3b vs aby.??

[Monkeymagic]

I have never thought of my 3b as being slow. Ok i accept its not going to keep up with lighter modern cars but she holds her own.
Recently i sold an aby avant to forum member humanjoist. Over the last couple of days i have driven it a few times. I have noticed the following differences.

Aby.

Feels quicker to rev up in neutral.
Less vibration on idle.
The main difference is at 3k the revs just fly up and it pulls like mad.

3b.
Bit more lumpy at idle, it feels a little more raw , less refined i guess.
Pulls well and picks up well but seemingly nowhere as savage as the aby.

Has anyone any experience of the two in standard form.

Its possible the aby has been chipped but the difference in acceleration seems huge to me.

[quattrostyle]

If your has not been chipped and the ABY was, then the difference is sort of huge.

[s2driveruk]

depends if both are stock I suppose. If so then the ABY had an overboost function and 10BHP extra straight off the bat. Next thing is relative health of each unit too. If they are running correctly then that would help in a side by side comparison and naturally they are geared differently being a 5 v 6 spd.

[bluequattro]

Aby with 5 speed feels really fast in a type 85!
I wasn't impressed with 3b s2 I had, my s4 seemed to have more oophm and the 3b had been chipped allegedly

[Human Joist]

I have the S2 in question from Steve. Both vehicles are in very good order. If there is only a 10 bhp difference then my aby must have been mapped. As I did notice a difference.

[martinjs]

Aby with 5 speed feels really fast in a type 85!
I wasn't impressed with 3b s2 I had, my s4 seemed to have more oophm and the 3b had been chipped allegedly

T85's have shorter gearing so it will feel faster.

[Monkeymagic]

My car is not chipped and feels how i would expect 220bhp to feel if you see what i mean. But the aby in the avant feels very different. I dont know but i suspect its chipped as the difference is like night and day.
Now i see why people rave about the chips being great bang for buck.

[s2driveruk]

yep with a chip the car is completely different - 50ish bhp and 100nm of additional torque from memory on the 3b and potentially a little more on the ABY

[quattrostyle]

T85's have shorter gearing so it will feel faster.

Correct, but in a lighter shell the same engine will be faster, being not as much isolated as the newer cars makes it feel faster as well.

Anyway back to the topic. I have had chipped 3B that did 298 hp/424 Nm on the rollers (optimistic rollers maybe, but still nice numbers) and picked up a bone stock ABY somewhere last year it somewhat scared me how fast it was. Of course it was a few years since I last drove an S2 then, but it surprised me, more than the performance of the chipped 3B.

[bluequattro]

Is the type 85 box different from 3b 5 speed then?
True, my car is lighter than standard type 85 anyway

[quattrostyle]

Yes the boxes and thus the ratios are different.

[Monkeymagic]

I wonder wether i can lay my hands on a chipped 3b ecu to swap out as a comparison.

[Human Joist]

I wonder wether i can lay my hands on a chipped 3b ecu to swap out as a comparison.

Had a feeling you would end up doing this

[Ian Simmonds]

Back to the original question, (and I stand to be corrected) but as I understand it, in simple terms, the ABY 6speed gearbox is basically a taller ratio'd 5 speed box with an additional '1st' gear on a separate shaft. Hence the issues with high rpm drop clutch launches...

Performance wise, the overboost will make a difference, however comparing cars performance post 20 years point of manufacture is neglecting to state the obvious changes in the whole life cycle... Or, in less management bulIs!te style, one might be shag9ed and the other might be chipped....

On the gearbox T85 front, the CQ85 box is ideal for sprinting, and is strong enough to take well over double its showroom power. Mated with a suitably modified 20vT in a T85 shell it becomes a very good gravel/sprint set up.

[bluequattro]

Mine is certainly good for sprints.
Tim at qr sport reckoned it was faster than his 80 20vt when he drive mine-weight playing a big part