You mean, that Golf TDI with 50% more torque at the crank, that weighs the same as the S, doesn't really accelerate 50% faster than the S?

 

There was a thread explaining that one - it's basically torque x rpm = power, multiplied by the gear ratio.

Basically, since an S2K goes to 9K and a diesel does 2,000 in a truck, or 200 in a ship, we win. (You decide in which category the Golf fits!)

Actually, the S2000 has officially got slower. Whether it is the extra weight, the larger wheels or different weather on the day, I dunno.

Probably all three.

 

at the last Benelux meet.. an american muscle car did it's thing for the crowd of S2000 owners.. left a nice set of strips 6inchs wide by about 100ft long

 

When I test drove the 4.6l Mustang it was full of torque, but as soon as you got it into twisty roads in felt terrible and wallowed everywhere.

 

its a sad story Rich

 

there was one article in Autocar I agreed with

it concerned who exactly was going to buy the Cayman

suggestion was existing TT owners

 

I was browsing the motor mags today in the supermarket and saw Autocar (I think) and it said on the cover that the new M5 is better than the new Fez 430 on the following fronts:

1) Acceleration
2) Top Speed
3) Price

The Fez wins on sound apparently.

Quite an astonishing outcome. A little off topic to this thread but still worthy news.

 

I read the article. Quite puzzling because the tester talks about the M5 being faster yet their own performance stats don't back this up. Shades of the Mustang test mentioned elsewhere maybe?

There have been discussions about this on the Ferrari boards. I tend to agree with the following assertions (if you take the Autocar review at face value).

1. So what? An Atom or Caterham would be faster than both on a track or in real world road situations.

2. Many 430 owners will have an M5 as an everyday driver.

3. Which car would you really prefer to get out of the garage for a drive?

The sort of person who would answer "M5" to the last point, is probably the same sort of person who would prefer the old shape M5 to my 348 or an Imprevo over an S2000.

Quite how anyone can prefer a four door ubersaloon over a piece of Italian art on wheels, is really quite beyond me.

 

I thought the article's point was really that in the real world the M5 is as quick as a new Ferrari, which is mighty impressive given the price differential and totally different nature of the german beast.

Given the option of either, people will still go for the Fezza due to more intangible reasons - there's little else as special as one of those.

You've still got to admire those crazy germans though

 

Typical autocar if you ask me

They pick the 'cheapest' Ferrari on the basis of cost comparisons (but the F430 is still 60k more so I don't really see the point) and then rejoice when a super-saloon (with a much bigger engine) can out-accelerate it...

Since the Ferrari is so much more expensive anyway, and lets face it, at this level expense is not the primary consideration when buying a car, why not compare the M5 to the Ferrari 575M GTC.

The story might have been very different then. Picking on the baby of the Ferrari range for a comparison with arguably BMW's finest ever car (in terms of performance) is a little below the belt IMO.

People buy a F430 for reasons beyond the drivel Autocar based that article around.


Andy