How fast can you reliably go for £5000?

InvaderGIR said:
Reliability was very much an issue. It was highly tuned and went wrong veryoften...at that RR it was blowing smoke out of the turbo. :/
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Thing is though, is that it was usually the aftermarket parts that went wrong.

I'm sure the turbo wasn't the original item, the actuator bracket that snapped would have come with either the turbo or actuator, the Samco hose that ripped open...

I don't recall him mentioning any problems with the engine.

Either the aftermarket bits were underspec'd/overworked or it was a bad combination of components. Hardly the fault of the car.
 
Depending on if you like the style a standard GTO/3000GT with 300BHP can be had for around 2k nowadays, leaving plenty left for sensible mods to take you close to 400BHP.

Even in standard trim its 80mph in 2nd before the red line, you hit the standard jap speed limiter at 115mph in 3rd before the red line. With the snip of the speed restrictor wire you are good for 155+mph before mods. 5.6 sec 0-60. My economy is in the mid 20s mpg, but since I always drive it like a loon you can do better with normal driving I am sure. Its a play car for me so always driven hard when I take it out each week.

Reliability? I havent had expensive issues for 7 years now, strolls through MOTs, servicing is cheap and there are a number of good specialists around for both new and used parts.

I admit bias, havent looked back since buying one. Not the best handling car on a track perhaps, its heavy and has AWD, but for general road use and hooning about, more than adaquate unless you are trying to do things you shouldnt do on a public road. Lots of show with your go imho, suits me down to the ground and I make no apologies for it. :)
 
InvaderGIR said:
From what I saw of this one...

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Reliability was very much an issue. It was highly tuned and went wrong veryoften...at that RR it was blowing smoke out of the turbo. :/
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nice motor but my mates was making about 450ish and went through 3 gearboxes in a year - but he was rather keen on ***** ****** supras/skylines/other jap cars so lots of race starts and clutch dumping. his was quickest off the mark up to about a ton then the others seemed to pull in slightly but never beat him over a race distance. it was a homebuilt effort and my mate always went for the proven reliability. going through a rebuild at mo and he's aiming for over 200mph but that's another story lol.

raced a fireblade and lost him at 180ish too. bike would nail him on acceleration but top speeed he would win.

all done on a private race track. ;)
 
Top speed and relaibility makes me think big cubic capacity. Unfortunately Vettes tend to be fairly expensive, so what about this:
http://pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2509267.htm
Nice 5.7ltr engine and fairly good aerodynamics. Well within budget, allowing some decent tuning.
Sure, it'll have a lousy interior and will probably fall off the road at the first sign of a corner, but I got the impression that the OP was looking for serious top speed and not much more.
 
Eliot said:
I totally agree with fox about the power advantage point, i was shocked how little there was in it between my gti6 and a focus st (mk2) the other day, certainly wouldnt have thought it was what a 60hp advantage looked like. I expected to be left but I was with him for a long while
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You have to remember cars weigh a lot more than they used to. The Focus ST according to parkers is 1317kg. Just for comparisons sake my Nissan Primera is 1250kg which is a 4 door family saloon but is a whole 67kg lighter. Thats a whole person near enough.
 
Food for thought :P
I think a 306 gti6 (phase 3) is like 1190ish They are nightmare to compare, all three phases are different weights, rallyees are ment to be lighter than mine By 50kg I think, but I believe that easiest 306 are even lighter :S couple that with the fact the book 0-60 time is a legit as al capones bank account and you get the picture
 
Rich1988 said:
*BIASSSS ALERT*

S14's are good for reliable big(ish) power for example mines running 280bhp, (soon to be 300 after my new injectors) and will do reliably all day long, the engines are strong and the T28 generally reliable, rwd pretty good looking and I can get 30mpg if I drive without hoofing it.

also they are reasonably cheap, you can get one in decent nick (standard) for about 2k and it will cost you about 1/2k depending on how you do it to get to 300bhp.
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What about maintanance, does it eat clutches, how expensive are brake parts, suspention parts, does it need to babied with good oil on scedule or can it likely continue to work fine if abused ? For example my engine is still solid despite being starved of oil once, overheated once, and quite often booted from cold...
 
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To answer Peter's question though we need his definition of fast.

My Lotus does 0-60MPH in 4sec; 0-100 in 10sec yet it doesn't feel fast unless I have markers about - whether they be other vehicles on the road that I am overtaking or a target such as a signpost or bridge. As a passenger in my car, it feels stupidly quick, just not as a driver initially.

So, are you after the thrill of speed? Physical 0-60/0-100 times? Or top speed?

Many cars can be made to feel fast even though they are 'slow' - through exhaust volume or ride height.
 
hurfdurf said:
And yet not one I or many others would disagree with
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But it is not like completely standard cars don't go wrong either. Especially the ones we'd be talking about at this price and performance level.

If you buy something that has been bodged together than the statement would probably ring true, but I wouldn't see the issue with something that has done properly without pushing the proven boundaries.
 
Bug One said:
If you're looking for reliability, anything modified should be off the list.
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Joshy said:
That's an absoultely massive generalisation.
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As Josh said, case in point the MK4 Supra, JDM ones are rated at 276bhp and UK ones at 320bhp (better turbos/bigger injectors/etc) later ones have an extra 5bhp from the vvti however the cars responds incredibly well to tuning and if decent parts are used remain bulletproof, this is because the 2JZ-GTE engine was originally designed to run nearly 600bhp stock however Toyota brass decided against this and the result is an over machined/designed reliability monster.
 
surely the e36 m3 should be being seriously considered? It's going to be the most reliable 300+bhp you can get for this money, and you can buy a completely standard one instead of having to find a pre-tuned or attempting to tune one. Plus it'll leave any jap turbo monsters on a twisty road :p
 
Similar to a WRX Vs a Type RA

The Type RA would usually have the turbo from the STI of that year (for instance MY00 STI either VF28 or VF29. My Type RA had the VF29)

The WRX I think would have the TD04 like the UK cars.

The WRX and Type RA engine is the same. No posh pistons or other stuff they put on the STIs. Just different mapping.

So I don't see why, for instance, putting a VF29 onto a UK Turbo and getting it mapped properly should really make the car than much more unreliable then it would be anyway.

A decent stock UK turbo could be had for £2K. A newage VF35 and other support mods could be another £2K - leaves you with the last £1K for the suspension. Complete waste of money but would be a quick little car (although you would do well to treat the gearbox with care :) )
 
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:cool:
rG-tom said:
surely the e36 m3 should be being seriously considered? It's going to be the most reliable 300+bhp you can get for this money, and you can buy a completely standard one instead of having to find a pre-tuned or attempting to tune one. Plus it'll leave any jap turbo monsters on a twisty road :p
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Beat a jap car on reliability? nope I disagree, plus if it goes wrong it will cost more to repair and it wont leave a lot of the cars in the twisties recommended in here neither
 
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