Whats your top three ?
Discussion
Having owned over 100 cars - including some real pigs, I can now say I have the best standard unmodified handling car I have ever owned. My Mini Cooper S (2003) was brillient, great fun and really chuckable. Second was my Elise 111R (2005) which amazed me in most situations but ultimately suffered from understeer. I now have a Clio Rs200 with Cup chassis which is just incredible. I know many Elise owners will disagree but the Clio is better, i've owned both. When its gone, what next ? How far can manufactures go ? I've not driven a new Nissan GT-R and probably never will (cant afford one) but if the Clio is this good I cant imagine how good the Nissan can be !!??
Difficult one. They've all had different attributes.
My fondest memories are probably of my TVR S3. Addequate peformance (more than they're credited for I'd say), great handling once I'd sorted it out, and so much sense of occasion. It looked gorgeous and it made a fantastic noise - plenty of drama, but more sonorous than the Rover V8 cars IMHO. The other thing was it was relatively practical, with a good size boot, comfy seats and a watertight hood. You could drive it 150 miles to track day, lap the track for a few hours then drive back ...that's assuming you could actually find one where it passed the noise test of course.
On an equally nostalgic note, I loved my first car, which was a Quantum 2+2 (now looking rather sorry for itself in my parents' farmyard). It handled pretty well, went well for a first car (8 or 9 seconds to 60mph) and gave me an introduction to open air motoring. Again, the practicality to actually get out and use it was good - a mahoosive boot and decent hard top saw to that. Outclassed by todays machinery, but a very underrated car in its time and one I have really fond memories of.
Hmm. The next one is difficult. The Caterham I've got now is easily the most capable performance car I've ever had and without doubt the most exciting when you're on the ragged edge. I do, however, have a massive soft spot for the Saxo I used to own as a runaround. It had possibly the best steering I've encountered on any FWD car (thanks to skinny tyres, no power assistance and less weight than an Elise...), it taught me everything I know about lift off oversteer, and I remeber some great drives. Plus, my 205 GTi, 924S and Eunos RS-LTD were all great cars in their own way that I didn't appreciate as much as I should have done at the time.
So, it comes down to the Saxo or the Caterham for the final spot. Not often you hear that is it? And you know what, I reckon a 518kg racing car should be pretty exciting to drive, so perhaps the fact that the Saxo was such an entertaining drive is more of an accomplishment? So...
1) TVR S3
2) Quantum 2+2
3) Citroen Saxo 1.1i Forte
That's a sentimental take on those I've owned. If I had to be a bit more objective or include other people's cars I've driven it'd be a bit different.
My fondest memories are probably of my TVR S3. Addequate peformance (more than they're credited for I'd say), great handling once I'd sorted it out, and so much sense of occasion. It looked gorgeous and it made a fantastic noise - plenty of drama, but more sonorous than the Rover V8 cars IMHO. The other thing was it was relatively practical, with a good size boot, comfy seats and a watertight hood. You could drive it 150 miles to track day, lap the track for a few hours then drive back ...that's assuming you could actually find one where it passed the noise test of course.
On an equally nostalgic note, I loved my first car, which was a Quantum 2+2 (now looking rather sorry for itself in my parents' farmyard). It handled pretty well, went well for a first car (8 or 9 seconds to 60mph) and gave me an introduction to open air motoring. Again, the practicality to actually get out and use it was good - a mahoosive boot and decent hard top saw to that. Outclassed by todays machinery, but a very underrated car in its time and one I have really fond memories of.
Hmm. The next one is difficult. The Caterham I've got now is easily the most capable performance car I've ever had and without doubt the most exciting when you're on the ragged edge. I do, however, have a massive soft spot for the Saxo I used to own as a runaround. It had possibly the best steering I've encountered on any FWD car (thanks to skinny tyres, no power assistance and less weight than an Elise...), it taught me everything I know about lift off oversteer, and I remeber some great drives. Plus, my 205 GTi, 924S and Eunos RS-LTD were all great cars in their own way that I didn't appreciate as much as I should have done at the time.
So, it comes down to the Saxo or the Caterham for the final spot. Not often you hear that is it? And you know what, I reckon a 518kg racing car should be pretty exciting to drive, so perhaps the fact that the Saxo was such an entertaining drive is more of an accomplishment? So...
1) TVR S3
2) Quantum 2+2
3) Citroen Saxo 1.1i Forte
That's a sentimental take on those I've owned. If I had to be a bit more objective or include other people's cars I've driven it'd be a bit different.
Lakeland9 said:
I can tell you the GTR is a better handler than anything I've ever driven- but that's not to say that it's comfortable or quiet, 'cos it ain't. The running costs are also a bit lively...!
I've got a Z4, the Clio, an old Punto and a steak meal for two for a straight swap for the GT-R. Pm me if interested !If by handling we mean the confidence and smoothness with which you can make the car go between understeer and oversteer with a good dose of neutrality in-between then probably the best car I've tried so far would be the E92 M3. The best I've owned though is probably the E46 M3.
These days though, a lot of the performance orientated cars seems to really handle. Most things with DSC, TC, ESP etc turned off seem to be brilliant, though some cars are still a little too prone to understeer IMO.
These days though, a lot of the performance orientated cars seems to really handle. Most things with DSC, TC, ESP etc turned off seem to be brilliant, though some cars are still a little too prone to understeer IMO.
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