High powered TC cars for highway cruising

[Boyboy]

I was expressing my interest in an STi for jaunts up north, to Sepang and as well as for touring Peninsular Malaysia in general. But some of my colleagues (performance car drivers among them) said that TC cannot sustain cruising for high speeds for long duration.

 

Is this true? I mean, I'm sure this applies for running at close to max speed and at max boost but how about reasonable speeds like about 160-180km/h? nowhere near top speed. In any case, there's plenty of air being forced into the radiator and whatnot at that kind of speed. not to mention the huge air scoop on the bonnet.

 

I know an STi is not the perfect car for touring, but the question is, why can't it do the job? Or are my colleagues mistaken? I intend to mod it a bit when I get mine, nothing too extreme, maybe 400+bhp will be more than enuff. I'm not gunning for monster drag car. besides, tires are expensive

[Boyboy]

by performance car i mean civic type R and toyota MRS. not exactly supercars but these people know a thing or two about cars. could be misguided regarding my query, but they aren't idiots.

[ER-3682]

The standard STI should be able to cruise at high speed [160-170km/h] to Sepang without any problem,most important is make sure the car have enough engine oil & coolant.

Edited November 28, 2010 by ER-3682

[Requiemdk]

Depends a lot on whether the car was done up properly. A stock TC car should have no problems whatsoever cruising for long stretches since the turbocharger is not boosting when cruising. One that has been modified without paying due attention to the cooling systems will of course have problems.

 

Btw the MR-S' cooling is naturally not as efficient as a front-engined car. Also, being a NA car, the airflow in its engine bay was never designed to take the heat from turbochargers. You need a very very well designed cooling system for it if you're turbocharging it and then intending to boost here boost there. Just as a benchmark, even 7 SPAL fans was not enough to prevent temperatures from climbing dangerously high after boosting frequently for about 2 hours. I leave it to you to imagine how many horses that thing was packing...

 

The older MR2 Turbo (not the NA one) would do much better for long distance cruising. Not many people know it, but the airflow in the Turbo and the NA MR2 engine bays were differently designed despite the engine bay looking almost the same. With 2 SPAL fans (blowing in the right direction!!!), the MR2 Turbo could take a heck lot of punishment. The snorkel was designed for NA MR2 engine bays though (it would've pushed air against the usual direction of airflow in the Turbo version from what I remember).

[Boyboy]

The standard STI should be able to cruise at high speed [160-170km/h] to Sepang without any problem,most important is make sure the car have enough engine oil & coolant.

 

u know people running stock STis? i think engine oil and coolant is a must for any car running at high speed.

 

so if stock STi cruising at say.. 210km.h, cannot sustain too long? i dunno, just asking. anyway, 210 not feasible to maintain all the way. i think 180 is the upper limit which can be sustained given the average traffic. sometimes much less.

[ER-3682]

Malaysia highway best stay around 160-180km/h,these roads are very dangerous,a short burst to 210-230km/h won't harm the engine,but make sure don't overrevved.

[Thedream]

u know people running stock STis? i think engine oil and coolant is a must for any car running at high speed.

 

so if stock STi cruising at say.. 210km.h, cannot sustain too long? i dunno, just asking. anyway, 210 not feasible to maintain all the way. i think 180 is the upper limit which can be sustained given the average traffic. sometimes much less.

 

I think for long distances and with these kinds of speeds, best to have an oil cooler. In general should be able to bring oil temps down about 7-8 degrees. Then it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Problem is, you said you're intending to go to Sepang (I assume not just for sight-seeing ), and have a target of ~400bhp. So you'll need a bigger turbo running higher boost and hence much higher temps. That's when you'll have problems going the distance

[Boyboy]

I think for long distances and with these kinds of speeds, best to have an oil cooler. In general should be able to bring oil temps down about 7-8 degrees. Then it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Problem is, you said you're intending to go to Sepang (I assume not just for sight-seeing ), and have a target of ~400bhp. So you'll need a bigger turbo running higher boost and hence much higher temps. That's when you'll have problems going the distance

 

it is a compromise i guess.

 

if i do eventually prioritise cruising, i will not up the power, but maybe improve the cooling alone. see how it goes.

 

biggest issue is insurance now. if i can get it under 3k under my dad's name, then i'm good to go.

[Headshok]

friend and i drove up to Thailand ( hat yai) in july in a slighly modded Fiat Bravo.

 

Cruising " normal speed" was 170km/h easily ( half the time)

 

but we were doing 200km/h-230max the other half of the time..

 

this was a 1.4L turbo car, so well, just some reference :)

 

Cheers!

 

 

[Boyboy]

did u go with Xalmon? cos i remember him mentioning abt a fiat bravo to me some time back. sounded quite familiar

 

1.4 turbo.. hmm.. different animal. nice drive but not quite as hardcore as STi. and maybe the oil temp went up and u had no warning? did u have oil temp gauge? any cooling system improvements?