e30! I'm sick of it. Sorry!

[e30_Turbo]

Big deal, my old GT6 could do 50 in first and 70 in second, still had a 0-60 of about 11seconds.

Also,:

At its heart is a tuned version of the 130PS 2.0-litre Ford Focus Duratec engine, producing 170PS at 7000rpm and 195Nm of torque from 2500rpm. Transmitted through a Durashift six-speed manual gearbox, this is sufficient to allow the Ford Focus ST170 to achieve 0-62mph in 8.2 seconds and a top speed of 133mph.

A 325i can do the 0-60 dash in about 7.5 seconds.

Actually...6.92 now, with all the zone mods!!!

[Rearwheel_nick]

i say stop being a girl and lusting after foci

bung a big bastard of an engine in your e30 shell, and have some fun.

remeber it is a million billion years old.

also just remeber new cars feel like crap to drive in comparison

[Adammcf]

My Astra GSI used to kill a Focus ST170 so although the GSI reached 112 on a section of road wheras the BMW only reaches 105 on the same part of road I'd like to think that the BMW could beat one too.

[Karan]

i just got beat by a new merc cl500....

wjhat sort of power do these have.???

he slowly pulled away from standstill to 130mph....

i need to go faster.....

[Karan]

just looked up the cl500 and it does 6.3 secs to 60..... which seems right as i didnt wheelspin away as i was behind him at the lights.... however afetr that he was comfortably pulling away.... damn modern german things with huuuge v8s......

although i did show him who was boss on the next roundabout....

[320Touring]

dont worry Karan-the CL500 is a hairdressers motor!

plus they're v8 sounds asthsmatic in comparison to your joyous 6cyl monster!

[M5pilot]

Cl500 is a beast but its a big boat at the same time.

Great for long motorway driving though!

Dont worry Karan, the 336i will leave all standing. You will be able to alter the speed of the earth with that thing!

[frosted]

im assuming then a 3.6 m5 lumps on the card. boom. that will just be silly!

[Karan]

im assuming then a 3.6 m5 lumps on the card. boom. that will just be silly!

yep.....not for my sport though.... i have another 318iS project car i am building with my dad.... m5 3.6 lump and m3 5 stud running gear that i finished putting on just now...

proper sleeper

[AndyTouring]

What relevance has a Ԛ“135mph in 4thԚâ€a got to do with anything? With todays traffic levels, speed cameras and the lack of suitable roads where are you going to do that & how often?

Statistics like those might impress spotty faced yoofs to whom oversized wheels & a bean can exhaust are motoring nirvana but to the average person they are meaningless. To them, a Focus ST170 is just another Focus with big wheels.

Even allowing for the carÔš's on paper performance what about the driver? The next Colin McRae ? I think not.

Quite apart from the cost difference between an ST & an E30 325 there are other issues.

1. ItÔš's a Ford Ԛ—a like it or not a BMW has more image than repmobile with a tasteless interior.
2. ItÔš's front wheel drive with enough torque steer to take you out of orbit. Handling balance? Not on the options list.
3. ItÔš's only got 4 cylinders compared to the 325Ôš's 6. Plus itÔš's not the rocket ship you like to think. Civic Type R anyone?
4. It's got 170bhp - so has a 325. 170bhp in 1989 is still 170bhp in 2005!

Drive a Focus ( any Focus ) & youÔš're one of the herd. Drive an E30 ( any E30 ) & at least youÔš're a little bit different.

[img]http://members.roadfly.org/AndyS/Twinz.jpg
[/img]

[6potWil6pot]

I agree with the bit about performance, sheer power is hard to justify if you have an everyday machine. 6 will always feel faster than 4 because of the far wider band of torque thats useable, unless the 4 has some sort of forced induction!

Dammn nice 6 Series in ur sig, id love to have one if i could afford one

[Brianmoooore]

The point Ive not seen mentioned on this thread yet, is that E30s are very light cars by today's standards, so ,(depending on diff ratio), they should out accelerate most modern cars of similar power output.
Unfortunately, E30's have the aerodynamics of a brick, so they're going to lose out ( at speeds not realistic for road driving ) on top speed.

A couple oy years ago, I helped my car dealer brother in law prep a two year old Mondeo for resale. What a badly designed, badly engineered fast corroding lump of junk.
Same brother in law helped me remove the diff from an E28 in a scrapyard a few weeks ago. He was intrigued by the way all the bolts could be spun out by your fingers after they had just been cracked off.

[jonb]

ok so we have all agreed that the 325 will beat an st-whatever on the straight.

but what about on a nice b road.......

im sorry, but the e30 wouldnt know where the focus had gone. most new fords are great handlers. i seriously think a 325 will have problems with a standard 2l focus on the right road. in the wet the e30 wouldnt stand a chance.

recent mondeos, focus"s............not bad cars.

[Pal318is]

Guys,

I've had a Astra Coupe Turbo off the lights and he had a job catching me up As for ST170's.....I've had a go at a ST220, which was fun, seeing as he probably thought that he would hammer me off the lights into oblivion...but it wasn't to be and boy did he find out

Moral of the story is the E30 is not a car to dismiss so easily....Or am I just sayin that coz i'm baised

[Moofles]

can i laugh now?

[frosted]

if you know how to drive there is no reason for teh 170focus to "leave you ". in fact it should be the other way round.

if you can drive.

[Borderbmw]

My 1st E30 was a 88 316 in zinnobar red,and this thing was absolutely mint,i got it for Ԛ£1k from a lady i knew,she's totalled the engine and had just had a good secondhand engine fitted at a cost of Ԛ£900!
I always thought it was pretty quick and after i sold it did some digging and it has a 320 m10 engine in it! ,but in the end i had to sell it and i bought a 406 diesel as i was doing 2000 miles a week for work etc,and i regretted selling her and still do.
I have just been given a 87 320i,a little scruffy but solid and as soon as i drove away in it,it felt mighty good ,its done 147000 miles but it was quite happy doing the 400 mile journey from london to the borders in one hit,and it still feels solid,i still think the E30 is still one of the best cars on the road.
Im looking for a 325 touring as my missus now wants the 320 as she loves it,even though she pulled a face when i said it was 18 years old and had no power steering!

Sorry for all that twoddle but i keep thinking how i wouldnt want to drive anything else.

[Guest]

i am sorry did i read that right , new fords handle well ?? yeh right!! compared to a cannal boat!!! my knackerd out m10 316 canned car after car on the twistys and i aint a great driver!

all the fords i hav driven new and old just dont cut it , its front wheel drive gaynees for ya , my mates st200 is a nice car but 5K for a car that gets whooped by a 1K 325i hmm something not right there

[M5pilot]

Im with JonB on this one. I actually driven quite a few newer fords and they handle very well indeed.

However a properly setup E30 with say H&R cup kit and all the fancy bushes handles so amazingly well its unreal.

Ask E30Adam to take you out in his car, you will understand what im talking about.

A 2.0L focus is a car that can upset a 325i on some roads, I know because ive been up against one! Ok so im no rally driver but I dont think he was either. Straight line however is a diferent story, the 325i can whoop an ST170 and keep up with those Honda things no problem.

[Davenotouring]

Straight line however is a diferent story, the 325i can whoop an ST170 and keep up with those Honda things no problem.

Which Honda things are you refering to here?

[bennyp]

at the end of the day boys and girls, i would say a 325i would be not too embarassed by a modern pocket rocket ( eg. civic type R ),

a quick modern car is still only doing upper sixes to 60 ( unless your talking big money supercars ). A few choice mods and an e30 325 will do this easily......

the other thing we seem to be forgetting is the are the most gorgeous, pimp daddy, smooth, cool and bo-shank cars ever to be on this planet -

[Davenotouring]

modern pocket rocket ( eg. civic type R ),

My 1991 Civic Vt (old school shape - brought out in 1989) is what I'm talking about! Which a 325i can't nescessarily keep up with 'no problem'

Anyway,

E30s are much cooler!

[6potWil6pot]

Your assuming that all the "modern" cars are stock and the e30 is modded.
Im sure a Focus RS or something would be quite a bit faster if you decided to spend a bit of Ԛ£ on it!

[Davenotouring]

Wil....the Focus RS would be alot faster standard anyway.

E30's are never gonna be super quick without an engine conversion like Karans, which is awesome.

Fact is, you can go faster for less money.

But it's not all about that, it's the all-round package that makes the E30 so good!

[bennyp]

never driven a civic vt but have driven a type r, rapid but big bucks was the impression i got.

I love my e30 and thats that for me! ( morris minors rock too but they have slightly more interesting "handling" traits.............)

[Davenotouring]

Morris Minors rule

The Civic VT I have is the old boxey, even more bread-van lookalike than the new shape Civic Type-R....

They are expensive, but a good car.

My Civic VT was just under Ԛ£600.....tattyish body, but tidy interior and good engine. It is not exciting to look at like and E30, it doesn't handle as well, the interior isn't as nice etc etc

The Civic is good fun, and quick, but the E30 in general is better overall.

[bennyp]

my morris minor traveller is more boxy than a type r!!!

i did own (for about a month) an accord aerodeck......... very odd and it had every mod con..... twas very odd though, but revved forever...

[M5pilot]

Civic VT sounded superb at Lakeside I have to give it that.

Those Type R things are damn quick. I got beaten by one in my E30 M3 but I dont think it was standard by the noise it was making.

I do like those Honda things though even if it FWD and has no torque.

Whats a Ford Focus RS? Is it a Turbo charged 2.0l monster with the capability to be chipped to 300 bhp?

[6potWil6pot]

Turbo charged Focus with about 220 bhp/ft of torque, one of them couldnt pull away from me up to about 110 tho then the traffic came along
I bet they mod up nicely tho!

[astondg]

At a Racetrack that I go to here in Australia I was keeping up with some Civics. I think only 1 was a Type R and the other was a normal Civic with a Type R engine. They were both the older shape not the latest one, and possibly modified. That is in my 323i (I had Koni dampers, 1" lower springs, 4.1 LSD) so a 325 should be able to do the same, epecially the sport versions.

Aston

[moonraker]

Hi Rusty 323, I am no BMW fan as a brand but you have to give the devils their due! I am fantasising on the pre-Bangle 7-series right now, great slim shape for a limousine. In the meantime, I am lucky enough to have the junior one, the E30. And the best, missing from your list: the 318is. I missed the GTI period in the 80Ôš's (right age, no money). The 318is is a poised, grown-up, above average performance car allowing me to live that dream. This car has everything! Even when I go back home one day (8,000 miles away: I live here but am not from the UK), I will export the car and keep it with me forever. I have had this 1989 G-reg car for 2 years now, bought it at 85,000 miles and used almost daily (now 98,000). It has failed me only once (ignition). Only one tiny spot of rust now. Performance? 136 bhp (maybe 140 bhp with a simple K&N filter I fitted), thatÔš's 77 bhp/litre on a car weighing only 1150kgs. Less than Ԛ£2K. What numbers cannot translate though are the creamy delivery, handling and character. A classic in the making, including scarcity.