Rally spin off cars

[Sulland]

Why are not more factories making rally spin off cars, to make money.

Mitsubishi and Subaru have sold a lot of their road going rally cars over the years. Lancia had their Integrale, that sold a few.

I would wish the factories of today to do more than Citroen is doing, just putting on a sticker and a nice pair of seats.

Why cant they build a wide "angry" car that more resembles the cars they make for rally ? Ford have their RC Focus, but Skoda, Fiat, Peugeot and the others dont produce something for the petrolheads - They Should !!!

Agree ?

[Mirek]

Such cars are very expensive to develop and produce. They hardly bring profit.

[Sulland]

Yes but I did not mean to go all the way as Sub and Mitsu have done, but half the way would do nicely !

A Fabia that is a bit cooler than the Diesel one that was/is the top of the pops would do the trick !

[Francis44]

]Such cars are very expensive to develop and produce. They hardly bring profit.

This, and it's dangerous to sell those kinda cars!!!!

[Mirek]

A Fabia that is a bit cooler than the Diesel one that was/is the top of the pops would do the trick !

Fabia 2 RS will probably come next year with 1.4 TSI DSG (cca 180 Hp and 7-speed gearbox). Of course it's no supercar and it will still look strange as stock Fabia but it's better than diesel...

[Sulland]

]Fabia 2 RS will probably come next year with 1.4 TSI DSG (cca 180 Hp and 7-speed gearbox). Of course it's no supercar and it will still look strange as stock Fabia but it's better than diesel...

Add a bit wider front and rear and we are there !

[xspeedy]

Ah...

http://www.autospectator.com/cars/files/images/2009-Ford-Focus-RS-7.jpg

[Sulland]

Yes the Focus RS series is one of the few, but then Ford has a long history of giving us nice RS cars !

[Donney]

And there should be a 4WD version to make it more WRC-esque....

[AndyRAC]

Yes the Focus RS series is one of the few, but then Ford has a long history of giving us nice RS cars !

Mmm, I know I'll be shot down - but personally speaking, the latest FocusRS is just a glorified ST. It should be a 2.0LTurbo/4WD just as the WRCar is. Instead it's a 2.5LTurbo/FWD. The last true RS was the Escort RS Cosworth.

The worst Rallycar spin off is the C4 by Loeb.....just a few stickers on a 'bog standard' car.

[RS]

The next generation Focus ST will have a 2.0T as the 2.5turbo is not very good on fuel or C02 emissions.

Peugeot UK are about to release a "Kris Meeke" edition 207, although it will not be a performance model.

Next Fabia RS should look and go a lot nicer than the standard Fabia, but it would be too expensive and complicated to make it look like the S2000 (unfortunately)

[AndyRAC]

The next generation Focus ST will have a 2.0T as the 2.5turbo is not very good on fuel or C02 emissions.

Peugeot UK are about to release a "Kris Meeke" edition 207, although it will not be a performance model.

Next Fabia RS should look and go a lot nicer than the standard Fabia, but it would be too expensive and complicated to make it look like the S2000 (unfortunately)

Read about the 'Kris Meeke Special' in Autocar - turns out it's not a Special, in fact it's quite the opposite.
As for the forthcoming vRS Fabia, think they should've offered both Petrol and Diesel. Or make it different to other 'Hot Hatches' like the current vRS is. I think Skoda are hamstrung by VW not letting them have a car better than any of the other VW group cars.

[xspeedy]

More of a track car, but I think the Megane R26R is along those lines. Not AWD though.

http://www.autospies.com/images/users/turbox/Renault-Megane-R26R-15%5B1%5D.jpg

I guess I would like to see proper "Rallyesport" models that are road legal. No rear seat and weight saving measures, plus a no compromise sport suspension and tuning.

[Zico]

I totally agree with the sentiment and principle of the thread but is 4wd really necessary for a road car?
I'd much rather have a Rear wheel drive .. Focus RS, Impreza, Evo etc than a 4wd one, however prohibitive that would be in todays economic climate.

[Donney]

I'd rather have a RWD anything than 4WD but that's just a dream...

[ShiftingGears]

Cause the regulations don't force them to.

[Donney]

I know, I know.... so we can just dream about that.

[Daniel]

The next generation Focus ST will have a 2.0T as the 2.5turbo is not very good on fuel or C02 emissions.

Funny thing is that for the very same reason Subaru went from the 2l turbo to the 2.5 turbo for their road cars.

I think theugsquirrel is right. The regs mean that manufacturers can use any car whether it's FWD with a 900cc engine or left wheel drive or whatever. I know the manufacturers rabit on about cost but I think the benefit is far greater when the road cars are 4wd turbo cars.

[Daniel]

I totally agree with the sentiment and principle of the thread but is 4wd really necessary for a road car?
I'd much rather have a Rear wheel drive .. Focus RS, Impreza, Evo etc than a 4wd one, however prohibitive that would be in todays economic climate.
I think in this day and age 4wd is the best option as there is the illusion of safety compared to FWD and RWD in slippery conditions. You may have more traction but the problem is 4wd doesn't help you brake any better hence why I slid off the side of a snowy/icy gravel road last year in Caroline's Subaru :mark:

[Donney]

Yes, but the illusion of safety sells thousands o f cars. All the electronics provide silly drivers with the false feeling that nothing is going to happen and then....

[Zico]

I think in this day and age 4wd is the best option as there is the illusion of safety compared to FWD and RWD in slippery conditions. You may have more traction but the problem is 4wd doesn't help you brake any better hence why I slid off the side of a snowy/icy gravel road last year in Caroline's Subaru :mark:

Yeah, my girlfriend has an 02 plate Impreza wagon, very capable on any surface, it gives a very secure feeling and pleasant to drive despite it being very uninvolving.. certainly no drivers car.

Re- braking ability, I think thats it in a nutshell, so much more capable to your avarage car everywhere else except at on the limit cornering and braking, which although very stable it simply cant beat the laws of physics.

Too stable?

[Daniel]

Yeah, my girlfriend has an 02 plate Impreza wagon, very capable on any surface, it gives a very secure feeling and pleasant to drive despite it being very uninvolving.. certainly no drivers car.

Re- braking ability, I think thats it in a nutshell, so much more capable to your avarage car everywhere else except at on the limit cornering and braking, which although very stable it simply cant beat the laws of physics.

Too stable?
Yeah Caroline's Subaru is a bit uninvolving too but I'm going to get it all rebushed around and have the suspension replaced with something a bit better.

The braking was quite funny really. I must have been idling along on the road which was a couple of inches of snow over some ice over gravel and I braked and it just sailed off the road quite gracefully at about 5 mph. Traction was absolutely fine and I was actually quite amazed, I would have thought it would have got wheelspin.

I'm going to sound like a nancy boy but I'm going to put some winter tyres on my 500 sometime this month because the tyres it's got on are Potenza's and they give epic amount of grip when it's wet or dry but as soon as it's cold they're totally useless and it feels like it's at sea and that's before it's even got properly cold.