Poll - Is your car (real world) too fast?
 

I've posted this poll to find out whether other people feel in the same situation as I do.

I've had my car just over 3 months now and don't get me wrong love it to bits, however i'm beginning to wonder whether it is just too damm fast for british roads!

Seems like I can't have a "play" with anyone now without going warp speed. bare in mind 3 figures comes up in just over 8 seconds :D Setting off from lights is a mind numbing, kidney squashing experience.

I seem now to be reduced more and more to on/off on/off driving as the bends just come so quickly.

So my question is what do you think?

anyone else feel like this?

if so what do you drive and what's your experience's?

please do remember though i'm talking real world here NOT trackdays etc.


Paul

what do people do with the results of these polls?

fair enough if you want to gather a consensus in order to make a decision but what does this one tell you? :confused:

yes my car is too fast.

my00 classic turbo full decat, think with all the speed camera's about lately its getting virtually impossible to get your foot down. may aswell have a ford fiesta, but never would love the scoob to much :)

thanks for that Adam it was meant as

A light hearted poll to make people think whether they are actually using their car to it's abilities

As to what people can do with the results well the answer is like MOST of the poll's on scobynet NOTHING.

However it is intended to provoke thought and hopefully interesting comments

if the above isn't enough i'll think of some more.

Paul

Hi Paul

I know what you mean. I beginning to think something similar about my 02STi although this is no where near as quick as yours. I find that I only really enjoy it at insane speeds. When I next change my car I am thinking about getting soemthing that is fun to drive at slower speeds, e.g. VX220 turbo, BoxsterS, 993.

Alan

i can use all of the power i have on straight open roads but dont feel i can reach the car potential on the twisties. Theres too much lurking round corners these days. Maybee i feel this way because i have lost several very close mates in car accidents and dont want to end up the same.
Hence i put my toe down only when i can see the road ahead permits.

Andy

You can't really use a scoob to it's full potential on the roads - but you can have lots of fun trying to get close :).

MY99 largely unmodified, apart form a nice backbox! ;-)

Very much depends on the conditions: If we're being really honest, you don't need anything more than a 1.0ltr car for town/city driving these days, but where's the fun in that: part of the fun of owning a performance car is "knowing you could" ;-) Also a powerful car can be satisying even when you're not using even a quarter of its performance, as it does what a less powerful can would do, but much more effortlessly and there is a certain amount of pleasure to be gained form that. Therefore, to some extent, asking if a car is "too fast" is redundant.

Put simply, I don't think anyone NEEDS to go any faster in the real world than a average family saloon is capable of. However, that's not going to stop us WANTING to! ;-)

I doubt many people go anywhere near a Scooby's capabilities on the road. However, I'll still be waiting anxiously for the day when I can justify the outlay for a full Decat and a ECUTEK remap ;-)

Is a my car too fast for the real world? Yes.

Do I like it that way and would I go for something even faster?: Oh yes!!!! ;-)

Be honest, with a RUF 911 turbo at your disposal, I doubt whether you care whether it might be a bit OTT for normal use! ;-)

Very much too fast. But I don't see an option on the poll:

"It's too fast, especially when I use all the power"

Paul

I was talking about this at our rolling road recently. One car in particular had 389bhp, and around 360lbft torque!
Mine has 280/315 and I commented that it's more than enough. I'd been out for my favourite drive the night before, along the snake pass from glossop to ladybower reservoir, very twisty, hilly and sometimes slippy road. No speed cameras, very rarely policed and a nsl all the way along :)
Just done it again yesterday afternoon, and despatched every single car in front of me, safely and quickly. I only do an average of about 50 along there, top speed on the straights is always below 100 and that is more than fast enough for me.
The benefit of the power I have is in the overtaking and the speed into and out of corners. When faced, like yesterday, with a line of 4 slow moving cars, todleing along at 40, the ability to overtake safely in seconds is brilliant.
That to look back after only the next corner, and see no sign of them always brings a smile to my face :), then onto the next car in front :)
Power is nothing without control though, and its knowing when to take things easy that is the hardest to do.
chris.

Depends on what you mean ny too fast. Too fast top end? Too fast up to 70 (then of course we all stop accelerating!!!)? Too fast out of the corners? We could all max out a fiesta and struggle to stop or use 70% or less of what we have and have a fun time.
I don't think I will ever use all the power available to me top end or round the fabled twisties but the power I do use makes the drive more fun than would otherwise be the case. Car is MY05 PPP.

Do we need cars capable of 100mph+?? No
Do we need cars capable of rapid acceleration for quick/safe overtaking etc.?? Yes

Which is more important to you:
0-60 times (50-70 etc.) or absolute top speed??

Personally speaking I'd be happy to have the Scoob restricted to a maximum speed (e.g. 100mph) and keep the power it develops for overtaking and quick get aways (not in a criminal sense :D)

Each to their own of course...

I think you will find they are going to be as quick....certainly the VX220 Turbo!

Strangely I find that having a fast car improves my driving in that I have to always drive with a view as to how the traffic around me will behave. I.e it increases my antcipation skills and concentration.

E.g If I move to overtake car A will he pull out into me because he does'nt expect my car to be quite that quick. Is there anything coming around that bend that could prevent me taking a 'fun' line around it. The speed of the car always causes me to over estimate overtaking gaps etc etc.

I think the question should be, are cars such as the scoob too capable to have fun safely in?

For example in Bend A the maximum safe fun speed in a Saxo could be 30 Mph. In a scoob it could well be 50. It's a Fun/risk equation. The Saxo driver if they make a mistake at 30 is going to be a lot better off than the scoob driver at 50.

No my car is not to fast, yes my car needs more power and yes I can use every single one of the ponies that currently reside under my bonnet on the public highway, and no I do not need to worry about getting puuled by the plod! if anything they have to get out of my way on the motorway because their Mercs are just to slow. :D:D:D

I understand that this is a hypothetical example but I really must point out that if you're going to claim a car can't corner fast at least try and pick one that can't ;)

I think "Smart City Car" could have been substituted for "Saxo" in this instance as a Saxo sticks like sh!t to a blanket.

All the best :D

Ray and his Saxo VTS

Ok Mr autobahn I can go as fast as I like with impunity pop over here and see how things are done in Cool Britainia

PS I did'nt say what sort of Saxo :p

I know how things are done in the UK, you all build/import fast cars and run them on **** petrol, then complain they drink to much, and you can't get the petrol.You spend a small fortune on Octane booster which turns your engines yellow, you have a draconian police force that impose draconian speed limits, you have a government that puts speed cameras on any straight bit of road over 100m long and double white lines on anything shorter, your police hide in the bushes in the vain attempt to extort money from you which works a treat, then you all complain you have been caught and get fined. You can't leave your cars parked on your own drives let alone anywhere else without some maggot stealing it, you can't got to the supermarket with getting door dinks, you can't get insurance unless you have an alarm and a tracker and are over 97 and accompanied by both biological parents.

So please can you refresh my memory as to why I should come to the UK because I seem to have forgotten :D:D:D

And to finish off Mr e "Britannia" is spelt like this :D

are the speed cameras on the open road ?? or just in urban areas !

the tvr was too fast for the british roads defo..... try to put the power down and would slide everywhere even in the dry...... :eek: in the wet it was almost impossible to apply that little bit more power.......

More power :norty:

Hawk

You can never have too much power:)

and as my old motorcycle instructor once said "the throttle goes both ways"

still if your having a whinge i'll swap you for a nice Audi A6 2.8
might slow you down a bit!!!

Its like saying guns are dangerous....
Er no its the person at the controls thats the factor.
A well sorted torquey scoob with a good spread of power is the best A and B road car in my opinion.

I love the way my car will still move without having to redline it..
I have a powerband from 3-7000 rpm.And a strong one at that.
I think more speed is to be gained from me being a better driver rather that another 30bhp and more tweaks.

Willy

I think that's very true:) I'm sure you've noticed, that an awful lot of people around the place, drive slowly, and seem a bit over-cautious - I'm talking about roundabouts and so on, braking, then driving round the outside lane, rather than maintaining speed etc, assuming there's nothing coming;)....

Even in a slow car, you notice this, and it's relatively easy to shake things off around the bends by driving properly (I'd like to think I do anyway:D), even in a Justy:(:D (All I can afford at the moment:(). I could certainly cope with more power - at least twice as much tbh, but perhaps not around here.

I lived up in Aberdeen for four years, and the roads around there were sufficiently clear, that you could drive properly, and not be worried about putting your foot down - out of town at any rate. In Liverpool, I'm beginning to be very tempted by a motorbike, as the traffic's kinda bad in the morning, and I need more speed anyway:)

power fun

Too powerfull - Bo**ocks, bring on the ponnies !:D

Its never fast enough :D

Amen to that brother...... Far too easy to get well into 3 figures without even realising it!!!! I get nervous past 99... not because I'm scared but because I know what happens if I get caught problem with the Scoob is that on an empty road (private empty road that is!) 120 in my Scoob feels like 80 in my old Mondeo.

I would be more than happy to have my Scoob restricted to 100 but wouldn't want to lose acceleration.

Paul

to be honest, mine is only probably about 330/300lbft and its plenty enough for the road, i do tend to drive pretty safe IMO

by safe i mean i do plan where i go daft, if theres a chance that i will cock up and hit sumbody else or sumthing i just wont do it, my problem is that when theres nobody around i do sum stupid stuff, i cant actually imagine what sumthing with more power would actualy be like.
sumthing like adams 22b or pavlos big powerd thing would be the end of my life im sure.

saying that tho, i feel i drive more safley MORE of the time driving the scoob then i did in any of my older slower cars (ie i dont actualy have to prove to myself that its fast, where as before i had to constantly prove that it was so)

99% of the time i stick my foot down is not to prove that its fast, its to get that surge and kick which leads to a big smile :D

its wrong but it feels so right lol

same here i am actually really carefull on where i do this, i will always loom ahead to see if its safe,a nd i feel i am always checking the rear view as well.

on the way to work i had a spirited drive up the a19 :p
outside lane clear
few cars in the inside doing 70ish

overtook them at a undisclosed sum to find the front car was a goldish coloured volvo with sum bloke in the drivers seat wearing a dayglow jacket, heart when whump whump, next turn off was mine anyway, came off and he went straight on, must be a bricky or summit :confused: