Most power for a FWD car.

obi_waynne

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There must be a practical limit for a FWD car. So what do you think the maximum usable power is on a FWD car. I did see a Type R do a 10 sec 1/4 mile but it had really wide tyres on the front and looked quite silly! I would like to start the bidding at 225bhp based on experience with a Rover Tomcat turbo - fairly heavy engine block and fitted with a LSD - torsion diff!
 
It is why we are talking "practical" limits. For a daily runaround there must be a sensible power limit for a FWD! I have seen FWD with silly power but they wheelspin so badly in my opinion have ceased to be a practical proposition.
 
Oh right, yeah sorry; missed at word in your first sentance!

There is a 300BHP Citroen AX running a charged VTS/GTi engine, but he complained of wheelspin in 3rd gear!

With the right traction control system big power able to be put down well, but never as well as an AWD car..

Never too much torque.. Only not enough grip! I blame the tyre manufacturers personally..
 
I'm at the 240-250 area with my V6 and it doesn't wheel-spin that much for the power and I haven't even got it lowered or put a LSD on it. But i reckon for a FWD Calibra 280-290bhp is about the most with out changing loads.
 
215/40/17 but they arn't that much of a good make. I want to stick some Toyo Proxi's on the front for the winter. I think it's 50/50 on the car set-up and the driver. I've had many a good pull off's against other cars from not reving the balls out of it on the startin line. I just put the revs 500rpms above the power band (3500 is the power band on mine) and then deck whilst letting the clutch out. Works loads better and you don't get as much clutch slip.

Only problem is on mine I have to fight with the steering wheel sometimes due to torque steer lol. Nearly gone over to the other side a couple of times.
 
As said above, more weight the better. Proberbly why mine is stil ok as it's got a very big lump under the hood lol.
 
I would reckon that would help throw you out of the bends sideways a bit more rather than under steer as the weight is more to the middle of the car. Not sure if extra weight in the middle would help you pull off though lol.
 
300hp was the accepted limit, but new electronic controls allow more, hence the Focus RS.
 
Volvo t5's can easily put over 300bhp down

Not in my experience. I've been in a stock T5 and while it didn't wheel spin due to good traction control, it was far from putting all the power down. Traction Control was flashing like a trooper.
 
It's the torque at the roadwheels that's actually causing problems. I wouldn't fancy a Ficus RS with a standard diff and no electronic stability control. The front tyres would be gone in a week,
 
the sensible limit without huge amounts of wheelspin and massive torque-steer is probably hanging around 250 bhp, though with a FWD the traction control and LSD play a large role in how it handles, hence the focus is usable (though "twichy" to drive apparantly), remember the lesson of the Alfa GTA, 250+ via a standard setup equals an interesting ride shall we say.

even with the advances in technology putting the power down is a problem, with much over 300 bhp most cars will just spin on the spot, but to be honest in an average hot hatch you dont want much more than that anyway, leastways i wouldnt.
 
My 406 (2.2 HDi) was about 190bhp in remapped tune but dished out over 320lbft of torque which made it a bit of a handful in the wet even in third gear if you pressed too hard.
 
When i just had mine,i noticed that when full accelerating you have to keep both hands firmly on the steering wheel(skating/torque steer):lol:

So when to decide how much power/torque is usable for an everyday car i will say this 250hp and 350nm wich comes standard is actually a bit too much for effectve use(don't get me wrong i love it and got it tuned;))but that wasn't the question.So my answer around the 200 mark will be nice and usable for everyone everyday.;)

gr,walter
 
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Well a friend of mine has it pug running at 365bhp and thats increasing soon!

amazing is all i can say.. and brill work
 
I had a 170 bhp standard golf for a while (2.0 TDi so plenty of torque) and that would wheelspin in 2nd (3rd if wet). Was an absolute pain in the buttocks.
 
its when you start seeing the demo cars FWD and looking at 5-600bhp through the wheels.

fezza the 2.0TDi isnt that bad really more the traction control is slightly too sensitive
 
500bhp on FWD seems unreal. I wonder how T9man will cope with these power figures! ;)
 
A friend of mine is running turbo setup on his Probe.

He has megasquirt, and is running about 300bhp on stock injectors.

Another is running a supercharger at 8psi.
At the last dyno (tested at the hub, not on rollers) he was getting 253whp - 276lbs Torque

Here's the vid of it running

 
Its not only wheelspin you have to wory about. Id say there is more problem with torquesteer.

Losing traction is a pain in the proverbial but it isnt really dangerous most of the time

Not being able to go round a corner is !
 
This thread was from 2011, but we see makers churning out cars that are FWD with really high power figures. This just goes to show how much things move on technology wise.
 
Oh quite... and as mentioned before torque is a huge factor. You should drive a Mk7 Golf with the new trick front diff... such as on the GTD. Gone are the days of annoying understeer. The harder you seem to push them, the more the diff seems to pull you into a tighter line. They're absolutely fantastic.
 
Wheelspin is when there is too much torque for the tyres to grip the surface they are on

Thats fwd rwd 4wd or awd

So first thing for any car ( assuming we cant change the surface ) is sticky tyres and wider is usually also better hence why cars do burn outs on the strip

after that then a trick diff
 
all depends on the mapping....

some focus RS now are running 600+ and yes first and second are pretty much a right off 3rd gear onwards theres no wheel spin and they pull like a train, but you get some mappers who will limit the torque in first and second to make them driveable but others will have silly torque figures and wheel spin like in 4th gear at 120mph lolbut they more fun that way ;)
 
'Trick' diffs are invaluable in this situation. These, too, rely upon the usual traction control and stability management systems that everything has these days anyway. Ford manages 300 plus BHP in a FWD Focus quite successfully by all accounts.
 
all depends on the mapping....

some focus RS now are running 600+ and yes first and second are pretty much a right off 3rd gear onwards theres no wheel spin and they pull like a train, but you get some mappers who will limit the torque in first and second to make them driveable but others will have silly torque figures and wheel spin like in 4th gear at 120mph :Dbut they more fun that way ;)


Mapping might be able to help stop wheelspin by limiting the power but it doesnt change the answer
 

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