What's considered good bhp

wotzgoingon

As above what is considered decent bhp?
My own opinion is 150-200 bhp.
I know you can get a lot of car's with more but that range above is good performance, so I think anyway.

dgt

Power to weight

Keith186

dgt wrote: »

Power to weight

e=mc²

toastedpickles

bout tree fiddy

wotzgoingon

dgt wrote: »

Power to weight

Sure some TDi's I drove have 110 bhp and I didn't consider them slow. Don't know what they weighed though.

Toyotafanboi

dgt wrote: »

Power to weight

i agree.

i had 130bhp in my starlet and it was nippy as ****. i had the same in the vectra and it was very sluggish.

i think they say the "minimum requirement" for fun is 100bhp per tonne isn't it?

dgt

A good example. This 325 has about a 100bhp advantage over the Seicento, which weighs about 700kg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVBMlYWWcvc

Noccy_Mondy

Ya entirely depends on the cars size/weight, Mondeo's 125 is great, even the 90 in the Focus ain't too shabby, the pin moves up fairly lively. Now only if I had 125 in the focus......

JC01

It's very true what other posters said about power to weight but IMO 200+ is the minimum before you can even start calling a car nippy, and that would be in the like of an old light jap car etc.

Guy:Incognito

I'd like more than 180 in my s80. Another 50 maybe.

YbFocus

Have 220 in the 530 and it used to seem nippy. You become used to it like anything!

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

I'd like more than 180 in my s80. Another 50 maybe.

Theres some serious speed in an S80 with 180BHP

i was very happy with the S80 with the power it had even with my one having an automatic gearbox, still plenty of power and speed from a 2L !

Comhrá

My 1980 Mk.1 Golf GTI had 110 bhp back in the day and it was a right little black rocket. (Didn't have the brakes to match though) and recently I had a 2011 VW Jetta with 105 bhp and it was pretty leisurely.

Have an Audi A3 Saloon 1.4 petrol with 138 bhp and it feels pretty fast and is a pleasure to drive it on a bit occasionally.

The bhp no. is only half the story. weight/power ratio plus the gearing and maybe aerodynamics?

Kenny Logins

dgt wrote: »

Power to weight

This. 100 bhp in a beetle (~800kgs and RWD) is a lot of fun. In a Golf it's just meh.

Chimaera

How much is enough is a bit complicated. Power to weight has to be the figure used for any comparison - a 125 bhp Caterham is going to be a whole pile faster than a 150 bhp Golf because of the better power to weight ratio.

After that though it depends on what kind of driving experience you want and how often you want to experience it. A 450 bhp sports car is going to be great fun on a track, but your opportunities to make use of that power in the real world will be limited: the speeds you need to achieve to enjoy the car are too high for most roads.

Which brings me neatly to the idea of grip and traction. There's an increasing argument to be made for bringing grip down to allow more fun at lower speeds and lower power levels. James May made the point well when he compared the Caterham R600 to the new 160 model: the R600 was dynamite on a track but just not that much use in the real world. Chris Harris found something similar when he put 4 spacesavers on a Merc C63 AMG and hooned it around a track: the stupidly low grip made it a lot more fun.

For normal driving in the real world, I reckon something around 100-150 bhp/tonne is probably the usable limit. More than that is nice, but you're heading into diminishing returns.

Comhrá

This was the coolest car in the 80's: 112 bhp, 0-60 in 8.4 sec. Around 115 mph max (Aerodynamics of a load of bales)

Pretty economic if driven reasonably, around 35mpg overall.

Serious fun to drive though

corglass

Keith186 wrote: »

e=mc²

That's not exactly relevant here. ...

Supergurrier

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime wrote: »

Theres some serious speed in an S80 with 180BHP

i was very happy with the S80 with the power it had even with my one having an automatic gearbox, still plenty of power and speed from a 2L !

Would tend to disagree tbh, by no means a fast car and my S60 weighs even less, plus manual gearing is too long.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

wotzgoingon wrote: »

As above what is considered decent bhp?
My own opinion is 150-200 bhp.
I know you can get a lot of car's with more but that range above is good performance, so I think anyway.

I drove a 1988 ford F350 with a 188bhp 7.3 litre engine in a 3 ton truck.
BHP aint everything laaad

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Supergurrier wrote: »

Would tend to disagree tbh, by no means a fast car and my S60 weighs even less, plus manual gearing is too long.

It's quick by irish standards, if you're used to sh!tty cars then 180bhp in a car that weighs a house is still quick.
In the real world though it isn't fast at all. Fast IMO is a sub 7 seconds 0-60. Sub 5 seconds would be epicly fast.

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime

Supergurrier wrote: »

Would tend to disagree tbh, by no means a fast car and my S60 weighs even less, plus manual gearing is too long.

That's strange tbh.... i mean i got mine upto about 145-150mph according to the speedo a few times

The thing was about the s80 was it never felt fast but it actually was , it just never felt it

HandsomeDan

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime wrote: »

That's strange tbh.... i mean i got mine upto about 145-150mph according to the speedo a few times

The thing was about the s80 was it never felt fast but it actually was , it just never felt it

Top speed 9nly has a limited bearing on acceleration which is really what it's all about.

8 to 60 is adequate. 6 and below is fast. Imo.

StudentDad

I often wonder what's the bloody point in Ireland. I was travelling behind a Skoda VRS recently and you could feel the frustration of the driver. All that power and literally nowhere to go with it. He drove aggressively, overtook like a maniac and two minutes up the road I'll roll on up behind him.

I'm not a slow driver by any means but by god I often think, what's the point?

SD

mphalo1

300bhp no less

quadrifoglio verde

StudentDad wrote: »

I often wonder what's the bloody point in Ireland. I was travelling behind a Skoda VRS recently and you could feel the frustration of the driver. All that power and literally nowhere to go with it. He drove aggressively, overtook like a maniac and two minutes up the road I'll roll on up behind him.

I'm not a slow driver by any means but by god I often think, what's the point?

SD

Quiet Country road, lots of bends and more than 100bhp/tonne equals big cheesy smile.

StudentDad

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

Quiet Country road, lots of bends and more than 100bhp/tonne equals big cheesy smile.

I agree Can be hard to find though.

SD

quadrifoglio verde

StudentDad wrote: »

I agree Can be hard to find though.

SD

They're everywhere...

corktina

Noccy_Mondy wrote: »

Ya entirely depends on the cars size/weight, Mondeo's 125 is great, even the 90 in the Focus ain't too shabby, the pin moves up fairly lively. Now only if I had 125 in the focus......

I think 202 in my Mondeo and 173 in my Focus are not shabby at all :-)

wotzgoingon

corktina wrote: »

I think 202 in my Mondeo and 173 in my Focus are not shabby at all :-)

Which is faster (not top speed but quickest off the line) and better to drive?

Twas Not

dgt wrote: »

A good example. This 325 has about a 100bhp advantage over the Seicento, which weighs about 700kg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVBMlYWWcvc

Sounded like the Beemer was in the wrong gear.

corktina

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Which is faster (not top speed but quickest off the line) and better to drive?

good question...the Mondeo just shades it (0-60 7.7 as opposed to 7.9) and is more comfortable. The Focus is probably more fun as it doesn't look quite as out there as the Mondeo