MBK

Performance in the Real World



With some time on my hands and a 3 car fast fleet of real world cars at my disposal I decided to carry out a real world performance experiment over the past few months. Away from performance figures 0-60 times etc and the Stig going round an empty track how much difference is there between a supermini, a hot hatch and this sites favourite sports saloon?



The Cars:



STi 8 PPP – 300bhp/299 lb ft

Ibiza Cupra Tdi – 158bhp/243 lb ft

Suzuki Ignis Sport – 110bhp/103 lb ft



The 2 tests are:



The Sprint - a 5 mile mountain A road, this fantastic, steep road is all about driver skill, raw speed is unimportant as the numerous crests, dips, mix of tight corners and sweeping bends mean acceleration sense, road position and controlled braking make all the difference. The ability to maintain progress and effective overtaking are the keys to good average times. So within public road laws how quick is each car and what difference does all that power really make? After at least 5 trips in each car I have taken an average time and a quickest time. (Please note these are times that can be achieved safely and with due consideration to other road users, pedestrians and wildlife) so its just the difference in acceleration, braking and cornering speeds with the same driver, me, throughout. The timings are just for fun and I’m not giving the locations to avoid any I can go faster etc…



The 100 miles – a regular 95-mile door-to-door trip including dual carriageway, major A roads, some villages and one town. Again all within road laws, so the difference here is mainly to do with continuing to make progress by safe overtaking.



The Sprint Times:



STI PPP – Average 5:56s, best 5.50 (very wet)

Ibiza Cupra TDi – Average 6.16, best 6.06 (dry & sunny)

Ignis Sport – Average 6.33, best 5.57(dry, sunny and not another car on the road)



The STI is stunningly consistent over this mountain road, its overtaking power mean progress is easy to maintain, braking and cornering are effortless and wet or dry the car is safe at all times. Up hill the pure power means there is more performance than the road will allow, the Prodrive suspension upgrade makes sense here making easy work of the surface changes, while down hill the brakes are progressive although they lack ultimate bite in some circumstances. It’s an exciting yet also calm experience, lots of great engine, transmission and ‘gravel in the arches’ noise. In my opinion this car has the ability to make any driver feel like a hero. It’s almost too easy and if this were a tarmac rally stage the times would probably be halved again, but the idea here is to see how much of that performance is useable everyday and what difference it really makes. I seriously doubt many cars could travel this road faster although there is an alternative view at the end of the report!



What a contrast the Ibiza Cupra is! Yep its quick in a straight line no doubting that, the 243lb torque make sure of that. Even in the dry its hard work. It’s as if they have tried to make the car feel sporty by making the suspension overly hard and yet the damping still allows the car to pitch wildly. You soon learn to avoid poor road surfaces that you don’t even notice in the STI. The ESP is overly aggressive and needs to be switched off in order to have any fun at all. Grip is immense for a FWD car, the P-Zero Nero’s work well wet or dry. The brakes are also superb, ultimately they have more bite than even the Brembo’s on the STI, though they also take more getting used to, I always had a feeling the ESP was interfering in any hard use of the brakes even when switched ‘off’. The noise well, oh dear lets not go there, its soulless. Now I sound negative here but actually this is a great car for motorway use and nice smooth A-roads, its quick effective and relatively frugal. Unfortunately the sprint course shows its failings all too clearly, the suspension is too hard for the UK, body control is poor, its over braked and the ESP is annoying. Its average time shows it is not that far behind the STI but it’s a world away in reality. By the end of just five enthusiastic miles its tiring and the body blows suffered by the driver made me long to slot 6th and relax, avoiding the droning sound track in the process. The real surprise to me was that even pushing on in the dry with clear roads….



the Cupra is ultimately slower than the little Ignis. While on average the Ignis cannot match the Cupra this is more due to lack of overtaking power than drivability. The Ignis is a hoot, a sort of baby Scoob. It’s lightweight and decent power mean it begs to be driven. For a car costing 10K new the brakes are great, if rarely needed as the little car hurtles into corners and grips at all four corners, the 15” wheels and 185/55 Yoko Advan tyres work well with the well weighted steering. In contrast to the Cupra I always know what is going on front and rear. Yes the suspension is firm but not crashy like the Cupra. The whole thing is fun fun fun, as the rorty little exhaust blares away while the high body moves around a bit, made up for by the junior Recaro’s that are perfect for this car. The weak point is the gearshift it’s a little slow but that’s all I can find to detract from the experience…really it is. If only affordable cars had been this good when I was 17. The Ignis was bought as a cheap commuter car with a some fun factor (I’m a sucker for JWRC/WRC replica cars!) strange that its so good that it now vies for place with the Scoob for the Sunday morning run. You might think I am mad saying this but there is a driving purity about the Ignis (similar to the driving appeal of the MX5) which even the exhilaration of the Scoob has trouble matching.



The alternative view showed that there is a car that can provide the exhilaration of the Ignis and the stimulation of the Scoob - a trip on this road in an Evo VIII MR FQ340 demonstrated that a car could be both precise and powerful, grip and give electric driver feedback. If it only made a more enthralling noise and had sensible servicing intervals and running costs…I really hope the MY06 Spec 6 is the answer….



The 100 miles:



STI PPP – Average 1hr 46

Ibiza Cupra TDi – Average 1hr 52

Ignis Sport – Average 2hr 15



The Scoob again demonstrates it’s power through overtaking and maintaining average speed, these averages are comfortable, sensible times. The Ibiza is not far behind though wet weather slows it considerably. In the dry it would be hanging about in the STI rear view mirror annoyingly (or holding up progress slightly in front, for miles. Unlike the STI it is again hard work, pushing past 7/10’s just makes both driver and passenger feel sick, slot 6th, sit back and relax and its still a quick trip – but then what’s the point of the hard suspension and big brakes hmm…what is the point – A3 TDi SE anyone? The Ignis cannot maintain pace here, it simply cannot make use of overtaking opportunities consistently, its also a bit noisy on longer trips and as the Mrs puts it – not very passenger friendly, still it’s a softer ride than her Cupra! The Ignis is a car for trips of 40 miles or less ideally.



The alternative view is this time provided by my bank manager and the Mrs. Take fuel into account and it’s victory to the Ibiza, overall running costs it’s the Ignis, stereo it’s the Ignis again, depreciation the Ibiza and so on. Trouble is who really cares about any of that (apologies to any What Car readers!) when you hear that boxer engine resonating through the sports exhaust or round your first traffic island at light speed, or feel totally safe in all weathers.



The Result:

For those of us who live in the real world the Scoob is an incredible machine at a moderate budget. Unfortunately I can’t recommend the Cupra in the same way, yes if you want fast frugal transport its ok just devoid of real fun. No if I was on a budget and wanted fun the Ignis would get my cash every time and then I would just save like mad until I could get a Scoob again! The test has proved to me just what a difference the extra performance makes in the real world. 2 cars here give guaranteed smiles, a third saves money! What you can’t put a value on is the feeling you get, only one car guarantees both smiles, a slight shake of the head wondering amazed that already there yet and that final look back at the car in amazement as you walk away. How lucky we are to own Scoobs and how much fun was this experiment!!!

C2forWRX

toooooooooooooo much time on your hands...

Dazza's-STi

Nice review mate... well writen and sensible...
liked the note about not putting the location and i got into your way of thinking so it made sense...
the result was as i'd expected although not as huge a differnce as most would have thought me thinks!
I've a got a new Scenic 7 seater and a 03 Sti with ARB's and springs and down a bumpy twisty but fast exactly 2mile road to a dead stop the difference is 15 seconds! although its very hairy in the Scenic and the scoob is a little more unsettled than it was with standard setup...

Daz

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Funny how the difference is smaller than you'd expect in real world conditions isn't it. I seem to recall Jeremy Clarkson once talking about setting a personal best for the journey home in his Ferrari early one morning and then in a very humble regular car and there was only a minute or two in it (in about a half hour journey). Just goes to show there is only so much you can do on the road AND maybe we're not driving our cars at anywhere near their actual limits, but rather our subjective impressions of a sensible limit for the public roads? I seem to recall an article in test drive which they recorded max acceleration, retardation, lateral G etc.... of an STi PPP then monitored these values over the course of a typical drive in order to calcualte what percentage of a cars potential performance is actually utilised in everyday driving. Predictably, even when the driver thought they were trying, the car wasn't even breaking into a sweat!

NS04

Andrew Timmins

On many roads you tend to drive to the limit of your visibility rather than the limits of the car.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

If you're sensible you do! I guess thats one component of the subjective limit of what a car is capable of on the road being significantly lower than what it is objectively capable of under more appropriate conditions. I think the "what if" factor significantly keeps any sensible person on a leash.

Of course morons who have no regard for their safety or that of others on the road don't tend to make such considerations and hence all the "Scooies/Evo's aren't that fast" threads.

NS04