What makes a good road car?
Discussion
As the title really, what qualities or features do you think make a really good road car (for the UK)? Maybe I'm getting old and boring but what I look for in a road car has completely changed since I started driving. I used to look for light weight, screaming engines, manual gearboxes, no driver aids, minimal gadgets and two doors. Now I look for exactly the opposite.
What I now think makes a good road car:
What I now think makes a good road car:
- Comfy seats
- Forgiving suspension/good ride comfort
- Refinement
- Good sound system
- Automatic gearbox
- Safe chassis biased towards understeer with ABS and ESP. Preferably AWD.
- An engine with big low end and mid range power, not so fussed about top end
- Huge mechanical grip
- Automatic, electric, heated everything
- Four doors & lots of luggage space
- Big fuel tank
- Manual gearshifting
- Steering feel
- Handling
- Revving to 9000rpm
I live in Dorset surrounded by fossils in MPVs and do most of my driving on motorways so my usage does lean towards the barge type of car but as far as I can see most of the UK is similar. Do you really do most of your driving hooning down welsh b-roads or are you (like me) stuck in traffic, following queues of 40mph-ers and wafting down motorways?
Brake feel is a term I've never understood, what exactly are you feeling through the brakes? I expect a nice linear response of braking force to pedal pressure but short of the ABS activating I wouldn't expect to feel any feedback through the pedal.
Brake feel is a term I've never understood, what exactly are you feeling through the brakes? I expect a nice linear response of braking force to pedal pressure but short of the ABS activating I wouldn't expect to feel any feedback through the pedal.
TA14 said:
After all of that I thought that you might be trying to justify a BMW 750 or an XJR, not a Golf
I'm not trying to justify anything but if you're interested I am hoping to change the Golf for a big V8 barge very shortly.skyrover said:
In terms of pleasantness to drive and be driven I would say the number one key is "smoothness".
To get "smoothness" you want:
1. Torque, lots of it.
2. Automatic gears
3. Softly sprung
4. Soft, cushy seats
Other aspects to improve the driving/driven experience:
5. A quiet well sealed interior
6. A lofty driving position
7. Light steering
8. Tinted glass
9. Space... legroom and elbow room, as much as possible
10. A quality sound system that integrates with modern phones etc
11. Solid, weighty switches and a grippy, chunky steering wheel.
12. Plenty of storage for all your junk.
I agree, apart from the tinted windows. To me they make a car seem gloomy and hard to see out of.To get "smoothness" you want:
1. Torque, lots of it.
2. Automatic gears
3. Softly sprung
4. Soft, cushy seats
Other aspects to improve the driving/driven experience:
5. A quiet well sealed interior
6. A lofty driving position
7. Light steering
8. Tinted glass
9. Space... legroom and elbow room, as much as possible
10. A quality sound system that integrates with modern phones etc
11. Solid, weighty switches and a grippy, chunky steering wheel.
12. Plenty of storage for all your junk.
TheDoggingFather said:
Hang on, Dorset doesn't have any Motorways? Having lived in dorset, since I was 2 and explored it behind the wheel since I was 18, I think decent handling is imperative. there's not even a massive amount of dual carriageway, so you need a decent slug of power/torque to deal with the grockles as they wander round the prettier parts at comically slow speeds. A decent auto box wouldn't go amiss, probably will be a part of whatever I buy next. Handling, handling I couldn't be without.
The M27 and M3 aren't far from me and are on the way to pretty much everywhere I go. I agree that a decent slug of power is useful for blasting past the dawdlers, also it just cheers me up so if all goes to plan my next car will have a noisy V8 under the bonnet. That's a good one I missed, long gearing. Lots of cars seem to have daftly short top gears which make motorway driving more of a chore than it needs to be and burns through fuel. The ability to sit on the cruise control at 70mph and have the engine be inaudible is very important to a good road car IMO, it makes covering long distances a pleasure rather than a pain.
marcosgt said:
Manual gearshifting - No, I totally disagree - I like to feel involved in driving, somethings are a benefit, like ABS and even traction control most of the time, but Autos just take away effort for no return in any way.
That's the entire point of autos, they take the effort out of driving. Yes I think a manual is great on the way up the Stelvio pass but on the way to Tesco or in traffic on the M3 it's just tedious. I also love the ability to launch out of junctions at full pelt with no effort or chance of getting it wrong, gives more confidence when pulling into tight gaps in fast traffic.Those are some other good points. Wheels that can deal with bad surfaces/potholes and make minimal road noise (so small as possible), decent ground clearance. The manufacturers seem to be pushing in exactly the opposite direction, no doubt led by consumer demand but worrying your car is going to shatter on every bump does detract from the relaxation somewhat.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff