Perception of performance
 

Yesterday one of the juniors came with us when we went for lunch, went in a client's car, a 335D bmw.

Client put his foot down from the lights, the junior was like "wow, this car is so fast"

I actually thought he was taking the piss at first, then realised he meant it.

Amazing the difference between what feels quick to us petrol heads after going in lots of quick cars, and the general public.

Ive had the same in my 3 door, to me it feels proper pony really when its off gas, but loads of my younger mates think its mentally quick.


I guess Rod must be the ultimate example of this "being spoiled" by power, he was telling JB that his 500bhp or so Saph was slow the other day :cry:


Anyone else had similar experiences with people having a massively different perception of what actually constitutes fast?

I drive a 1.4 Golf everyday, so yano, anything feels fast in comparison. :cry:

yes, happens all the time. There is a mate of mine with a green audi estate diesel who reckons the 100bhp it kicks out if fast. I just sit there and smile ;)

fast for the average joe is not fast for a petrol head.. fast to a petrol head in warp speed 9 for a average joe.:cry:

I think alot also depends on the car though?

When I had a stripped out C20XE Nova, the thing felt like a fucking rocket ship!

100MPH in that shit heap was fucking terryfying.

Yet doing 100MPH in something newer just feels like an easy gentle drive :top:

SNP, definately true about what speed feels quick, but I was referring more to acceleration, and wether the car is rattling and bouncing doesnt really effect your percpetion of G forces under acceleration IMHO

Once you have been in a car over 500bhp, other cars do feel slow.

My S14 is only around 270bhp (at the moment), to me it just feels slow but my missus, all of my mates that arn't in to cars and her mates all think its properly quick.

Its all about perception though isnt it.
Do 100mph in a Morris Minor then do 100mph in a Focus and tell me which was faster.
From experience I can say the Minor gets it. Once you've come down from the adrenalin high and your hands have stopped shaking and you realise how lucky you are to still be alive...:cry:
You dont get that feeling in cars these days.... I guess you'd have to go twice as fast again to get the same high.:?

Maybe this is why folk are never happy with how much they have on tap. By the time you get used to it its become boring

ditto leadfoot, my m3 feels bloody slow but im sure others think it's really fast

my current gf thinks i come to fast chip i think i take too long and my performance is fine roflol

Im not talking about a sustained speed, im talking about what sort of G force your own perception feels constitutes "quick"
That doesnt really make any difference what vehicle its in, you still get the same shove in the back either way.

This summer I had a uni student start to help out over summer. I drove my car into work one day and he asked why it was making so much noise for a escort. ;-)
I just told him it was turboed. He then asked me how fast it was and I say it’s fast. :lol:He then tells me it can’t be fast its and old escort and uses old technology. :cry:Then he starts telling me about his mates Fiesta ST :roll:and how it’s New and the fastest car he has ever been in. Told me it feels amassing off the lights and pulls him to the seat. :sleeping: lol

So know what you mean. It's not limited to the younger chaps with limited experience either. Older guys at work talking about new cars and one has the regular Civic Sport, not even the Type R, and all the others are like wow, thats a quick car. Errr no :cry:

One of the guys camping in our group at le mans was in his new audi estate 2.7tdi and was absolutely gutted my CSL was parked next to it. For some reason he thought he was going to get loads of people looking at his car, regardless of if mine was there or not........

I also love the fact my neighbors think I'm a regular Joe and don't really understand what car I've got. Well they didn't until the first time I returned home after giving it some massive stick up a nearby bypass and upto the start of our estate. They were all outside mowing lawns......I bet they were tutting quietly to themselves :cry:

i think it also has to do with how a car delivers its power. Cos a turbo diesel feels quick becuase it has a big deposit of power, but it really doesnt take long before its run out. Whereas, i have found that people dont think my car is very quick, which i admit its no where near a big power car, but it is 170hp in a light car, but people dont think its quick at all, i think it has to do with the fact that the vct and high revs n/a means it hardly pushes you in your seat as the power is delivered progressively.

SO, ive found that stuff like td feel quick because the turbo delivers the power change all of a sudden and it makes it feel very quick. But in actualy fact if you watch the speedo, they are dalying about.

The most powerful thing I've been in was a modded Montego turbo so I've probably not felt enough of a 'shove' to be able to compare with other stuff.

All the new cars I've driven feel slow and lazy but then those are company cars, not performance cars. I've even come to prefer the diesel models purely because of the turbo.:cry:

The sensation of speed is one thing thats IMPOSSIBLE to imagine unless you have experienced it, so its impossible to imagine anything feels faster the fastest car youve ever been in.
Thats why all these nobheads think their shit car is fast, even against all the facts, just as without experiencing more, its not even possible to imagine it.

I remember not so long ago when someone I know bought a 306 GTI6 and a few mates went out in it and after was saying how fast it was. And its clearly slow as fuck.

Pretty much everyone thinks my Chaser is mentally fast when they go in it, its about 400bhp, but feels shit to me.

Rob at work has an RS2000 4x4 that he thought was pretty quick, but said now he is used to driving the Audi TT at work it feels slow to him now.
But I think BOTH cars feel deathly slow.

I was taken out in a 350bhp Mk5 Golf GTI turbo the other day, DSG box etc so the power kept on and on and on, overtaking everything driving like a nutter on the roads.
Felt slow to me, even tho it clearly wasnt.

And thats jus a few examples off the top of my head.

Nothing under 400bhp feels remotely fast to me anymore, well, hasnt for years. I reckon the Chaser will need about 550-600bhp to entertain me, even though now its frightningly fast to most.

Its jus whatever you used to.

Only car thats ever scared me its so rediculous is the Dragon RX7, and that does 160mph within the 1/4mile and is proven much faster accelerating than even the Bugatti Veyron.

The works flatbed transit "feels quick" Lol compared to my Punto 1.2 i drive everyday, not driven the cossie in almost 3 years so I'll be pissing myself when i do Lol. It's all what your used to, like when you have a hire car etc. you always feel a total difference when you give it back and drive your own car again.

hyabusa turbo cateram, it was so quick, i couldnt understand it

chip i think your right, you class cars based on your own experience

when i was working at nissan i said the 350z feels slow, when i was at mazda the RX7 WAS fucking slow for what i expected

but you judge cars on what you know, i went out in Xrt-Si's old nova XE and i LOVED the car,, wasnt that fast as such but was ALOT faster than i expected it to be and so i LOVED it

i used to think my old cossie wasnt that fast compared to people like Rob Cardens ect, which it wasnt but it DID go very well and done a few porches ect off lights

my scoobie IS slow,,,, feels fast but IS slow though my mates at the gym borrow it and love it cause its rapid for them,,, but they aint owned a fast car just bikes

It's all about what your use to etc but at the end of the day a 335D is still a fairly quick car.

If you drive a 1.4 Astra day in day out and then jump into something like the Beemer you will always be impressed.

But out and out acceleration will feel so different between that BM an a similarily powered Cossie because of the refinement. Plus as has been said already, petrolheads ideas of what is quick and your average joe is miles apart.

I remember going back to my XR2 after driving a mk2 Gof GTD for a month.

It was like a rocket ship.:cry:

Drive a slow car every day - like a pug 205 diesel - and then play in a quicker car at the weekend!

That soon re-sets your perceptions :DD:

i remember going from a 1300 escort to a 350bhp cossie,, that was a shock then the cossie got slow,,, then i started driving a xr3i cabrio as a run about, went back in the cossie when the car broken down,,,, i almost wrote it off due to the power pmsl

then back in the xr3i was soo slow on motorways i changed from 5th t0 3rd at 100 mph as it felt sluggish,,,, the revs went up then i tell you

I though my former cossy was bliztering slow when it boosted 1.9Bar's, but all my mates was holding on for their life. I realized it was quick when I sold it and bought a 2.0L wagon.. haha

I remember going from my Renault 5 GT Turbo to my Stg1 3dr Cossie, it felt slow as fuck :cry:

A set of greens soon changed that tho :DD: But within a few months that felt boring too :cry:

I think it is worse if you are used to a car with really good brakes and then start driving something "normal" - it gets you into very nasty situations :cry:.

try going from a impreza with good brakes to a citron C15 van,,, there NO abs,,,, THERES NOT EVEN SERVO ASSISTANCE

i bumped it into the wall at work reversing as the brakes are THAT bad

yeah but even having good brakes doesn't ALWAYS save you ;)

:cry: :cry: c:ry:

pmsl at jim


PS: jim you car FEELS slow,, but is not slow if that makes sence and also looks fast

That was driver error :cry:.

my golfs a bullet ive just bought a 2.0 zvh mk3 escort and its very slow compared to the golf but ive had a few of my mates out in the scort and they think its rapid until they get in the golf and either want me to slow down or want to get out some refuse to get in the golf

Agree'd.

My Mini (although dead slow) had a very good brake set up, and I could brake very late in that car :cool:

..Got into my pulsar, ***mph coming off a long slip road, and nothing.... :shocked: Brown pants indeed :oops:

Its not just power but the delivery of it also

Ive moved from a 380bhp cossie to a 340 bhp s6

Cossie was quicker of the mark but theres not a lot between them

My point is in the audi i feel like im going backwards compared to the cossie although im not.

The things so smooth i can be driving at 120mph and not notice. i miss my boost !!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(

yes I agree my car feels quick to me but all my mates are like omg this thing is rapid!!

when you watch the clock it is but the torque you get from the turbo makes it feel faster than it really is

Nothing wrong with shit brakes. 8 inch drums FTW!
Driving a car with shit brakes makes you a lot more road conscous imho.
You also adapt and use the engine and box more. Engine braking is a lost art.:sad:

no broken gearboxes is the part best lost,, ive done a few gearboxes in cars and its cause i used to engine brake ( actually still do on track)

big brakes is FAR better and cheeper than doing a gearbox every few months ( i managed to fuck a gearbox in a 1300 escort,,,,, and done a few in my xr3i cabrio not NOT power related

Agreed. But then I have a shed full of inline MG boxes whereas big brake conversions (even disc conversions) are pricey on older stuff.

Besides, you still need engine braking as a backup if something really daft happens with your brakes.

yeah but brakes will help unless they fail,,, just like if a driveshaft fails you aint doing aint engine braking


id rather have beter brakes AND the option to engine brake,,,,,, hey wait a min thats what i HAVE got pmsl

Everything feels fast to me now. Haven't been in a proper fast car in aggges.