ok so if you have a powerful 2wd car can you post the spec, and what it is like to drive. See they were moaning about the diff in that 3.7L alfa on topgear last night
tru 'sutherlandm' .. from factory at least. look at the RS focus .... Torque steers all over the place, what about the new front wheel drive saab that was on 5th gear a while ago,they took it round track and it was crap.... no traction accelerating out of bends.
what an excellent display of sweeping generalisation... well if i may *dare* to argue; You are talking sh1te. over 200bhp can be perfectly driveable in a fwd car - you need decent suspension geometry, an LSD will help you put the power down, and a little driver skill will be needed. a 210bhp, 206lbft mk2 golf vr6 (with no interior) is perfectly controllable on the road - and i dare say that with another 100bhp i would be faster in it not slower....
i've read somewhere that the maximium bhp to be put out of a very well set up fwd car is 400bhp. After 400 bhp get uncontrolable. You can dive 200bhp fwd cars with no problems at all,. when you set a 200bhp car up properly its a pleasure to drive. its all fun and games. Vduber
All i can say is that i have driven a focus Rs an i think it was loads of fun, i reakon you can push out more than 200bhp my mate had a 'Dare i say it! Ford Rs turbo cab an that pushed out 260 odd bhp, although he said it was a handfull prob coz it had no power steering.
i seem to remember Bill Badger's pimp-tint mobile has a touch more than 200bhp yet magically he seems to pedal it round quite adequately...
Anything up to 300bhp in a FWD car is ok. Up over that and you *may* find some difficulties putting the power down but even then it has been done many times. As stated it depends on geometry/chassis setup. Past that and you will run into certain difficulties, like steering for example, but again I`m sure this could be softened enough to make the car driveable. Edited by: superden
just wondering where this info comes from fellas I know Dex has had experience of driving 500bhp golfs, but please don't post unless you have actually tried I'm going to be spending a fair wedge of dosh on my car, so would really value some experienced advice it'll be an IHI'd 20v motor 6spd box, late VR suspension and brakes, uprated ARBs and TAS top mounts. thanks in advance
Most touring cars have ben FWD for years, and always running well in excess of 200bhp. If its good enough for circuit racing it can't be that much of a problem... That said, speaking from the haldex camp, with my new Bora, 4wd makes 200+ bhp feel enormously safe and controlled, without knocking much of an edge off the acceleration.
only 200bhp in RWD...i don't think so, do you think a ferrari or porsche is undriveable...the modern ones are very easy to drive. and i think its more likely around 300bhp with FWD, a vr6 has about 180bhp as standard, and is very easy to drive, i can't believe adding 20bhp is gonna turn it into an uncontrollable animal. most powerful FWD car i've driven had 192bhp, but it was a clio cup race car...they're very easy to drive slow, but due to the suspension set-up they bite you back hard on the limit. i've been reliably informed that SEAT cupra race cars (250 bhp) are a lot easier to drive. doesn't really help you, prof, as things are very different on road though.
