Looking for a car I can feel when driving.

BPR · 6 Nov 2018 at 08:05

what’s up everyone.

I’m looking for a car that I can feel when I’m driving, what I mean by that is, when I put my foot down I want to feel the power and be pushed into my seat.

Originally I was looking at Honda Civics, but I heard the torque only kicks in in the very high revs and they overall are a stiff ride. Just want the car to pull not long after putting foot down if you know what i mean.

I only want to spend a little maybe £2.5k max, fuel economy must also be somewhat decent.

Any ideas?

Joe T · 6 Nov 2018 at 08:10

What do you currently drive? That would give us some idea of how much extra power you are looking for.

vanpeebles · 6 Nov 2018 at 08:12

Something diesel lol

thewanted · 6 Nov 2018 at 08:16

vanpeebles said:
Something diesel lol

When I read the thread title I immediately thought Caterham or Lotus, but this probably makes more sense

rodenal · 6 Nov 2018 at 08:17

I've got bad news for you - until you get to properly silly power or ultra light weight (Atom or caterham for example) you will never feel like the car is pushing you back into your seat for more than the first few times you drive it

BPR · 6 Nov 2018 at 08:29

Joe T said:
What do you currently drive? That would give us some idea of how much extra power you are looking for.

Only a small 1.4 pushing just over 100 break so most things will probably feel torquey to me

rodenal said:
I've got bad news for you - until you get to properly silly power or ultra light weight (Atom or caterham for example) you will never feel like the car is pushing you back into your seat for more than the first few times you drive it

It doesn’t have to be ridiculously powerful, my brothers BMW you can feel the torque of at only a low rev range, is there any way to find out the Rev range of the cars?

Thanks for the replies all

rodenal · 6 Nov 2018 at 08:31

Pretty much any turbo charged car or most large capacity 6 cylinder + na engines will feel torquey low down.

For £2.5k I would look for something like an Octavia vrs or maybe Leon cupra, but they'll be old and need love

BPR · 6 Nov 2018 at 08:34

rodenal said:
Pretty much any turbo charged car or most large capacity 6 cylinder + na engines will feel torquey low down

Thank you

any cars you’d recommend to look at?

vanpeebles · 6 Nov 2018 at 08:35

Look for the torque at rpm figure. My old Alfa 156 v6 was 164 lb ft @ 5000 rpm vs the Mondeo 2.2 I had which was 265 lb ft at 1800 rpm.

BPR · 6 Nov 2018 at 08:41

vanpeebles said:
Look for the torque at rpm figure. My old Alfa 156 v6 was 164 lb ft @ 5000 rpm vs the Mondeo 2.2 I had which was 265 lb ft at 1800 rpm.

Oh okay, I’ll have a look at a few now, thanks for the advice

lordrobs · 6 Nov 2018 at 08:46

rodenal said:
Pretty much any turbo charged car or most large capacity 6 cylinder + na engines will feel torquey low down.

For £2.5k I would look for something like an Octavia vrs or maybe Leon cupra, but they'll be old and need love

I was going to suggest similar. My Octavia vRS with a revo map on it gave the sensation you are looking for (to some degree at least) because the map gave it a huge dollop of torque rather than it actually being quick if that makes sense.

Scania · 6 Nov 2018 at 09:09

If you want to feel low end torque just buy a turbo diesel especially if fuel consumption is a consideration.

MagicBoy · 6 Nov 2018 at 09:11

VAG 1.9 TDI PD FTW.

Firestar_3x · 6 Nov 2018 at 09:23

306 with screw mod.

vanpeebles · 6 Nov 2018 at 09:36

Firestar_3x said:
306 with screw mod.

Hahahaha

That's going back, this place used to be full of those.

BPR · 6 Nov 2018 at 09:45

Scania said:
If you want to feel low end torque just buy a turbo diesel especially if fuel consumption is a consideration.

What are 2.2 Honda Civic TD like?

Clarkey · 6 Nov 2018 at 09:45

Scania said:
If you want to feel low end torque just buy a turbo diesel especially if fuel consumption is a consideration.

Yep. My VW 2.0TDI pulls really nicely, even after driving a much more powerful petrol car you aren't left disappointed. Economy is good, buy one.

Scania · 6 Nov 2018 at 09:49

BPR said:
What are 2.2 Honda Civic TD like?

Never driven one but I’d imagine a 2.2TD in something the size of a Civic should deliver just the power/torque delivery feel that your after.

sigma · 6 Nov 2018 at 10:00

Only driven a 2.2 Civic briefly but it was reasonably nice tbh!

Resident · 6 Nov 2018 at 10:20

A Mk3 Mondeo ST Hatch. You can pick up a decent one for around 1500. Then spend 500 on a panel filter, bigger FMIC, backbox delete and a remap.

I've got a 2.2 estate as my daily that's running around 160bhp and it pulls like a train.