Road car with the best grip and downforce

[Cannonballer]

What you want is a Mitsubishi Evo 8 or 9, preferably the later with the variable intake. Great handling and down force out the box. Easy to make more power than you can use with the cast iron 4G63 turbo charged engine.

The Subaru WRX/STI is a dog in all categories compared to the Evo. Believe me I have owned and modified both.

[Gerhardsa]

probably depends of they type of road car you talk about.
I can think of plenty of road "legal" cars that have more grip and DF than Evo and the Scubi's

[krisfx]

What you want is a Mitsubishi Evo 8 or 9, preferably the later with the variable intake. Great handling and down force out the box. Easy to make more power than you can use with the cast iron 4G63 turbo charged engine.

The Subaru WRX/STI is a dog in all categories compared to the Evo. Believe me I have owned and modified both.

Did you run a WRX or an STI?

[FoxHound]

Neither an Evo or Sti will trouble a GTR Nissan. Unbelievable grip for a 1.8 tonne car with blink and you'll miss it acceleration. Mucho respeito for that monster.
But the GTR aerodynamically at least, is pretty basic.

For a grip/aero combo you will need something that was designed to race first, then reproduced for homologation purposes.

2 cars stand out, those being the Porsche GT1 and the Mercedes CLK-GTR.
Both these did however suffer flip incidents in races.
But for production purposes the cars were raised slightly higher(tyres)and given more stable front end bias.
Both remained millimeters off the ground though, and sported massive functional diffusers, racing floor as well as rear wings and profiled front splitters.
They were practically unchanged from the actual race cars apart from tyres.

I reckon they'd qualify for aero and grip when you consider the race spec were lapping the silverstone race track in 1m:38 in 1998 when F1 was doing 1m:23 with 200bhp more.

[VARIANT | one]

probably depends of they type of road car you talk about.
I can think of plenty of road "legal" cars that have more grip and DF than Evo and the Scubi's

Indeed. Radicals, et. al. If we're talking something fairly universally attainable and streetable, I'd have to go with the 2016 Dodge Viper ACR with the extreme aero package. Over 1500 lbs. @ 150 mph. Not the lightest car in the world ( 1530 kg kerb), but it's managed to knock down production car lap records at something like 13 U.S. circuits and cracked the Porsche 918 and McLaren P1 times at Laguna seca. Not too shabby for a ~$130k buggy. =D>

[Cannonballer]

What you want is a Mitsubishi Evo 8 or 9, preferably the later with the variable intake. Great handling and down force out the box. Easy to make more power than you can use with the cast iron 4G63 turbo charged engine.

The Subaru WRX/STI is a dog in all categories compared to the Evo. Believe me I have owned and modified both.

Did you run a WRX or an STI?

I had a WRX then went Evo instead of STI, and I am glad that I did l. I had friends who bought STI's and I followed the aftermarket. Evo's make more power, with better reliability, for less money than the STI. They also have better grip and handling.

[Cannonballer]

Neither an Evo or Sti will trouble a GTR Nissan. Unbelievable grip for a 1.8 tonne car with blink and you'll miss it acceleration. Mucho respeito for that monster.
But the GTR aerodynamically at least, is pretty basic.

For a grip/aero combo you will need something that was designed to race first, then reproduced for homologation purposes.

2 cars stand out, those being the Porsche GT1 and the Mercedes CLK-GTR.
Both these did however suffer flip incidents in races.
But for production purposes the cars were raised slightly higher(tyres)and given more stable front end bias.
Both remained millimeters off the ground though, and sported massive functional diffusers, racing floor as well as rear wings and profiled front splitters.
They were practically unchanged from the actual race cars apart from tyres.

I reckon they'd qualify for aero and grip when you consider the race spec were lapping the silverstone race track in 1m:38 in 1998 when F1 was doing 1m:23 with 200bhp more.

If money is no object I wholeheartedly agree on the GTR. . But for the average man the Evo is great bang for the buck. The best deal might be an old school Miata.

[J.A.W.]

. But for the average man the Evo is great bang for the buck. The best deal might be an old school Miata.

Mazda MX-5/Miata might be a "best deal" for a girly, to drive to a classic hair-salon, attempting to emulate Emma Peel..
..but it aint "an old school" real man's car, now, is it..
..by comparison.. even a Mazda RX-7, yeah - pumped out with fat rubber, stiff suspension & a 1/2 decent 20B 3/rotor.. is a bit real..

[cmF1]

. But for the average man the Evo is great bang for the buck. The best deal might be an old school Miata.

Mazda MX-5/Miata might be a "best deal" for a girly, to drive to a classic hair-salon, attempting to emulate Emma Peel..
..but it aint "an old school" real man's car, now, is it..
..by comparison.. even a Mazda RX-7, yeah - pumped out with fat rubber, stiff suspension & a 1/2 decent 20B 3/rotor.. is a bit real..

Slightly sexist but I'll let it slide.

[FoxHound]

If money is no object I wholeheartedly agree on the GTR. . But for the average man the Evo is great bang for the buck. The best deal might be an old school Miata.

A used GTR can be has for the price of a minimally specced junior German saloon.
Unless you are referring to the CLK-GTR in which case you need to weigh the cash to lurchase instead of counting it.

The Miata/MX-5 is cheap thrills... sorted chassis but just nowhere near enough power to mix it with proper sports cars.

I own 2 S2000 Honda's, the last being a leggy 130k miles example I picked up late last year for 3.5k sterling!
Everything works perfectly and it is a class beyond what the mx5 can do.

The 350z Nissan is a car you can also get cheaply and easily tune up to around 500bhp (greddy kits or turbos)for fairly low cost.
So if you looking at it on a budget there are 4 cars(in Europe anyway) to seriously consider...

Evo... Impreza... S2k... 350z.

[andylaurence]

How have we got from the road car with the best grip and downforce to an Impreza, Evo, RX7 and MX5? All great cars for the money, but seriously ... Another ball game from anything remotely potent like a Radical SR8 or a Caparo T1.

[krisfx]

What you want is a Mitsubishi Evo 8 or 9, preferably the later with the variable intake. Great handling and down force out the box. Easy to make more power than you can use with the cast iron 4G63 turbo charged engine.

The Subaru WRX/STI is a dog in all categories compared to the Evo. Believe me I have owned and modified both.

Did you run a WRX or an STI?

I had a WRX then went Evo instead of STI, and I am glad that I did l. I had friends who bought STI's and I followed the aftermarket. Evo's make more power, with better reliability, for less money than the STI. They also have better grip and handling.

My friend runs an STI Widetrack, it's a completely different animal to the WRX and if they had the 2.5l STI it was probably why they were --- aha. I like both, but I'd probably take the scoob

[krisfx]

How have we got from the road car with the best grip and downforce to an Impreza, Evo, RX7 and MX5? All great cars for the money, but seriously ... Another ball game from anything remotely potent like a Radical SR8 or a Caparo T1.

I think it's more on people's tastes this one.

The Caparo & Radical are arguably up top, not sure why some of the cars are even mentioned myself. Especially MX5's they're basically like crabs... haha.

[FoxHound]

I think it's more on people's tastes this one.

The Caparo & Radical are arguably up top, not sure why some of the cars are even mentioned myself. Especially MX5's they're basically like crabs... haha.

Would a caparo or radical qualify as a "road car" or "track toy".
Road cars conjure up images of a boot (trunk), stereo system and some form of usability.

Neither of those cars can be used in the mildly wet. Safely.
I will cede that I'm probably just being pedantic on the terminology of "road car".

[andylaurence]

Would a caparo or radical qualify as a "road car" or "track toy".
Road cars conjure up images of a boot (trunk), stereo system and some form of usability.

Neither of those cars can be used in the mildly wet. Safely.
I will cede that I'm probably just being pedantic on the terminology of "road car".

I'd say they're both road and track toys. If a boot and stereo are required then even a Clio Cup isn't a road car. You absolutely can drive either on the road and you can certainly drive a Radical in the wet - I've done it. Like any other car, if it's wet, you slow down a little. The Radical SR8 is an incredible car to drive and remarkably easy to drive too. Admittedly, you probably want traction control in the wet, but the Life ECU supports it. The Caparo is just daft - I've not driven one, but the closest I have driven (again in the wet) was ludicrous.