04 Apr 172/182 vs 197/200 – Who’s Faster?
Well lets look at some of the different things that might be considered faster as we try and answer this frequently asked question.
0-60 times:
The official figures show the later cars a couple of tenths of a second quicker to 60, but being a heavier car they can struggle more to lay down the power required to do so when pulling away, so often in the real world the lighter earlier car will get off the line a little quicker and even that difference out, they really are very similar.
Top speed:
If you hold them all flat out, you will eventually get to around the 135-140 mark in all of them as standard, there really is nothing in it at all and the amount of distance required to get to the top speed in the first place (several miles) is far greater than anything on a UK racetrack, in fact even on the long straight sections of the nurburgring club members have been unable to get their car upto top speed, so whatever minor difference there is between the two shapes really is irrelevant in the real world.
Corner speed:
The earlier cars tend to be marginally quicker in really tight corners as a function of having less weight, the later cars tend to be quicker in longer sweeping corners from their improved stability.
Handling:
Handling isnt the same thing as corner speed, its more about how the car feels, how gracefully it transfers weight across the suspension when going from a bend one way to a bend the other way when manoeuvring through a high speed chicane etc, on this front, the later cars win, the far more sophisticated front suspension setup really pays dividends, but its fairly close once again.
Lap times:
The later car will typically be very marginally quicker around a racetrack when compared standard for standard, when fifth gear tested back to back they found a second a lap in it, this author’s opinion is that the test was marginally unfair to the earlier car because it was obviously a few years old at the time of the test, and hence things like minor play in steering joints and wear in the shock absorbers etc no doubt meant it was a fraction of a second slower now than when it was new, but as tests go its the fairest back to back one you will find and there is no doubt that the later car won it.
Top gear test was a little more flawed in terms of being 5 years apart and on different weather conditions etc as a result, but that test found that the two cars (which in this test WERE both brand new so fairer in that respect) both cars did a laptime round their circuit of 133.80 so were exactly the same.
Whichever way you look it and whichever test you go by, there really isnt much in it, and for me when driving both back to back on the same circuit on the same day, it was too close to call.
Speed with which they get through a gallon of fuel:
The later cars win (or if you care about money, lose!) this one hands down, the combination of less weight and milder cams in the earlier cars sees them returning far better fuel economy
Summary:
There really isnt very much in it at all, the performance of the cars is as close to equal as you are ever likely to get in terms of two cars that are actually quite so significantly different in terms of weight and dimension and suspension layout etc, the later cars carry more weight but they have better power and they have better gearing that allows them to exploit that power well on track, but the earlier cars are more nimble from their lower weight and overall there is very little really in it.
So which should you buy?
It really does depend what you want most from a car, the earlier ones are certainly kinder on the wallet to own and to run on the road day to day and especially in terms of fuel and tyres that you will get through on a trackday, and they are arguably more raw and more exciting to drive. Conversely the later car is more modern looking, more refined as a daily driver, and arguably feels better put together, so its very much a personal decision, but whichever you choose, you are bound to enjoy it, they are both absolutely fantastic cars!
