What to expect moving to a car with decent performance the first time?

XeNoN89

XeNoN89

XeNoN89

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Currently am still driving my first car; a 1.4 MKIV Golf, which has an incredibly slow 0-60 of over 13seconds!

Plans for my next car are a hot hatch, and have been looking at things like a MKV Golf GTI, which has a more respectable 0-60 of just over 6 seconds.

What should i expect when i make the jump to a better performing car?

How long does it take to get used to the extra power on average?

Any advice so that i don't buy a nice car and then throw it into a ditch at my first try?

Thanks :p
 
Be sensible and you'll avoid ditches.

The new car will probably feel like a spaceship for a few hours and progressively reduce to barely feeling quick at all after a couple of weeks.

The best bet (IMO) is have a sensible play with the "power" somewhere safe, like a quiet dual carriage way for half hour - get all the "OMG POWER" out of your system, and continue on your merry way.

When I got my first powerful car (Moving from a 60bhp 1.2 Corsa to a 170bhp modified Calibra when I was barely 18) I was a bit of a dick, although I had experience of faster cars (albeit off-road) and went out on the first night overtaking everything I could find (a task that was tough in the Corsa!) - I wouldn't recommend this course of action to anyone else, I had some close calls.
 
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Yeah just be sensible. Don't do what I did on the test drive and end up facing the wrong way on a roundabout.
 
At 20 I went from a car with 60bhp and 0-60 of 13.9 seconds to a car as quick as the MKV Golf GTi. Just be sensible, don't try showing off to anyone and you'll be fine.

Tyres and brakes are very important with cars like this - make sure you get good ones as one day they could save your life.
 
Tute said:
Yeah just be sensible. Don't do what I did on the test drive and end up facing the wrong way on a roundabout.
Click to expand...

Oh you need to go into more detail on that!

It entirely depends on the car, I've not driven a Mk5 GTI so I cant comment on them specifically. But some cars will not feel that quick, but you look down at the speedo and you're doing silly speeds. Some will feel a lot quicker than they are. Power delivery, ride and noise play a big part in how a car feels - much more so than the 0-60 time.
 
Depends on the car, I went from a 1.6 Diesel to a 2.5 Turbo Petrol and in all honesty they didnt feel that different, it was just quicker at doing everything. Although its scary how you can be in 3rd gear and doing 80mph.

Probably helped that underneath both cars were identical though as they were both based on the MK2 Ford Focus.
 
Goes without saying really but I'll say it anyway..

Especially if it's a second hand car, make sure all the tyres are matching and are decent tyres, and check the pressures are correct.

NEVER show off, and don't overtake unless you know it's safe
 
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You get used to speed very quickly, it takes time to get use to its application and the fact you are entering a corner quicker than you were in the less poweful car and having to brake harder too to get the speed off. Distances become smaller and the car will act differently as you carry more speed. Build up to it and it's really not a problem. A good driver, any age, could get in a Porsche, Ferrari, Lambo from a Metro 1.1 and drive it perfectly safely and with ever increasing speed. The fact that many don't perhaps tells you they are not good drivers.........well not as good as they thought perhaps.
 
It will only go as fast as you make it go no matter how fast it is & you will be used to the speed in 6 weeks & bored again.
 
Given the amount of times its' discussed on here, I'm surprised no-one has mentioned tyres!

If you're concerned, get some brand new good grippy tyres on it before taking it out anywhere - you'll at least get the best chance of keeping it on the road if you do overcook it at all.

Also, get the "oooh power" feeling out on an empty straight road - Then you'll find if there is any strange pulling to the left or right under power, you'll know about it without involving the front end of another car ;)
 
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