Cars you've driven that have been better than their press

[Tango13]

Off the back of the cars that have been a disapointment thread what have you driven that's unexpectedly blown you away?

When I test drove my M5 it was great but the first time I really let it rip I was shocked at it's ability to grab the horizon and throw it over my shoulder, the noise and the fact that the car actually felt happier doing it was scarey!

[FRA53R]

I can't compete with an M5 however out of the few cars I've driven the one to surprise me most was a Volvo 940 estate. Incredible comfort decent performance and very surprising road holding.

[Tango13]

FRA53R said:

I can't compete with an M5 however out of the few cars I've driven the one to surprise me most was a Volvo 940 estate. Incredible comfort decent performance and very surprising road holding.

That's my point. Every one thinks Volvo build lardy old barges but they have built some serious wolves in sheeps clothing.

[Pints]

The previous mk Clio got a lot of stick in the press for its driving position. It certainly has a very different seating feel to most other cars, but I really didn't mind the seat at all.

It probably helps that I'm a short arse.

[Finlandia]

FRA53R said:

I can't compete with an M5 however out of the few cars I've driven the one to surprise me most was a Volvo 940 estate. Incredible comfort decent performance and very surprising road holding.

Surely you mean the 850, don't you? The 940 is built for serious load lugging, comfort is ok, performance is sort of ok, road holding is more of a joke. The 850 on the other hand...

[jbi]

Most of the yank pickup trucks I have driven, petrol or diesel will happily leave 95% of the cars on Uk roads for dust in a straight line.

Until you get to the really heavy duty models, they are also incredibly comfortable as well.

[John D.]

M5 got bad press?

[stuwalsh]

[quote=jbi]Most of the yank pickup trucks I have driven, petrol or diesel will happily leave 95% of the cars on Uk roads for dust in a straight line.


So where do we have all these straight lines???

[kprm77]

Cadillac DTS. Had heard for years in the motoring press, forums and programmes like TG how awful American cars were. When I went over in 2008, I went out of my way to hire a proper full size American car.

The car was well built, very comfortable and quick. Wasn't even that bad on the juice for a big V8. Admittedly it was hugely barge like on the bends.

The looks of this car are challenging, though there are plenty of American cars that are not (Challenger, Charger etc).

All IMHO of course... Here's the one I hired:

[uuf361]

Back in 2001 when I'd just moved to the US I was needing to buy a car but was hiring no weekends, and got a Hyundai Elantra GT. So impressed was I in the car that I even looked into buying one at the time (ended up with a Sundaru Impreza RS Coupe instead ) The Elantra just seemed good at what it did, looked OK-ish and was well equipped etc.

[chrisispringles]

Finlandia said:

Surely you mean the 850, don't you? The 940 is built for serious load lugging, comfort is ok, performance is sort of ok, road holding is more of a joke. The 850 on the other hand...

The 850 is an absolute hoot to drive. A T5 is on my list of cars to own at some point.

[Bill Carr]

E36 compact. An unfairly maligned car. Drives much better than people would have you believe.

[jbi]

stuwalsh said:

jbi said:

Most of the yank pickup trucks I have driven, petrol or diesel will happily leave 95% of the cars on Uk roads for dust in a straight line.

So where do we have all these straight lines???

traffic lights and junctions in general

Edited by jbi on Sunday 28th August 20:57

[EDLT]

The last Honda Civic Type-R, it has "old fashioned" torsion suspension on the back that makes it rubbish (despite many great hot hatches having exactly the same thing). I thought it was fun to drive, although I didn't spend all day dabbing oppos around a track. I had a similar experience with the Astra VXR and Mazda 3 MPS, both supposedly crap at corners when a certain magazine took them all to a track "to find out what they are really like."

Perhaps their problem was they taking a bunch of road cars for a race around a track :scratchin:

[FRA53R]

Finlandia said:

FRA53R said:

I can't compete with an M5 however out of the few cars I've driven the one to surprise me most was a Volvo 940 estate. Incredible comfort decent performance and very surprising road holding.

Surely you mean the 850, don't you? The 940 is built for serious load lugging, comfort is ok, performance is sort of ok, road holding is more of a joke. The 850 on the other hand...

Nope I mean the 940. I'd agree with what you say to a degree, yeah the performance wasn't lightning, mine was a 2.3 lpt with 135bhp and 170lb/ft and it was way more about comfort than sport. It was fun though. I drove on a return trip to the isle of Skye from central Scotland and I could keep it at 60 for most of the way as long as you were smooth and treated it like a huge torquey estate and not a hot hatch there was no trouble.

[J4CKO]

chrisispringles said:

Finlandia said:

Surely you mean the 850, don't you? The 940 is built for serious load lugging, comfort is ok, performance is sort of ok, road holding is more of a joke. The 850 on the other hand...

The 850 is an absolute hoot to drive. A T5 is on my list of cars to own at some point.

We had an original 850 T5 estate in Silver, fantastic car, as a performance car it was a bit of a one trick pony but as an all rounder, brilliant and the Estate I still think is a looker, on original wheels in a decent colour, curently in banger limbo but I think nice ones may start to attract a premium as people realise that they were a bit of a landmark car, still very usable as well.

I still hanker after another, with a little bit of tuning work, all that about the Focus RS, the Volvo had that engine back in 1993 !