Prototype Review

[Bamm1]

"It’s designed to rival the BMW 440i GranCoupe......benchmarked the facelifted 340i as the 4er wasn’t yet available.......Kia claims the 44bhp more powerful Stinger GT is faster when tested to its own benchmarks."

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/kia/kia-stinger-gt-2017-prototype-review/

Faster than the 340i!?!?!

 

[Spaghetti Sandwich]

Cool. They had a lot of good things to say. Im sure theyll give us an update once its warm outside and theyre not sliding around on a lake as they said. The Stinger does sound very promising though. Faster than the 340i? Im not sure why they brought that up. They said the Stinger GT was faster when tested on its own benchmarks. What do they mean by that? The 340i is a good bit faster in the real world but Im thinking power and weight are very similar so the Stinger SHOULD be at least about the same performance wise.

 

[Bamm1]

Faster than the 340i? Im not sure why they brought that up. They said the Stinger GT was faster when tested on its own benchmarks. What do they mean by that?

The only performance benchmarks Kia has released so far are 0-62 mph and top speed. So I will speculate that Kia's internal testing showed the Stinger GT to be faster to 62 mph and have a higher top speed than the 340i.

There may be more internal performance benchmarks that Kia has not made public in which the GT also bested the 340i.

The 340i is a good bit faster in the real world but Im thinking power and weight are very similar so the Stinger SHOULD be at least about the same performance wise.

The N58 engine used in the 340i/440i likely makes much more than the 320/330 on the spec sheet. So the 45 extra hp advantage for Kia on paper is probably erroneous.

 

[app_master]

Yeah really cool read, read this article on facebook last night. Was too also surprised to here of the comparison against the Bmw 340i.

So googled around and found this...https://www.edmunds.com/bmw/3-serie...t/2016-bmw-340i-whoa-wait-how-fast-is-it.html

Interesting indeed. That's bonafide "straight line" performance numbers we are talking about here. Yes Please!

 

[hej]

Great find Bamm. I had been keeping my ear to the ground, kinda impressed you discovered this one first

 

[app_master]

I added some pics but then found this!..all I can say is that looks FUN!

 

[hej]

I added some pics but then found this!..all I can say is that looks FUN!

Even better find. I had been looking through whatever videos I could find of this event, all of them were nothing but montages of static pictures.

 

[ballistic]

Yeah really cool read, read this article on facebook last night. Was too also surprised to here of the comparison against the Bmw 340i.

So googled around and found this...https://www.edmunds.com/bmw/3-serie...t/2016-bmw-340i-whoa-wait-how-fast-is-it.html

Interesting indeed. That's bonafide "straight line" performance numbers we are talking about here. Yes Please!

this is really great news that the stinger gt will be competing with the 340i as far as performance is concerned. these turbo 3's have always impressed me. people were getting stock 335i's to hit 60 mph in 4.8 seconds. that wasn't too far off from the m3 of the time. now it appears the 340i is basically an m3 in disguise. if i have some spare time i'm going to go take a look at what people have been saying over on the bmw forums.

so if we're to believe what we're hearing it means our stinger gt might technically be an m3 competitor.

 

[Bamm1]

this is really great news that the stinger gt will be competing with the 340i as far as performance is concerned. these turbo 3's have always impressed me. people were getting stock 335i's to hit 60 mph in 4.8 seconds. that wasn't too far off from the m3 of the time. now it appears the 340i is basically an m3 in disguise. if i have some spare time i'm going to go take a look at what people have been saying over on the bmw forums.

so if we're to believe what we're hearing it means our stinger gt might technically be an m3 competitor.

We don't know if Kia bench marked the AWD or RWD 340i. In my experience the xDrive versions are usually faster in straight line acceleration tests (sometimes up to half a second). I have only seen instrumented test data for the auto xDrive 340i. All of the RWD 340i tests I can find were for manual versions (so not apples to apples). I would not get your hopes up about M3-like performance from the Stinger GT. I don’t think we are going to see sub-4 sec 0-60 times plus low 12’s and 114 mph+ trap speeds in the ¼ mile. Maybe if they make an N version.

0-60/ ¼ mile times for reference:

• 340i xDrive 8-speed: 4.1 / 12.7 @ 108.3
• 2010 M3 DCT: 3.9 / 12.4 @ 114
• 2015 M3 DCT: 3.8 / 12.0 @ 119

* One last caveat. The above times were measured using "one foot of roll out" . We do not know if Kia measured their times in the same way.

 

[Jenny Wang]

The way I see it is cars with all wheel drive have more traction from a take off so if you were to have a quarter mile race with one in a car that has rear wheel drive and the same performance specifications you'd probably lose unless there were unequally skilled drivers. So all wheel drive is great if you want to take off really fast but if you're racing from a roll the two cars would be even.

 

[hej]

The way I see it is cars with all wheel drive have more traction from a take off so if you were to have a quarter mile race with one in a car that has rear wheel drive and the same performance specifications you'd probably lose unless there were unequally skilled drivers. So all wheel drive is great if you want to take off really fast but if you're racing from a roll the two cars would be even.

All else being equal, the AWD version is going to be a couple hundred pounds heavier. So from a roll, RWD would have a leg up. Make no matter to me though. The real difference is going to be in how the two handle, and how they fair on slippery surfaces.

 

[Bamm1]

The way I see it is cars with all wheel drive have more traction from a take off so if you were to have a quarter mile race with one in a car that has rear wheel drive and the same performance specifications you'd probably lose unless there were unequally skilled drivers. So all wheel drive is great if you want to take off really fast but if you're racing from a roll the two cars would be even.

For some cars that is correct or as hej pointed out, the RWD takes the edge with the weight advantage (though the 150-200lbs of the AWD system might not make that big a difference). I have driven "moderately" powered RWD cars on the street that "get loose" when you stomp on at at say 30-40 mph. This can be because the temp outside is a little lower than the tires like, the road surface isn't the best (some standing water, gravel), etc. I prefer AWD for a "performance" daily driver as it tends to not do things I didn't ask it to (or the AWD system moves the power and helps correct it before I have to). For a track car I would have to go RWD. But this is mostly personal choice.

 

[ballistic]

i guess i got ahead of myself here and was hoping kia really aimed for the stars. so it's not am m3 competitor but i'm pretty happy with 340i competitor. definitely good enough for me. plus, we'll have tunes and most performance cars out there are not tuned. so those of us who want to go the extra mile and beat m3s won't have too much of a hill to climb.

 

[hej]

I have driven "moderately" powered RWD cars on the street that "get loose" when you stomp on at at say 30-40 mph.

Am I right to assume this car had something along the lines of a 60/40 weight split? My BMW was moderately powerful but I would be hard pressed to break the tires loose in the dry at any speed.

That said, I agree with you, I'd probably go with AWD.

 

[Jenny Wang]

All else being equal, the AWD version is going to be a couple hundred pounds heavier. So from a roll, RWD would have a leg up. Make no matter to me though. The real difference is going to be in how the two handle, and how they fair on slippery surfaces.

I'm surprised by that. I figured the all wheel drive launch would allow for a quicker run in the beginning. I guess it depends on how much you want to abuse your car. I thought you could rev your engine higher with a manual before engaging the clutch and taking off. I don't have any experience to speak of myself.

 

[hej]

I'm surprised by that. I figured the all wheel drive launch would allow for a quicker run in the beginning. I guess it depends on how much you want to abuse your car. I thought you could rev your engine higher with a manual before engaging the clutch and taking off. I don't have any experience to speak of myself.

AWD can definitely launch harder off the line. Once you're already moving though, a balanced RWD car with summer tires probably isn't going to lose any traction even if you floor it.

 

[Bamm1]

Am I right to assume this car had something along the lines of a 60/40 weight split? My BMW was moderately powerful but I would be hard pressed to break the tires loose in the dry at any speed.

It was a mildly modified Subaru BRZ. So the weight balance was very good. It wasn't really the power overwhelming the tires. It was more so any imperfection in the road (cracks, etc.) during full throttle acceleration would kick the rear out. Trying to power through a turn, same issues. Skinny tires, shorter wheelbase, light weight. LOTS of fun to drive but not something I always want in every situation on a daily commute.

I recently drove a new 330i RWD with the B46 2.0T engine. It seemed very mild mannered and would not fall into that category.

I'm surprised by that. I figured the all wheel drive launch would allow for a quicker run in the beginning. I guess it depends on how much you want to abuse your car. I thought you could rev your engine higher with a manual before engaging the clutch and taking off. I don't have any experience to speak of myself.

On a prepped drag strip the advantage of AWD diminishes. Accelerating on public streets with the road surfaces in various states of disarray the AWD system can be a big help during full power acceleration situations.

 

[Jenny Wang]

AWD can definitely launch harder off the line. Once you're already moving though, a balanced RWD car with summer tires probably isn't going to lose any traction even if you floor it.

I see. Thank you for the explanation. I see how people launch cars with a manual transmission and all wheel drive and I would never be able to bring myself to do that. I'd feel like my car would explode.

On a prepped drag strip the advantage of AWD diminishes. Accelerating on public streets with the road surfaces in various states of disarray the AWD system can be a big help during full power acceleration situations.

Oh, I see. I raced one of my brother's cars on a quarter mile track once. The guy before me had a really fast car and hit the wall. The track was closed for clean up for about a half an hour. It was my first and last time racing. I took off but freaked out because the track looked wet and I didn't want to hit the wall too. I actually feel safer on the rough street than such a flat surface that's on a race track.

 

[Bamm1]

I see how people launch cars with a manual transmission and all wheel drive and I would never be able to bring myself to do that. I'd feel like my car would explode.

That is also why you have to take some of the magazine performance numbers for manual equipped vehicles with a grain of salt. Yea it goes 0-60 in under 5 seconds with only 270 HP but it required a redline clutch dump to get ya there.

 

[Jenny Wang]

That is also why you have to take some of the magazine performance numbers for manual equipped vehicles with a grain of salt. Yea it goes 0-60 in under 5 seconds with only 270 HP but it required a redline clutch dump to get ya there.

That's exactly what I've always thought. I figured in the real world you would not get the same kind of performance numbers with all wheel drive as professional drivers get for the brand and magazines. I think people are more likely to be able to reproduce what a rear wheel drive car can do because you can only do so much on that launch.