We used to have a Citroen BX 1.6 which I learned to drive in. It was like punctured vermin around Brunters airfield.

This might be a bit of an unlikely answer but I'm always weirdly impressed at all the 107/Aygo/C1's buzzing along in the outside lane. No 1 litre city car has any right to look so composed amongst the rep-mobiles.

They don't do badly for 68bhp or whatever they are! It's the time they take to get upto m/way cruising speed though. You often see a look of sheer terror on the driver's face when lane 3 might drop to 60-odd mph and then opens up again. They usually have to seek refuge in another lane for a while, to wind back up again

BMW 123 diesel's dont half shift as standard! 6.7 seconds to 60 and lots of midrange torque makes for quite a car.....stiil..... the stigma of thatt badge though!

Yep, great effort as std 204bhp twin-turbo 4-pot. Probably my favourite derv engine. Once saw an interesting sliproad acceleration test between one and a tweaked Fabia vrs (230 bhp-ish) - might even have been following a Briskoda meet

We used to have a Citroen BX 1.6 which I learned to drive in. It was like punctured vermin around Brunters airfield.

I started in a BX16 TGS Roy. It didn't have power steering and the wheel was MAHOOSIVE

Happy days

A hire car is always faster than you think

Yep, great effort as std 204bhp twin-turbo 4-pot. Probably my favourite derv engine. Once saw an interesting sliproad acceleration test between one and a tweaked Fabia vrs (230 bhp-ish) - might even have been following a Briskoda meet

A hire car is always faster than you think

and they can carry unfeasible amounts of rubbish/heavy stuff in the boot while they are doing it. Even tall kerbs don't slow them sown

A hire car is always faster than you think

A White Van.

Having said that, everybody knows it's the fastest thing on the road. It's even faster if it has a twin turbo Metro engine in it.

A White Van.

Having said that, everybody knows it's the fastest thing on the road. It's even faster if it has a twin turbo Metro engine in it.

not the Fiesta van 1.4TDCI i drive at work :(

Can't remember who the two cars belonged to....

I did get hit with quite a few diesel particles from one though

Can't remember who the two cars belonged to....

I did get hit with quite a few diesel particles from one though

I seem to remember the soot particles resembled chunks of coal!! James Bond should have driven one, the baddies wouldn't have stood a chance.

I still remember the sound of them pinging off the front of my car

I still remember the sound of them pinging off the front of my car

'Pinging' is being a little polite, isn't it!!! It was like having your head inside an industrial sized bubble wrap and someone stamping on it Glad the car is still about though

I used to have a stripped out 130bhp Citroen AXGT, heavily modified and revved to 8K, with lightweight Sparco racing seats and 5 point harnesses and little else it weighed in at just over 700KG, sounded like a GSXR! that was a LOT faster than it looked and surprised a lot of much faster cars.....had the build quality of a Tesco's carrier bag though!!! I was lucky, my first crash in it would have probably been my last

I remember my cousin coming round in his Montego turbo bragging about how fast it was........he didn't speak to me for months after the little AX absolutely annihilated him!

Edited 5 February, 201115 yr by The Skud

I had an H reg Nova 1.4 Luxe brand new that would do 70Mph in second!!

So off the mark to sixty races were quite interesting!

Skoda Octavia vRS 2.0T FSI (05 on)

Top Speed: 149 mph

Power: 200 bhp

0 - 60 (secs): 7.3

Subaru Impreza 2.0L

Top Speed 144mph

Power 218 bhp

0-60 (secs): 5.2

It makes me laugh when people compare cars, if you are quoting stats then cars must be equal. Standard or Modified. If the above cars both let fly of the line the Impreza wins, but by how much a Bonnet, Bonnet and a door, either way the Skoda was close but it will never be in front. Stats show that, Modify it different result but then you are comparing different cars.

Lotus Carlton.

Ordinary looking 4 door Saloon.

176 mph, 0-60 in 5 seconds.

Lotus Carlton.

Ordinary looking 4 door Saloon.

176 mph, 0-60 in 5 seconds.

I have been in my mates Lotus Carlton - OMG...it was immense. 3.6 litre bi turbo =

Edited 5 February, 201115 yr by jrw

I have been in my mates Lotus Carlton - OMG...it was immense. 3.6 litre bi turbo =

Even the ordinary 3 litre 24v was not too bad, over 200 hp and 145 mph over 20 years ago. Been in one at 130 mph and that was not even on the motorway, fortunately it was a police man driving it so no repercussions. Shame so few of the 400 Lotus Carltons left many written off.

Edited 6 February, 201115 yr by lol

Lotus Carlton.

Ordinary looking 4 door Saloon.

176 mph, 0-60 in 5 seconds.

but their whole thing is that they're fast saloons, you expect them the be quick

Lotus Carlton.

Ordinary looking 4 door Saloon.

176 mph, 0-60 in 5 seconds.

Standard Car thats how it was designed.

Just what I said

Lotus Carlton.

Ordinary looking 4 door Saloon.

176 mph, 0-60 in 5 seconds.

I had a 309 GTi with an Mi 16v engine, still running the GTi gearbox though, had an interesting confrontation with the above at a Silverstone track day, done me on the straight (only by a hairs breath though) but around the bends it was tucked up like a kipper! back in the day the Pug had approximately 220 bhp, which was amazing from a normally aspirated lump with 150ish standard.

Another one of my toys was a Calibra Turbo, after the timing belt ible wheel cracked and I lost the best part of the engine, it was rebuilt to nasa standards, no idea of the output but it pished all over a mates 400bhp Sapphire Cosworth, oh and had 2 of those which I wasn't that impressed with.

Back on topic, a mate had an old E30 323i, may god that was quick!

Lotus Carlton.

Ordinary looking 4 door Saloon.

176 mph, 0-60 in 5 seconds.

Standard Car thats how it was designed.

Just what I said

Ordinary looking... if every Vauxhall Carlton looked like the love child of Darth Vader ?

A guy near me has one and it stands out like a sore thumb with the bodywork mods.

Good old Lancia Thema v8 and off course the Passat w8 were great 'Q' cars with healthy amounts of BHP to keep you interested!

Lancia Thema 8.32 V8 Ferrari Engine (215bhp) 6.8 TO 60 and 149mph.

Vw Passat W8 (275bhp) 6.5 to 60 and 155mph.

Respectible enough and expect they sounded great too!

Not as earth shattering as some already mentioned, but Yaris 1.5 T-Sport

Resonable sized engine and fairly powerful in something light. Picks up off the line well.

Often it's the element of surprise, as you're not expecting it and they've got a decent run ahead by the time you do anything

Thinking about other things - RUF prepared 993 911. OK, you think it'll be 911 sort of quick, but then it sets off....

Rite about the T Sport I used to have a Thunder Gray one got rid of it for a fabia VRS and wish I kept the yaris !