About six weeks ago I happened across an Audi S2 estate on the A198 near Edinburgh (not the Porsche developed RS2). In the 20 or so miles and half an hour to Edinburgh, I had probably the closest “race” of my time with my mod’ed 16v Clio. What the roads really tested was handling, flexibility and acceleration up to about 80mph overall. In fact, my car had the edge over the S2 in terms of 30-60 mph sprints, but the Audi seemed just to be getting on the boil at higher speeds where my acceleration tailed off.
Anyway, I did some hunting through my archive of old Autocar tests today and look what I found:
Audi 80 RS2 Estate – 18/08/1993
Power: 220 bhp (5-cylinder 20v 2.2 Turbo)
Top speed: 145 mph
0-60: 6.2 (that’ll be the Quattro then)
30-50: 6.7
50-70 (in 5th) 7.4
Weight: 1560 kg
I also dug out the Clio 16v test – 26/08/1992
Power: 137 bhp (4-cylinder twin cam 16v 1.8)
Top speed: 127 mph
0-60: 7.4
30-50: 7.1
50-70 (in 5th) 9.7
Weight: 1020 kg
Incidentally, the Clio 16v figures here are better than for any Williams test I’ve ever seen! What the Audi figures show is that initial acceleration from rest is better due to the Quattro – but after that a standard Clio 16v is just as good up to the national limit.
I’m not claiming that my 16v is getting near to a 0-60 of 6.2, but it does close the gap that exists between a standard 16v and something like an S2.
The moral of the story is don’t be afraid to go for the big boys!