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Originally Posted by Vid6639 To answer the questions on how it's applicable in the real world. This is how a car behaves at the limit. While you may not experience this on your daily drive but any driving enthusiast will want to know how the car handles at the limit. These situations even occur during an emergency and it is what catches a driver out cause he doesn't know the car at the limit. |
+1 Spot on!
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Originally Posted by Vid6639 The Abarth while shows a lot of stiffness in daily usage, actually suffers from body roll as the stiffness is only initially and once the heavy weight loads the suspension, the car actually rolls and you can see the weight transfer very clearly in the videos. The Abarth appears to have a very long travel suspension to aid ground clearance and this makes the weight move around a lot when cornering hard. This also means the car will not be stable under braking. |
I don't think the suspension travel is very long I guess it is just the sheer weight of the car and also if you pop the hood open on the Figo, Polo and Punto, you will find that while all of them have the same engine layout, the Punto's motor is
slightly further out over the front axle I would wager that a strut brace and rear sway bar would do wonders for the car
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Originally Posted by Vid6639 The Polo is definitely setup on the softer side and again due to additional weight this will impact the time especially over chicanes which require quick direction changes. How the car shifts weight and how quickly it recovers is important not just on track but when doing an emergency/evasive swerve on the highway. If you swerve too much and your car is not good at changing directions you are looking at an intimate relationship with the divider. Also, the DSG downshift issue is very very noticable for anyone who drives aggressively, the Polo's gearbox is tuned conservatively for reliability and will not give an aggressive downshift to reduce the drivetrain stress. This is very very noticeable in the ghat sections where you approach a turn and the gearbox is in 3rd but you want second for getting more momentum. The DSG will refuse 2nd if you are carrying more speed and will only give you the shift till you slow down to a lower rpm in third. |
Stiffness of suspension is not the sole factor in managing a car's weight shift. There are several other factors to it. I found the Polo to have one of the best chassis on the limit despite its "german build" and consequently high weight, it remains pretty easy to manage the shift of weight with left foot braking at appropriate points. I am not a mechanical expert but I guess what I am trying to say, is that the car is highly responsive. Ofcourse a stiffer suspension setup would have helped it greatly but in the face of this competition, I feel all it needs is a manual gearbox to stay in the fight.
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Originally Posted by Vid6639 The Elite i20 came as a surprise as it was the most dull to drive on road but did respectably on the track. |
While the car lacked any feel, an expert does not require much feedback and can actually take advantage of the very balanced chassis that it comes with.
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Originally Posted by Rahulkool Abarth has very short suspension travel not long, please drive the car once and you will feel what i am talking about. Body roll is less than many new hatchbacks. |
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Originally Posted by Lalvaz What's the basis of these statements that the car will not be stable under braking? My experience has been totally contrary to that statement. |
Yup the Punto is the most involving car to drive out of the bunch there is no argument there. However, driving it fast or cruising down the highway and appreciating its steering feedback, chassis grip, power and strong brakes is one thing, but actually try driving the car on or close to the limit and you will see that it can become a little more difficult to manage. Its sheer weight plays a huge part once we talk about vectors at the limit. It simply begs for adjustable strut brace and rear sway bar. Besides this, its sloppy gearbox and poor gear ratios is an obvious let down.
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Originally Posted by heydj Either there is lot more cynicism these days or internet has made everyone such a expert that they can professionally claim this test to be questionable. |
Unfortunately cars having the wide appeal that they do and our forum being the strictly moderated one that it is, it encourages people to think that by getting admission into the forum, writing within the lines, sticking to 2 smileys per post and getting by, it automatically means that they are the cream of the crop and expert enthusiasts, quality of material and correctness of what we believe or say does not matter anymore
Ofcourse I don't mean to say everyone is like that, but that attitude does tend to exist in such an environment where as long as you are writing well it is okay to have any number of "opinions" or beliefs.
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Originally Posted by heydj I don't think Tbhp reviews are done under such conditions where car is driven to maximum limit or breaking point, instead the review gives good indication of how car will behave for mass market. |
Absolutely correct
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Originally Posted by kiku007 If OD's conclusion that the Figo was 0.1 seconds wasn't enough controversy, I see amusing conclusions that a properly tuned turbo diesel can take on performance petrols
I'll wait till the day all race/rally/touring champion cars, supercars and hypercars replace their "performance petrols" to "properly tuned turbo diesels" because apparently as per this thread turbo diesels are better... |
Hahaha people don't bother looking at the major disadvantages that the strong petrol contenders in this test had like the Punto's poor gear ratios, Polo's fussy DSG and Figo's frankly pointless DCT with no performance aspirations whatsoever. Couple that to the fact that very few have actually driven or know how to drive their rides on the limit and are more than satisfied with the turbo-kick that all their diesel cars provide for a limted rpm range, and you will have many such comments
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Originally Posted by kiku007 And if it helps, add a poll to ask if people have doubts on the credibility of this so called track test. |
Oh please no! The last thing we need is such a mindless debate lot of folks with zero experience and preconceived beliefs about certain cars' performance from an
aam junta POV will be tempted to argue the credibility of this track shootout merely because they were disappointed with the results. They won't be able to provide any proof for such an opinion either. OD has been very transparent with their test and honestly, having had tons of "quality time" with most of the cars in this test save for the Jazz, I don't find the results too surprising given the track they were tested on.
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Originally Posted by reignofchaos Its the same story this time as well - A 100HP diesel with a dead steering and so so chassis beating a 145HP track tuned performance petrol by 0.1s. I'd take it with a pinch of salt. I recently drove the Figo and to be honest, after driving the GT TSi, it was rubbish. |
Actually driven these cars on the limit to be so sure? Steering feedback has zero importance in lap times. All you need is a predictable chassis on the limit.