Highly rated driver's cars that you have found disappointing
Discussion
So, you’ve read all the reviews in car magazines, consulted the PH massive and decided that this is going to be your next car (or at least on the shortlist). All that is left is the test drive followed by…massive disappointment. Was there something wrong with the one that I drove or am I the problem?
In my early days as I driver, I was often disappointed in the cars that I drove. My first car, a Fiat Cinquecento Sporting with a rampant 55bhp was awesome but when the time came to trade up to something more grown up with more power, I was massively disappointed with the lack of performance of the 1.8 Escorts and Cavaliers that I tried. I guess that I thought that moving up from a 1.1 to a 1.8, the 1.8s would feel like flying machines in comparison but they certainly did not. Now having been lucky enough to have the opportunity to drive quite a wide range of vehicles through my work, I feel that my expectations are more realistic (not suggesting that the Escort and Cavalier are highly-rated driver’s cars)!
Chronologically, here are the highly-rated driver’s cars that have most disappointed me.
Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9:
First quickish car was a Peugeot 205 GTi 1.6 (my dream car as a teenager). Decided on the 1.6 for the lower running and insurance costs and it was every bit as good as I thought it would be. However, my dream car was still the 1.9 (love the bigger wheels, the stance, the leather bolstered seats etc). After owning my 1.6 for a year, thought about trading up to a 1.9 and test drove one. The one I drove was a Phase 1 and my 1.6 was a Phase 2, so may have been that particular car but didn’t feel any faster than my 1.6 (when I was 16, an older friend had a 309 GTi which felt insanely fast)! To be fair, when I bought my 1.6, I test drove three 1.6s and they all felt different though. Not saying it was a bad car, I just expected it to be like my car turned up to 11 and it wasn’t. Also tried one with an Mi-16 conversion which was on the money in terms of performance but the owner had also lowered it and seemingly removed the suspension! Having said that the 205 GTi is still in my all-time top 10 though and I would love to own another one and it would probably be a 1.9!
Renault Clio 182:
Having written off my 205 and got a better job which included a company car, I could contemplate indulging myself with a new weekend “toy”. Really missed the 205 and had eagerly anticipated the new 206 GTi 180 but then read the lukewarm reviews. I remember reading a twin test of the 206 and Clio 172 Cup in Evo magazine and them pronouncing that you could get a modern 205 GTi, it just wasn’t made by Peugeot anymore but Renault. It was 2004 and the new Clio 182 had just come out, so it was off to the Renault showroom for a test drive in a new Clio 182 with Cup chassis. Liked the look of the car and it was well-equipped and good value but horrid driving position (compared to the 205 anyway), didn’t feel that quick and felt rather ordinary to drive. It just didn’t have the sparkle of my 205. Bubble burst!
Mazda MX5 mk2:
This was the car I bought instead and my first RWD car and first convertible. Lovely looking car, mine was the Nevada edition in Cerrion (greeny) silver with blue leather and hood. In my head, I was going to spend the summer driving around with the top down, revving the nuts off the twin-cam 16v engine and powersliding around roundabouts. In reality, the engine wasn’t that nice to work hard, it wasn’t that quick and the tyres were too sticky to indulge in any powerslides. Still had a great summer though, as I was 24, had a nearly new sports car and several hot girls asked for a ride in it. Well, 2 actually and most of the time it was me and my mate Dan driving around, which probably looked a bit ghey. However, my father recently bought a new MX5 as a retirement present to himself and although I pleaded with him to get the 2.0 (he bought the 1.8, which was even less powerful than my 1.8) and the hard top. Despite this, the engine felt much sweeter than mine and I thought it also handled more keenly. It also looks a bit more masculine than the mk2, which is good. In conclusion, my mk2 was a nice car but I never really gelled with it as a driver’s car. It either needed more power or less grip IMO. About 200bhp would be ideal!
BMW 3-Series:
The next car I owned was an E30 325i Cabriolet. I love the sound of a BMW straight-6 (and still do). This was an awesome looking car (in a 1980s kind of way in Alpine White), I also liked the interior, the comfort of the seats and the practicality (massive boot). One of my favourites in fact but the thing I don’t get when people talk about the 3-Series is the fantastic handling. This one handled like a canal boat (and stopped as quickly as one as well) and was not an easy car to drive enthusiastically in the wet. This is perfectly acceptable in a 4-seater convertible (and it was just a lovely car to cruise about in) but not in a sporting saloon/coupe. However every 3-Series that I have ever driven (E36/E46/E90) has not felt significantly better in the handling department than the equivalent Passat/Mondeo (granted I have yet to drive an M3, which I’m sure is very different). In fact, I bought a mk4 Golf GTi over an E46 318i because I preferred the “sportier” handling of the Golf. On reflection, I should have bought the 3-Series but only because the Golf (2.0 engine) was an unreliable POS! I’m not a FWD heathen, I have always liked the way the 1-Series has driven and it actually feels RWD but would never buy one due to the looks and packaging and also enjoy the drive of RWD Mercedes. Mercedes aren’t very sporty but I guess I don’t expect them to be, whereas I do expect a BMW to be more sporty and fun!
Mk2 Golf GTi 8v:
Had the opportunity to drive a well-maintained big-bumper Golf with only 66k. Love the look, interior and over-engineered feel of these cars but it felt very slow compared to the aforementioned 205, the accelerator felt incredibly heavy and the handling didn’t really sparkle. I can see that it would be an easier car to live with than the 205 though and maybe at 66k, this one wasn’t fully run-in yet?
Ford Puma 1.7:
Ex-309 GTi driving friend told me to try his Puma, as it was “like a modern 205 GTi to drive”. It wasn’t! I liked it for about 10 minutes but found it uncomfortable, the engine was nothing special, the gearchange too stiff and it felt really tinny. This was surprising, as having also driven my mum’s base-model mk1 Ford Ka and a mk1 Focus 1.6, I always found them more impressive than they should be.
Subaru Impreza WRX STI (blob-eye):
Got to drive this on the Golf R32 launch. Lots of turbo lag, horrid interior, horrid gearchange and a crashy ride which made me feel sick (and I was driving). To be fair, I was driving in traffic and didn’t really get to open it up though. To be fair, I have since owned a blob-eye WRX Wagon and it is probably my favourite car that I have owned and an excellent all-rounder. The horrid gearchange and interior (although it grew on me) still stands but the ride and turbo lag seemed much better on my standard WRX.
Ferrari F355:
I was never (and never will be) in the market for this car but got to drive one on track for my 21st birthday. This is one of the best-looking Ferraris ever IMO and before driving it, I really wanted one. However, the interior feels cheap and old-fashioned, the steering wheel was unnecessarily huge, the pedals very offset and it didn’t feel particularly quick or sound that good IMO. The open-gate gearchange was lovely though. To be fair, the track was pretty crowded, I only had 3 laps and the instructor was reluctant to let me really open it up. Would love to give one another chance on the road?
Those are probably my top 8 disappointments but certainly in the case of the Impreza, I accept that first impressions can sometimes be wrong. What highly-rated driver’s cars have you found disappointing and why? I’m happy for you to tell me I’m wrong on any of the above and give me reasons why as well.
In my early days as I driver, I was often disappointed in the cars that I drove. My first car, a Fiat Cinquecento Sporting with a rampant 55bhp was awesome but when the time came to trade up to something more grown up with more power, I was massively disappointed with the lack of performance of the 1.8 Escorts and Cavaliers that I tried. I guess that I thought that moving up from a 1.1 to a 1.8, the 1.8s would feel like flying machines in comparison but they certainly did not. Now having been lucky enough to have the opportunity to drive quite a wide range of vehicles through my work, I feel that my expectations are more realistic (not suggesting that the Escort and Cavalier are highly-rated driver’s cars)!
Chronologically, here are the highly-rated driver’s cars that have most disappointed me.
Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9:
First quickish car was a Peugeot 205 GTi 1.6 (my dream car as a teenager). Decided on the 1.6 for the lower running and insurance costs and it was every bit as good as I thought it would be. However, my dream car was still the 1.9 (love the bigger wheels, the stance, the leather bolstered seats etc). After owning my 1.6 for a year, thought about trading up to a 1.9 and test drove one. The one I drove was a Phase 1 and my 1.6 was a Phase 2, so may have been that particular car but didn’t feel any faster than my 1.6 (when I was 16, an older friend had a 309 GTi which felt insanely fast)! To be fair, when I bought my 1.6, I test drove three 1.6s and they all felt different though. Not saying it was a bad car, I just expected it to be like my car turned up to 11 and it wasn’t. Also tried one with an Mi-16 conversion which was on the money in terms of performance but the owner had also lowered it and seemingly removed the suspension! Having said that the 205 GTi is still in my all-time top 10 though and I would love to own another one and it would probably be a 1.9!
Renault Clio 182:
Having written off my 205 and got a better job which included a company car, I could contemplate indulging myself with a new weekend “toy”. Really missed the 205 and had eagerly anticipated the new 206 GTi 180 but then read the lukewarm reviews. I remember reading a twin test of the 206 and Clio 172 Cup in Evo magazine and them pronouncing that you could get a modern 205 GTi, it just wasn’t made by Peugeot anymore but Renault. It was 2004 and the new Clio 182 had just come out, so it was off to the Renault showroom for a test drive in a new Clio 182 with Cup chassis. Liked the look of the car and it was well-equipped and good value but horrid driving position (compared to the 205 anyway), didn’t feel that quick and felt rather ordinary to drive. It just didn’t have the sparkle of my 205. Bubble burst!
Mazda MX5 mk2:
This was the car I bought instead and my first RWD car and first convertible. Lovely looking car, mine was the Nevada edition in Cerrion (greeny) silver with blue leather and hood. In my head, I was going to spend the summer driving around with the top down, revving the nuts off the twin-cam 16v engine and powersliding around roundabouts. In reality, the engine wasn’t that nice to work hard, it wasn’t that quick and the tyres were too sticky to indulge in any powerslides. Still had a great summer though, as I was 24, had a nearly new sports car and several hot girls asked for a ride in it. Well, 2 actually and most of the time it was me and my mate Dan driving around, which probably looked a bit ghey. However, my father recently bought a new MX5 as a retirement present to himself and although I pleaded with him to get the 2.0 (he bought the 1.8, which was even less powerful than my 1.8) and the hard top. Despite this, the engine felt much sweeter than mine and I thought it also handled more keenly. It also looks a bit more masculine than the mk2, which is good. In conclusion, my mk2 was a nice car but I never really gelled with it as a driver’s car. It either needed more power or less grip IMO. About 200bhp would be ideal!
BMW 3-Series:
The next car I owned was an E30 325i Cabriolet. I love the sound of a BMW straight-6 (and still do). This was an awesome looking car (in a 1980s kind of way in Alpine White), I also liked the interior, the comfort of the seats and the practicality (massive boot). One of my favourites in fact but the thing I don’t get when people talk about the 3-Series is the fantastic handling. This one handled like a canal boat (and stopped as quickly as one as well) and was not an easy car to drive enthusiastically in the wet. This is perfectly acceptable in a 4-seater convertible (and it was just a lovely car to cruise about in) but not in a sporting saloon/coupe. However every 3-Series that I have ever driven (E36/E46/E90) has not felt significantly better in the handling department than the equivalent Passat/Mondeo (granted I have yet to drive an M3, which I’m sure is very different). In fact, I bought a mk4 Golf GTi over an E46 318i because I preferred the “sportier” handling of the Golf. On reflection, I should have bought the 3-Series but only because the Golf (2.0 engine) was an unreliable POS! I’m not a FWD heathen, I have always liked the way the 1-Series has driven and it actually feels RWD but would never buy one due to the looks and packaging and also enjoy the drive of RWD Mercedes. Mercedes aren’t very sporty but I guess I don’t expect them to be, whereas I do expect a BMW to be more sporty and fun!
Mk2 Golf GTi 8v:
Had the opportunity to drive a well-maintained big-bumper Golf with only 66k. Love the look, interior and over-engineered feel of these cars but it felt very slow compared to the aforementioned 205, the accelerator felt incredibly heavy and the handling didn’t really sparkle. I can see that it would be an easier car to live with than the 205 though and maybe at 66k, this one wasn’t fully run-in yet?
Ford Puma 1.7:
Ex-309 GTi driving friend told me to try his Puma, as it was “like a modern 205 GTi to drive”. It wasn’t! I liked it for about 10 minutes but found it uncomfortable, the engine was nothing special, the gearchange too stiff and it felt really tinny. This was surprising, as having also driven my mum’s base-model mk1 Ford Ka and a mk1 Focus 1.6, I always found them more impressive than they should be.
Subaru Impreza WRX STI (blob-eye):
Got to drive this on the Golf R32 launch. Lots of turbo lag, horrid interior, horrid gearchange and a crashy ride which made me feel sick (and I was driving). To be fair, I was driving in traffic and didn’t really get to open it up though. To be fair, I have since owned a blob-eye WRX Wagon and it is probably my favourite car that I have owned and an excellent all-rounder. The horrid gearchange and interior (although it grew on me) still stands but the ride and turbo lag seemed much better on my standard WRX.
Ferrari F355:
I was never (and never will be) in the market for this car but got to drive one on track for my 21st birthday. This is one of the best-looking Ferraris ever IMO and before driving it, I really wanted one. However, the interior feels cheap and old-fashioned, the steering wheel was unnecessarily huge, the pedals very offset and it didn’t feel particularly quick or sound that good IMO. The open-gate gearchange was lovely though. To be fair, the track was pretty crowded, I only had 3 laps and the instructor was reluctant to let me really open it up. Would love to give one another chance on the road?
Those are probably my top 8 disappointments but certainly in the case of the Impreza, I accept that first impressions can sometimes be wrong. What highly-rated driver’s cars have you found disappointing and why? I’m happy for you to tell me I’m wrong on any of the above and give me reasons why as well.
TheInternet said:
Just for comparison, could you list some that haven't disappointed you?
Fiat Cinquecento SportingPeugeot 205 GTi 1.6
VW Corrado VR6
Subaru Impreza WRX
Mercedes C-Class
Fiat 500
Ford Ka
Ford Focus ST
Ford Focus mk1
VW Golf mkV + GTI
MG ZS 180
MG ZT
Rover 75
Mercedes E-Class
Mazda MX-5 3.5
Quite a few actually. Did you like all the "driver's" cars that you have driven?
My first car was a 106 Gti which was always fairly highly rated. I rally loved that car which was as fast as anything in the real world...almost. To me it is still one of the best cars I have driven.
A friend had a DC2 Integra Type-R which was fun but, for me...and my size, too much of a comprimise. It didn't help that his had a mahoosive exhaust that seemed louder at a 65-75mph cruise than it did chasing the redline!
Also didnt 'get' a 3.4 E34 M5 that I drove. Sounded fantastic but just didnt feel that special compared to modern cars. It did have over 120k miles on it though.
I look forward to being dissapointed by several more cars in my lifetime!
A friend had a DC2 Integra Type-R which was fun but, for me...and my size, too much of a comprimise. It didn't help that his had a mahoosive exhaust that seemed louder at a 65-75mph cruise than it did chasing the redline!
Also didnt 'get' a 3.4 E34 M5 that I drove. Sounded fantastic but just didnt feel that special compared to modern cars. It did have over 120k miles on it though.
I look forward to being dissapointed by several more cars in my lifetime!
BMW e36 323, never got the claimed 40 mpg and the engine was lovely it felt heavy and not really rewarding
I had a 1 series 118d BMW, not rated highly but RWD made fall difference.
MX5 - Just boring
Audi's (B5 and B6 a4's) I have found to slagged off but I find them quite rewarding to drive quickly, even TDI's
I have to admit not had too many 'Drivers cars' and the ones I have had don't really satisfy my need, I prefer flawed cars..
I had a 1 series 118d BMW, not rated highly but RWD made fall difference.
MX5 - Just boring
Audi's (B5 and B6 a4's) I have found to slagged off but I find them quite rewarding to drive quickly, even TDI's
I have to admit not had too many 'Drivers cars' and the ones I have had don't really satisfy my need, I prefer flawed cars..
I'd agree on the mx5.
My wife bought a new mk2.5 sport and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it but what a disappointment when I did. Horrible gutless thrashy engine and a terrible ride. I decided to give the mx5 another chance and bought myself a mk1 as they are said to be a better drive. Nope, not convinced.
My wife bought a new mk2.5 sport and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it but what a disappointment when I did. Horrible gutless thrashy engine and a terrible ride. I decided to give the mx5 another chance and bought myself a mk1 as they are said to be a better drive. Nope, not convinced.
Almost everything I've driven with a Porsche or BMW badge on it. Yes, they're generally good cars, but the legions of fans hype them up so much that however good they are they were probably always going to be a let-down.
If I had to pick a single car, I think it would be the 997 GT3.
If I had to pick a single car, I think it would be the 997 GT3.
Some lowlights for me...
Mk1 Subaru Impreza Turbo - cheap and nasty typical 90's Japanese interior, felt like you should "drive it like you stole it" as it was chalk and cheese when it was off-boost
Mk1 Peugeot 405 SRI - not the Mi16, but the SRI was highly regarded by the mags at the time, never saw what the fuss was about to be honest.
Caterham 7 SV - sacrilege this one, but just felt too nervous on the road
Mk1 Subaru Impreza Turbo - cheap and nasty typical 90's Japanese interior, felt like you should "drive it like you stole it" as it was chalk and cheese when it was off-boost
Mk1 Peugeot 405 SRI - not the Mi16, but the SRI was highly regarded by the mags at the time, never saw what the fuss was about to be honest.
Caterham 7 SV - sacrilege this one, but just felt too nervous on the road
MX5 mk2.
Driving position was waaay to high (no height adjustment) meaning I just couldn't get comfortable and it felt like was sitting on the car rather that in it. Worse still was the soft and under-damped suspension that left me carrying massive lean into corners and being bounced around by bumps over which my MR2 would stay perfectly composed. And no, the suspension was in correct working order, as confirmed by other respected drivers I know who've also driven that same car.
Driving position was waaay to high (no height adjustment) meaning I just couldn't get comfortable and it felt like was sitting on the car rather that in it. Worse still was the soft and under-damped suspension that left me carrying massive lean into corners and being bounced around by bumps over which my MR2 would stay perfectly composed. And no, the suspension was in correct working order, as confirmed by other respected drivers I know who've also driven that same car.
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