Me and my cars Part 2 - Elise,Caterham,W124 Merc an E36 328i
Discussion
I thought I would update the thread I did last year:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
At the time I had a Honda Integra R DC2, Caterham Superlight and Elise S1 Sport 160.
Since then I have sold the Honda (a stunning machine which was still going strong at 120k miles). It was a great car – focused, sharp and as close to a front drive racing car on the road that you can buy for reasonable money.
Mercedes W124 E220
Since then I bought a car that I have wanted since I was about 10 years old – a Mercedes W124. It is the facelift E220 Auto in full “Berlin taxi” spec – so not much in the way of toys. Cloth, air con, non-sunroof, little wheels etc. and in my opinion, is so much the better for it.
It has an air of complete honesty about it and is ruthlessly focused – it has no sporting intentions whatsoever but is just a supremely comfortable machine. The ride quality really is superb, mopping up the road surface and it does down the road with complete ability. Yes, the steering is not exactly feelsome and the body control is a little soft, however I can completely forgive it for this.
The automatic gearbox suits the car perfectly – it is not smooth in the way a modern ‘box is, however if you work with it, you can easily finesse the changes on upshifts so it becomes a seamless experience. The engine is always willing to rev and despite being one of the smaller engines in the range, makes the car more than quick enough. The inline sixes are fine but I really admire the nature of the four. And it will deliver 40mpg on a run. A great car!
BMW E36 328i
Here’s the latest purchase and another car I have wanted for a very long time – well since 1995 when I first read Autocar’s roadtest of the E36 328i and couldn’t quite believe a family saloon car could get to 60 in 6.1 seconds.
So a couple of weeks ago, a chance spot on the internet and I had to have it – non-sunroof, manual and in quite superb condition.
So what’s it like? In two words: Not bad.
The standard car is fine but it is very much a smooth 2 door saloon as opposed to a hard charging sports car in the vein of the Honda. The fact that it is 300 Kg heavier than the Integra does not help its cause. Also, it has a slightly clunky gearchange and at the moment, the suspension is much too soft for my liking, lacking the body control I look for.
However, the pedals are well positioned for heel and toe changes and the engine is lovely with plenty of torque throughout the rev range. It does also show a propensity for power oversteer which is always good, however it does require a bit more effort than I would ideally want.
So a good start to ownership but one which will no doubt get expensive pretty quickly as I built this car up to being my perfect road and (very) occasional track car…
The Others
I still have the Lotus and Caterham – both of which continue to thrill and excite. The Elise is due some upgrades in the not-to-distant future, notably harder brakes, a quick rack and a sports exhaust.
As an all rounder which can do the mundane as well as thrill on road and track, I do maintain the Elise is truly superb – I love it and will probably never sell.
Since last year, the Caterham has grown some go-faster stripes but other than that, I have just been enjoying the thing. It is due some lowered floors and shift lights though as I think they will improve the driving position and help me keep the engine on the boil.
So there we have it, the loss of a great machine in the form of the Honda but replaced by two quite different cars.
To be continued…
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
At the time I had a Honda Integra R DC2, Caterham Superlight and Elise S1 Sport 160.
Since then I have sold the Honda (a stunning machine which was still going strong at 120k miles). It was a great car – focused, sharp and as close to a front drive racing car on the road that you can buy for reasonable money.
Mercedes W124 E220
Since then I bought a car that I have wanted since I was about 10 years old – a Mercedes W124. It is the facelift E220 Auto in full “Berlin taxi” spec – so not much in the way of toys. Cloth, air con, non-sunroof, little wheels etc. and in my opinion, is so much the better for it.
It has an air of complete honesty about it and is ruthlessly focused – it has no sporting intentions whatsoever but is just a supremely comfortable machine. The ride quality really is superb, mopping up the road surface and it does down the road with complete ability. Yes, the steering is not exactly feelsome and the body control is a little soft, however I can completely forgive it for this.
The automatic gearbox suits the car perfectly – it is not smooth in the way a modern ‘box is, however if you work with it, you can easily finesse the changes on upshifts so it becomes a seamless experience. The engine is always willing to rev and despite being one of the smaller engines in the range, makes the car more than quick enough. The inline sixes are fine but I really admire the nature of the four. And it will deliver 40mpg on a run. A great car!
BMW E36 328i
Here’s the latest purchase and another car I have wanted for a very long time – well since 1995 when I first read Autocar’s roadtest of the E36 328i and couldn’t quite believe a family saloon car could get to 60 in 6.1 seconds.
So a couple of weeks ago, a chance spot on the internet and I had to have it – non-sunroof, manual and in quite superb condition.
So what’s it like? In two words: Not bad.
The standard car is fine but it is very much a smooth 2 door saloon as opposed to a hard charging sports car in the vein of the Honda. The fact that it is 300 Kg heavier than the Integra does not help its cause. Also, it has a slightly clunky gearchange and at the moment, the suspension is much too soft for my liking, lacking the body control I look for.
However, the pedals are well positioned for heel and toe changes and the engine is lovely with plenty of torque throughout the rev range. It does also show a propensity for power oversteer which is always good, however it does require a bit more effort than I would ideally want.
So a good start to ownership but one which will no doubt get expensive pretty quickly as I built this car up to being my perfect road and (very) occasional track car…
The Others
I still have the Lotus and Caterham – both of which continue to thrill and excite. The Elise is due some upgrades in the not-to-distant future, notably harder brakes, a quick rack and a sports exhaust.
As an all rounder which can do the mundane as well as thrill on road and track, I do maintain the Elise is truly superb – I love it and will probably never sell.
Since last year, the Caterham has grown some go-faster stripes but other than that, I have just been enjoying the thing. It is due some lowered floors and shift lights though as I think they will improve the driving position and help me keep the engine on the boil.
So there we have it, the loss of a great machine in the form of the Honda but replaced by two quite different cars.
To be continued…
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