My first RWD and turbo car

NathanE · 15 Sep 2011 at 11:01

Yup. £17,000 shambles of a mistake.

Not sure why people here simply can't believe that shot and/or hard tyres on a MR car like this is one awesome recipe for a fibreglass explosion.

[TW]Fox · 15 Sep 2011 at 12:17

NathanE said:
Let's face the obvious facts.

Why break your habit of the thread thus far?

DRZ · 15 Sep 2011 at 12:20

[TW]Fox;20075181 said:
Why break your habit of the thread thus far?

Philz0r · 15 Sep 2011 at 12:35

lovely car OP. is there much leg room in these?, I've never sat in one before.

Laser402 · 15 Sep 2011 at 12:38

Philz0r said:
lovely car OP. is there much leg room in these?, I've never sat in one before.

Loads you basically lay down! :cool:

Philz0r · 15 Sep 2011 at 12:40

thats awesome

pcoltrane · 15 Sep 2011 at 12:49

Nice car OP.

I'd ignore the comments above about them being tricky on the limit, requiring more skill to drive than a 182 etc.

I've only driven the N/A Vx220 but it was the best balanced, most easy to control road car I have had to pleasure of driving. It was extremely forgiving in all situations. As I understand the Turbo is essentially the same in this respect.

Frankly, it's just as easy to bin a 182 (if not easier) as one of these. If someone drives like an idiot then they can crash anything.

Simmz · 15 Sep 2011 at 12:54

Shadowness said:
I decided to ***** a wedge of my house deposit savings on something a bit....well.....you decide.

Looks nice mate, but hope you didn't use too much out of the house savings deposit

Simon · 15 Sep 2011 at 13:38

Trifid said:
He was not on full power and was changing gear very early. It was an NA behind him and he was in a stage 2 turbo (Stage 2 meaning about 250HP). Anyway it still came down to too much right foot in poor conditions, he has learnt his lesson and hopefully will not repeat it. He was lucky to be able to drive away after a short stop in a more or less undamaged car.

She.

Regardless, he had too much power/not enough traction for the conditions and failed to rear the road.

NathanE · 15 Sep 2011 at 13:45

Philz0r said:
lovely car OP. is there much leg room in these?, I've never sat in one before.

Legs are fully stretched out and very relaxed. I've been driving these cars for going on 5 years and "normal" cars just feel so wrong now. From their huge steering wheels, unnecessarily soft pedals, to needing the knees and ankles tensed up just to operate the pedals.

pcoltrane said:
I'd ignore the comments above about them being tricky on the limit, requiring more skill to drive than a 182 etc.

I've only driven the N/A Vx220 but it was the best balanced, most easy to control road car I have had to pleasure of driving. It was extremely forgiving in all situations. As I understand the Turbo is essentially the same in this respect.

Frankly, it's just as easy to bin a 182 (if not easier) as one of these. If someone drives like an idiot then they can crash anything.

This.

These cars, when on the right condition tyres, will grip like hell even in the wet.

Can only assume some of the detractors here have never driven one before.

hurfdurf · 15 Sep 2011 at 13:46

Shadowness said:
lol, well if you know about VXs then you'll know what it means. Basically it's got the VXR Milltek exhaust and TMS (Thorney Motorsport) remap.

Nope

Trifid · 15 Sep 2011 at 13:51

Simon said:
Regardless, he had too much power/not enough traction for the conditions and failed to rear the road.

That's what I said in my 2nd sentence.

We were not racing which is what Simon was suggesting with "full power" when it wasn't the case.

MikeHiow · 15 Sep 2011 at 14:28

NathanE said:
Can only assume some of the detractors here have never driven one before.

I'd be inclined to agree.

Those of us who have driven one appear to be in accord.

Muncher · 15 Sep 2011 at 14:45

Nice, drive it carefully

My advice we be to enjoy it without thinking too much about modifications, it's a slippery slope to go down and the value for money of certain things is quite poor when you get some perspective.

[TW]Fox · 15 Sep 2011 at 14:54

MikeHiow said:
I'd be inclined to agree.

Those of us who have driven one appear to be in accord.

Or missing the point.

It's pretty well known that FWD is more forgiving and easier to drive fast. In fact not only is this frequently cited as an advantage of fwd its also something many more seasoned drivers enjoy about rwd and mid engined cars.

I can't see any detractors.

pcoltrane · 15 Sep 2011 at 14:58

[TW]Fox;20076424 said:
Or missing the point.

It's pretty well known that FWD is more forgiving and easier to drive fast. In fact not only is this frequently cited as an advantage of fwd its also something many more seasoned drivers enjoy about rwd and mid engined cars.

I can't see any detractors.

But in this case I don't think it holds true. The VX220 is such a beautifully balanced, forgivign car that I'd say it's significantly easier to drive fast than fwd hot hatches like the 182.

[TW]Fox · 15 Sep 2011 at 15:03

If you stamp on the throttle like a ham fisted prune coming off a wet roundabout in a 182 or a Golf GTI the result will be rather different to if you were to do the same thing in a VX Turbo. This is not the cars fault, though.

pcoltrane · 15 Sep 2011 at 15:20

[TW]Fox;20076475 said:
If you stamp on the throttle like a ham fisted prune coming off a wet roundabout in a 182 or a Golf GTI the result will be rather different to if you were to do the same thing in a VX Turbo. This is not the cars fault, though.

The ham fisted prune would probably crash either way

The only difference being one car would be in the bus shelter forwards and the other backwards.

But equally if that same ham fisted driver lifted off suddenly in the middle of a fast corner, I'd say he'd have a much better chance of making it around in the Vx220.

I think you are underestimating how much easier controlling a lightweight, well balanced car like the VX is compared to your typical 1200kg+ RWD road car.
Powersliding a VX220 out of a corner within 30seconds of stepping the car comes completely naturally ... yet trying to do the same in most other RWD cars would be a heart in mouth moment.

I guess the acid test is which would I rather let my wife out on a track in (she's got no fear!)... hmm! It's an admittedly close call, but I genuinely would feel better with her in the VX.

Philz0r · 15 Sep 2011 at 15:28

time to go drifting?

DRZ · 15 Sep 2011 at 15:31

pcoltrane said:
The ham fisted prune would probably crash either way The only difference being one car would be in the bus shelter forwards and the other backwards.

But equally if that same ham fisted driver lifted off suddenly in the middle of a fast corner, I'd say he'd have a much better chance of making it around in the Vx220.

I think you are underestimating how much easier controlling a lightweight, well balanced car like the VX is compared to your typical 1200kg+ RWD road car.
Powersliding a VX220 out of a corner within 30seconds of stepping the car comes completely naturally ... yet trying to do the same in most other RWD cars would be a heart in mouth moment.

I guess the acid test is which would I rather let my wife out on a track in (she's got no fear!)... hmm! It's an admittedly close call, but I genuinely would feel better with her in the VX.

Sorry but I disagree with you here.

The mx-5 isn't exactly tail happy (compare reputation with my old mr2!) and yet the forums are full of n00bs that have left the road backwards. You basically never hear about this from most FWD hot-hatch types bar the odd few with strange suspension setups like the 306 which tended to be pretty oversteery thanks to the rear suspension setup.

RWD is a lot easier to get wrong, both in my experience from trying to provoke these things and also from looking around at how many powerful lightweight RWD cars end up broken due to oversteer...