a member of the 45mph club to do it...
Has anyone else noticed though - even familt and shopping cars are starting to come with 180 - 210 - 240 bhp these days. Given they only weigh 1400kg some of 'em they aren't slow anymore...
ads said:
I`ve got a boxster S at the mo and its rubbish compared to my 400 chim.
You'll find they have an almost identical power to weight. 240bhp in a Chim 400 vs 252/260 in a 986 BoxS - which does weigh a little more.
ads said:
have to thrash the nuts off it to get any kind of performance!
Therein lies your problem. The Box is made deliberately to have its power come in above 4Krpm - its more like a Honda S2000 than a Chimaera. Its deliberate as it makes the car very placid and smooth around town and in relaxed driving - and then turns into a sporting drive once you spool it up.
You have to drive the cars very differently to get the best out of each. And, of course, they have different strengths and weaknesses anyway...
I remember when working at a Ford garage around 1989, and XR3i was quick, and an RS Turbo was a rocket ship. I agree, the climate has changed. Still, if I'd been driving S2s then, I suppose I'd have known what fast was!
BTW Steve, glad to see another grammer pedant out there ("willy's what"
. Dons pipe & slippers, grumbles to self about state of nation etc.
Edited to correct lame formatting!
>> Edited by Cavey on Friday 19th August 08:51
BTW Steve, glad to see another grammer pedant out there ("willy's what"
. Dons pipe & slippers, grumbles to self about state of nation etc. Edited to correct lame formatting!
>> Edited by Cavey on Friday 19th August 08:51
Well, I was just commenting, that's all, certainly not willy-waving. It's all down to conditioning. You drive a Vectra after a 2CV, it feels rocketship fast. Drive a Chim a while, get used to its capabilities, and whaddya know, Vectras (and pretty much everything else) "feel" slow.
It's the thumping torque that actually makes the difference here, especially when the torque is available so low in the rev range. (for example, My RR printout indicates approx 275+ lbft at 1200rpm, rising to nearly 300lbft at 3800rpm or so.)
This combined with a lowish mass, make for excellent and immediate acceleration, in whatever gear you choose.
It's the thumping torque that actually makes the difference here, especially when the torque is available so low in the rev range. (for example, My RR printout indicates approx 275+ lbft at 1200rpm, rising to nearly 300lbft at 3800rpm or so.)
This combined with a lowish mass, make for excellent and immediate acceleration, in whatever gear you choose.
It's a sad fact that the gap between a "fast" car and a "normal" car has drastically narrowed in recent years.
My dad had a Lotus Esprit S3 in the early 80's. Although it's 0-60 was only in the mid-5's it would totally destroy your average numptymobile which was still struggling to hit 60 after about 18 secs. That was a devastating performance gap and one my dad used to regularly exploit.
These days the difference between my Chimaera and the hot hatch up my chuff is, what, a couple of seconds to 60? In the real world it's almost non-existant.
>> Edited by JonRB on Friday 19th August 12:28
My dad had a Lotus Esprit S3 in the early 80's. Although it's 0-60 was only in the mid-5's it would totally destroy your average numptymobile which was still struggling to hit 60 after about 18 secs. That was a devastating performance gap and one my dad used to regularly exploit.
These days the difference between my Chimaera and the hot hatch up my chuff is, what, a couple of seconds to 60? In the real world it's almost non-existant.
>> Edited by JonRB on Friday 19th August 12:28
Don said:
I`ve got a boxster S at the mo and its rubbish compared to my 400 chim.
You'll find they have an almost identical power to weight. 240bhp in a Chim 400 vs 252/260 in a 986 BoxS - which does weigh a little more.
ads said:
have to thrash the nuts off it to get any kind of performance!
Therein lies your problem. The Box is made deliberately to have its power come in above 4Krpm - its more like a Honda S2000 than a Chimaera. Its deliberate as it makes the car very placid and smooth around town and in relaxed driving - and then turns into a sporting drive once you spool it up.
You have to drive the cars very differently to get the best out of each. And, of course, they have different strengths and weaknesses anyway...
Very true. I guess I just prefer the sound and torque of my chim.
Each to their own. Mine does feel quicker than the boxster, but then again it is a blue one and everyone knows blue ones are faster. Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff