We are have before Megane 225 sport which has been mapped at 270bhp,has been fun car,but not as our wagon,now we are have Mondeo ST TDCi and at this Mondeo this bhp you are feel,in Megane those 270bhp we are never feel

We are run on our wagon 490bhp and we are now looking for 600bhp+ build,don't take this wrong we are been very happy with 490bhp,but still is not enough for us,we are our wagon used as weekend car,but still using car as daily car I wouldn't use

Fuel cost,ask people who have as daily car Porsche or GT-R if they cares about the fuel cost etc.

If you want to play,you will need to pay for it,simply is that.

How many times you are been on your Impreza on track/drag ?


Jura

 

Fred the shed down the pub always has a mate with so and so and it's always 600bhp!!

My car on cal 4 is 573bhp, yet on cal 2 at 525bhp is all the power you can handle on English roads.
Find me someone that thinks they need more and ill show you someone who doesn't have a clue!

 

Excellent post mate, Its the speed you can catch up to other traffic that frightens me, its like a computer game.

 

3 litres in 60 seconds ?

 

Yes! Easy!

 

Mines a piddly 284/317 but having full boost at approx. 3,000rom on the little TD04 makes it plenty of fun. Especially bring a totally standard looking estate on the outside. Worried a couple of M3's and new age STi's with my family 'hack'.

I'd say 400/400 would be enough, in a 2.5 engine for the low down grunt.

 

what consumption would a 350 hp scooby be doing foot flat down

 

 

500 in a classic feels rather rapid it has to be said but I really have to say its just not called for as an everyday car.
Guaranteed 99% of people on here with big power everyday cars rarely use it to its potential so the question has to raised…why bother?

 

I've entered my V6 STi RA Limited in the MLR race at Teesside.

Car is standard & I've driven a couple of trackdays & 3 races in an MX5.

So should give a benchmark of an average driver in a standard car.

Please don't laugh at the results

Dean

 

Yep..we know it uses 3 Ltrs per minute when Harry Flatters. To achieve high performance you need fuel, and lots of it.


"Fred the Shed" ......so true mate. There are so many big power road runners yet strangely most never come out to play.??


The guys with the real deals are never afraid to admit they have enough power.
If you hear of guys that want 600 - 700 for the streets the chances are they have no, or very little experience of driving something in the 500's because they would realise there is no gain.
Traction and reliability will be out the window if they "drove" the thing hard.

 

No-one laughs at any results mate. Your enjoying you car and that's what it's all about
It's the ones that have power but never use it that we laugh at.

 

Don't know which would scare me more driving a 550hp car on the road or the fact it uses fuel at such a rate

we used to have the same thing with bikes , you can only put so much power down and have a limited amount of grip ( especially damp/poor surfaces)
So there is a point were no matter how much power you cannot use it
I think around 400 is a reasonable figure , in a scooby
mate had an escort cosworth an bro had an evo running at that and seems reasonable
any more and I think it would be wasted

 

+1 anyone that races any vehicle deserves respect , it's not about results , it's the fact you're out there doing it

 

Power doesn't mean Jack on the road, what matters is torque and how that torque is delivered. Mine is rather nice in that respect.

 

Looking forward to seeing you & your car at the weekend John.

 

A Lot depends on car setup and driver skills . Mines not enough for me at 300 . Its ok on straits but more power / a remap needed for corners for what i need.

 

i think just the fact that you can plant your foot down whenever you want, and leave behind most cars is what people want.
even with a 500+bhp car, you can still drive it like a 200bhp when you want

wiley

 

I think Frayz is right. The sweet spot for Subarus is the mid 300s. They'll all handle this power output nicely and it won't cost the earth to get there. This is really the last point when you can be a little less circumspect with the throttle without being silly on the road.

Beyond this

1) there is a law of diminishing returns with the spending: it cost a lot more to make the car faster (reliably anyway)

2) On anything other than long stretches of straight (ish), empty road with good sight lines, you just can't give it the full beans without being irresponsible.

Anyone who says you can go full throttle for any length of time on a car 450+ on proper twisties in the public roads otherwise is just:

a) Living near the kind roads that we'd all like to call our own!
b) ***** waving about their perceived driving skills when in point of fact in terms of driving ability they're probably just a bit of a muppet with big *****/blissfully ignorant of the potential consequences.
c) Doesn't really have the power output they claim to have.

Pretty much every tuner will tell you the story of a punter that comes into their shop saying "I want 500bhp" and then gets a demo in a shop car emerging saying "Yes, that's exactly what I want" only to be told. "Well this is a genuine 380bhp car" so how about something like that instead"

As someone in the late 400s even in a lardy new age and with AP 6 pots and coilovers, I would say that mine is MORE than enough for the roads. Too much for some roads.

Doesn't stop me wondering what more would be like though However, I'm under no illusions that the only places I'd be quicker with extra power would be on dual carriageways and motorways.

 

Quite. Balance is the key. If a car has a surfeit of power over grip it will be a lively drive irrespective of what the bhp is. I find the wider the tyres on a car the faster you need to go before you're having fun.

 

I found 570 in the r35 to be sufficient, so did all those who came up against me

 

We bow in your presence, oh Thor the Mighty.

 

Lmao^^

 

Lol, excellent.

I can only draw from my limited experience, opinion and speculate what a 400BHP classic would feel like.
I'm not chasing big figures, and if i do reach 400BHP it's my intention to fit an ECU with switchable maps, and drive it 90% of the time on the lowest setting (maybe 50% when its first finished). All I can say is when we pit our cars into a roundabout slightly too fast (on private roads of course) and it twitches, we all get the same adrenalin rush regardless of power figures.

As for a track car I'd imagine 99% of the population would struggle to use even a standard classic to the best of its ability , so for me if I was to go the track route I'd start off small and build up knowledge and experience before looking for something with more power etc.

 

Spot on mate.
We occasionally get asked to help prep cars for track use. I always say the same thing, which is to turn the boost down rather than up when going on track. Track driving is about driving, not just going flat out down the straight bits. I used to race an MG Midget, which had 105 bhp, stock wheels with skinny control tyres, stock brakes and suspension. Because everybody had the same, we used to push each other along, lap time wise. I had the lap record at Mallory at the time of 59 seconds dead. Try it sometime, then imagine it in a 1950's designed car!
The trick is to drive an underpowered car, and wring its neck. When you eventually get in something fast, you can fly!

 

I bet that was an absolute hoot!.

 

That does sound like a laugh! Small old front engined rwd british sportscars like midgets are so satisfying to spank hard!

Think the thing alot of people think track cars are standard cars with more power! Id personally say that more power is the last thing to do!

Youd have more fun and go much faster in a decent chassis with standard power than a standard chassis with +100bhp.

 

In terms of impact on speed, the best things one can do in order of effectiveness are driver training, then tyres, then brakes, then chassis, then last of all, power!

But where's the fun in that!

 

awesome, thread............


great to hear the views of people with 500 plus bhp, i doubt i will ever go that far but my spec should make 450 + when its finished and im pretty sure that will be enough.

i think the main thing with big bhp is you have the rest of the set up to cope, im making sure my suspension and brakes are upgraded before the turbo is fitted.

 

Nice priorities! :-)