Are cars getting too fast?

[bigmike20vt]

No, there was no need to do what he was totally allowed and within his rights to do. Racing people around roundabouts is dangerous. Especially one that crosses a dual carriageway where people enter at 40-50mph if they think it's clear. It was quite obvious what I was doing and for all he knew I was unaware of the lane directions as they're not clearly signed.

He floored it order to totally get in my way. Sticking his finger up at the BMW driver in his unexpectedly fast car. Correct lane or not.

but didnt you also floor it? BMW drivers have a certain stereotype that some how the fast lane is theirs....... maybe i am reading you wrong but that is exactly how you are sounding now TBH.... you were in the wrong lane (no judgement, it happens to the best of us some times) but you also tried to queue jump by your own admission by giving it the welly.

the other driver was no worse than you imo, only difference being they were in the correct lane, you could easily of indicated and waiting for someone to let you in.

 

[Greboth]

I agree, but you can safely overtake a slow-moving vehicle or cyclist in practically anything; you don't need a 400HP EV to do it, and yet this is what family-orientated cars like the new Explorer EV can have.

This is where power to weight is a better metric. Sure a family EV SUV might have 400bhp but at over 2.5 tons, it’s got lower power to weight, at 150-160bhp/t than even warm hatches nevermind hot hatches.

The instant torque of EV’s can bely their size but they’re not some monstrous vehicles until you get the high end in which case people could also buy super/hyper cars which can be just as fast.

 

[Nasher]

how would that work for hyper cars? i am guessing they will be exempt for some reason...... however then basically what that means is only rich people should be allowed to drive fast.

Probably the same limits unless you remove the limiter. Easy to do on petrol cars, but might not be possible on EVs.

 

[bigmike20vt]

Probably the same limits unless you remove the limiter. Easy to do on petrol cars, but might not be possible on EVs.

it would be kind of amusing . some guy gets his stunning new 2025 Ferrari, £300k or what ever of gorgeous car............ getting overtaken by some chav 17 year old in a 30 year old ford orion once they hit 112mph

 

[Nasher]

it would be kind of amusing . some guy gets his stunning new 2025 Ferrari, £300k or what ever of gorgeous car............ getting overtaken by some chav 17 year old in a 30 year old ford orion once they hit 112mph

It's the reality already on many electric cars. The mundane stuff like i3, Leaf etc only do about 90, though they run out of steam way before that. Just keep your foot in it and byebye

 

[inogen]

but didnt you also floor it? BMW drivers have a certain stereotype that some how the fast lane is theirs....... maybe i am reading you wrong but that is exactly how you are sounding now TBH.... you were in the wrong lane (no judgement, it happens to the best of us some times) but you also tried to queue jump by your own admission by giving it the welly.

the other driver was no worse than you imo, only difference being they were in the correct lane, you could easily of indicated and waiting for someone to let you in.

Yeah I did floor it I did that because every time I've pulled the same manoeuvre around that roundabout (which I use about 20 times a week) for the last 20 years, I've deemed it safer to be the one travelling fastest rather than waiting to see if the other car inside of me is turning right or not. The key is to be in the inside line of the roundabout by the time you encounter possible traffic coming from the left across the roundabout on the dual carriageway. I wait before entering the roundabout at all until I'm certain the car on the inside of me is either indicating right or has no chance of keeping up with me. Until that one time... So now I have to make sure it's not an EV masquerading as a sewing machine driven by someone with a chip on their shoulder too.

 

[bigmike20vt]

It's the reality already on many electric cars. Just keep your foot in it and byebye

it depends on the EV and the car... but sure, evs tend to have a lower top speed. i have said before my current car is the slowest (top speed) performance car i have ever owned (limited to 125mph).

personally i am fine with that, 125 is not far off double our max legal speed limit. i (once) did 150 in my 350z and once did similar in my 1st fiat coupe. i am an ok driver but certainly nothing special... but that is by the by, i could have been Lewis hamilton but the fact is if anything had gone wrong such as a blow out or an unexpected pothole in the road and it would have been game over for me, and worse still possibly game over for any other car even remotely close.

maybe i have grown up a bit but i havent even gone over triple digits in my new car, i just dont feel the need to. the fact that my car tells me how much power i am wasting when i do give it the beans may also play a role...... but further more, getting caught on camera at those speeds is possible jail time now and with every person and their dog seemingly having dash cams, there is no way to know when you are being recorded these days.

TLDR i am fine even with a 112mph limited speed. i do like how fast i can get up there tho

 

[TheVoice]

This is where power to weight is a better metric. Sure a family EV SUV might have 400bhp but at over 2.5 tons, it’s got lower power to weight, at 150-160bhp/t than even warm hatches nevermind hot hatches.

The instant torque of EV’s can bely their size but they’re not some monstrous vehicles until you get the high end in which case people could also buy super/hyper cars which can be just as fast.

That's a fair point, but looking at the Explorer EV specs even the entry-level 286PS one will do 0-60 in 6.4 seconds, nearly a full second quicker than the similarly-priced Kuga ST. The top-spec Explorer is a second quicker again and faster than a Focus ST. These are not the best examples by any stretch I'll admit, but when some entry-level EVs are beating the performance versions of their ICE equivalents it does show that "regular" family vehicles can potentially have much more power than their owners might otherwise be used to.

 

[bigmike20vt]

So now I have to make sure it's not an EV masquerading as a sewing machine driven by someone with a chip on their shoulder too.

hello pot....... meet kettle

wolf in sheeps clothing cars have been around for ages tho..... remember the pulsar GTI? there are plenty of other examples tho. a friend of a friend of mine had a souped up nissan micra, its top speed was still really low, but he embarrassed me in my mildly fettled fiat coupe in a 0-40mph standing start.

 

[jpaul]

It's similar to all the safety and driver aid functions like stability control etc.... It makes people believe they are better drivers than they are and so therefore take bigger and bigger risks.

Can't people sense or see on the dashboard when the aids cut-in ? I mean if you were going around a bend and see a light isn't that kinda scary -

( most frustrating thing following 2T SUV's are the additional braking margin you have to leave, into bends/roundabouts , giving lack of driving fluency,
and, overtake areas needing skill end in bends. )

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Can't people sense or see on the dashboard when the aids cut-in ? I mean if you were going around a bend and see a light isn't that kinda scary -

( most frustrating thing following 2T SUV's are the additional braking margin you have to leave, into bends/roundabouts , giving lack of driving fluency,
and, overtake areas needing skill end in bends. )

Thats crappy drivers, what they drive doesnt matter.

aids cut-in? Not very intrusive clearly if you need a light to tell you they are working! I just cant understand how your brain thinks - going round a bend and increasing your speed to hit a speed limiter you didnt have before and yet you link same sentence to people braking into bends? HINT : braking means they tend to be slowing a car.

 

[Nasher]

it depends on the EV and the car... but sure, evs tend to have a lower top speed. i have said before my current car is the slowest (top speed) performance car i have ever owned (limited to 125mph).

personally i am fine with that, 125 is not far off double our max legal speed limit. i (once) did 150 in my 350z and once did similar in my 1st fiat coupe. i am an ok driver but certainly nothing special... but that is by the by, i could have been Lewis hamilton but the fact is if anything had gone wrong such as a blow out or an unexpected pothole in the road and it would have been game over for me, and worse still possibly game over for any other car even remotely close.

maybe i have grown up a bit but i havent even gone over triple digits in my new car, i just dont feel the need to. the fact that my car tells me how much power i am wasting when i do give it the beans may also play a role...... but further more, getting caught on camera at those speeds is possible jail time now and with every person and their dog seemingly having dash cams, there is no way to know when you are being recorded these days.

TLDR i am fine even with a 112mph limited speed. i do like how fast i can get up there tho

Yea it's a bit naughty on public roads. But it also means if you dabble with track days it's going to feel like a milk float when up against petrol cars with "similar" power.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Probably the same limits unless you remove the limiter. Easy to do on petrol cars, but might not be possible on EVs.

Source? What on earth is the difference between speed management on a petrol car and an EV. You are beyond clueless, ever thought of retiring?

 

[Simon]

Ehat

Can't people sense or see on the dashboard when the aids cut-in ? I mean if you were going around a bend and see a light isn't that kinda scary -

( most frustrating thing following 2T SUV's are the additional braking margin you have to leave, into bends/roundabouts , giving lack of driving fluency,
and, overtake areas needing skill end in bends. )

2T SUVs are different to 2T EVs due to where the mass is. You seem to be responding about EV here and so I don’t see why ICE rolly boats are relevant here.

As for traction control. You shouldn’t need a light to let you realise it’s kicked in…

 

[Nasher]

Ehat

2T SUVs are different to 2T EVs due to where the mass is. You seem to be responding about EV here and so I don’t see why ICE rolly boats are relevant here.

As for traction control. You shouldn’t need a light to let you realise it’s kicked in…

The mass is still there, there is no hiding that. So still quite sluggish in corners because of the momentum behind them. They just don't quite roll as much. Some sports cars roll a bit, you can manage that but you can't do anything about mass.

Also most have quite skinny wheels which doesn't help things.

 

[Simon]

The mass is still there, there is no hiding that. So still quite sluggish in corners because of the momentum behind them. They just don't quite roll as much.

Also most have quite skinny tyres which doesn't help things. They rely heavily on software to keep them in check once they start trying to drive them quick.

Driving quick and jpaul having to adapt his driving due to a 2t suv ‘battling corners’ to just make progress are two very different things.

Most are twin motor and 4wd and have no issues around corners. In fact the corner exit acceleration is a benefit

Even a ID buzz that’s 2.4to goes around corners just fine…

 

[Nasher]

Driving quick and jpaul having to adapt his driving due to a 2t suv ‘battling corners’ to just make progress are two very different things.

Most are twin motor and 4wd and have no issues around corners. In fact the corner exit acceleration is a benefit

Even a ID buzz that’s 2.4to goes around corners just fine…

Yea at normal speeds, but if you tried to actually corner quickly it will understeer like mad and TC will kick in.

 

[bigmike20vt]

Yea at normal speeds, but if you tried to actually corner quickly it will understeer like mad and TC will kick in.

surely the answer is then people just need to not drive like a nitwit on public roads. the way its going anyway big brother is gonna stop joyriding anyway TBH.

as for trackdays............ accepted maybe EVs will be less fun on a race track, but what percentage of people take their own roadcar on a track? i have no idea but i am guessing far less than 1% of people.

 

[Nasher]

surely the answer is then people just need to not drive like a nitwit on public roads. the way its going anyway big brother is gonna stop joyriding anyway TBH.

as for trackdays............ accepted maybe EVs will be less fun on a race track, but what percentage of people take their own roadcar on a track? i have no idea but i am guessing far less than 1% of people.

Sure but people still want to enjoy the car and have SOME fun. It's not much fun when you can't toy with it a bit. It's also how you learn to control it better.

 

[marinersfan]

I got in to grandad saloons at an early age. So got used to manhandling wallowy old boats round bends.
While my mates had Golfs I was in a 130bhp Rover 400 saloon.

I've only had 1 car over 200 bhp, a 508 GT. Which had loads of torque, so I just spent the year or so I had it planting my right foot. It didn't really care what gear it was in most of the time. It just sort of ****** off. Seats gave me terrible back pain.

After an RCZ and a GT 86 I'm back in a floaty barge, a corolla estate. The skill of hustling a soft old tub never leaves you, I've probably upset more than a few thrusting young management sorts in their Audi A4s