Wow, "cheaper but tuned car nearly as good as a standard but more expensive one apart from in the bends once rolling and all without a warranty" shocker.

Any other pearls of wisdom to share. I'm glad i came on here today

Wow, "cheaper but tuned car nearly as good as a standard but more expensive one apart from in the bends once rolling and all without a warranty" shocker.

Any other pearls of wisdom to share. I'm glad i came on here today

i see your point when it comes to warrantee, but the fact that a cupra can be picked up 3 years old for sub 10k makes warrantee not an issue and then it very worthwhile

as for nearly as good, correct me if im wrong but excluding standing start (which is no use to anyone unless your do the traffic light gran prix), the cupra wins every in gear increment, which is where real world driving takes place.

id still have the focus every time though,

to be fair i'm saying this not because i have had one, because ive never owned one, i have however driven a lot of them at various states of tune. ive also driven the fous RS(not mapped though) ive driven a couple fettled impreza STI's(bugeye), imreza WR1, evo X FQ300, meganne R26 and many others. whilst they all handled better than the mk5 chassis, the engines wernt in the same league.

this is of course in my opinion, and im not biased since ive never owned one, and am in fact moving away from VAG

I totally agree the tfsi is a great unit.

I totally agree the tfsi is a great unit.

and the chassis is numb as fook

and the chassis is numb as fook

Honestly, i'd say the skoda has great steering if a little dead around centre, needs a diff to be fast and to loose weight and have slightly more roll stiffness ( pref through a stiffer shell not harder suspension ) ! a hot hatch it isnt, and IMO its all the better for it and after a sucession of hot hatches in the family its the car i've been looking for as its the best blend of ride, economy, space and pace I can find for the cash spent

Honestly, i'd say the skoda has great steering if a little dead around centre, needs a diff to be fast and to loose weight and have slightly more roll stiffness ( pref through a stiffer shell not harder suspension ) ! a hot hatch it isnt, and IMO its all the better for it and after a sucession of hot hatches in the family its the car i've been looking for as its the best blend of ride, economy, space and pace I can find for the cash spent

very true, the vRS was by far the best car ive ever owned. it did everything so well.

i was running corner weighted coilovers, whiteline anti lift kit, eibach anti roll bars, poly bushed front lower control arms, along with stage 2+ remap, and on the nurburgring it really was punching well above its weight class. i did over 50 laps of thenurburgring with it last year, and it was awesome. if only it had an LSD.

stripping that back to standard before selling it was horrible, the std car is ridiculously slow in comparison, the torque difference was huge. this is pretty much the only car ive owned over a year, i always hanged my cars after a year. this one i had for 3 years

The last time I was at the Nurburgring on a trackday (as opposed to a tourist day), I was passing R26R's all day, but I DO have an LSD and it does make all the difference in the world on corners. I'd rate it higher than the initial power upgrade I had in terms of increasing the ability of the car.

This lap wasn't by any means the fastest of the day, but it gives an idea that FWD hatches CAN handle when set-up correctly. :yes:

Edited 3 August, 201015 yr by Hurdy

The last time I was at the Nurburgring on a trackday (as opposed to a tourist day), I was passing R26R's all day, but I DO have an LSD and it does make all the difference in the world on corners. I'd rate it higher than the initial power upgrade I had in terms of increasing the ability of the car.

This lap wasn't by any means the fastest of the day, but it gives an idea that FWD hatches CAN handle when set-up correctly. :yes:

400bhp plays Under 250bhp......and with different drivers! Bear in mind that the comapny that hires cars at the ring to tourists hires out R26R's you'll see there could easily be a big skill differential in drivers

We already know FWD handles with the R26R, Golf, Focus ST and RS, Older CTR, DC5 'teg type R and the various Clio's, FRP, etc etc

Telling us your 400bhp modded car overtakes a less powerful standard car is as i've already mentioned previously, a total no brainer and not a shock.

As for your post, I totally agree that handling mods make far more improvements to the package overall than power mods, when starting from scratch. The best way IMO is to skill up the car in terms of stopping and steering and traction and safety, then add some power to the finished package.

I've owned and driven the following cars on track:-

Ford 1.7 Puma

Impreza MY01 WRX (the ugly one!)

Mk1 Tavia vRS (230bhp)

Impreza STi Version V Type R

Clio 182 Cup

1994 1.8 MX-5 S-Spec

Guess which was fastest and then guess which was the most fun. The answers are different!

Steve

I've owned and driven the following cars on track:-

Ford 1.7 Puma

Impreza MY01 WRX (the ugly one!)

Mk1 Tavia vRS (230bhp)

Impreza STi Version V Type R

Clio 182 Cup

1994 1.8 MX-5 S-Spec

Guess which was fastest and then guess which was the most fun. The answers are different!

Steve

I'd guess that the MX5 was by far the most fun - lightweight RWD - good balance and steer from the rear opportunities. I've been out in a few of these and they always make me smile.

Fastest I'd say would be the STi.

400bhp plays Under 250bhp......and with different drivers! Bear in mind that the comapny that hires cars at the ring to tourists hires out R26R's you'll see there could easily be a big skill differential in drivers

We already know FWD handles with the R26R, Golf, Focus ST and RS, Older CTR, DC5 'teg type R and the various Clio's, FRP, etc etc

Telling us your 400bhp modded car overtakes a less powerful standard car is as i've already mentioned previously, a total no brainer and not a shock.

As for your post, I totally agree that handling mods make far more improvements to the package overall than power mods, when starting from scratch. The best way IMO is to skill up the car in terms of stopping and steering and traction and safety, then add some power to the finished package.

The car on that day wasn't on top of it's game, turned out sparkplugs were causing misfires and on the video you can clearly hear the misfiring around 5 mins in. The car wasn't 400bhp back then either (around 350-360), but with misfires I was surprised it still outran what it did on the day.

Tyres are also a modification that most people ignore. The amount of lovely metal I've seen with Nankang ditchfinders on them beggars belief. A good set of R888's. A048's, R1R's etc would make up for even a 50bhp deficit on track.

400bhp plays Under 250bhp......and with different drivers! Bear in mind that the comapny that hires cars at the ring to tourists hires out R26R's you'll see there could easily be a big skill differential in drivers

Telling us your 400bhp modded car overtakes a less powerful standard car is as i've already mentioned previously, a total no brainer and not a shock.

hurdy hasnt dyno'd past 400 yet. i think his last dyno dynamics result was around the 350hp mark, afaik that nurburgring trip was prior quite a few of his recent mods he's expecting 400+ becasue hes now using a 100 shot of nitrous which was only very recently intalled.

----------------------------

edit-hurdy you beat me to it lol

Edited 3 August, 201015 yr by vRSy

I'd guess that the MX5 was by far the most fun - lightweight RWD - good balance and steer from the rear opportunities. I've been out in a few of these and they always make me smile.

Fastest I'd say would be the STi.

Correct!

The Clio was great too. Light weight, powerful and adjustable on the throttle.

Steve

Correct!

The Clio was great too. Light weight, powerful and adjustable on the throttle.

Steve

No surprises that the light cars were good fun

Weight is a killer on trackdays. I cant think of anything more boring personally to pound round bedford in than something like a standard/mildly modded scooby. Probably pretty fast, but not that exciting/rewarding, and not that much faster than the clio if you invested a little bit into the clio!

All the Clio needed to keep up with faster cars in the corners were Pagid Blue pads and racing fluid.

Steve

No surprises that the light cars were good fun

Weight is a killer on trackdays. I cant think of anything more boring personally to pound round bedford in than something like a standard/mildly modded scooby. Probably pretty fast, but not that exciting/rewarding, and not that much faster than the clio if you invested a little bit into the clio!

Under steer and wheel spin must be way more fun than a fast car .

the clios dont wheel spin unless you are particularily retarded with the throttle. as for understeer you should try one. they are so easy to induce oversteer and corner better than most things on a track including inprezas and evos. they just lack straight line power.

stick a set of throttle bodies on them and they will be showing their tail pipes to most cars on a track day.

Under steer and wheel spin must be way more fun than a fast car .

Oh lol, cant take it that they're quick and good to drive can you? Take your car to a track day and see how may clio's get up your chuff....fact is mate you've clearly never driven one on track, keep talking, its funny

Ps, check out what EVO Magazine reckon if you cant take it from me, they're pro's with the same opinion

I found the focus to feel very front end heavy when I drove one, don't know if that was just my opinion. The best FWD hot hatch (handling wise) I thought was the Renault sport Megane 230 with the cup chassis pack, but the downside.... its French

i had a renault sport megane 230 f1 , handling was very impressive if a little hard

I have got a megane r26 and just about to order a VRS, i'm afraid the megane does handle slightly better and I'd suggest is slightly quicker..... but and its a big but. The skoda feels better built, better fuel economy, bigger, more practical.

Its like anything... depends what you want.... what is ultimately quicker is actually pointless unless you are going on track days... i know i havent even been close to what my megane can do and I'm sure the octy will be the same.

Sorry maybe i just got my sensible (new dad) head on at the min.

although as an aside the 5 cylinder st engine does sound awesome, while its returning 20 MPG :yes:

you are in the same position i was a few months ago, i agree stand cars the r26 is quicker , with my remap i know my car is now quicker than an r26 in a straight line but not been in a mapped r26

best race i had was in a type s diesel honda remapped by performance torque and i blew a old style shape type r , he never raced me again on that airfield obviously

The last time I was at the Nurburgring on a trackday (as opposed to a tourist day), I was passing R26R's all day, but I DO have an LSD and it does make all the difference in the world on corners. I'd rate it higher than the initial power upgrade I had in terms of increasing the ability of the car.

This lap wasn't by any means the fastest of the day, but it gives an idea that FWD hatches CAN handle when set-up correctly. :yes:

r26r held or still does hold quickest fwd car around that track

I've owned and driven the following cars on track:-

Ford 1.7 Puma

Impreza MY01 WRX (the ugly one!)

Mk1 Tavia vRS (230bhp)

Impreza STi Version V Type R

Clio 182 Cup

1994 1.8 MX-5 S-Spec

Guess which was fastest and then guess which was the most fun. The answers are different!

Steve

them clios are bloody great fun , cocking their leg up in the corners , i loved mine

would still like to own a trophy version