Club G40 Forum
Club G40 => General Car Chat => Topic started by: dannyb.G40 on March 30, 2009, 05:39:22 pm
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Don't get me wrong before im crucified, i've had my G for coming up on a year on wednesday and I love her to bits. I can see the speed and satisfaction in terms of power delivery, not many cars can put their foot down and take off instantly in pretty much any gear.
But is it more a case of being fast for what they are, on paper there are plenty of things that should beat it, startlet turbos for example, civic EK9's (although rare). People talk of being quicker than type R's etc but my G was never quicker than my mates red top corsa and was left for dust by my mates Golf G60.
I was trying to catch a BMW 320D on the motorway the other day cause his bonnet was popped and I couldn't, it was neck and neck (I think he thought i was chasing him). My G isn't stupidly tuned with basically a 65mm pulley, 4-2-1 granny and chip to suit, but thats not what im saying (there are "T40's" with over 200 bhp).
I guess what im saying is you always hear of how quick g40's are... but quick in terms of what...
(this isn't intended to be a g40 vs.)
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this comes up loads and is a good topic...in my opinion they are... in typical standard/mild tune arent proper bonkers but just a good all round fun machine with a surprising amount of power...my 130bhp g gave a 160 bhp fiesta st a really good run for its money on the weekend and the lad was gobsmacked although took it really well and we had a really good bit of banter on the sideof the road...the usual 'what the fucks in that' words were said!
yes there are some stupid quick G's out there which will destroy a lot of things so yes they can be 'that' quick...ones like mine however...just a right good laugh...just know your cars and dont mess with absolutly everything otherwise you could end up looking like a bell end.
In my opinion i think they are really tremendous cars, sound great, drive reasonably well and give sooo much pleasure...and what i get a kick out of is the surprise factor and the fact now that they are becoming (all mk3's actually) a bit of retro vehicle rarely seen these days!
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Honestly, not compared to modern stuff.
But I get to drive all sorts at work, and though I've driven plenty of faster cars there are few things I've driven which give the all round buzz of a G40. It's a sort of unnatural feeling, like this shouldn't be possible!
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try asking the guy in the audi rs4 who raced yoof at santa pod this weekend just gone ;D 'im sure he'd say g40s are pretty quick.
In fairness though, you are talking about more standard ones. For an 18 year old car wit a 1.3 8v engine they don't do bad at all. Surprised you had trouble with that bmw, have you had your car on a rolling road? what power did it make?
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even stock ones arent bad with new parts (not necessarily uprated) hayesey was quite impressed by the quiet nature of mine!
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cant believe you had problems with 2.0 corsas? 2.0 turbo yes but i cant see this maybe 100% std one? i more than happy with my G had a RR on my G60 mk2 197bhp and G40 was far quciker due to weight etc i think its nice to have something rare and plus im not into vauxhall or id have a 2.0 nova as i class that as vauxhall equivelent
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My current G40 is standard but my old one much much quicker. At the time I thought it was the fastest car and earth and I drove it like it was! It would surprise a lot of people and I remember racing a G60 who was very very close but the extra rev range on the G just gave me that edge and he hung his white hanky out of the window!!
Since then I've had a Mini Cooper S .... also modified (245bhp) which wouldn't pull on the G until they really got some speed. I also had a BMW Z4 which wouldn't pull on the Mini until they really got speed. Neither the Cooper S nor the Z4, or any other car I have driven gave me the buzz and feeling of the G40. The power and the noise combined I never found from another car which is how I ended up getting my second one.
Aside from that I always found that making the G40 quicker was fairly inexpensive (compared to modern cars). I used to send it down to PSD with a couple of hundred quid, it would come back and I would really notice a difference. I loved it!
I don't know what it is about them which makes people think they are fast (some obviously are). Maybe it's the way they put down the power, or the fact the body is so light and small and you're so close to the floor? Either way, I'm not letting mine go again!
Good topic!
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hayesey was quite impressed by the quiet nature of mine!
indeed, it had been a long time since I'd been in a standard g40! I forgot how good they are just standard.
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ironically I had a rangy sport (only the HSE but still...) riding me last night at the traffic lights, a quick cog down and i was leaving him up the dual carriageway, the next set of traffic lights prompted a few funny looks at the car and a bit less cockiness, i suppose having your 20grand car left by and "old banger" tends to bring you down a few notches...especially when you roll up in an RS4 expecting to kill an old banger.
I don't think its a case of them actually being "that" fast, maybe more a case of no-one expects them to be "that" fast.
Whatever it is I love it!
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HSE could be a TDV6, TDV8 or a supercharged petrol V8, it's a trim level. If it had no other badges it's probably a diesel, and tbh most of them are V6 diesels, but you should've been able to crucify any of them in a drag race. I've driven the TDV8 and it's really really slow considering it does maximum of about 25mpg. Nice car though. You'll probably see off a supercharged one in a lightly modded G40.
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I don't think its a case of them actually being "that" fast, maybe more a case of no-one expects them to be "that" fast.
I like that, I think it sums it up pretty well. No one at spring fest was giving yoofs car a second glance until he did his first run and got a 12.5!
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Answers to this question all relate to how much power you are running i guess.
standard G's are quick but not as quick as they used to be compared to new hot hatches as the game has moved along way towards 200bhp in a small hot hatch.
Modified G's are quick but only when possible, what i mean is i am running 235bhp in the A3 and in everyday driving its faster than my G but come to a dual carrageway on a dry day the G will completely destroy it.
So yes the G is quick in the right conditions.
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HSE could be a TDV6, TDV8 or a supercharged petrol V8, it's a trim level. If it had no other badges it's probably a diesel, and tbh most of them are V6 diesels, but you should've been able to crucify any of them in a drag race. I've driven the TDV8 and it's really really slow considering it does maximum of about 25mpg. Nice car though. You'll probably see off a supercharged one in a lightly modded G40.
The 3.6l TDV8 goes well given the weight it's hauling around - nicer to drive in RR Sport guise than RR, though you do look like more of a drug dealer! ;)
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Yeah, maybe I'm being a little harsh but it's not as entertaining as I expected. The TDV8 is a lovely engine, and as you say for something which weighs about the same as Africa it's not bad to drive. The power delivery gently presses you into the leather though, and I got sick of it just burning fuel all the time and not really raising a smile. I wouldn't own one.
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Mines pretty nippy... its taken out a load of cars that on paper should whip it. only 200 miles of running in before i can start pissing off the local dickheads in the there clio 172's again....
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12.5s i new i'd regret not going to santa pod this weekend >:(
My mate bought himself a punto GT last year and was saying he'd blitz my G40 an old vw scrapper he joked, how wrong he was, pulled up at some lights after abit of thrash his face was a picture,
I reckon mine is only 130ish bhp and its on a diet, but when the boot goes down it feels so much quicker than it should do compared to newer cars of equal power and size,
clio 172's should romp all over a G but i kept up with one last nite until he backed off to spare himself the humiliation ;D
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People seem to get tied up in power figures etc.
A quick car is one that you can plant your foot fully in second and launch with no problems, chassis & drivetrain are very overlooked in my opinion.
Spend some time & cash in certain areas of a G40 and you can have a massive impact upon its real point to point speed.
I've been thinking about a 150bhp turbo'd G40 as a daily for ages now, I might get round to doing it one day...with a decent suspension set-up and sorted chassis you'd need a fairly quick car to beat it.
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12.5 yoof you massive dick head! :D
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;D
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Bloody hell Pete, you've run a 12.5??? :o :o :o
FFS, that's a massive leap over the already hugely impressive 13.1 you ran last year.
What differences have you made to the car since last year then or is it just mucho tweaking??
C'mon, do tell all.
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12.5 that's quick!
Anyway what we must remember is the qeight of the G is very light, and with over 150BHP in a car that weighs less than 900kg will make it very quick. When we talk of quick lets say acceleration - because G40's accelerate rapidly!
I had a bit of a race the on sunday against a new Golf GTI 200bhp version, not edition 30. he was not amused as I wanted to overtake.
in standard form 8 years ago i raced a vr6 golf from the lights to 80mph. at the next set of lights he said - polo!! it was neck and neck.
the best race i had was in 4th gear at 70mph - with my cousin driving my subaru impreza 300bhp again in 4th gear we both floored it and before the turbo spooled up on that scoob i wa 2 cars ahead in the g. that's the power of the supercharger.
i would however never race the scoob, but it shows you can have fun in the G and astonish most cars on the road. even if you don't beat them.
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I always found the best way to drive your G is to get a head and not just follow, if you just stick with them your wasting your power advantage of the charger.
basically blitz them and then by the time they catch up its over.
the difference between older fast cars and newer cars is you feel the speed in the older cars.
sit at 100 in your G and see how it feels, do that in any new modern day car it just doesn't feel the same. my dads zafaira at 100 feels like nothing, no driving feeling at all.
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Good topic this. Some really good points being made too in my opinion.
I personally think its the 'old car', 'new car' situation. An old car seems quicker and generally gives you more of a 'driving' experinece and feel, be it driving or in the passenger seat (not that it means all new cars dont give good feel).
Due to the stringent safety regs new cars are put through this means that they have to be bigger and heavier in general - back when the G's were in production many cars were smaller and lighter. 113bhp in a car of today would almost certainly not give the same sort of drive and experince of fun and speed. Just cant compare new to old really.
When i had my G as standard i thought it was quick for what it was and the fact that it would embarrass much newer more powerful motors was always a real pleaser. I like the fact that its not an obviously quick car to look at - makes it all the better!
G40's are quick for what they are: a small coupe from the early 90's with a 1.3 engine.
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My local road to hell is the A9 Perth to Inverness,110 miles of exasperation unless I'm in the G. I've had a few jaunts up and down in big beasty Mercs;the G covers the ground quicker,with no brown moments. A fortnight after I sold my old one I realised something special was missing from my life and I bet I'm not the only sad bastard to feel that.
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My local road to hell is the A9 Perth to Inverness,110 miles of exasperation unless I'm in the G. I've had a few jaunts up and down in big beasty Mercs;the G covers the ground quicker,with no brown moments. A fortnight after I sold my old one I realised something special was missing from my life and I bet I'm not the only sad bastard to feel that.
nope you ain't!
i sold my G 3yrs ago and bought it back off the guy i sold it to a year later!
The G will always be in my life!
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I had no issues disposing of a 58 plate Mk5 R32 yesterday, from 80-1**mph he couldn't stick with me. I thought he would be quicker at those sort of speeds... unfortunately, he wasn't the one going home on a trailer :(
I would say mine, in a straight line, is on par with today's modern hatches, round corners, they are just another league though, obviously!
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I find, it depends how heavy you are and how many passengers...
My (stock) G has more HP/Tonne than a TT, but if I have a large passenger it makes a large difference.. It is fastest car I've ever been in from 80 to 120, and its untuned, factory default.!
IMO, if I can spend 3/4hr chasing a decent looking boxster down the M5, up and down hills, (I got it to a ridiculous speed down portishead bridge after hitting the top of the hill at 120) with the porshe just unable to get away, that'll do from my (originally) £600 car.... ! And I've sat at 120 for an hour with no grumble, couldn't say that about my race tuned (MED) metro engines.
Keep the faith!, you have just got used to the G force and after a bit it has become normal. Drive a 1.4 astra for a few weeks and try again... Look at the shock on VR6's faces when they get flown past by a very very normal looking mk3 polo...! Makes life almost worthwile :-).
NEAL
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I don't think its a case of them actually being "that" fast, maybe more a case of no-one expects them to be "that" fast.
I like that, I think it sums it up pretty well. No one at spring fest was giving yoofs car a second glance until he did his first run and got a 12.5!
Wow! didn't think that the 13sec barrier had been broken! What's the spec?
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http://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=144597
There are two youtube vids at the bottom of yoof's post, very impressive!
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Just got my G in reasonable fettle for the summer and today, having nursed the charger for 400 miles after service, it got to go. A Focus ST thinking I was too slow asked me to get out of his way on a roundabout with a lot of horn. We took the same exit, he came up inside me and nailed it. I went with him and at 110 he still hadn't got his nose in front. This was a pity cos there was a truck in his lane and he damn near went under it as he braked . He took it well though, a flash of the lights and a wave(well I think it was a wave) and he nipped down an off ramp. That's a G with 130 horses.
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@ Yoof, How are you launching that? I'm gathering you're starting in 2nd. Mine lights the wheels up badly in 1st at half throttle!
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Yoof launches in 1st.
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Start in 1st- about 3500rpm, use some clutch up off the line ;)
I would launch in second but I'm not sure it would make much differance- my 0-60 is already under 4 seconds when in drag spec ;D
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0-60 in under 4 seconds? Jesus christ :o
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Awesome! ;D How much power are you running there?