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[TheBoy]

"good fun to drive" NO 

I quite liked it. Well, the challenge of trying to get from A to B as quickly as I could.

During the lockdown period, my colleague and I had to travel in separate cars (even though we'd be working in the same racks all day), and we struggled to get hire cars at the time, so on the way back it would always be the Battlebus racing his 1.7CDTi Astra, and not too much in it until we got to the (mostly empty) M40 - M25 has too many cameras for such shenanigans - where his better top speed would leave me behind.

There is fun to be had in slow speed racing

[TheBoy]

picks its heels up when asked.

All things are relative.  I consider 150bhp to be a sluggish dog .  Maybe when I'm (even) older.... 

And to think it wasn't all that long ago that 150bhp was considered to be pretty decent.

By the late 80s, most 2l petrols were getting thereabouts.  Thats 35yrs ago now

[TheBoy]

There is fun to be had in slow speed racing

When I had a little yellow van and £1m of liability (we didn't have traditional insurance then), we often used to race other little yellow vans with a rule you could only use 1st and 2nd gear.  I was young, reckless and easily led


Where as now I'm old, reckless and easily led

[countrywoman]

Its a 2l oil burner so the turbo torque makes up the acceleration, it did run a 15.2 sec 1/4 on the drag strip with a gentle launch .

[YZ250]

……….
M40 - M25 has too many cameras for such shenanigans ………….

And this is the problem wherever you drive these days. When we travelled back from Wales recently, I commented to my Mrs that, apart from brisk overtakes, there’s not much point in having a fast car these days. We were in her car, which is well capable of north of 150mph, but the traffic flow, average speed monitoring cameras and the sneaky camera vans etc made it a painfully long journey.    The days of playing ‘ beat the sat nav ETA by half ‘ are a thing of the distant past now.     

[Doctor Gollum]

picks its heels up when asked.

All things are relative.  I consider 150bhp to be a sluggish dog .  Maybe when I'm (even) older.... 

And to think it wasn't all that long ago that 150bhp was considered to be pretty decent.

By the late 80s, most 2l petrols were getting thereabouts.  Thats 35yrs ago now

By most, you mean the Cavalier, Early 90's perhaps with the shift away from K Jetronic injection and carbs.

The newest stuff being much more efficient at burning the fuel to the point that they'll either do a gazillion mpg or produce a bucket load of power... Although this almost always requires forced induction to compensate for the lack of displacement so the flip side is extremely short engine life.

A decent tune on a modest NA engine will get the job done for most people. Obviously if you want to get around more excitingly, then you just add boost on a modern lump. Ultimately though you're limited by traction and chassis deficiency so a manual box and 150bhp will be as much as most people can make good use of.

All that said, if you want something more, then get it whilst you can. Do love the burble of a V8

[Doctor Gollum]

……….
M40 - M25 has too many cameras for such shenanigans ………….

And this is the problem wherever you drive these days. When we travelled back from Wales recently, I commented to my Mrs that, apart from brisk overtakes, there’s not much point in having a fast car these days. We were in her car, which is well capable of north of 150mph, but the traffic flow, average speed monitoring cameras and the sneaky camera vans etc made it a painfully long journey.    The days of playing ‘ beat the sat nav ETA by half ‘ are a thing of the distant past now.     

A 2.3 Granada with a heady 114bhp used to be enough to get the job done on the quicker side of safely. Now it requires about 300bhp and commitment.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Cars from 30 years ago that had less power, also had a lot less weight to pull along. So yes it is relative, but imo its much more fun driving a 1 ton car with 150bhp than a 2 ton car with 300bhp.

[Doctor Gollum]

Cars from 30 years ago that had less power, also had a lot less weight to pull along. So yes it is relative, but imo its much more fun driving a 1 ton car with 150bhp than a 2 ton car with 300bhp.

1.3 Polo and 1.4 106 both attest to that. The trolley was a hoot in spite of being a lardy arse with 100 bhp. Near 400bhp in 1.8t is a different sort of progress but still quite effective on a fast twisty road. Much like the Omega.

[Nick W]

picks its heels up when asked.

All things are relative.  I consider 150bhp to be a sluggish dog .  Maybe when I'm (even) older.... 

The traffic must behave very differently in Brackley than it does here; a tired 2.0l Capri(100bhp claimed) easily keeps up with any traffic in Medway without any effort. Just like they always did.


150bhp 2.0l - Vauxhall's XE was probably the first mass-market one - were becoming more common in the late 80s, but I'd suggest that the more traditional 100bhp 8valve ones(like Pintos etc) were still in the majority. 150bhp does have to work much harder than it used to, when you consider the sheer bulk of most modern cars.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

picks its heels up when asked.

All things are relative.  I consider 150bhp to be a sluggish dog .  Maybe when I'm (even) older.... 

The traffic must behave very differently in Brackley than it does here; a tired 2.0l Capri(100bhp claimed) easily keeps up with any traffic in Medway without any effort. Just like they always did.


150bhp 2.0l - Vauxhall's XE was probably the first mass-market one - were becoming more common in the late 80s, but I'd suggest that the more traditional 100bhp 8valve ones(like Pintos etc) were still in the majority. 150bhp does have to work much harder than it used to, when you consider the sheer bulk of most modern cars.

A 2 litre Capri from the dark ages probably weighs less than 1ton/tonne so a paltry 100 BHP is probably more than enough.

Cars are proper fat bastards these days.

[Raeturbo]

Early red top with the cos cast head produced 156bhp and 144Lbs ft torque in a mk 2 Astra that was plenty at that time and  weighed under a ton, or on the other hand the 1.4 pushrod lump in the Renault GT turbo took about an hour and under £50 to change the standard 120bhp to 160bhp Ive had both and they were probably more fun then than the stuff I’ve got now😁 Evo being impossible to race on the road as there’s nothing about than can catch it anyway and speeds would mean a definite visit to HMP.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Early red top with the cos cast head produced 156bhp and 144Lbs ft torque in a mk 2 Astra that was plenty at that time and  weighed under a ton, or on the other hand the 1.4 pushrod lump in the Renault GT turbo took about an hour and under £50 to change the standard 120bhp to 160bhp Ive had both and they were probably more fun then than the stuff I’ve got now😁 Evo being impossible to race on the road as there’s nothing about than can catch it anyway and speeds would mean a definite visit to HMP.

I had a thrash in a 2 litre clit 172 Cup a couple of years ago. Nice shade of blue.

Very quick and great fun but I didn't buy it because it was so noisy and uncomfortable that I thought it's accelerative charms would wear thin after a while.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Why does C-L-I-O become clit?

[Doctor Gollum]

Why does C-L-I-O become clit?

Remember Nicole? Well, she had both