[v50t5black]

Re: (Nebor)

Quote, originally posted by Nebor »

An S40 with a real T5 motor, like from the S60 T5, would be pure sex. It'd run 13s with a chip. And it would fit too! Why Volvo felt the need to develop a whole new engine for the S40 T5 I'll never know.

Volvo's sales pitch has been they redesigned the engine to decrease it's width. They did this to maintain the crush zones in the smaller S40/V50 cars.

This link is to a comparison test including a Subaru Legacy 2.5GT Limited and an S40 T5 (FWD).
http://www.caranddriver.com/co....html

A real eye opener to the low end torque advantage of the Volvo. The Subaru was a full second quicker from 0-60 yet the Volvo was a half second quicker in the rolling 5-60 run.

0-60 mph 5.7 6.7
rolling 5-60 mph 7.6 7.1

On top of that the Subie is rated 19City/25Hwy as opposed to the S40's 22City/31Hwy. Of course if you have to have the AWD S40 you lose a lot of that mpg advantage.

 

[v50t5black]

Re: (Beanboy)

Obviously acceleration times from a magazine aren't absolute. Do some searches on any vehicle and you are sure to find conflicting times. Amoung other things there are too many variables, driver, weather, condition of the track, power shifting or not, etc.. At least in a comparison test there is a better chance that the variables will be minimized. (ie. same driver, same track, same weather). Of course even then you should take the times for what they are.

I just did a search and came across a Motor Trend article on a 2005 Subaru Legacy GT auto reporting a 0-60 of 6.5 seconds.
http://www.motortrend.com/road...cy_gt/

Variables are really starting to go through the roof when you bring the 2.0 WRX into the picture. It's a different animal. I would be just as suspect of the WRX's 5-60 time of 6.6 seconds. I raced a 2.0 WRX in a lowly stock 260 hp 2000 Mustang GT. After all the hype I had heard about the WRX I figured I could keep up with him at best. The WRX was a dog.

So forgetting all the numbers we seem to concur on the S40 having better low end torque and mpg, the LGT better high end hp.