Is your car too fast ?

[J4CKO]

Interested as to anyone on here, knowing some of the serious machinery you own has anything that is actually too fast, i.e. it scares you, you never give it full beans and you drive it with some trepidation ?

Every one of us on here seems to hanker after something faster, anyone got it and actually feel a bit uncomfortable, my own car is fairly fast at 250 bhp, enough to lose me my licence and it pulls well, it never takes my breath away, its just a case of having time to think that the acceleration is useful if not getting into exciting, I reckon with 350 bhp it may just get there.

Is it more down to the package than the actual speed, like Big AMG Mercs with 500/600 bhp are probably (dont know, never tried) a lot less scary than a 300 bhp TVR ?



I shall never forget my mates mum at school, trading in her MK2 1.6 Escort soon after purchase for a 1.1 version as it was simply too fast, so fast it was dangerous I think she must have hoofed it and gone a bit sideways.

[al1991]

When I drove an LP640 round Elvington I really struggled to believe that anyone could use even 15% of the performance on the road.

There's just not enough space, and too much traffic.

[thinfourth2]

Well it rusts way too fast for my liking

[J4CKO]

I did one of those driving experiences and was quite impressed by the 911 Turbo but thought that the 360 just wasnt as fast as I expected

[Deluded]

The first time I bought an Uno Turbo made me quite nearly st myself. On the drive home, floored it from the lights and had a ridiculous adrenaline rush. Fastest thing I had ever been in at the time. Coming from a 55hp Cinquecento, it was insane.

[Yelly]

I used to drive an E55 AMG with just under 500bhp. Yes, it was too fast. One blip of the throttle and you were doing the speed limit, so I have to back off straight away. There's no fun with that

[mnkiboy]

Got nearly 300bhp here. It certainly doesn't scare me, but it's maybe too fast in the sense that a couple of seconds of 'foot to the floor' puts me seriously in to license losing territory.
It's just not as fun as I imagined it would be, and i'd probably be happier with a 1.6 Focus or something!

[ewenm]

A friend of mine sold his Impreza because he felt he had to be doing licence losing speeds to enjoy it. In his opinion it was too competent at legal speeds to be much fun.

[V88Dicky]

I treat my Monaro with a fair bit of respect. It has around 400bhp going through only 235 section tyres! I'm very, very careful in the wet and/or around bends.

[Crusoe]

e46 M3 felt fast to start with and still does if I really give it the beans but you do get used to it and you can always have more power if you have the grip to exploit it. Modern electronics tame huge power very well for use when the roads are wet though it's a different matter when the roads are snow covered. Sure a 500+bhp car like a supercharged jag would be very easy to live with; a superlight caterham with half that horsepower would have you on high alert for the rear twitching every time you got behind the wheel, fun but maybe not what you want on a cold wet drive home from work after a long day.

[Mermaid]

How many on here go flat out in their cars more than even 5% of time?

[Deluded]

mnkiboy said:

Got nearly 300bhp here. It certainly doesn't scare me, but it's maybe too fast in the sense that a couple of seconds of 'foot to the floor' puts me seriously in to license losing territory.
It's just not as fun as I imagined it would be, and i'd probably be happier with a 1.6 Focus or something!

Wanna swap?

[J4CKO]

Mermaid said:

How many on here go flat out in their cars more than even 5% of time?

Very rarely, well, probably more than 5 percent but it isnt the doing it, its the capability to do so when circumstances and conditions allow that I am getting at, anyone nowadays can drive a supercar if they have the means, you dont need to ever go over 2000 rpm but by buying one usually you will do, otherwise you buy a Honda Jazz.

[Big Rod]

A few weeks ago I went from a 3.2 Litre Frontera which, to give it it's due, was quite quick for what it was to a 300 BHP Nissan 300ZX twin turbo.

I swear I lost weight on the drive home from having been used to the Frontera that would break traction at the drop of a hat, but the Zed seems to be glued to the road even in the wet.

I'm getting used to it now but I see what you mean because that 300 bhp doesn't really get used due to the weight of traffic around here so is a bit of a waste of time most of the time, but then you could say that for a 100 BHP car in the same conditions.

My work colleague keeps on at me to tune it, but I'm happy with it for the timebeing.

[Shmee150]

Slightly, in the city, with 333bhp, not going anywhere near using it.

[mnkiboy]

Deluded said:

mnkiboy said:

Got nearly 300bhp here. It certainly doesn't scare me, but it's maybe too fast in the sense that a couple of seconds of 'foot to the floor' puts me seriously in to license losing territory.
It's just not as fun as I imagined it would be, and i'd probably be happier with a 1.6 Focus or something!

Wanna swap?

In the past 7 minutes i've had a complete change of heart, but thanks for the offer.

Edited by mnkiboy on Thursday 17th June 13:11

[unpc]

400bhp is not that scary in a big barge like mine. Often gets the full beans but that amount in a significantly lighter car can be.

[GravelBen]

Not scary as such but even with 280bhp its sometimes just too easy to get into licence-losing territory without really trying, and clear vision ahead can become more of a factor than being able to test the limits of the vehicle.

[Cotty]

J4CKO said:

I shall never forget my mates mum at school, trading in her MK2 1.6 Escort soon after purchase for a 1.1 version as it was simply too fast, so fast it was dangerous I think she must have hoofed it and gone a bit sideways.

Couldn't she just press the throttle not so far.

[Great Pretender]

You can never have enough power

/thread.