What car for seriously tight and twisty single track roads??
Discussion
So, I am moving to the west coast of Scotland in a couple of months, an area full of very tight and twisty single-track roads. After a rather embarrassing incident in which I, in my M3, was unable to shake a Smart car from my bumper, I'm kind of thinking that the supercharged M3 is going to go and make way for something more suited to these very tight and twisty roads. (In defense of my PH membership the Smart car was driven by a local and I was in the lead and therefore having to be more cautious around blind corners/summits and we did encounter a couple of cars which I had to pull over for allowing him to catch up. He is going to be one of my new neighbours so meeting him shall probably be fun).
The wife has an S3 which will be winter tire equipped so 4WD is not a must and I am keeping my standard M3 as I cannot ever sell her. Not bothered if it's 4WD RWD or FWD. I've driven and enjoyed all three.
So far been looking at P1s and old Impreza Type RAs. I did have a test drive in a P1 and was not wildly impressed but that was probably due to the car being quite unloved and a bit of a dog. Evos are definitely out, had two before and never again. Caterhams and the like would be good but it really needs to be an all weather car as a rainy sunday morning hoon is one of my favorite things. Roads will be mainly very tight and twisty single-track with short straights (I'm only half an hour away from the applecross pass if anyone knows the area). Not bothered about fuel consumption or running costs but the ability to run on 95 fuel would be good as the nearest 97/99 is going to be 70 miles away on the other side of the country.
Budget is 5-10k and just looking for some suggestions as I know how imaginative Phers can be.
Cheers
CA
The wife has an S3 which will be winter tire equipped so 4WD is not a must and I am keeping my standard M3 as I cannot ever sell her. Not bothered if it's 4WD RWD or FWD. I've driven and enjoyed all three.
So far been looking at P1s and old Impreza Type RAs. I did have a test drive in a P1 and was not wildly impressed but that was probably due to the car being quite unloved and a bit of a dog. Evos are definitely out, had two before and never again. Caterhams and the like would be good but it really needs to be an all weather car as a rainy sunday morning hoon is one of my favorite things. Roads will be mainly very tight and twisty single-track with short straights (I'm only half an hour away from the applecross pass if anyone knows the area). Not bothered about fuel consumption or running costs but the ability to run on 95 fuel would be good as the nearest 97/99 is going to be 70 miles away on the other side of the country.
Budget is 5-10k and just looking for some suggestions as I know how imaginative Phers can be.
Cheers
CA
The other problem with Caterhams and the like is the lack of ABS which means that evasive braking can result in you just slithering into whatever it is you are trying to avoid. This can be negated by driving skill, but in order to do so you have to be not only very good at cadence braking, but able to cadence brake very well even in unexpected emergency situations.
However what's lovely about Caterhams is that even with the standard rack you can round all but the tightest of bends without ever having to relinquish your optimal quarter-to-three grip on the ickle dinky momo wheel, and the ownership experience is rich in 'because race car'.
I'd be leaning towards a small, narrow, cheap to run hatchback personally. Panda 100bhp?
However what's lovely about Caterhams is that even with the standard rack you can round all but the tightest of bends without ever having to relinquish your optimal quarter-to-three grip on the ickle dinky momo wheel, and the ownership experience is rich in 'because race car'.
I'd be leaning towards a small, narrow, cheap to run hatchback personally. Panda 100bhp?
Edited by BritishRacinGrin on Wednesday 9th July 05:15
Wilmslowboy said:
N/A to avoid turbo lag, small and light to aid braking and cornering
Clio cup ????
Edited to say, looks like I was beaten to the suggestion :-)
They can be a bit 'french' if they don't get 97/99RON fuel though, just noticed that in the OP.Clio cup ????
Edited to say, looks like I was beaten to the suggestion :-)
They are very easily placed in tights situations though.
There's always always the Megane as well, plenty of the older shape ones in that price bracket. The newer one is a bit wide I find.
Edited by GrumpyTwig on Wednesday 9th July 06:20
Steve vRS said:
Fiat Panda 100BHP.
And of course, the answer to everything, an MX5
Steve
I really don't get the love for this car (the panda). I had one as a rental last year in france and hated the thing. The worst handling car I have ever driven, even the wife said it felt dangerous. And of course, the answer to everything, an MX5
Steve
Mx5......hmm, not really quick enough for me. I have no interest in top speeds but how quickly I can get from 20-90 is very important.
Never driven an MX5 or a renault clio 200. Always find it difficult to really judge a car on test drives as you can't really hoon it unless you have an understanding/willing owner. Test drives will have to be arranged when I get home.
Keep them coming though.
Anyone think that a P1 would be good on tight and twisty???
I'm a Jock. The answer to the question changes entirely depending on whether the landscape around the road is higher or lower. If it's lower like some of our roads you can see several corners ahead to be clear and therefore you can enjoy yourself with something low and good at cornering like an Elise. It's unlikely a Smart could bother your M3 on such roads though, which makes me wonder if you're talking about the other kind of roads we have...
Namely roads hemmed in with verges/embankments etc and you can't see beyond the next approaching corner and certainly no further. For these types of roads anything low and well suited to corners is going to be the slowest thing on the roads there, because you don't strike me as an idiot and therefore your speed is severely limited by what you can see.
On roads like that, there probably isn't much that could touch something like an X5 because you'll see further ahead. The only reason the Smart could keep up with you is because you were pathfinding for him - i.e. maintain a distance and if you don't hit anything coming the other way, neither will he.
Power/grip/handling etc are pretty much irrelevant on single track roads IMHO unless you're a fatal collision looking for somewhere to happen.
Namely roads hemmed in with verges/embankments etc and you can't see beyond the next approaching corner and certainly no further. For these types of roads anything low and well suited to corners is going to be the slowest thing on the roads there, because you don't strike me as an idiot and therefore your speed is severely limited by what you can see.
On roads like that, there probably isn't much that could touch something like an X5 because you'll see further ahead. The only reason the Smart could keep up with you is because you were pathfinding for him - i.e. maintain a distance and if you don't hit anything coming the other way, neither will he.
Power/grip/handling etc are pretty much irrelevant on single track roads IMHO unless you're a fatal collision looking for somewhere to happen.
HaloGen8 said:
Get a normal car and don't drive like a cock!!
It pricks like you that cause the accidents in rural areas.
My experience of single track roads on the west coast is that they have lots of corners where you have no idea what's coming the other way. So I agree, they aren't the sort of roads to test a cars handling. It pricks like you that cause the accidents in rural areas.
HaloGen8 said:
Get a normal car and don't drive like a cock!!
It pricks like you that cause the accidents in rural areas.
See post above. I only drive quickly when safe to do so hence why a smart car kept up with my m3. I was slowing down to near crawling speed on blind corners. I'm not dangerous in any way. Many of these roads you can see far in front of you around many open corners. It pricks like you that cause the accidents in rural areas.
I still heed to the rule that if yoy can't see around the corner make sure you can stop in what you can see.
Thanks for the helpful input though. Mumsnet is that way ➡
HaloGen8 said:
Get a normal car and don't drive like a cock!!
It pricks like you that cause the accidents in rural areas.
Coming on a bit strong there aren't we duckie? It pricks like you that cause the accidents in rural areas.
Where did the op say that he goes around BLIND corners at 9/10ths? Plenty of tight twisty roads in Scotland with decent visibility as I remeber it....
Oh and 'get a normal car'? Check your url buddy, I think you may be in the wrong place.
A bit harsh I will admit but living in a very rural area myself you can tell who's the tourist as they lock up and hedge dive avoiding you or some obstacle.
Your roads like mine need serious consideration before hooning.
In fairness any car that has sorted suspension, tyres and brake will reward you. Just be mindful that cyclists horses and tractors appear from nowhere.
Not very PH I know but these things do happen.
Your roads like mine need serious consideration before hooning.
In fairness any car that has sorted suspension, tyres and brake will reward you. Just be mindful that cyclists horses and tractors appear from nowhere.
Not very PH I know but these things do happen.
Captainawesome said:
Anyone think that a P1 would be good on tight and twisty???
Never driven a P1 as they don't exist on this side of the world, but I love the STi Type-R and RA Imprezas. Great fun, pointy/direct/agile/balanced - with the DCCD and quick steering rack they feel very different to any 50:50 Subaru I've ever driven.They're quite compact with good visibility which suits narrow roads, and at ~1200kg they're lighter than the newer equivalents.
On the downside they're pretty basic inside, noisy, and have fairly low gearing so not the most comfortable if you wanted to do a lot of long motorway trips or similar.
Highly recommend a Clio Cup of some description! I have a 172, and tbh I wouldn't bother with anything "faster" than that; in your situation you want very moderate power and a great chassis. They're also cheap as chips, even for a really good one, and you can run a 172 on 95RON without any problems.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff