What is good handling for you?

[Mikeyboy]

On the Porsche forums at the moment there is a thread running about how the Cayman S is just too capable for the road.

I do agree with that to a point. Most sports cars, if you want to go around the countryside sliding from one corner to the next are probably in need of speeds these days that are just unfeasable.

For me though a good handling car is one that changes direction smoothly, quickly and with feel and preferably little or no understeer. Speed is fun but not essential but brakes that stop you dead in metres are far more fun, because for me its the brinkmanship of leaving that to the last minute that is more fun than going into a corner too slowly then booting it too early and controlling the slide. For that reason I can get as much fun out of driving a Cayman at 60mph around a country lane as driving it at 120 mph around the 'ring.
Oversteer for me looks good in magazines and I'm sure makes people feel like a hero but is often a sign of a poorly resolved chassis or just heavy footed driving. Its slow and doesn't really show what a car or I can do.
A subtle four wheel drift though, I quite like that as these days the engineers have mostly engineered the cars to under then over steer with little in between.

So what do you think is good handling?

[Marf]

For me?

Sharp steering with good feedback
Neutral to slight oversteer balance
progressive break into oversteer

[VR6 Turbo]

My old Z cars mini was a master of 4 wheel drifts.

Add lightness, that is how I like my cars to handle. everything else can be setup to how you want but too much weight kills it.

VR

[Rawwr]

Communication.

[jaik]

• Well-communicated and progressive loss and regain of grip at the limits
• Mid-corner throttle adjustability

[jimbobsimmonds]

Am I about to get slated for saying to me the Mazda RX8 was probably the car that I found the handling most fun on... Maybe not the fastest or technically the best but it seemed to change direction well and had just enough RWD power to get the arse round if the mood took me, but not so much that I was fearful of dumping it if i got too heavy footed (something that the E39 M5 had me in fear of...)