UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

I was just wondering what kind of cars equal or are less powerful than a polo coupe s [with full system and airfilter]? Does anyone know any standard bhp specs for; corsas, novas [eg;sr],fiestas,golfs, escorts,clios etc.

After having been passenger in a std mk3 GT earlier that ate a Nova SRi I'd say they'd be fair game in a mk2 The GT had no probs dealing with it at all. Much to his burberry-blanketed-parcel-shelf chagrin

Remember that a Coupe S has just the same engine as a 1.3CL, the sports bits are only really accessories rather than tuning, unfortunately. With your mods I should think you'll have about 60bhp.. think 1.2-1.4 in late 80's / early 90's cars, and 1.1-1.3 in late 90's onwards cars, as a rough idea. 'Fraid I don't have anything more solid than that though

A larger bore exhaust should make a good difference though. Another guide; my mk3 1043 Fox with abd tb, 2 up, kept within spitting distance of a 1.2 16v Clio (75bhp). He was taking trying as well, hit the limiter! I don't know what was funnier, the fact he tried to prove something or the fact he didn't

taking trying I am stup.

Never overestimate the other car; Polo GT + Schrick + 'head + decat + chip + inlet mods Vs MINI Cooper S on windy a road = hugely annoyed MINI. I won't say I wasted hi, I won't even pretend to have pushed him down the road but, even though I was 2 up, he could never make much ground. In a straight line drag to vmax he would've walked away (I expect) but in real life stop-go, in-gear, easing off on corners/crests he couldn't shake me. Obviously I was working the GT hard, a couple of instances proved he was doing similar. Roll on the return of the G...

Hah Can just imagine the look on his face as he lurches against the limiter and watches the polo that he should have just blown away sticking to his arse I'm impressed that you managed that two up though, makes such a difference having the extra weight in the passenger seat..

The advantage you do have is that the mk2 polo is particularly lightly built - light chassis and very little weight in the body, it helps stretch that little bit of power a lot further

In terms of power per tonne, the polo has something like this:
1043cc standard: 63.3 bhp/tonne (45bhp / 710kg)
1272cc standard: 76.4 bhp/tonne (55bhp / 720kg)
1272cc modded as above: 83.3 bhp/tonne (60bhp / 720kg)

Much more relevant measurements.. purely guessing I'd say the clio is more like 850kg with all of the extra equipment it'll have, so that'd have 88bhp/tonne - makes it a bit more comparible

then add on all the kilos for the fuel, your own backside, any passengers, any miscellaneous crap that's hanging around (spare tyre, toolkit, cassettes/CDs, maps, random litter)

mind you the "other guy" is likely to have all these as well..... doesnt remove your weight advantage but does dilute it a little (proportionality and all that)

700kg is still damn light

Well yeah, any random extras are just as likely to be present in the other bloke's car as they are in yours - makes a difference to the raw figures, but not a head to head situation like this. Although, you could say that the polo's particularly small fuel tank is something of an advantage

Main thing is to not rev to the point that the engine's doing nowt useful; change earlier than you'd probably expect to and the revs'll drop back into the fat of the torque curve and you'll accelerate faster than you'd expect. If the car seems to lurch when you bang into the next gear up then you've overrevved it.




Please me excuse me if my posts aren't that clearly worded

Fiesta Finesse...60Bhp
Saxo 1.1I.........60Bhp
Corsa 1.2 and 1.4 dunno what spec but eats dust very well
clio 1.2 and 1.4........(yes they really are that far behind you)
mk4/mk5/mk6 polo 1.4 8v...MUNCH (mk4 has 57Bhp iirc)
mk3/mk4 golf 1.4 MUNCH
Nova 1.1/1.3 MUNCH
Rover 213SE (1.4 16V I) MUNCH

ermmm thats all i can think of atm but there are more

add nova 1.4sr and metro GTI to that list...munch munch..mwahahaha.

Watch out for Pug 205 GT's (not the GTI versions) I had one of them new in 1986 and it ran 88 bhp on the dyno with just a K&N in the filter box and a free flow exhaust - it also weighed a fair bit less than the 205 GTI and would eat the early 105 bhp version for breakfast

Also wasted 1.4 SR Novas, GTE 1.6 Novas and XR2's and XR3's on a regular basis

swapped it for a year newer 1.4 SR Nova and a complete rear ended Cavalier SRi130 - you can guess what happened next - man that was such a fun car when I got it sorted

mmmm yeah changing around 6000rpm is a reasonable place if you're trying to push on quickly - the revlimiter is there as much to tell you you're overdoing it as it is to protect the engine

the carb / spi engines are more powerful midrange than the figures would suggest, at least in my own rather hokey tests (pointing the car up a steepish hill and seeing how it responds in the different gears, etc..), but e.g. changing up at 4000rpm is still a wasteful exercise as you might have edged into the power plateau, but not made it to the peak... (ie there's more of that power band to be had - torque band is good for relaxed drivability but its the power you want for speed). Peak is around the low 5000s for spis, mid 5000s for carbs (though both of these tend to be wider geared and so need a bit more "encouragement") and high 5000s for mpi (with higher torque peaks and narrower gearing), if you're talking mk2/mk3.

oh and MUNCH on several of that list in a 1-litre mk3
(even if they do disappear over the horizon once you hit the motorway)

Ive ditched the back seats, sound system[subs], backboard and rear sidepanneling and any unnecessary weight in the front along with new alloys with low profiles; how much weight do you wreckon ive saved because it feels so much lighter to drive. Because its lowered on 15s i couldn't have back seat passengers anyway but the noise from the exhaust realy reverburates around the inside of the car now.
Are there any other ways to ditch weight? my next mod is to perspex out the rear window and ditch the wiper.
Also what do you think is the spec for a nova sr, how would my car compare in excelleration because I know there fast.
Since loosing the weight before it would do 50mph at 5500rpm but now it does 55mph!

You could go on a crash diet

55mph 5500k..what gears that in? second!