Having owned reasonable quick cars in the past , impreza sti, 535d, mazda 6 mps I am very impressed with the performance of my mk3 vrs that's supposedly 220 hp? My BMW was 286bhp and regularly left vxr astras etc and my impreza was 280 bhp and could keep with most things, however when I opted to but the new vrs I though that maybe it would feel a little "underpowered" how wrong I was. The octy really does feel as quick as both of the cars mentioned above.

I decided to test it out, my friend has a 12 month old focus St which is supposedly 250bhp 2.0 eco boost and he said mine felt just as quick so we decided to test it! Accelerating slowly down the motorway slip Rd with approximately a mile till the next exit we hit the throttle hard, the outcome was exactly what I thought we were neck and neck all the way there until he slowed down to let me pull into the exit slip Rd, in fact I honestly think an extra half mile I'd have pulled a car length or so clear!

Does anyone else think that the 220 bhp figure is a little porky pie or is it just me? I realise power to weight etc but there is not a lot between the focus and vrs weight wise and I'm a lot bigger than my friend! The power of the vrs at 4,000rpm onwards is incredible for a car with such conservative figures! Has anyone had a standard vrs tsi rolling Rd tested? I'd love to know what it's running!

'220ps Minimum.'

As the official figure given for all World Regions.  Ambient Temperatures, Humidity, Altitude, Fuel.

 

So in the UK,

never more than 3,500 feet above sea level,  Temps from -15 to 35*oC Max, and 95 Ron Minimum 

and it will exceed the minimum output.

 

Use 97 ron UK Superunleaded or 99 ron Tesco Momentum 99, Shell V-Power Nitro and you should expect to 

exceed the 220ps Minimum.

I get that mate I use v power 99 always have in my petrols but the minimum figure is surely same for every manufacturer? He's focus must be 250 "minimum" and for a 220 to stay side by side all the way he must be very disappointed haha!

This seems to apply across the range. The claimed performance for the 110 PS TSI Octavia is better than that for the 125 PS Ecoboost Focus. The Octavia is lighter, but not that much lighter. The Octavia also has worse fuel consumption, which is not what you would expect from the lesser powered car.

Not the case here Rodge my friend has an average mpg of 27 and I'm at 31 mpg so I beat him there as well! In fact he's actually enquired about px already as he loves the octy haha! It's gotta be more than 220

The same is not for every Manufacturer.

 

The Same is not even for Volkswagen Group Manufacturers.

 

Look at vehicles with the same VW / Audi Engine.

Identical Engines and Gearboxes, and Drive Train,

& the Audi or Volkswagen heavier than the Skoda or Seat.

 

The More Expensive models from Audi / VW will have a Higher top Speed, quicker 0-62, Lower Emission Co2 / km & VED Band sometimes,

and a better official MPG.

Sometimes even Kerb Weights that are fiction as the cars sit in the Dealerships.

 

VORSPRUNG DURCH TECHNIK

Performance by engineering of the true weights and outputs.

 

eg,

Who wanted to pay £3000 - £5,000 more say for a Halo Model

Audi A1 1.4 TFSI 185 PS / 136 kw Min or VW Polo GTI 1.4 TSI 180ps / 132 kw min.

only to find out,

The Seat Ibiza Cupra 1.4 TSI 180 ps or the Skoda Fabia vRS 1.4 TSI 180 ps is lighter and as fast if not faster.

Even more economical.

Even that the Skoda Seat & VW have 136 kw the same as the Audi.

*** On a Dyno sometimes more BHP than the Audi when both are standard.***

(the Skoda had 25 KG of Ballast added to the Rear Crash bar at the Factory and a Spare Wheel as standard, and was still lighter.) Skoda had the Smaller/ shorter by 9 3/4" Hatch actually given as weighing 5 kg more than the Estate,

but then the estate cost more.

The Skoda & the Seat had 1 VED band higher than the VW & Audi , until the Engines were revised

then the Seat dropped a Band and had lower official emission figures, the Skoda ones never changed.

(Later the Kerb Weights / Unladen Weights of the VW Polo GTI were corrected, they were wrong at launch.)

& by the way, the Skoda Fabia vRS Estate weighed more than the Hatch, even with 25 KG Ballast bolted to the rear,

and still does now. But then they are now discontinued, but Salespeople will still 

tell you the Estate is Lighter & Faster, just as all the Journalists did, because the Press Pack & Brochure 

said they did.  Nobody bothered to weigh them.

& Skoda never gave Towing Weights, so nobody could fit Tow Bars.

Edited 29 June, 201510 yr by goneoffSKi

That's interesting goneoffski it really is, so basically with the octy I'm getting higher performance than stated! Eg the golf gti has same engine at 220 standard yet the performance figures are on par with the new vxr astra that is 280bhp???? I'm guessing that vag group tame the figures down for insurance purposes haha!

Don't forget several other things that will affect acceleration

1. Power to weight ratio. Less weight less power can actually mean faster acceleration

2. Gearing

3. Torque, both how much the engine produces, it's spread and where in the rev range ot's produced

4. Maximum rpm and as in 3 how the power is spread across the rev range.

All these will have an impact and the max ps output isn't the whole picture.

Yes I agree but who wouldn't think the St focus would pull clear?

OT, 

But still VW Engines.

 

eg

The 2015 Polo GTI Face Lift 1.8 TSI 192 PS Euro 6 Manual or DSG.

 

Both 192 PS Minimum.

 the Manual has the given VW figure of 320 Nm Torque,

the DSG Version is 250 Nm.  

same as the Previous model the 180ps 1.4 TSI Twincharger with DSG.

(& the old model, with officially less power is actually faster in a 1/4 Mile Drag with TC off over the New Manual or Auto & with a higher terminal speed.)

 

..............

Ask your friend if he has ever had a spirited drive against a 1390 cc Twincharger,?

Because they can leave a Focus ST 250 PS & a 220ps Octavia behind in a drag race 

as long as its from a rolling start.  Traction off the line is not great.

Edited 29 June, 201510 yr by goneoffSKi

It must be vag group figures that are published not to shame audi or vw or step on their toes.

I get that mate I use v power 99 always have in my petrols but the minimum figure is surely same for every manufacturer? He's focus must be 250 "minimum" and for a 220 to stay side by side all the way he must be very disappointed haha!

It's torque that throws you down the road and on paper the ST has 176 lb/ft per ton and the Octy has 192 so not so suprising the cars were equal.

That's interesting goneoffski it really is, so basically with the octy I'm getting higher performance than stated! Eg the golf gti has same engine at 220 standard yet the performance figures are on par with the new vxr astra that is 280bhp???? I'm guessing that vag group tame the figures down for insurance purposes haha!

Who says the GTIs performance is on par with the VXR?

 

On paper the VXR is 5.8 seconds 0-60 the GTI is 6.3     admittedly very close but not quite the same.

 

Once you get past 250Hp FWD finds it difficult to put the power down efficiently so increasing the power doesn't give much of a performance increase.  That's where 4WD starts to make a difference.

I'm not talking 0-60 I'm talking in gear acceleration the gti in gear is not far at all off!

In gear a 180ps twincharger matches or betters a 265ps S3 / Golf R 30-80. And a stage 1 with 210bhp matches a newer 300ps, but they are porkers, like a 220ps octavia is, and then the DSG ones are push throttle and play, where drivers in manuals might need to drop a gear or 3.

Edited 29 June, 201510 yr by goneoffSKi

My all meaning to this post was that I was impressed with the power that the octy gives, by no means is it a world beater if I wanted that I'd have bought an evo fq 400 or something, just saying that we both expected the sporty focus St to pull away from my very poorly rated 217 bhp family car and the octy shocked us both, it just goes to show that it's not all about facts and figures on paper as if it was I'd be miles behind any other hot hatch! Plus if they were anything to go by I'd be averaging 44 mpg combined and we all know that's a million miles away! Love the octy though it's shocked a few people.

I find the horsepower in my TSI very underwhelming ! The torque is good , the midrange stomp is excellent but the power drops off rapidly as the rpm increases confirmed by a kick in the back as the dsg shifts gear and the rpm drops back into the torque curve

 

The simple truth is that you need a lot more horsepower than a rival car to make a noticeable difference on the road 

I find the horsepower in my TSI very underwhelming ! The torque is good , the midrange stomp is excellent but the power drops off rapidly as the rpm increases confirmed by a kick in the back as the dsg shifts gear and the rpm drops back into the torque curve

 

The simple truth is that you need a lot more horsepower than a rival car to make a noticeable difference on the road 

Last point so true, in the real world you do need a shed load more power to show anyone your rear as it were,...

My all meaning to this post was that I was impressed with the power that the octy gives, by no means is it a world beater if I wanted that I'd have bought an evo fq 400 or something, just saying that we both expected the sporty focus St to pull away from my very poorly rated 217 bhp family car and the octy shocked us both, it just goes to show that it's not all about facts and figures on paper as if it was I'd be miles behind any other hot hatch! Plus if they were anything to go by I'd be averaging 44 mpg combined and we all know that's a million miles away! Love the octy though it's shocked a few people.

I have to agree with everything you've said, the TSI lump continues to impress.

 

Mine stock on 2 different rolling roads was coming in over 240bhp and 268flbt which goes some way to explaining why it was so close for yours as likely you're pulling similar numbers.

 

I was luckily enough for my car to be the development car for super chips, it has a decent remap on and is churning out over 330bhp and 368flbt and all I can say is wow.

 

Enjoy your motor mate,...

That would explain everything said, we were both scratching our heads in disbelief haha, he was so disappointed that his beloved focus "sports car" couldn't pull on my family lump

Power to weight ratio isn't to be underestimated - the vRS is a good 100kg lighter than the Focus.  VAG cars also regularly make slightly more power than the figures say as well.  Skoda (being the poor cousin of the VAG stable) seem to quote underestimated performance figures as well, as I'm sure George will testify.

Not surprising from VAG, the MkV golf GTI was 200bhp in the book but was so much faster than other 200bh cars, chip tuners were claiming +80hp over book and that was possible because in reality the golfs were knocking out 240bhp stock.

OT, 

But still VW Engines.

 

eg

The 2015 Polo GTI Face Lift 1.8 TSI 192 PS Euro 6 Manual or DSG.

 

Both 192 PS Minimum.

 the Manual has the given VW figure of 320 Nm Torque,

the DSG Version is 250 Nm.  

same as the Previous model the 180ps 1.4 TSI Twincharger with DSG.

(& the old model, with officially less power is actually faster in a 1/4 Mile Drag with TC off over the New Manual or Auto & with a higher terminal speed.)

 

..............

Ask your friend if he has ever had a spirited drive against a 1390 cc Twincharger,?

Because they can leave a Focus ST 250 PS & a 220ps Octavia behind in a drag race 

as long as its from a rolling start.  Traction off the line is not great.

 Its not really just the traction off the line, the DSG7 is called the DQ250 because its limited to 250Nm BUT, only in 1st and 2nd onve in 3rd the limiter doesn't limit !!!

Anybody know what the Fiesta ST is putting out, a 63 plate one pulled maybe half a length on me to 0-80 this lunchtime but, he lifted when I started pulling him back in and his balls run out @ 80 !

A 1.6 Ecoboost Fiesta ST is 179 BHP or so but has Overboost of i think 20bhp. (Edit 197 BHP they say with Overboost)

Then you can have Mountune & keep the Warranty and get an extra 20 bhp or so.

 

The DSG in the 1.4 TSI / TFSI Twinchargers 132-136 kw

& now the 1.8 TSI 192 ps 144kw is a DQ200.

http://www.hp.net.au/index.php/products/dq200

 

Here the Fabia vRS maybe has about 210 BHP.

Traction Control off.

But they do just fine with 220 BHP.  Without Mapping out Limiters.

 

No idea why Autoexpress would put a 2015 3 Door Polo GTI up against a 5 Door Mini,

& not use like for like, Both 3 Door. or both 5 door.

Edited 29 June, 201510 yr by goneoffSKi