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[tunnie]

hmm. Power is useful where I live as there are many hills, lots of open road, very few speed cameras (except in and around Malaga which is riddled with them). I used to have to fill up the Omega everytime I went out averaging 23 mpg. The compromise is something like a modern 2 litre diesel. I hired an auto 2013 Passat auto in the Uk a few years back. Despite err    putting it through its paces it still returned a ridiculous mpg (low 60's possibly).

I can empathise with STEMO - fairly pointless having a big engined car in England. Where are you going to use the performance? My last trip over I remember grinding along from Leicester to Scarborough and back stuck in sheer volumes of traffic. Oh and Smart imotorways at 50 mph for mile after mile.

Something that some members here find hard to grasp, 65mpg? Well you must have been driving like miss daisy, holding up traffic, not having fun, bla bla.

 

[Zirfeld]

Hi Varche

Also here in Germany it has become difficult to drive fast legal. So a 4 pot Omega is a good decision these days.

But I remember good old days on nightflight Bremen  Berlin in 125 minutes for 410 km.

It was a Senator B 24V.....

[Mister Rog]

I've always done a lot of driving between Wales and London. On the Westbound M4 around Swansea way there is a long uphill stretch, with a slow lane for HGVs. Years ago when I only ever had small cars I can clearly recall the struggle to get up that hill without slowing to a crawl. I've always appreciated the ability to just touch the accelerator and effortlessly glide up it in Omegas and Volvos.

Even today on the same hill I always have some sympathy for the lesser vehicles to my left.

[Lizzie Zoom]

I've always done a lot of driving between Wales and London. On the Westbound M4 around Swansea way there is a long uphill stretch, with a slow lane for HGVs. Years ago when I only ever had small cars I can clearly recall the struggle to get up that hill without slowing to a crawl. I've always appreciated the ability to just touch the accelerator and effortlessly glide up it in Omegas and Volvos.

Even today on the same hill I always have some sympathy for the lesser vehicles to my left.

That is a great example of why big engines are so useful.  It is not all about top end speed, but those moments when you need something considerably larger than a 1.4 to climb a hill or get you fast out of trouble

[STEMO]

I've always done a lot of driving between Wales and London. On the Westbound M4 around Swansea way there is a long uphill stretch, with a slow lane for HGVs. Years ago when I only ever had small cars I can clearly recall the struggle to get up that hill without slowing to a crawl. I've always appreciated the ability to just touch the accelerator and effortlessly glide up it in Omegas and Volvos.

Even today on the same hill I always have some sympathy for the lesser vehicles to my left.

That is a great example of why big engines are so useful.  It is not all about top end speed, but those moments when you need something considerably larger than a 1.4 to climb a hill or get you fast out of trouble

My (modern) 1.4 would sail up it, same as it does going over the top of the M62, the highest motorway in the country. 

[Viral_Jim]

TBH, pretty much anything made in the last 5yrs (excluding some electric cars and some of the super-mini shopping trolleys) will maintain 70-80 comfortably on any UK motorway/dual carriageway. On UK roads 120-150bhp is ample for all normal applications other than towing trailers/caravans. I'm shooting in the dark, but I'll bet STEMO's car has around 115-125 bhp.


Even my 1998 1.4 astra had very few problems on motorways (unless carrying more than 2 people) and that had well under 100bhp when new.

[tunnie]

Think it depends if you enjoy deploying that power, you can have fun but at much higher risk of loosing your license.

As mentioned before I've hugely enjoyed giving a M235i giving it a blast around the lanes, they corner like it's on rails, light, very fast (sub 5s to 60) - I found myself quite addicted to the go faster pedal.

To the point I've looked on auto trader to see how many bank's I would need to rob 

[Viral_Jim]

My problem with driving the M140i at pace was that I couldn't get the car on the edge, or even feel like I was scratching the surface of the performance really. That said, I was never stuck behind a dawdler for very long  .

If I were buying a car as a toy, I honestly think it would be one of those twingo sport jobbies, you could drive it everywhere at maximum attack and never be in danger of losing your license 

[tunnie]

My problem with driving the M140i at pace was that I couldn't get the car on the edge, or even feel like I was scratching the surface of the performance really. That said, I was never stuck behind a dawdler for very long .

If I were buying a car as a toy, I honestly think it would be one of those twingo sport jobbies, you could drive it everywhere at maximum attack and never be in danger of losing your license 

Done a few over-takes in the 235i.... scary how quickly you get into 3 figures. 

Best way to describe it is you can go for gaps with that extra power, gaps I would not attempt in the CC.

[Lincs Robert]

SWMBO has a Citroen C1. Tiny little thing with a 1 litre engine & 3 cylinders. It produces 68 BHP, which ain't a lot - however, it will easily do 80+ on the flat but doesn't like hills! First proper new car I had was a Mk4 facelift Cortina estate 1.6 - that only made 74BHP. So I suppose it's all relative. Biggest difference I can "feel" is in the seating. I can only survive the C1 seats for local running around, they really don't support properly for longer journeys.......

[Kevin Wood]

My problem with driving the M140i at pace was that I couldn't get the car on the edge, or even feel like I was scratching the surface of the performance really. That said, I was never stuck behind a dawdler for very long .

This is exactly it, though. When you come across a short straight section with good visibility and clear road ahead of a few dawdlers, and you can gain 30 MPH in the blink of an eye to get past them, it makes the driving experience so much better. It was being able to do this effortlessly in the Westfield that made me realise how tedious life in my 120something BHP Laguna had become, so out with that and in with the MV6 and I haven't looked back.

Yes, you can go places in a lesser car, yes it might cost you less, yes you will lose your licence if you max out a V6 Omega everywhere, but that doesn't mean there's no point.

[tunnie]

I've grown fond of being in the wrong lane at the roundabout, just because no one is queuing in that lane. Then deploy a shed load of power and you basically skip the queue 

In the 235i of course 

[Kevin Wood]

I've grown fond of being in the wrong lane at the roundabout, just because no one is queuing in that lane. Then deploy a shed load of power and you basically skip the queue 

In the 235i of course 

Do you remember not to bother to indicate while doing the above?

[Lizzie Zoom]

My problem with driving the M140i at pace was that I couldn't get the car on the edge, or even feel like I was scratching the surface of the performance really. That said, I was never stuck behind a dawdler for very long .

This is exactly it, though. When you come across a short straight section with good visibility and clear road ahead of a few dawdlers, and you can gain 30 MPH in the blink of an eye to get past them, it makes the driving experience so much better. It was being able to do this effortlessly in the Westfield that made me realise how tedious life in my 120something BHP Laguna had become, so out with that and in with the MV6 and I haven't looked back.

Yes, you can go places in a lesser car, yes it might cost you less, yes you will lose your licence if you max out a V6 Omega everywhere, but that doesn't mean there's no point.

Indeed, and I was speaking after having a brand new manual 1.4 Fiesta on loan whilst mine was being assessed after my prang.  It was so in need of dropping down in gears to get it going, especially when overtaking. It is that vroom of acceleration I get in the 3.2 that allows me to overtake so safely, but in the 1.4 it took an age in comparison and limited your ability to overtake safely.  Yes, modern 1.4's are a lot faster than my 1.6 Cortina's of the past, but I would still favour a big powerful engine anyday

[TheBoy]

Low power cars can be fun, as you have to get everything just right in order to keep up. That can be really satisfying ...


...until the next straight, when you hard fought overtake is nulled as you are annihilated in the next straight.