Latest Evo just dropped through the door.

[182David]

I'm the owner of the Focus RS in question and browse this forum from time-to-time, so I kind of feel obliged to reply lol.
It has a de-cat pipe (maybe adding 10bhp) and an induction kit that adds nothing more than noise. Other than that, it's standard.
The reason my RS was particularly torque-steery in the test was because of tyres. Sadly the front two had less than 2mm on and I couldn't get new ones fitted in time. The LSD on the RS accentuates the problem of old tyres, but sadly this was not brought up in the write-up. Faults like the lack of feel at speed are genuine issues, however, and it was because of little things like this that the car went no further.
Right from the off I was expecting the Clio Trophy to win; it's much more adjustable and offers a lot more feedback than the RS. If it was the best fwd car for the track, I would be very confident about the RS winning, but, even with decent tyres I don't think the RS would beat the Trophy.

 

[James_boy]

Hello to all,

I was on the test as the owner of the lotus elan. There were a few problems with a number of cars. My car has electrical problems and starting issues and the 306 had an electrical coil problem of some kind. I heard the writers saying that the 306 would definately have gone to wales if it was working. I really dont want to get flamed as im a little apprehensive of forums, but my feeling was that until it broke, the 306 was the writers favourite car on the day (until it broke).

I dont think they like my elan much, but it never really got moving unfortunately. I also broke down on the way home, so that was another bad experience for me. Oh well. A fun day it definately was. I thought the 197 was brilliant in the wet on the track and liked the looks of the trophy and the williams there.

 

[AE86Baz]

Seeing as we all seem to be here I'll add my agreement about the 306, I got the same feeling from the Evo guys that the Rallye was very highly regarded but this example let itself down it seems. Who knows what the results would have been otherwise. I heard the Elan had an problem after the day, hope its resolved.

 

[MarkCup]

That would explain a huge amount. When the front's on my Cup get below about 3mm, it really changes character, and darts about a bit.

Bet you wish you'd fitted new boots for the test now eh?

 

[Lee]

On cars which do offer such amazing feedback poor tyres can totally destroy the driving experience.

I've been on front tyres with 2mm of tread lately but with no shoulders on the fronts at all. Pulling away quickly it torque steers all over the place, follows white lines terribly and is a nightmare to launch in the wet and dry with any sort of steering in put. At the weekend I had new tyres put on the rear and the rears to the front. I'd forgotten just how much traction the Trophy has.

I'd love to try a Teg now to see how it feels compared to the Trophy.

Out of the others that made the cut I've driven a Williams and really did enjoy it, and I owned a GTi-6, which out of all the hot hatches I've driven is still the closest to the Trophy for me in terms of handling and pure driving enjoyment.

Thanks guys for letting Evo use your cars for the test. It makes for great reading.

 

[Ally]

I really need to stop reading the forum and pick up my copy of EVO and read this article. Just not had a chance to sit down and concentrate on it yet - I'm not going to waste reading it in front of the TV, I want to analyse it in depth lol.

For what it's worth I've not driven any of the cars in the test but I've got a soft spot for a GTI-6...

 

[Tom]

Im pretty pissed off about the exclusion of the mini cooper s
Which is clearly the best FWD car of all time, bar none.
(screw issue 34)

But then they wrote off the focus RS so who knows whats wrong with them.

 

[Nomad]

Well i think you're all taking back-handers off Evo... (I kid, I kid).

 

[MarkCup]

That would explain a huge amount. When the front's on my Cup get below about 3mm, it really changes character, and darts about a bit.

Bet you wish you'd fitted new boots for the test now eh?

Meaning the Focus RS.

 

[davo172cup]

has anyone noticed what car is parked to the right of zonda s on page 148?

looks like a very nice garage!

(a 172 cup would have been better!:rasp: )
"davo is now running for cover!":S

 

[Lee]

has anyone noticed what car is parked to the right of zonda s on page 148?

looks like a very nice garage!

(a 172 cup would have been better!:rasp: )
"davo is now running for cover!":S

Yeah, that Trophy is Harry Metcalfs so it's no surprise he's got the Zonda seeing as he's the Editiorial Director. His 550 should be there somewhere too.

 

[GinandGasoline]

Yeah, that Trophy is Harry Metcalfs so it's no surprise he's got the Zonda seeing as he's the Editiorial Director. His 550 should be there somewhere too.

i think he may have sold the 550 to make way for the Zonda....... however I may be wrong on that!

 

[Ian_182]

I find it hard to believe that people still think a willy could keep up with a trophy on a track.Standard for standard the willy is good but the trophy moves the game on im sure.

ian

 

[edde]

I find it hard to believe that people still think a willy could keep up with a trophy on a track.Standard for standard the willy is good but the trophy moves the game on im sure.

ian

Possibly quicker it depends. I guess its down to track and car.

Its not all about speed though I'd pick a new Willaims over a Trophy all the time but the Williams isn't as safe or what I prefere in driving position.

 

[MarkCup]

Williams had all the 172/182/Trophy licked at a recent sprint day at the Haynes Motor Museum.

What they lack in poke they make up in nimbleness.

 

[chris_m182]

well i thought it was a really good and very considered article Just put all this bickering down to certain people's favourite cars not being picked as the top 3.

BTW: that clio williams ia ovbiously a willy 3 being on a P plate, so why does it have ph1 clio rear lights, side strips, and grille???

 

[Lee]

well i thought it was a really good and very considered article Just put all this bickering down to certain people's favourite cars not being picked as the top 3.

BTW: that clio williams ia ovbiously a willy 3 being on a P plate, so why does it have ph1 clio rear lights, side strips, and grille???

It's a Williams 1. Number 0002, but was a press car for a while and wasn't registered. By the time it was registered it was on a P plate.

 

[chris_m182]

aaaah fair play then, cheers for straightening that out for me lol

 

[chiefsilverback]

Yeah, that Trophy is Harry Metcalfs so it's no surprise he's got the Zonda seeing as he's the Editiorial Director. His 550 should be there somewhere too.

I don't know if being the editor of evo would provide sufficient income for a £300,000 car!?!?

I think Harry (Harrison) Metcalfe has family income on top of his pay from evo, judging from the garage and what he wrote about the Fiat 4x4 a while back they are farmers or land owners....

 

[Clart]

i NEED a DC2

 

[Lee]

I don't know if being the editor of evo would provide sufficient income for a £300,000 car!?!?

I think Harry (Harrison) Metcalfe has family income on top of his pay from evo, judging from the garage and what he wrote about the Fiat 4x4 a while back they are farmers or land owners....

Yeah he does, that's how he can afford to fund his passion for fine cars.

 

[AE86Baz]

Don't forget he made a bundle when he sold out to Dennis too.. as did a few of the writers.

 

[Ian_182]

Didnt he used to own performance car for years also.
I still have the first copy of evo and it says when he finished with performance car he could'nt decide whether to invest £250,000 in a tuscan villa or start evo and we all know which one he picked.

ian

 

[Lee]

Don't forget he made a bundle when he sold out to Dennis too.. as did a few of the writers.

Ah, I didn't know that's where it came from. I was just aware that he had money to pay for his cars rather than run them on loan from manufacturers.

I used to visit Dennis publishing a few years back. That was the video games side of things.

 

[AE86Baz]

Yeah, they run a few games mags too of course, big company now. We've had the odd dealings with them in the past too.

 

[wongy008]

The GTi 6 boys are bitter! From A Pug forum ...

hello boys
most wont know me but most of the old old old school boys on here will

what nobber wrote about the thing that rich posted?? prelude type R 2.2 must be the only person ever to drive one as there never was such a car !!! a type S ( very good by the way) but never been a R version

just to let you guys know im on my 2nd dc2 now and i really thought the trophy would of won but im as happy as can be knowing how special my dc2 is

like someone said earlier. i guess its settled that the trophy is the best FWD hatch ever which is a big achievement too, but got a feeling a EK9 CIVIC R maybe better still

 

[boulterboy]

As far as the Focus Rs and Trophy dispute goes, i have never driven an RS so cant pass judgement, however im pretty sure the guys from EVO know what they are talking about.

Integra type r being first has pleased my mate, i have to say being a passenger in one many times, i can see what EVO are talking about!!

 

[Richy123]

Anyone notice in the back of this evo edition it has the 182 cup quicker round bedford than the trophy, is this true?

 

[Rob669]

Not much in it I reckon, really. Maybe the small difference was due to the Cup being older and hence the engine being a little looser - who knows? No timings are given in EVO for the 172 phase 1, just for the phase 2 (a slightly heavier car).

A good article I reckon. But it's a better read now I know some more background information from this post.

Cheers, Rob669

 

[Nyphur]

Willy 002 was used? Wasnt this the one that King "its no willy so its no good" Stromba owned?

 

[AE86Baz]

Willy 002 was used? Wasnt this the one that King "its no willy so its no good" Stromba owned?

If thats Rob then he still owns it. He was on the test with me.

 

[Lee]

Anyone notice in the back of this evo edition it has the 182 cup quicker round bedford than the trophy, is this true?

Harry Metcalfe did comment on this:

I'll try and shed some light on why the Trophy appears slower than a Cup in this month's Fast Club feature;

First off it was an extremely cold day when we did the lapping so that was part of the reason why the Trophy went slower as cold tarmac and coldish tyres isn't the best combination for fast times.
Overlaying the data of the two laps in the office we can see the Trophy was better at putting its power down out of the corners but slightly worse on the brakes. Again, cold tarmac could be the reason, or perhaps the stiffer springs on the Trophy don't allow as much weight transfer to the front tyres so the brakes don't work quite as well.

The big difference was through the Pif-Paf chicane where the Trophy arrives 4.5mph faster than the Cup (around a second quicker too) but its speed through the slowest part of the chicane was 8.5mph lower than the Cup. The Trophy's lap time never recovers the time lost at this point, although it did make up a lot of ground at the finish to end up 0.6secs behind.
To us it looks as if the driver (different drivers as well to further complicate matters) ) in the Cup dramatically cut the corner (which is only marked with cones) as being 8.5mph faster at this point is too big a difference to explain otherwise, hence the slower time for the Trophy in the article.

This is why it's always tricky comparing lap times set 6 months apart this these were.
Re-match needed.

Williams 0002 was indeed Strombas car, altough I believe it's no longer registered in his name, possibly his old dears but I can't remember for sure.

 

[Joe@ShedMotorsport]

The DC2 was on my short list for my new car, needless to say when Evo dropped through the door my mind was made up. As for the FRS Evo did say that the version they had didn't feel anywhere near as good as the example they tried a few months back so its not like they din't acknowledge that it could/should have done better. I have been buying evo since the very first copy (and a few performance cars before that) and to suggest that they're bribed by manufacturers sounds like the biggest load of s**t i've heard in a long time.

 

[2 live]

hello boys
most wont know me but most of the old old old school boys on here will

what nobber wrote about the thing that rich posted?? prelude type R 2.2 must be the only person ever to drive one as there never was such a car !!! a type S ( very good by the way) but never been a R version

just to let you guys know im on my 2nd dc2 now and i really thought the trophy would of won but im as happy as can be knowing how special my dc2 is

like someone said earlier. i guess its settled that the trophy is the best FWD hatch ever which is a big achievement too, but got a feeling a EK9 CIVIC R maybe better still

now then stranger...............................wots this about the trophy??? lol


long time no hear.

so wens the showdown?? keep hearing about these tegs....only really come across 2, 1 at oulton, 1 on way to york....2nd looked far too stiff tbh for the roads, was a 60+ guy drivin too, was runnin 15s.


the guy at oulton....i passed him after id jus passed craggy, he tried to stay with me but fell off track a couple times.....car or driver i dont know, but he was a regular track day attendee, and was my 1st track day

 

[speedynz]

If you read the article you'll see that it's about the best driver's car, I agree with the results having owned two of the top six and driven a few of the others. The Focus RS has too many minor faults to make the cut. As has a VR6 , which is a sublime car. This article is brilliant because it completely disregards price, age and looks and concentrates solely on the quality of driving.

As for a million years... the fact that it did prove better, on the opinions of motoring journalists who don't have their ownership pride to skew their opinions or any endorsement to worry about is a bit more credit worthy than one unlearned opinion on a forum.

Excellent unbiased post trophy boy, I agree.

Remember that for years EVO mag gave the Focus RS an absolute kicking for it's unruly bumpy road handling and only revised their opinion after recently driving a "tamer" version.

 

[speedynz]

The comment on the 197 by John Simister was intresting, in the context of al the other cars, the car is not as good as it seemed at the 197's launch.

Wonder when they will be doing a UK test proper of it.

Autocar have done it (issue 26 July), check out the performance figures, both the standing start and through the gears and also check out how low the gearing is to make up for the power to weight ratio loss over the previous model. I love this car and would love to own one but the gains (losses?) aren't enough. It's obviously a very cohesive, fluid car with a superb chassis and reasonable performance but it has to run ludicrously low gearing (fourth runs out at just over 100mph and sixth only pulls 18.9mph/1000rpm) to offset the weight, incredible figures that make a highly strung type r Honda look like it's running touring gears.

When autocar first ran figures on a year 2000 MK1 172 (a french left hand drive car running 98 octane fuel) it hit 60 in 6.6 seconds and 100mph in 16.6! Whilst standing start figures are somewhat meaningless a 0-100 in under 17 secs is a pretty good indication of a cars sprinting ability.

In cold hard terms and in a world full of ever faster hyper hatches the 197 just isn't quick enough.

 

[Ali]

hummm...