« Reply #5484 on: 08 October 2016, 22:24 »
I know where you're coming from Graham.
These latest breed of uber hatches are generally 2.0 turbos which means they need to be really thrashed to get the best out of them. A side effect of having to have pretty big turbos to give them the lungs but they still need to meet emissions regulations so are leaned off through the mid range.
I felt the same about the R.
I normally have a golden rule, never buy a car with more BHP/PS than the lb ft torque peak figure. I generally find a car with a BHP figure numerically higher than the lb ft peak figure is a bit flat in the mid range and does its thing all up top. Fine on a race track or if your life involves getting all frothed up over Evo tests. A car with a higher lb ft figure than BHP will generally give you a kick in the back in the mid range which I personally find more fun, more characterful and far more practical in real life driving. Oh, and the latter are often better on fuel too, probably as a consequence of needing fewer revs on the dial to provide thrust.
Yes, they won't be as fast in extremis but hey ho, I just find them more fun in real life motoring.
Again, that's why I'm not overly keen on DSG. It tries too hard to keep the engine in a certain band and can actually take a lot of feel out of the motor.
Not that modern low pressure turbo motors have much feel.
Which brings me on to why I modify them. Far more important to me than the extra BHP peak figure is the added boost on the middle of the Rev range. It gives the engine character and the car gains much more useful real world performance for when you want to get between two points quickly without risking your licence to get a buzz.
So, not too long after I got my R I fitted a JB1.
It now makes a really good car a great car.
The only downside is that because of the huge torque I tend to drive it like a diesel as anything over 4000rpm is in silly speed territory once you're out of the first two gears (which are quite low).
Yes, now I have a car I drive like a fast Diesel that does 28mpg average!!
Guess what my next car will be?
I don't need 170 mph capability but I do want an Exocet missile's mid range thrust...
Once that A45 has a tuning box it'll be absolutely ballistic Graham.
So get it run in ASAP!
I do love the noise those cars make.
« Last Edit: 09 October 2016, 09:30 by Exonian »
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‘23 8R, ‘20 8CS, ‘19 135iX, ‘19 TCR, ‘17 Ed40, ‘17 GTD, ‘15 7R, ‘13 GTI PP, ‘11 GTI, ‘09 GTI, ‘98 Ibiza Cupra, ‘05 GTI, ‘06 Polo GTI, ‘04 GT TDI, ‘05 Fabia vRS, ‘02 GTI T, ‘03 Ibiza TDI 130, ‘01 Leon 180, ‘89 mk2 16v, ‘99 Ibiza TDI, ‘96 VR6, ‘98 Ibiza TDI, ‘92 VR6, ‘88 mk2 8v, ‘92 Polo G40, ‘91 mk2 8v, ‘89 mk2 8v, 205 GTI 1.9, ‘83 mk1 GTI, ‘80 Scirocco GTI, plus some others I’ve forgotten
