I have been pondering this question for some time. My new Fabia estate feels faster to me than my 214 did; however, I am well aware that it isn't a "fast" car by most standards. My mum's MGF felt quite quick too, but again there are any number of cars on the road that are faster than that was.

So how fast is fast? Is it a 0-60 thing, or a 40-70 thing, or a top speed thing?

it depends on the car and the ride and the noise. An open top noisy car will feel faster than a big lumbering mercedes/lexus even when it is not.

I tend to think the midrange, overtaking power, makes a car quick for me, if we are of course talking about 'average cars' and not sports cars.

0-60 aint that much use unless you need to nip out of a junction sharpish,

top speed is only of use on private roads

so i go for the overtaking range to make driving backroads safer and more enjoyable.

I saw an interesting deffinition on here once:

Fast = high top speed

Quick = good mid range grunt

I would go back tot he pulling out at junctions think, its not the 0-60 time its the 0-25/30 time that important, & isn't this a torque thing as opposed to a BHP thing? to me speed is a strange thing what about when you are in a plane and look out of the window it looks like you are hardly moving due to distance etc, but you are probably doing 300mph+

90 + in any car is fast IMO...

For 0-60 you need 350 BHP or more to give you real wow factor...

176mph

155 in an XKR felt fast. Depesnd on so many factors.

70 diwn a country road could feel faster than 120 on an airfield.

The speed that crack in the ice is expanding when 300ft up on the black ladders soloing...

Since then nothing seems fast.

I think anyone who has had the chance to fly " I have control " will feel curtailed by "road" speeds.

140 is not fast, 2 secs to 60 would be quick IMHO, most cars are slow though. I know mine is compared to say a 600 anything bike.

For me speed or the sensation is how quick I can accelerate when moving to pass an object, or catch an object on a slip road, so acceleration generally, not top speed.

0-60 60-100 100+ all feel fast to me i drive a vrs octavia lol my last car was a 1.2 punto

Joel

My car feels amazingly fast... thats because its my first!

But driving is slow compared to flying at the weekends!

70 mph in a 15 year old Golf feels like 100 mph in a Fabia vRS.

"speed" is mid-range ability - in my mind.

A "fast" speed in a straight line is anything over 100mph

A "fast" o - 60 is anything sub 10 seconds - 10 seconds is a very decent 0-60 in my opinion.

sub 6 second 60 and +130mph i count as fast

but the most enjoyable fast is acceleration for sure and best in in gear acceleration

0-60 is a waste of time really.At least I only need two gear changes (up to 70 in fact when I drop it in fifth and continue at 70 ).Midrange is a fun feeling of speed.

If you mean at what point is it fast enough for you to feel scared then.....still nowhere near spinndrifts (hope that wasn't on a motorbike :eek: )

I think I prefer having an excellent 40-70 and reasonable 0-60 than having a great 0-60 and stupid top speed.

I very rarely go over 100 (on the track) so for me, top speed isn't important. All the kids round here ask me "what have you had out of it mister?" I say 59mpg

Having a car that will do 40-70 in around 5 seconds is pretty cool. That's the same as a UK STI by the way

What gear is that in Josh?

Fastest car I've been in is nothing special, a 1.8T Ibiza FR chipped, sport exhaust, dump valve, koni's etc... and its been estimated to have around 220+ bhp, 0-60 is estimated to be around 6 seconds flat, top speed is probably about 150... i've experienced this car as a passenger, and it did feel pretty quick, but still not scary quick for me.

I'm guessing sub 10 second 0-100 mph time would be required for that.

Edit: Also been in a chipped Ibiza TDI Sport PD130, and if anything that felt every bit as much of a hooligan as the 1.8T...

have to get out of a car and on to a bike to go fast.

have to get out of a car and on to a bike to go fast.

I disagree, I always found I had to ride really fast on a bike to get a good impression of speed, towards the end of ownership my GSXR 600 felt slow and I used to wring it's neck to get the most out of it. I think it's due to having more space on the road. Just like a fast car feels slower on an airfield.

I find the best way to make any car feel fast is to drive like you're playing Burnout 3 on the PS2.

:drive:

I think the designers of the new MX-5 have got it right. According to a few articles i have read about it the engineers have really concentrated on making it 'feel' right rather than just be fast.

For example lots of 'sporty' cars now have alloys with wide tyres so they have massive grip but you don't feel involved. The MX-5 has modest tyres so you don't have to be going at dangerous speeds to feel involved, powerslide a little.

It's dependent on so many factors - noise, stability, control, speed etc.

The quickest for me is as a passenger in the Missus's 1300 Granny-mobile down the windy lane to our village - now that feels far too quick!! :eek:

What gear is that in Josh?

Fastest car I've been in is nothing special' date=' a 1.8T Ibiza FR chipped, sport exhaust, dump valve, koni's etc... and its been estimated to have around 220+ bhp, 0-60 is estimated to be around 6 seconds flat, top speed is probably about 150... i've experienced this car as a passenger, and it did feel pretty quick, but still not scary quick for me.

I'm guessing sub 10 second 0-100 mph time would be required for that.

Edit: Also been in a chipped Ibiza TDI Sport PD130, and if anything that felt every bit as much of a hooligan as the 1.8T...[/quote']

Intersesting i have a mate that has been in Ibiza R 1.8T and said it was pants experence compaired to my Octy running similar HP i woudl have thought the smaller car would have 'impressed' and given a feeling of being faster then the more refined Octy...

so i thikn its really down to not phiscally how fast the car is but how fast it 'feels'

Joel

0-60 60-100 100+ all feel fast to me i drive a vrs octavia lol my last car was a 1.2 punto

Joel

Ditto!!!

Admittedly, I've got used to the speed now, which is why you always end up looking for more power...

300bhp Nissan 300zx coming soon

Fast to me is relative to speed which is equal to distance over the time taken to get there lol.

I think fast is how quickly you get from point A to B, like driving the country roads around staffordshire to get to the camp site 21 miles away from alton towers. tomtom suggests 45 minutes, when my time was just shy of 30 mins . This was on bendy roads too .

I dont think true real world speed lies in power, but drivability