Came up behind one of these on a roundabout exit to a straight bit of A road yesterday; I approached the roundabout at relative pace (within legal limits of course) and guess the Eunos owner just fancied a bit of a drag.

Must confess I dont normally partake in such challenges but he burnt away and I thought "what the hell". Lasted all of a few moments but found the outcome quite interesting.

The outcome was that there really wasnt a great deal in it, it got the jump on me at the roundabout take off and of course it probably handles a fair bit better than my barge with standard suspension but once out of the roundabout and into the straight once out of the lower gears my torque advantage obviously came to play and was on the verge of pushing him up the road pretty quickly before we called it quits moments later. From the gaps in puffs of white smoke between gear changes he did look to be giving it some too

I know a MK1 Eunos/MX5 isnt the most rapid thing in the world and no idea if it was a 1.6 or 1.8; could have been tuned a bit too but looking into it both the 115 and 128/133hp cars weigh barely a ton and despite their modest power have excellent power to weight ratios. I knew they were pretty light but didnt realise how light they were

I guess the old girl (probably about 18) was in rude health (well it seemed plenty quick enough) but was impressed that an ordinary diesel family estate car weighing approx 300kg more would probably outperform the Eunos in a straight line, but definitely not the twisties!

Edited 11 March, 201412 yr by pipsyp

MX5's are really not quick - just VERY good in the corners... That's why I bought an MR2 (aka MRS in the States) as my track toy.

 

Plus, torque always wins

One of the guys at work has a chipped Alfa 159 with the 2.4 litre diesel engine, standard is 210Hp, his should be around 240+

 

Last Summer he was obviously in the mood for a race once he saw it was me behind him, he floored it leaving a roundabout and by the time I got to the roundabout he was 100m away and going for it.

 

A few seconds later I passed him like he was going backwards.

 

Then the normally slight right hand bend turned into what felt like a 90 degree one.  It was only after the bend that I glanced at the speedo (140mph) and backed off.

 

Kawasaki ZX-12R, still one of the fastest production bikes in the world.

 

As for the Octy, I've had a few Focus's that were right up my chuff at the bottom of a hill near me (50mph limit but goes to a NSL and from 2 lanes to 3) then watched them go into lane 3 then disappear in my rear view mirror (so easy to pull away with a DSG, just put your foot down).

Good. I happened to drive a humble 1.6 tdci 115hp and it seemed much quicker and easily able to cope with bends than I thought. I was amused at it. Only the focus is a bit small inside and I don't like the dashboard.

Yeah its just if you do the math even a 115hp 1.6 in fairly basic spec has a power to weight of around 124hp/ton, about 6hp/ton better than the 150hp Octy estate. The 1.8 is a little better again but is heavier than the 1.6.

Not a huge margin between the two but explains why until the Octy really filled its lungs that it was just about hanging on.

Looking into it the 115hp 1.6 MX5 is quoted to have a claimed 0-60 of 8.2 secs which is pretty reasonable (and quicker than the Octavia) even now though being peaky and suffering a distinct lack of torque they need to be thrashed to make their best. Its not fast by todays standards but back then it was quite a quick car I guess.

My car has only done about 1000 miles so is still not as flexible as it will be with a few more miles under its belt. Mid range go in 4th and 5th is pretty exceptional it has to be said.

I must be missing something because, aside from torque profile consideration rather than max values, from the brochure of the latest Focus 2013 (what I drove) I found that the weight to cv ratio was better for the Octy (fwd 1342, 8,9 Kg/cv) than for the Focus (1542Kg, 13,4Kg/cv)...

 

...anyway I don't want to hijack your thread on the Miata, pardon.

Edited 11 March, 201412 yr by Genoa1893

I must be missing something because, aside from torque profile consideration rather than max values, from the brochure of the latest Focus 2013 (what I drove) I found that the weight to cv ratio was better for the Octy (fwd 1342, 8,9 Kg/cv) than for the Focus (1542Kg, 13,4Kg/cv)...

...anyway I don't want to hijack your thread on the Miata, pardon.

My apologies been a mix up, was referring to an earlier post about MX5's not being particularly quick, didnt mean to suggest a focus 1.6 TDCi has a better power to weight....its of course considerably worse than the Octy on account of having less power and being quite alot heavier.

Just surprised me than a 1.6 MX5 has a power to weight nearing that of a MK3 vRS TDi and didnt realise they were a low 8's 0-60mph car in the 115hp 1.6 form; always thought they were a 9/10 second car.

Edited 11 March, 201412 yr by pipsyp

I was a little surprised to find they're comfortably under the ton in kerb weight - and power to weight ratio does count for a lot in the traffic light grand prix.

 

The Octavia is a lightweight in its field at the moment - noted when you compare it with a Focus!

Pipsy, where was this?  A member from Cumbria has just purchased one...

I have a eunos 1.8 I'm not going to drag race them. I can assure you in the corners the octi would be in the hedge long before the eunos. In a straight line really won't be anything in it think eunos when new was 8 to 9 seconds to sixty.

However an octi is a boring load lugging family car and the eunos is a simple smile making machine. You can rag it everywhere and chuck it round corners and be grinning like a ****** all at 60 mph.

It's my favourite car I have owned and will never be sold. Iv had plenty quicker but for a B road Sunday morning blast pass me the eunos keys....

If you have never driven one. Get a go in one seriously. Don't bother with anything but a mk1 though

Edited 12 March, 201412 yr by Stuski

The Mazda MX5 / Eunos is a fantastic little sports car, yes, in a straight line it might be slower than a new Octavia but it's much more fun than any Octavia knows how to be...and when the sun is shining, roof down - sheer bliss :sun:

Pipsy, where was this? A member from Cumbria has just purchased one...

Oxfordshire area

Edited 12 March, 201412 yr by pipsyp

Agreed the Mk1 MX5 is a drivers car the Octavia could only ever wish to be....still quite impressed for a relatively dull 150hp diesel barge weighing nearly 1300kg (though that is bloody light for a car nearing passat size!); goes to show its performance is very good for an ordinary diesel family estate car.

Edited 12 March, 201412 yr by pipsyp