What defines a fast car?

[TWPC]

BigBen said:

Finally, to add to the debate a landrover would be faster across Salisbury plain than a La Ferrari.....

Ben

Indeed.
And let us not forget that a 2CV is faster than a Ferrari.

http://column.no/2014/01/great-automotive-print-ad...
(Scroll half way down the page to see the ad, below Darth Vader's Impala.) The work computer won't let me upload images...

[StottyEvo]

FBP1 said:

BORN2bWILD said:

I have owned a few 'fast' cars over the years, I think the classic Scooby P1 with 315bhp was probaly the most fun as it handled like a dream with 0-60 in about 4.5 seconds and top speed about 155MPH.

Yesterday I drove a Lambo, Ferrari and GT-R at Dunsfold track, the Lambo was a clunky bag of poo, the Ferrari was much better and very pretty, but the GT-R was better to drive and faster around the track than any other road going car there, and that includes the McLarens, Astons etc.

I was told by the pro driver no other car could beat the GT-R (530BHP with ceramic brake kit) and it was the car of choice to take home at night.

I was very pleased that the pros rated the GT-R so highly as I have a 600BHP Black Edition and love it, 0-60 in less than 3 seconds and over 200MPH, but for fun I still miss that Scooby P1.

I have an Impreza P1 with 570bhp that's a bit nippy, given it only weighs 1290kg. It passes all the tests I've seen quoted so far for a fast car (0-60 2.9, 0-100 7 dead, geared to a max of 175mph) including the "passenger goes white, shuts their eyes, and holds their breath until you back off after which they say some deeply unprofessional stuff" I also did a Longcross day with a lambo Gallardo, 911 Turbo, Aston db9 and an Ariel. The only car that felt fast to me out of those four was the Ariel.
Having said that, I have never been as scared as I was in a friend's original Mini Cooper when the front wheel fell off at 75 mph on a busy motorway- that suddenly felt quite fast.

Another Impreza worth looking at is Andy Forrest's shed built Impreza classic - 0-174mph in 7.7 seconds. That's sprightly. Lots of YouTube videos of it, but admittedly you wouldn't nip down the shops in it.

But what would you call "fast" I know what the OP is getting at, when my dad tells me his Accord 2.2CDTi is "fast" I inwardly roll my eyes, because I think its very average in performance. A metric I would use is if someone told me their cars was fast and it did 0-100 in roughly 10secs, no matter what I was driving I'd probably agree... At what point would you agree?

[GetCarter]

0 - 100 - 0 mph in under 11.5 seconds. That feels fast.

[Martin_Hx]

Its all relative, i think my Civic is quick (well quick enough to lose my license in a few seconds) but someone with something quicker wont etc There are always a bigger fish!

[Dave200]

A classic PH thread. 10 pages arguing the semantics of something completely subjective.

Coming soon to a GG forum near you, such classics as:
"What defines a big car?"
"What defines an old car?"

A fast car is one which feels fast to you. It doesn't matter if someone else disagrees - that is the point of subjectivity...

[T0MMY]

Dave200 said:

A classic PH thread. 10 pages arguing the semantics of something completely subjective.

Coming soon to a GG forum near you, such classics as:
"What defines a big car?"
"What defines an old car?"

A fast car is one which feels fast to you. It doesn't matter if someone else disagrees - that is the point of subjectivity...

From my perspective, I'm not sure I'd agree that that is the point of subjectivity

Edited by T0MMY on Wednesday 1st July 17:07

[lowdrag]

I couldn't be bothered to read a lot of the rubbish frankly. For me there are various degrees of fast car, and my latest example is a boring 200CDi Merc but it covered the 870 miles across Spain to Le Mans in under 11 hours at 80mph average in complete air-conditioned cruise controlled comfort. That's a good average for a basic car and qualifies for the word fast in some ways. In my youth a car that would top 80 mph was considered fast, my Frogeye "sports car" not being able to at all. My Jetta GLi was a Q car, being a Golf GTi with a boot and was considered "fast" in 1982. My E30 325i sport was the bees knees, chin spoiler, evil metallic black paint, sports seats et al, but would be walked over by any reasonable hatch today. My 380SL was a "sports car" but couldn't fight its way out of a paper bag frankly. It qualified as class though. Being taken round a good circuit by a good driver thrills me since I could never be as good as he, and that's "fast" to me. I still have an old car that will top 150 mph and have done so through a timing beam, but according to the majority of posts it isn't worth the candle. Each to their own I say.