Whats the point of doing 90 mph (track ) if you don't notice it? Whats the point of not feeling the oomph through the gears?

Reason for post.We have the octavia vRS and fabia vRS for a year now.The fabia is definately far more fun to drive despite the octavia being swifter.

This is not a fabia/octavia debate.Some of you have never driven the other car so can't comment at all

Wondering if this is why I was disappointed with a mates porsche.Just did not 'feel' fast (and yes,I floored it!).It is also probably the reason for people raving about the smart roadster.Figures suggest slow as a dog yet people seem to have great fun.

Anyone else been in 'quick' cars that just havn't been exciting or lesser cars that make you grin ear to ear?

I used to have a Rover 800 Vitesse and my god was it fun. It was as flawed as a car can be , particularly with regard to trying to get nearly 200bhp to the front wheels, it used to scrabble around like a new born foal on ice. It was a car that didn't feel like it should be moving as rapidly as it did but it was such great fun. It was more of a white knuckle ride than anything which I am sure made the whole thing more exhilarating. It probably couldn't match a furby vrs but I will always remeber it as a flyer.

I know what you mean mate. High speed on wide roads doesn't do it for me, would have to be doin around 140+ for me to get a kick on a long straight road. On the twisties, the smaller and noisier the car is, the better, as the illusion of greater speed is higher.

My dad has always had Saabs, and once had a 9000 Aero Hot. It was a fast car, but didnt feel it because it was auto, and very big and quiet. I had a fiat 127 at the time, and although I enjoyed the Saab, the Fiat was much more fun.

I had a Granada 2.9 v6 24v, and at 150 mph, it felt like 60mph. That felt fast accelerating from a standstill though. Felt like a plane taking off. Big car, big power, soft suspension.

It's wierd like you say, how sound, and felling can trick your brain into thinking you are going faster/slower than you are.

Fiat 126 on a motorway, painfully slow. Fiat 126 around a town center, scarily fast.

:eek: Thats two fiats I have admitted to owning in public :eek:

:peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: This is going to cause it thats why I have put a lot of walls......I have driven pd 130 cars Octy and Superb and octy VRS and to be honest the Octy VRS was boring.....it didn't feel fast at all

this is why i have so much fun in my fabia!

my nova was a POS but was great fun. i think the combination of no interior, a very roughly and ill tuned engine(by yours truely) and amassive twin exhausts made for a fun little car that actually went faily well but felt a lot faser than it actually was i believe. this is not taking the mickey or dorogatory in any way but it was about the same performance as a standard fabia vRS in a straight line, the fabia woulda killed it round a track due to the nova being cack but it was good fun

I had a Fiat Seicento Spoting once - great little car, engine just loved to be reved and taken to the red line and it stuck to the road like glue. Best thing was when you hit 70/80 in it felt like 100.

Obviously I've had, and driven cars, that are a lot more faster than that since, yet the Fabia is the only one to better it in terms of the "feeling" of speed...... only thing is the Fabia matches the feeling with actual pace !!!

used to have an old toyota starlet 1.2 rwd (the ones that the hot rod racers use) that was a real giggle. not fast at all but my god would it slide in the wet! course it helped having barely legal tyres on the back........

100mph in the octy is no speed really, 35mph on the minimoto is plain scary!

When I used to drive my mums mini (998cc) I would take that instead of my MUCH quicker saxo VTS, just simply because it was such a well sorted fun car. To get the VTS to play you would have to be doing nearly double the speed of the mini, which is just stupid on the road.

Where as in a mini you can have a 4 wheel drift in the wet at 25mph.

Trouble is (which was pointed out by paul in other thread) moden cars are very safe, quiet and very detatched from the drive

I had a Fiat Seicento Spoting once - great little car, engine just loved to be reved and taken to the red line and it stuck to the road like glue.

My brother had one of those, but i never got on with it. The steering felt funny to me, and it never 'felt' fast either. IMO, my Mini Cooper was a much better driving experience.

I think I've said this before, but this is why I love the Mk2 Golf... its only 900 kg, and only has 112 bhp, so its not exactly fast, but you can certainly feel the acceleration in it, and its great fun to drive even at legal limits. So easy to get sideways too as a consequence of not having as much outright grip as modern cars - in fact overall, the handling is amazing, and the best iv'e experienced so far in a FWD car. And it makes a right din when you're going for it. All of these things combined means this is really great fun to drive, and I've enjoyed every minute of owning the car while its worked properly.

When you drive a car like this, you realise that outright speed is actually not that important - its the way the car makes you feel when you drive it, and when I drive the Golf, I'm grinning from ear to ear.

:peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: This is going to cause it thats why I have put a lot of walls......I have driven pd 130 cars Octy and Superb and octy VRS and to be honest the Octy VRS was boring.....it didn't feel fast at all

That's where the torque comes in I suppose...I've never been in a vRS Fabia, but I've been in an Ibiza TDi GT 90bhp, which had a lot of torque, so it felt bloody fast, but it wasn't...you'd hate to drive a 2 litre Fabia if that's the case, coz the Octi vRS felt very quick It has 170Nm of torque, but for what it is, in all cars in its category, that's a very good figure (a Type-R has 196Nm, at the end of the rev range)

I wonder what a Fabia vRS feels like...30Nm of torque...man that must really be a neck snapper....

Stick to your diesels, otherwise you'll never be happy again

I wonder what a Fabia vRS feels like...30Nm of torque...man that must really be a neck snapper....

Stick to your diesels' date=' otherwise you'll never be happy again [/quote']

The Fabia vRS, even in standard form, has massive shove and devastating ingear performance.

However, I dont agree that I never found driving happiness since

The Fabia vRS' date=' even in standard form, has massive shove and devastating ingear performance.

However, I dont agree that I never found driving happiness since [/quote']

I'd like to imagine what driving a 900kg 112bhp car is like too you know...

Who has the link to that performance calculator?

my uncle had a smart car,had it on the limiter on some of the roads up by glencoe.felt scary and bloody rapid(until a volvo 850 T5-R overtook us and fired off into the distance)

That's where the torque comes in I suppose...I've never been in a vRS Fabia' date=' but I've been in an Ibiza TDi GT 90bhp, which had a lot of torque, so it felt bloody fast, but it wasn't...you'd hate to drive a 2 litre Fabia if that's the case, coz the Octi vRS felt very quick It has 170Nm of torque, but for what it is, in all cars in its category, that's a very good figure (a Type-R has 196Nm, at the end of the rev range)

I wonder what a Fabia vRS feels like...30Nm of torque...man that must really be a neck snapper....

Stick to your diesels, otherwise you'll never be happy again [/quote']

My tdipd 130 superb has somehow got 175 bhp and 288 lbs/ft torque ..... so it does feel reasonably quick.....probably stay with an Octy vrs up to the 100 mark but it's the in gear times that are faster and overtaking is effortless......and on the motorway just stick it in top gear and stay there ....bliss

You remapped it?

Mil it's not re-mapped that's for sure!

You remapped it?

tuneing box

Andrew if your right one more time this week I will be force to shoot you! :P

Andrew if your right one more time this week I will be force to shoot you! :P

insider info mike

It can be more challenging to get the best performance out of a car if it has a smaller engine, changing gear at exactly the 'right' revs, doing the gearbox thing generally, smooth braking etc. Lots of fun.

The Rover 100 was a noisy car for sure at motorway speeds, sounded like it was accelerating but the Furby would leave it for dust (or was that smoke :P ) - I suppose you drive closer to (or beyond) the limit in a car like that if you push it hard, whereas in the Furby I hardly ever REALLY do what I'd call 'trashing' it - sure, accelerate pretty hard sometimes, but never felt the need to really bash it through the gears (except when a 3 lettered car feels it should be up your backside with his vehicle, in which case a purposefully misplanted foot will cause that smokescreen to get rid of him again )

MX-5 from 1990 - 1.6, white, steel wheels. Massive fun

Was my Aunty's car - roof down, bright winter's day, get it upto speed on a good country road and try to not loose any speed through the corners. A great car

Thinking of going halves with a friend of mine on one from that era

Steve

:peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: :peepwall: This is going to cause it thats why I have put a lot of walls......I have driven pd 130 cars Octy and Superb and octy VRS and to be honest the Octy VRS was boring.....it didn't feel fast at all

I agree with you on the Octy vRS not feeling fast BUT when 'tested' against my flatmate's Fabia 1.4 16V (both of us planted it in second gear from around 20mph up a motorway slip road) my Octy very rapidly disappeared off into the distance

The fastest feeling car I have been a passenger in was a Porsche 944 Turbo (around the 250bhp mark) - I was left grinning like a cheshire cat after the guy driving it booted in 3rd gear at around 60mph - the car took off like its @ss was on fire and reached over 90mph in very short order

I'd like to imagine what driving a 900kg 112bhp car is like too you know...

Who has the link to that performance calculator?

0-60 in 8.2 seconds, allegedly. Its not bad up to about 75-80, then its so so. Its not the fastest thing on four wheels, but the lightweight, and lack of soundproofing and refinement do make it a good handling and very fun car to drive.