T5 versus Evo 6 ,Suburu sti 5, Suburu Wrx and Colt Mivec TESTED

Hi All,
Had to post this one a friend of mine who runs a garage that specilaises in Modified cars recently bought a T5 and has modded the car by way of chipping ecu,panel filter,octane booster and removed the cat.
We have both spoken about how deceivingly quick the T5 is once modified but agreed that loss of traction was a major let down for the car.

He rang me during the week to say that he was working on a couple of high performance cars in his garage ,behind his garage is a straight private road fenced off from acres of fields owned by a property developer he rents the garage from ,this road is about a mile long giving him a regular opportunity to test drive the car.(Could be a figamint of my imagination though this may have never even happened)

The owners of the cars and the two mechanics brought the cars over to the road closed the gate and tested them against each other.
First the Mivec Colt v T5 ,from stop the Mivec pulled 1 car lenght ahead of the T5 up to aprox 50mph then the T5 blasted past opening up about 14 car lenghts. Quick little car for a 1.6 vtec

Next the T5 v Suburu WRX which had a full performance exhaust system fitted,octane booster,dawes device and dump valve,from stop both cars took off the suburu pulled away up to about 45 mph ,then the T5 caught up alongside and pulled past the WRX about 65mph ,the T5 pulled about 5 cars lenghts ahead.

Then the Suburu STI 5 V T5 ,the STI 5 had a full exhaust system fitted also and octane booster ,from stop the STI pulled away faster opening up about 6 car lenghts then up to about 80mph the gap stopped and slowly the T5 started to catch the STI the road was coming to an end so that finished that.They then decided to do a rolling start from 30mph up to aprox 90mph both cars were fairly well matched then the T5 started to pull past the Sti slowly by 2 car lenghts + again the road was coming to and end the T5 was ahead by about 3 car lenghts.

Finally the T5 v the Mitsubishi Evo 6 ,from stop the Evo hammered the T5 ,the Evo pulled about 12 car lenghts ahead by 3 rd gear so it was very clear the Evo had Massive acceleration all the way through its rev range.They then decided to do a rolling start from 30mph upwards the evo pulled ahead again but this time only by about a car one lenght both cars were very well matched up to aprox 100-mph.

So it is clear that our cars are very respectable performance cars based on the weight and limited front wheel drive .
Each of the owners drove both Suburus and the owner of the Evo also drove his car ,all laughed and joked about the brick before testing begun,After the test they were shocked and amazed by the torque and aceleration that the T5 developed and agreed that these cars demand a huge amount of respect.


Jason

your tests are very interesting but basically what your saying is don't give anyone a race from the lights because we will lose, even if they drive a nova sri ;)

and instead wait till there doing 60mph and then overtake!! not very practical but i've always had the impression all the volvo's i've had are slow off the line. (t5r & s70r) but like rockets when they get up some speed!!

my wife put it nicely once when i gave a rs focus a race from some lights (this is a figment of my imagination), she said all that noise and comotion and your only upto 30. ;(

he did get in front, but like your tests found out i passed him later ;)

[Dan F]

It is the old traction problem that the T5s suffer from. they never have been the best off the line, which is why little troubles them on the motorway. :-) And as speed limits get lower and lower, and cars top speeds get limited to 70mph, cars with more traction are going to be the best performers.

If you cannot go over 70, then the only fun to be had will be driving an EVO. :-(

I switched to a V70 R AWD for that very reason - a T5 is quick savagely quick - but wheel spin in 1st and second is wasting all that power - in town that's just when you need the surety of being able to pull out and go. I have got caught trying to pull out in traffic and ended up wheelspinning and tramping all over and going nowhere.

That power needs respect.