Highest BHP Daily Driver?

Ryan_W

Ryan_W

Registered User
Joined
Mar 9, 2010
Messages
310
Reaction score
6
Points
16
Location
Stamford
I'm bored at work and just wondering what BHP you lot are pushing on your daily drivers?

I rarely use my S3, however, I'm looking into going BT later this year just for giggles and want to know what are built and trusted examples of this.

This isn't a generic 'I want lots of BHP for £500' thread, I'd be looking at throwing around £5k at the engine alone.

In all honesty, 400bhp would be what I'm looking for (without copious amounts of lag), but I would want a solid, reliable build which I could abuse at my pleasure.

On a side note, anyone ever used K-Sport brakes on an S3? A friend had a set on his S14 200SX and loved them, but I've never seen any on an 8L...

Oh how boredom can affect your bank account......

Cheers!
 
Welly at 445

Mine made 440 but i hope to see much more and its a daily driver so 600 would be nice when i'm done

Tuffty is at about 400 i think

And thats about if for the big boys on here, please correct me if there is any more?
 
Thanks buddy.

What turbos are they using on their setups? GT30's I assume, 35's will make more power but they're not great for DDs. My mate put one on his 2.1L Vectra and it was a dog below 4,500rpm!
 
I have the K sport 8 pots on the front of mine have found them to be good, not experienced any fade even on the couple of trackdays I have done. They do however squeal when hot but that could be down to the Ferodo pads I am running.
 
Mine my dd and is somewhere around the 335 mark give or take and will hopefully be pushing 450 in the near future and for the reason that its a daily ive gone for a set up that should hopefully be on tap reasonably early from seeing another extremely simular set up ;)
 
My friend had the 8 Pot 356mm kit (£1k) on his 200, stopped really well but did squeak with the DS2500s. I'd be hoping to fit the same kit under my 19s but unsure on this...

Think I'll be having some in-depth chats with Brian @ Jabbasport on Monday about a cheeky little build.

Oh, excited! Haha...
 
320bhp for me. A tank a week. £80 odd quid on v power and I don't drive like miss daisy. Around 280miles per tank.
 
Mine 340bhp and now being used as a daily, and porsche big reds all round. I have learnt to ignore the fuel, and just keep topping it up with v power lol. Im currently working out what i need to crack the 400bhp mark, and saving lots.lol.
 
Mines is 325
but jabba can wrk there magic on urs
I have seen afew tt's they were doing wen I was there
Pushing 500 plus
 
I'm doing a very slow build but should be looking at around 400 with a GT2871 kit (not ATP eliminator) on a 2.0L stroker. Pretty much tried and tested in the states. The previous owner of the kit ran a 12.6 so it's not shy! If I had the choice (I'm getting a "deal"), I'd go GT3071 top mounted :)
 
audi upgrades
Why would you spend a grand on a set of KSport brakes...

£999 for two 8 piston calipers, adapters, rotors and then a further £241.36 for the DS pads. The calipers only weigh 6lbs; they must be flexible as ****, I say that as an assumption based on my own opinion and the reviews I have read.

Not to mention that they have four pistons one size and four pistons which are smaller -

KSPORT002.jpg


They do that to compensate for the fact that the standard master cylinder won't displace enough fluid for a super sick awesome looking 8 pot brake setup. Why buy something which is fundamentally floored and as such un-improvable from the start. You'd be much better with a new master cylinder and actual decent brakes.

Fancyboy brakes IMO for people who want to look awesome, stick with Brembo and some Hawk Performance/DS3000 pads.
 
Last edited:
The piston sizes being staggered has nothing (or very little) to do with the master cylinder size. The different sized pistons is to make them more progressive feel and reduced tapered pad wear. Many 6+ pot calipers are designed that way. A 6 piston caliper designed to have the same wheel clearance as a 4 pot of similar size will always flex more. Hence why Cayenne (955) calipers are way worse for wheel clearance than their 911 counterparts.

brembo_8p.jpg


large689.jpeg


one for westy:

limegreen_18Z_01.jpg


attachment.php


picture.php
 
I do agree, but it's not 100% right IMO. You have posted two different types of caliper there, the ones which differ from leading edge to trailing edge are designed that way as you say to reduce the effect of the approach action friction as you say. The KSport calipers however aren't designed that way...They have a similar looking design feature and they will in essence do that job, but the size of the pistons is tiny and the stagger between the two sizes of pistons is less than on a higher quality caliper (like the ones you have posted).

The way the Ksports are designed IS to reduce the fluid used and to give an OE feel to the pedal, I know that as actual proper 100% fact. And it is listed on their sales brochures of OE fitment kits. Look at every picture you have posted, the pistons are much larger on every single caliper compared to the 8 piston Ksport. It's a generic brake upgrade kit, so the pistons are designed small to account for 100's of different cars.

Would I EVER buy a brake setup that had a "universal" caliper designed to be used on 100's of cars with 10's of different disc combinations? Nope, it's never going to offer the performance is it. It'll be better than OE, and there will be a certain placebo effect. But you'll never see THAT KIT on a proper race car that is any good.

Either way, I wouldn't run them and I don't like them. Same goes for all "generic" brake upgrade kits.

Let me just put a little exclusion in there...*Except for the Brembo GT kit, because it's basically the same as an LCR setup but without the external balance pipe...so it's perfect for our application*
 
Last edited:
Jardo: Those brakes are so shiny and sexy I would sell my granny for them.....however lcr brembos do the job beautifully for me and many others. FTW my daily is only a bog standard stg 1 with the usual mods but I'll have silly power one day! Very jealous of you all
 
Sure, the red AP's have the balance pipe on a different end to the others but I was trying to point out that many calipers use staggered pistons rather than talk about their orientation, nor was I comparing piston sizes to the K-Sport :)

16Klappe said:
Would I EVER buy a brake setup that had a "universal" caliper designed to be used on 100's of cars with 10's of different disc combinations? Nope, it's never going to offer the performance is it.
Click to expand...

Why? If the piston sizes are suitable across a range of cars, what's the problem? You'll find that most kits use a "generic" caliper that's shared across platforms and cars. It's basic business to cut down on variations of a product to keep costs low and to offer both a competitively priced product. That's why many calipers use radial mounts or adapters. I'd bet that the brembo casting for the LCRs is used on another model? 406 Coupe V6? Fiat 20v Turbo?
 
16Klappe said:
I do agree, but it's not 100% right IMO. You have posted two different types of caliper there, the ones which differ from leading edge to trailing edge are designed that way as you say to reduce the effect of the approach action friction as you say. The KSport calipers however aren't designed that way...They have a similar looking design feature and they will in essence do that job, but the size of the pistons is tiny and the stagger between the two sizes of pistons is less than on a higher quality caliper (like the ones you have posted).

The way the Ksports are designed IS to reduce the fluid used and to give an OE feel to the pedal, I know that as actual proper 100% fact. And it is listed on their sales brochures of OE fitment kits. Look at every picture you have posted, the pistons are much larger on every single caliper compared to the 8 piston Ksport. It's a generic brake upgrade kit, so the pistons are designed small to account for 100's of different cars.

Would I EVER buy a brake setup that had a "universal" caliper designed to be used on 100's of cars with 10's of different disc combinations? Nope, it's never going to offer the performance is it. It'll be better than OE, and there will be a certain placebo effect. But you'll never see THAT KIT on a proper race car that is any good.

Either way, I wouldn't run them and I don't like them. Same goes for all "generic" brake upgrade kits.

Let me just put a little exclusion in there...*Except for the Brembo GT kit, because it's basically the same as an LCR setup but without the external balance pipe...so it's perfect for our application*
Click to expand...

Interesting argument, however I have a set so I can comment on the performance and not just make wild comments based on other peoples reviews, which if you had read you would have seen there are many more positive ones than negative. I personally find they perform very well not fading after persistent stops from 3 figures on the road and on the track. Are they as good as the one on my Porsche no but they are close which suits me fine.
 
Thank you they are a good set of toys especially with my bikes and no speed limits :yes:
 
Ignore the people that have no experience oh how they perform. My friend also has the 356mm ksports on his S14 track car. Even on standard ksport "sport" pads the braking is savage. Started to fade a touch at Bedford but that was down to the pad overheating. Something like a ds2500 is needed. God knows how good they'd be then! for the money of a new kit they'd probably be the best about. Look awesome behind a nice set of wheels too! Oh and they fit behind his 18" work emotions. You bought some superleggeras or ultras didn't you? Can't remember 100% but usually their clearance is awesome so yeah you should be fine.
 
Fair enough, if you guys say they work then what can I argue.

I still think they look ****, I still think they are for fancyboys who want to amaze people with their super sick 18 piston calipers and I still don't think they will offer a justifiable increase in performance over Brembo's and proper pads, I also still think it is a massive placebo effect becauss the ancient sliding caliper 312mm ****e that comes on an S3 could barely stop a Mk3 Golf let alone an S3 from three figures.

But that's just my opinion and I don't own a Porsche or have a friend with a race car so I can't really back it up with any facts.
 
Ouch ryan- ploughing 5k into an old S3 is going to hurt anybody... I'd be looking at getting a big boys car for that kind of power. RS4, RS6, M5. Anything but an s3 lol
 
Depends on what people are classing as a "daily driver"?

There are a lot of people who have "run around" cars as their dailys or only drive 5 miles a day in them ;)

Mine might only be a K04 turbo with around 300bhp but it does a round trip of 100 miles a day and gets used in all weather. Not of this winter/summer wheels malarky either :moa:
 
sportstractor said:
Ouch ryan- ploughing 5k into an old S3 is going to hurt anybody... I'd be looking at getting a big boys car for that kind of power. RS4, RS6, M5. Anything but an s3 lol
Click to expand...

Well I've been to view quite a few B5 RS4's, and yes they have an amazing engine but that's pretty much it. The S3 handles better, looks as good and is FAR cheaper to maintain. Also the build quality of my S3 is far superior to that of the RS4. You learn this by just closing the door!

I would love a B5 because it's a 500bhp family car and I love that concept, but spending £14k on a good one?... I'd rather make my S3 as quick (or quicker) and continue to use my 135i as my DD...
 
audi upgrades
well im going for a 2.0 stroker kit same as Sam, but still undecided whether GT30 or GT35.. but running atm 6 pots and some B14's turning up in the next few days i hope.
 
GT35 would be a bit much for the road surely? It'll be a dog. 3071 with a .63 housing seems to make a decent road engine
 
Sam_ said:
GT35 would be a bit much for the road surely? It'll be a dog. 3071 with a .63 housing seems to make a decent road engine
Click to expand...

i dont plan on driving it on the road much really ill have another car :p RS4 B7 shipped from the UK if my bonuses keep coming hehe
 
sportstractor said:
Ouch ryan- ploughing 5k into an old S3 is going to hurt anybody... I'd be looking at getting a big boys car for that kind of power. RS4, RS6, M5. Anything but an s3 lol
Click to expand...

He's only bragging about how much money he has.. Rather annoying IMO
 
Benjiman46 said:
He's only bragging about how much money he has.. Rather annoying IMO
Click to expand...

lol pretty standard car forum activity then, every ****er showing off what they have got... must to be used to it by now?

To be fair , this is a forum, so he could be lying, while typing it all out from his council house:p. I once followed a ford forum where a chap claimed to be doing a high spec escort cosworth build, went on for months, he reckoned he owned a garage but had a suspicious amount of forum activity for such a successful person... In the end he got busted by the actual owner of the car/garage, found to be taking pics etc from his build on passion ford... was brilliant, turned out to be some blokes little brother or something... so watch out Ryan :busted_cop: LOL
 
Ryan_W said:
but spending £14k on a good one?... I'd rather make my S3 as quick (or quicker) and continue to use my 135i as my DD...
Click to expand...

or ploughing 5k into an 8l s3 which is worth 5k, then selling for 3k in 2 years... or buying a RS4 for 14k, maybe worth 10k in 2 years? Only been out in the B7 RS4... but didnt think build quality was worse than an 8L S3
 
You will find most people who have thrown shed loads into there s3s (including me) will be getting buried with the ******...;)
Its not about the money, its an hobby, although sometimes i wish i had have chosen bleeding skiing......
 
  • Like
Reactions: voorhees
Benjiman46 said:
He's only bragging about how much money he has.. Rather annoying IMO
Click to expand...
:) Benjiman, not wanting to cause an argument or anything, but i hardly think he is bragging, he is just a car nut like the rest of us...
you cant knock him because he is rich, he is still a forum member, and could have built is fortune through hard work like most of us on here, (hard work not built a fortune...;))
It sounds like he could have any car, so hats off to him for choosing an 8L S3....:hi:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

GlennP83
Glenn's S3 Project/Daily Driver
Replies
31
Views
2K
GlennP83
GlennP83
P
sensible daily?
Replies
12
Views
1K
Plunky
P
S
400hp Daily Use?
Replies
27
Views
2K
S3ALEX90
S
Slammedorion
The misses's daily
Replies
81
Views
8K
Slammedorion
Slammedorion
J
Highest mileage S3? RIP?
Replies
29
Views
11K
Stuart B
Stuart B
Top
Back