Motor's Hot Tuner Shootout

[WOPALX]

I think this comes out tomorrow, there is a BMW 135 and BMW M3 apparently in the shoot out.

Will be interesting to see what has been done to the 135 as I think it's a flash tune rather than piggy.

[harpoon]

Yeh I got mine yesterday. They gave the 135 great wraps - basically said it was the best of all the european cars - golf R, Scirrocco R included. It had sway bars, coilovers, exhaust and a tune. The 0-100 times still puzzle me though - they got 5.3secs for this car which seems way high for what it has had done.

They also had to hand back their 135 long termer and were pretty upset about it.

[BBK]

If it was manual maybe whoever was driving wasn't that great?

What did they do to the M3?

[fly135]

Originally Posted by harpoon

Yeh I got mine yesterday. They gave the 135 great wraps - basically said it was the best of all the european cars - golf R, Scirrocco R included. It had sway bars, coilovers, exhaust and a tune. The 0-100 times still puzzle me though - they got 5.3secs for this car which seems way high for what it has had done.

They also had to hand back their 135 long termer and were pretty upset about it.

As Harpoon said, the 135 performed great in all areas (especially braking) but its acceleration times were are bit dissapointing for some unknown reason. The flash tune that the 135 had, from evolve tecknik, gives the car about 268kW and 510Nm at the flywheel and on top of that it also had a larger FMI and exhaust system. I dont know how it only managed a 0-100km of 5.35 and 0-400m of 13.42.

Actually, i think just realised why.......it was fitted with 235/40 18 tyres at the front and 245/40 18 at the rear. By going to 40 series rubber in the rear, i think this would have changed the gearing enough to hamper acceleration as it would have increased the circumferance of the rear tyres by 7.7cm each.

Great issue though....

[qship]

Despite having about 40-60kw extra, both the 135i and Lib GT were slower than stock. Having said that, look at the conditions in the photos. Water, water everywhere! Don't know if the 0--100 were done in the wet.

[Zuzu]

Here are some pix..

http://picasaweb.google.com/robndebb...85157707340914

[BMW86]

Can't wait to get my copy!

[spdrcr]

Hey guys, it has been a while between drinks.

My Lotus was at this event and all I will say is that you shouldn't read too much into it. Day one was acceleration testing which was all done in the dry. Day two was track / motorkhana and it was RAINING HARD.

[Zuzu]

Originally Posted by spdrcr

Hey guys, it has been a while between drinks.

My Lotus was at this event and all I will say is that you shouldn't read too much into it. Day one was acceleration testing which was all done in the dry. Day two was track / motorkhana and it was RAINING HARD.

Is that your red Lotus in those pix Jeff??

[Guran]

This special feature is the biggest waste of space I've come across in MOTOR. And they will be spreading it over three issues!

Fair enough, they cannot control the weather. But track-based results in tropical monsoon conditions are absolutely meaningless. They should have excluded those tests from the overall score and based it on the dragstrip data alone. Or returned another day.

Secondly, MOTOR has traditionally focussed on performance cars as they come out of the box. Not tuned cars. That's the territory of Street Machine. I have no interest in tuned cars, and that is why I subscribe to MOTOR. Might have to reconsider that if they keep up this nonsense.

I can only think that MOTOR must be making some great sponsorship/advertising dollars out of this "Hot Tuner" series. They certainly need it since their circulation figures are woeful (currently at about half their Dec 2002 peak).

[BBK]

What exactly are they trying to prove comparing the likes of 911 Turbos to VW Gti's? Or are they in catagories?

[TimMc]

Originally Posted by fly135

As Harpoon said, the 135 performed great in all areas (especially braking) but its acceleration times were are bit dissapointing for some unknown reason. The flash tune that the 135 had, from evolve tecknik, gives the car about 268kW and 510Nm at the flywheel and on top of that it also had a larger FMI and exhaust system. I dont know how it only managed a 0-100km of 5.35 and 0-400m of 13.42.

Actually, i think just realised why.......it was fitted with 235/40 18 tyres at the front and 245/40 18 at the rear. By going to 40 series rubber in the rear, i think this would have changed the gearing enough to hamper acceleration as it would have increased the circumferance of the rear tyres by 7.7cm each.

Great issue though....

Good call re the increase tyre size. While in theory it should decrease accelleration though, due to 1st gear being near useless at full throttle with a tune, the larger diameter/circumference and hence increased gearing may actually help stop wheelspin and get more power to the road?

[fly135]

Those photos are awesome. I feel like the proverbial kid in a candy store. How sexy does that VW Scirocco look - pity it's front wheel drive though.

Originally Posted by TimMc

Good call re the increase tyre size. While in theory it should decrease accelleration though, due to 1st gear being near useless at full throttle with a tune, the larger diameter/circumference and hence increased gearing may actually help stop wheelspin and get more power to the road?

Thats quite possible too i guess. It just depends how much traction your tyres are making with the surface in question at that particular time. Although i would think you could make back any lost time once you hit 2nd and 3rd gear and motor down the straight. All i know is that for the increase in power, those acceleration figures were pretty ordinary...

[harpoon]

Originally Posted by fly135

Those photos are awesome. I feel like the proverbial kid in a candy store. How sexy does that VW Scirocco look - pity it's front wheel drive though.

Yeh this car was at the last Eastern ck track day I went to. It's a very sexy car both in the photos and even more so in the flesh - the wheels are awesome. They're 80k to import one though - and thats stock. Still makes the 135 the performance value IMO.

Guran, I still found this article interesting. Lets face it, tunes are becoming more and more common with the advent of FI in high-end european cars so I think its definitely releveant to the average motoring enthusiast.

[fly135]

Originally Posted by harpoon

Yeh this car was at the last Eastern ck track day I went to. It's a very sexy car both in the photos and even more so in the flesh - the wheels are awesome. They're 80k to import one though - and thats stock. Still makes the 135 the performance value IMO.

Guran, I still found this article interesting. Lets face it, tunes are becoming more and more common with the advent of FI in high-end european cars so I think its definitely releveant to the average motoring enthusiast.

I agree, as nice as it is, i wouldn't pay 80k for one. The Golf R is also much better value and is 4 wheel drive.

[spdrcr]

Originally Posted by qship

Despite having about 40-60kw extra, both the 135i and Lib GT were slower than stock. Having said that, look at the conditions in the photos. Water, water everywhere! Don't know if the 0--100 were done in the wet.

The acceleration times were done in the dry on the dragstrip.

Originally Posted by Zuzu

Is that your red Lotus in those pix Jeff??

Yep!

Originally Posted by Guran

This special feature is the biggest waste of space I've come across in MOTOR. And they will be spreading it over three issues!

Fair enough, they cannot control the weather. But track-based results in tropical monsoon conditions are absolutely meaningless. They should have excluded those tests from the overall score and based it on the dragstrip data alone. Or returned another day.

Agreed!

ps: Anyone got a copy of the mag they can scan in?