DominicA

it suddenly struck me that as most of the people on here drive their cars on the road or track only then wouldn't you be better off buying a touring car rep rather than a rally rep?? please discuss...

Practos

iTrader: (2)

I spend more time on snow with my scooby than on track, besides why not have a car than handles well everywhere, not just track ?

MattW

Corsica and Catalyna are both Tarmac rallies and run ob closed Public roads.

David_Wallis

Im only going to take my car on the track as I am banned.

David

Denzil_Dog

in one way it's true
i doubt 99% of the scoob owners here get a chance to throw them round a forest on some gravel etc.

unless you break into the nearest national park

DrEvil

I don't like vauxhall, ford or (d)audis

chopper

Interesting logic - but that would be making the assumption that a touring car for 15-25k handles as well as a rally bred car for the same money ie a scooby. An M3 is twice the price (albeit a great car mind you).

I think the reason rally derivations are so popular for road/track use is because you simply can't get the same level of performance crossed with safety for the money in the touring world. Plus it's always raining in this lovely country so most of my track days have been in the wet - I'd rather have 4wd technology in these cases for sure! Let's face it - you've never seen a subaru advertised for sale with 'dry use only'!

Hong Kong Phooey

LOL @ MattW
Catalunya 02 winner Peugeot
Corsica 02 winner Peugeot
Catalunya 01 winner Peugeot
Corsica 01 winner Citroen
Catalunya 00 winner Ford
Corsica 00 winner Peugeot

Sorry, this doesn't help. I'm a subaru driver and don't want a peugeot, citroen, or ford!

TonyG

But aren't all those the rally versions with 4 wheel drive anyway? Not your average touuring car.

MrDeference

Indubitably... better fuel consumption, cheaper insurance, lower initial price. Or did I miss the point of the question

MattW

I'd have the Focus 4wd though, especially with a Cosworth badge and the rumoured 300bhp!

Baby Blue

I bought mine because it was the best fun car car available for the money, smile per mile!

Touring cars consist of Vauxhall Astra, Vauxhall Astra, Vauxhall Astra, MG Z? (Rover 45!!), Peugeot 406 coupe, Proton !?**, Civic Type R and Vauxhall Astra!!!!

Lets start with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 8th, the Vauxhall Astra ... well thats enough of that one then!!!

MG - Not a bad effort but it's still based on an old mans car IMHO!

406 coupe - looks great but bugger all rear leg room and 3 drs!?

Proton ... nuf said!

Civic Type R - now that was quite nice but again v little rear leg room and only 3 drs.

Couldn't afford a decent BMer or Merc or Audi. Golf GTi was dull IMHO!! Would like to try a skyline but at £50K a bit out of my reach at the mo. Think the Evo's are rather ugly, big wings etc are not me + it cost £10K more than mine.

If there was anything else that I should have looked at for the money with similar performance then it's now too late ... long live the Scoob!!!

BB

DominicA

BTCC is not the only touring car championship (for all you anti VX peeps)

Only asked the question because i'd never even considered getting a touring car rep myself.

As a side to this. What would be quicker on track. Touring car or WRC ??

BarryK

By the same token, shouldn't anyone with an "mpv" buy a pukka mini bus, if that is really what they want?

All of you with a diesel, really want a London Black Cab.

And will ny of you who use a "micro light" please naff off and buy a proper plane.

chrisp

Say I buy a 2.5 V6 Vectra its only got 170bhp ish similar for a mondeo V6. Probably the best one is the ST200 but that only just scrapes 200bhp and is about the limit most FWD cars can handle. Had a car with V6 FWD and 170bhp and didnt really get on with it. Torquesteer, wheelspin, understeer and slow 7+ seconds to 60. Okay it criused well and the low end torque was nice but wasnt a patch cross country on my 98 impreza and now gladly a distant memory compared to my MY00 import. Cant see me ever buying a powerful FWD car in future unless its has a really special setup and diff.

chrisp

They have roughly the same horsepower but a TC is setup for a track. What is quicker across a rough twisty B road, I know where my money would be : The WRC will wipe the floor with a TC as they would have to keep stopping to put the low spolier back on. TC suspension set up for smooth tracks where as WRC can be setup to run on anything. Neither car is close to racing editions but then again both cars are less than a 10th of what the racing version costs .

manckster

The integra Type R handles 190 bhp through the front wheels quite nicely and is fun to drive.

A completely different experiance to a scooby I'll grant you. Still only 190bhp too........

I'll get my coat!

Little Miss WRX

Um, I bought mine cos I like the model

Is there anything wrong with that?

Why do I need a touring rep? Please explain why I should be stuck with a car I am not happy with? I thought I had freedom of choice here

blf21

I seem to recall Audi using AWD in the BTCC a few years back and then everyone else complaining that they were just too good. As far as I can remember they were given extra balast a couple of times and then the AWD was just banned!?!?

Ben.

Little Miss WRX

Well, the unfair cornering ability meant they could no longer compete........

chuckster

I drive an Audi and just stole ure corner 'chelle
Chuck

astraboy

Could it be that the rally reps like the scoob & evo are "closer" to the WRC beasts than any touring car rep out there? The closest in recent times has to be the Vauxhall Super touring Vectra and that was only limited edition....
astraboy.

Diablo

it suddenly struck me that as most of the people on here drive their cars on the road or track only then wouldn't you be better off buying a touring car rep rather than a rally rep?? please discuss...

LOL...

Very few people on this board have a rally rep The Impreza ain't really a rally rep, despite of all the hype or what we like to think, no more that a Citroen Xsara or Ford Focus is, - although going back to the Group A days there may be some features on the Scoob that are there for homolgation puposes. Just so happened it made a good basis for a rally car, as did the Legacy before it.

The Mitsu Lancers *might* be, I'm not sure but again, I suspect, its just a case of finding a road car that makes a good base for a rally car. I'm happy to be corrected on this point though.

What you have is a four wheel drive turbocharged road saloon, nothing more, nothing less. Much as it pains me to say it, the original Sierra Cosworths were more purpose built for competition.

Only true rally reps I can think of are the cars that were built in limited numbers for Group B homologoation purposes, ie Audi Sport Quattro (the short one) Peugeot 205 t16, Ford RS200, Metro 6R4, Lancia Delta (the Gp B version) and others I may have missed.

As for Touring Cars, the only true reps I can think of are the 3dr Sierra Cosworths and possibly the original LHD M3's (forget the model number) Don;t even go down the route of mentioning the special edition "touring car" vectras

So on that basis, the answer to your discussion point has to be that the question is irrelevant...LOL...

It is pretty well accepted that on track an out the box Integra will post a faster lap time than an out the box Impreza of similar power to weight because the suspension settings, roll centres, shell stiffness and power and torque characteristics are better suited to flat smooth tarmac than the Impreza, not because the Impreza is a rally rep.

Sorry to pi$$ on anyones parade

D

[Edited by Diablo - 6/14/2002 4:02:28 PM]

DominicA

Diablo, fair enough, but i suppose the question i'm really asking is why people have so much respect for road versions of the rally cars and not the road versions of the touring cars.

GM

How much respect do people have for Hyundai Accents as road cars? Probably as much/as little as they have for Astras. The point is that you can buy very high performance road cars from Subaru or Mitsubishi and it just so happens both are used as a basis for WRCs. People would still buy these cars even if the makers were racing FWD non-turbo versions in BTCC or where ever.