Hold it's own ?

There is a BMW driver in the office, well a few BMW drivers in the office that think the T5 is no match for their 330's and 540's !

I guess a real test would be necessary.

Mind you even my old 854-T5 auto was a real handful on motorways. I guess most bigger engine saloons were caught out, I'm sure they were trying!

IceMan

[timway]

This is a good site which lists performance figures for a lot of cars
http://www.einszweidrei.de/ (measured by German car magazines mainly, not claimed figures, it even lists Nurburgring lap times for some faster cars)

The fastest cars on your orignal list are probably the BMW 540 and Jaguar XK8
The 0-160km/h (100MPH) times for these cars are:
15.0 seconds E39 BMW 540 6 speed manual
15.8 seconds Jaguar XK8 4.0 auto
16.5 seconds E39 BMW 540 5sp auto
16.1 seconds E46 BMW 330Ci coupe manual

It doesnt list as many volvo's but there are a few:
17.6 seconds 1993 850 T5 (225bhp) manual saloon
17.3 seconds 1996 850 T5R (240bhp) manual estate
15.6 seconds 1996 Lotec 850 (272bhp) manual saloon

I suppose an early T5 with a chip would have similar figures to the 272bhp Lotec version, which is faster than all the cars in your list except the 540 manual (and these rarely have a manual gearbox)
So a chipped T5 isnt going to be embarrassed by any of them really! :-)
Tim

[bobcat]

Originally Posted by timway

This is a good site which lists performance figures for a lot of cars
http://www.einszweidrei.de/ (measured by German car magazines mainly, not claimed figures, it even lists Nurburgring lap times for some faster cars)

The fastest cars on your orignal list are probably the BMW 540 and Jaguar XK8
The 0-160km/h (100MPH) times for these cars are:
15.0 seconds E39 BMW 540 6 speed manual
15.8 seconds Jaguar XK8 4.0 auto
16.5 seconds E39 BMW 540 5sp auto
16.1 seconds E46 BMW 330Ci coupe manual

It doesnt list as many volvo's but there are a few:
17.6 seconds 1993 850 T5 (225bhp) manual saloon
17.3 seconds 1996 850 T5R (240bhp) manual estate
15.6 seconds 1996 Lotec 850 (272bhp) manual saloon

I suppose an early T5 with a chip would have similar figures to the 272bhp Lotec version, which is faster than all the cars in your list except the 540 manual (and these rarely have a manual gearbox)
So a chipped T5 isnt going to be embarrassed by any of them really! :-)
Tim

Good post,

also worth noting that all of those are rwd, and from my 1/4 experience they tend to get very good starts whereas a t5 normally just lights up the tyres.

so on a roll a chipped t5 should be up at the top of that list.

[timway]

Yes, thats why I posted the 0-100MPH times rather than 0-60 -
I think it gives a better indication of how a cars going to perform once its moving.

i toasted a little chav bloke in a new BMwM3 the other day, and mines done 160,000 miles, had a few mods though

[g-wagon]

Originally Posted by don kalmar union

Sorry G Wagon, I was meaning that it is the very torque increases with software upgrades that get you going.

Regards, Don.Norchi.

Gotchsa. Thanks.

[foggyjames]

Originally Posted by TwistedSanity

i toasted a little chav bloke in a new BMwM3 the other day, and mines done 160,000 miles, had a few mods though

That's one rich-ass chav. Last time I checked they either have Novas, or Saxos/206s their Dad's bought them with compensation money

Incidentally a mate rear-ended and wrote off a brand new M3 in his 740 Turbo the other week (long story, mainly involving the pair of them doing an emergency stop to avoid another motorist, and the M3 having better brakes). The 740 Turbo was unscathed...until it hit a kerb HARD.

cheers

James

[Simon J]

Originally Posted by foggyjames

Last time I checked they either have Novas, or Saxos/206s their Dad's bought them with compensation money

And why shouldn't I indulge my little girls with their Saxo and C2

[foggyjames]

Aside from the choice of car, I can't argue And now a rant aimed in no way at your girls...

My worry is a great many young drivers, especially lads, have been killed by their parents decision to buy them a brand new Saxo with free insurance. When I was in the 6th form, and indeed in the following years, pretty much the only cars I've known to have been written off with the driver at fault have been nearly-new french superminis. In many cases the kids just didn't have an appriciation of just how much money they were driving around...typically upwards of 10k once you've included insurance. Seriously, the number of less than three year old Saxos, 206s, Clios, Corsas and Fiestas that got written off by people I knew were just scary.

Funny how those of us with much-loved 'bangers' (especially the more powerful ones) treated driving in general with a little more respect. One guy put a Vauxhall Belmont on its roof in a lane, but he was about ready for the asylum anyway I think I'm about the only person who still drives their first car...and it's still one of the fastest!

If there's been a case where four lads have all been killed when out on a late night drive...usually involving a tree...it's more often a Saxo than everything else put together. There were three cases exactly like this in a row in the South West a few months ago. I was fuming when Citroen made the new C2 GT cheaper to insure than the old Saxo VTR...I could barely believe the authorities would allow easier access for inexperienced drivers to the 'weapon of choice'.

A young girl was killed back home in Devon a few months ago when she lost control of her Saxo VTR, hit a tree, and it burst into flames. Have you seen a Saxo fuel tank? Just scary...! Little has been said about the exact circumstances as a mark of respect...in other words she was up to no good, but no-one wants to speak ill of the dead.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter what cars are popular with the very young driver, there will still be a high level of accidents. However I don't think that a fundamentally insubstantial shell (Saxo, specifically...pretty much an AX underneath, and that ain't good) and snappy suspension (grip, grip, grip, gone...minimal progression) help a great deal.

Kudos to the manufacturers for making the latest generation of superminis a lot safer than the last one. I still don't believe the hype around NCAP test though. Can you say 'designed for NCAP', Renault? All's fine and dandy if you have 50/50 head-on offset crash, but when did you last see one of those? I forget the source, but some accident survivability figures were quoted for real-world accidents, and it put the mk2 Golf and 300 series up with latest-gen A3s, Astras and Focus'. I'll take the real-world figures, thanks.

Give everyone a £50 340 1.4 for a year as probation and make them earn their stripes, that's my suggestion Plus it might stop this unhealthy interest in FWD...

cheers

James

[gnhuk]

When I were a young lad............ Most of my contempories started with mopeds/motorbikes or "flintstones" moggy 1000's etc bought for £50 (MOT's were a bit easier to pass then). All survived the experience at the time (though the scars do last), indeed I survived a roll in an Austin 1300 GT - thank god for Dutch Elm disease because 6 months earlier we'd all have been killed, no seat belts, unlike today when the list of those who didn't seems to added to on a regular basis. Several of these locally seem to involve a mixture of teenage bravado and assorted chemicals. I must also state that it is not only a male problem from what I've witnessed.

Perhaps they should be started off in the manner Foggy has suggested.