european holiday jaunt...do you really want that supercar ?
Discussion
no , I haven't posted this in the wrong section , although I am more than happy to confess that I also spend a lot of time on various mx5 fora
its taken me too many years to wise up to the joy of taking my 1993, pretty much standard , series 1 mx5 on long European summer holiday trips , and I would like to alert my fellow PH'ers to the advantages of taking a cheap but well maintained ,low powered but low weight car on holiday
the ever growing risk of getting a speeding fine (or worse) in Europe , the monotonous never-ending motorway miles to get to those lovely backroads, the lack of individual garaging in either midway or end-point hotels ,however plush or otherwise they may be , being almost totally carefree in taking the car into a town centre , a roof that goes up and down in 10 seconds rather than 20 minutes (with a divorce settlement thrown in for good measure ), coping with the mushrooming italian potholes which would make you want to get a 4 wheel alignment done every 100metres , not worrying (quite so much ) about malicious damage......all these lead to a much more enjoyable holiday
the downside is that you don't have your supercar toy with you , and yes that is hard
but my best recent drives have been a 5am drive in june 2013 on the route napolean , a few of the swiss passes in the very late afternoon last summer , and the futa and raticosa passes again in the very early morning....all in my 114 bhp, 970kg, 21 year old mx5
traffic weight appears to be the most critical factor in enjoying a drive, regardless of car , and here an alarm clock is your best friend
somehow, being able to have pedal to the bulkhead more of the time , and not having to worry about Italian (or german) electronics playing up in the middle of nowhere , goes some good way to making up for the lack of induction and exhaust music, and g force
just my honest feelings , that I have taken too long to recognise (I think)
would love to hear your opinions
its taken me too many years to wise up to the joy of taking my 1993, pretty much standard , series 1 mx5 on long European summer holiday trips , and I would like to alert my fellow PH'ers to the advantages of taking a cheap but well maintained ,low powered but low weight car on holiday
the ever growing risk of getting a speeding fine (or worse) in Europe , the monotonous never-ending motorway miles to get to those lovely backroads, the lack of individual garaging in either midway or end-point hotels ,however plush or otherwise they may be , being almost totally carefree in taking the car into a town centre , a roof that goes up and down in 10 seconds rather than 20 minutes (with a divorce settlement thrown in for good measure ), coping with the mushrooming italian potholes which would make you want to get a 4 wheel alignment done every 100metres , not worrying (quite so much ) about malicious damage......all these lead to a much more enjoyable holiday
the downside is that you don't have your supercar toy with you , and yes that is hard
but my best recent drives have been a 5am drive in june 2013 on the route napolean , a few of the swiss passes in the very late afternoon last summer , and the futa and raticosa passes again in the very early morning....all in my 114 bhp, 970kg, 21 year old mx5
traffic weight appears to be the most critical factor in enjoying a drive, regardless of car , and here an alarm clock is your best friend
somehow, being able to have pedal to the bulkhead more of the time , and not having to worry about Italian (or german) electronics playing up in the middle of nowhere , goes some good way to making up for the lack of induction and exhaust music, and g force
just my honest feelings , that I have taken too long to recognise (I think)
would love to hear your opinions
thanks for all these replies---the majority view is clear
bo apex : I did just that , and yes it was special.
july 2001, and I had had the 5000QV for 3 months.
major service , and 4 new tyres.
5.30 am , on a deserted 4 lane per side autoroute, some way south of lyon.
7700 rpm in 5th ----the howl and the fear----never since, and never again---if only because the grand old lady is now 27 , and I am even older----and the car was still accelerating
i'll never forget that minute or three---it's seared into my brain
with the steering wheel held firm and straight, in the middle lane of what appeared to be a completely flat and uncambered road, the car just moved into the next lane by itself
soon after ,I asked valentino balboni about this , and he said that it had never happened to him , and couldn't explain why, so I just left it at that
more recently, I read an interview with another lambo test driver (?Moreno conti?), and he described just what had happened to me and the countach all those years ago----a cross-wind apparently does just that at speed
bo apex : I did just that , and yes it was special.
july 2001, and I had had the 5000QV for 3 months.
major service , and 4 new tyres.
5.30 am , on a deserted 4 lane per side autoroute, some way south of lyon.
7700 rpm in 5th ----the howl and the fear----never since, and never again---if only because the grand old lady is now 27 , and I am even older----and the car was still accelerating
i'll never forget that minute or three---it's seared into my brain
with the steering wheel held firm and straight, in the middle lane of what appeared to be a completely flat and uncambered road, the car just moved into the next lane by itself
soon after ,I asked valentino balboni about this , and he said that it had never happened to him , and couldn't explain why, so I just left it at that
more recently, I read an interview with another lambo test driver (?Moreno conti?), and he described just what had happened to me and the countach all those years ago----a cross-wind apparently does just that at speed
phib: I know exactly what you mean
prior to that run, I had sternly told myself not to panic and hit the brakes
as it happened, the car almost magically and instantly, moved from the middle of one lane to the centre of the adjacent lane, and with absolutely no traffic around me , there was no cause for panic, but I was seriously worried that some suspension component had failed
with a CD of 0.42 , just coming off the throttle at high speed in a countach is like activating an air-brake---within a few seconds you felt that you were now travelling at walking pace
at no stage did the car feel out of control , but it clearly did get out of control !!!
prior to that run, I had sternly told myself not to panic and hit the brakes
as it happened, the car almost magically and instantly, moved from the middle of one lane to the centre of the adjacent lane, and with absolutely no traffic around me , there was no cause for panic, but I was seriously worried that some suspension component had failed
with a CD of 0.42 , just coming off the throttle at high speed in a countach is like activating an air-brake---within a few seconds you felt that you were now travelling at walking pace
at no stage did the car feel out of control , but it clearly did get out of control !!!
talking of car aero phib, my wife recently made a very interesting observation :
I have only had one run so far, in my new to me murcielago roadster , and my wife was following me back home from the dealership in her 1995 merc W124 220coupe, which has 150bhp for a fairly heavy car
she said that it was difficult to keep up when I accelerated (no surprise there then, although I didn't go over 4000rpm in my new toy), but whenever I slowed down without braking (ie came off the accelerator), her W124 seemed to keep going just as fast , so that to maintain her position just behind me she needed to actually brake , rather than just lift off the throttle
well, the w124 was quite exceptional when it came out in the mid-eighties, for having an espcially low Cd---about 0.30 I think
also its CdA was equally low
I suspect that the murcie's CdA (I don't know the actual figures)is actually quite a bit higher than that of the W124 , which would explain her observation
I have only had one run so far, in my new to me murcielago roadster , and my wife was following me back home from the dealership in her 1995 merc W124 220coupe, which has 150bhp for a fairly heavy car
she said that it was difficult to keep up when I accelerated (no surprise there then, although I didn't go over 4000rpm in my new toy), but whenever I slowed down without braking (ie came off the accelerator), her W124 seemed to keep going just as fast , so that to maintain her position just behind me she needed to actually brake , rather than just lift off the throttle
well, the w124 was quite exceptional when it came out in the mid-eighties, for having an espcially low Cd---about 0.30 I think
also its CdA was equally low
I suspect that the murcie's CdA (I don't know the actual figures)is actually quite a bit higher than that of the W124 , which would explain her observation
t4ngo--good point about engine braking--I suppose a 12 cylinder engine must have more internal friction than a 4 cylinder engine ?
also would an auto transmission have more drive-train ''drag'' than a robotised manual ?
could someone with more mechanical knowledge chime in please
kyodo and f1ten--I entirely agree with everything you have posted
I really believe that empty (or relatively empty)roads, are the biggest contributor to our driving enjoyment
in the summer , the cars are usually tucked back in the garage by 6.30 am at the very latest
also would an auto transmission have more drive-train ''drag'' than a robotised manual ?
could someone with more mechanical knowledge chime in please
kyodo and f1ten--I entirely agree with everything you have posted
I really believe that empty (or relatively empty)roads, are the biggest contributor to our driving enjoyment
in the summer , the cars are usually tucked back in the garage by 6.30 am at the very latest
slickhillsy --- what a wonderfully arrogant comment---this section is an open forum for anyone interested in supercars--owners or otherwise---and is all the better for that
while some of us may not have a supercar , some of us , usually entirely through luck, might have one or two or three ''supercars'' , and yet might choose to take their series 1 mx5 on holiday-----and have a thoroughly good time in the process , with the perceived negatives balanced by the perceived advantages
hence the reason for starting this thread
'' and to be honest if I were in a cheaper run around / MX5 type car probably wouldn’t event bother.''------did you really mean( to post) this ?
while some of us may not have a supercar , some of us , usually entirely through luck, might have one or two or three ''supercars'' , and yet might choose to take their series 1 mx5 on holiday-----and have a thoroughly good time in the process , with the perceived negatives balanced by the perceived advantages
hence the reason for starting this thread
'' and to be honest if I were in a cheaper run around / MX5 type car probably wouldn’t event bother.''------did you really mean( to post) this ?
slickhillsy---absolutely no sense of humour failure here , otherwise I would'nt have risen to your smiley---you DID see my smiley too, didn't you?
and the whole point of starting this thread , and putting it in the supercar section rather than the mx5 section, rather has the suggestion of mischievous humour doesn't it ?
I don't think anyone is going to take their bullock-cart rather than their Bugatti (or vice-versa) on a trip, just because you or I hold a particular opinion, but hey, its fun talking about it with all this snow around
but as I have a little free time on my hands just now , let's really put the wolf amongst the pheasants (no , honestly, I did deliberately mean to put that 'h' in ):
don't you think that it would be absolutely hilarious to prick that little balloon of self satisfied snobbery that is occasionally so glaring in the supercar section of PH----and don't you think that this thread is the perfect vehicle for doing so ?
while I can understand someone saying that they would prefer having a supercar rather than an mx5 (I should actually be more specific and say that the mx5 that I really adore is the pre 1994 1.6 series 1 car ), why have there been so few posters , relatively speaking, that have actually stated the glaringly obvious (quoted from another thread):
'' sometimes when reading PH , one gets the impression that you have to constantly drive a car to enjoy it ---well, what I would say is that its quality time and mileage with your car that counts---what's the fun sitting in a traffic jam or at 70 mph on the motorway''
a case to illustrate the point : I hit the stelvio pass at about 9 am (bad planning) last june ,and with all that traffic around , I was grateful that I was in my mx5---anything faster would have been even more frustrating----in fact a push-bike would have been best
anyway, I really enjoy reading and being on PH, and this is all meant to be simple(!!) good humoured fun---so no offence being directed at anyone ---just curious----and am perfectly happy to take onboard the very clear democratic vote expressed here (esp the point about safety)
and the whole point of starting this thread , and putting it in the supercar section rather than the mx5 section, rather has the suggestion of mischievous humour doesn't it ?
I don't think anyone is going to take their bullock-cart rather than their Bugatti (or vice-versa) on a trip, just because you or I hold a particular opinion, but hey, its fun talking about it with all this snow around
but as I have a little free time on my hands just now , let's really put the wolf amongst the pheasants (no , honestly, I did deliberately mean to put that 'h' in ):
don't you think that it would be absolutely hilarious to prick that little balloon of self satisfied snobbery that is occasionally so glaring in the supercar section of PH----and don't you think that this thread is the perfect vehicle for doing so ?
while I can understand someone saying that they would prefer having a supercar rather than an mx5 (I should actually be more specific and say that the mx5 that I really adore is the pre 1994 1.6 series 1 car ), why have there been so few posters , relatively speaking, that have actually stated the glaringly obvious (quoted from another thread):
'' sometimes when reading PH , one gets the impression that you have to constantly drive a car to enjoy it ---well, what I would say is that its quality time and mileage with your car that counts---what's the fun sitting in a traffic jam or at 70 mph on the motorway''
a case to illustrate the point : I hit the stelvio pass at about 9 am (bad planning) last june ,and with all that traffic around , I was grateful that I was in my mx5---anything faster would have been even more frustrating----in fact a push-bike would have been best
anyway, I really enjoy reading and being on PH, and this is all meant to be simple(!!) good humoured fun---so no offence being directed at anyone ---just curious----and am perfectly happy to take onboard the very clear democratic vote expressed here (esp the point about safety)
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