Driving fun, what is the answer?
Discussion
Driving home today i was traveling along the A29 and i drove in a spirited fashion through a few bends and accelerated out onto the straight. All in fourth gear and a long way from wringing the car out. I looked down at my speedo and i was doing 70, if i had been going for it and revved it out in third gear i would have been travelling way over the limit, and all this from a 13 year old, 2.0 saloon car.
I can't help but think modern cars, not just performance cars, are just too fast. We have got the point where a diesel car like this:
Is every bit as fast as this
How do those of you with properly quick cars feel about using them on the road? Surely the frustration must get to you sometimes?
It also makes me think about getting the performance versions of cars, when the boggo ones often have the same basic chassis set up so are just as much fun in the corners. Our other car is a Mini One, which is a real hoot to drive and never feels as if it needs more power.
I know fast cars often feel/sound/look more special, so you don't need to use all the power to appreciate driving them. Maybe classic cars are the answer!
I can't help but think modern cars, not just performance cars, are just too fast. We have got the point where a diesel car like this:
Is every bit as fast as this
How do those of you with properly quick cars feel about using them on the road? Surely the frustration must get to you sometimes?
It also makes me think about getting the performance versions of cars, when the boggo ones often have the same basic chassis set up so are just as much fun in the corners. Our other car is a Mini One, which is a real hoot to drive and never feels as if it needs more power.
I know fast cars often feel/sound/look more special, so you don't need to use all the power to appreciate driving them. Maybe classic cars are the answer!
Contigo said:
It can be frustrating but I'd rather have a car which has the power when I want to use it than nothing at all. When I drive the Maserati I don't feel I need to rag it, it's an event every time I get into it.
I totally get this, but when you are in the mood for a blast does only being able to (legally) access a small percentage of the cars potential get irritating? It must mean 'hooning' on part throttle?jimmy156 said:
I totally get this, but when you are in the mood for a blast does only being able to (legally) access a small percentage of the cars potential get irritating? It must mean 'hooning' on part throttle?
No not really there is a time and a place to use the whole power and I make sure I choose that very wisely. 20 years of driving performance cars and not an SP yet so must be doing something right. I make sure I use WOT on every single journey in the cars that give the right buzz.Get a comfortable, stately car for day to day use and buy a motorbike for fun? Or alternatively, classic hot hatches offer a lot of fun, their smaller power outputs, thinner tyres, lower levels of grip and smaller footprints mean they can be much more fun to wring out over a twisty B road than an outsize, over-tyred and over powered modern car (that will probably feel utterly numb to drive).
JDMDrifter said:
That new baby Caterham! Simple, small engined good old fashioned fun 
In a small, light, low, noisy car 60mph on an A-road feels much faster (and far more fun) than it does in a big, heavy, high, quiet car. So, if a Caterham is too raw for you OP, then maybe an Elise/VX220.
I thoroughly agree with the o.p.
I currently run a 2.0ts Gtv for the winter and a 2.8i Capri fir the summer,both of which can be mercilessly ragged without troubling high speeds,ex er indoors had a 1.6 mk Eunos that with its lsd was epic for this too.
I've never really owned a modern or particularly quick car but Im sort of in the motor trade so have driven quite a variety of stuff and even the 09 Golf gti I took in px and borrowed for a few days lead to me driving at twice the speeds round my normal hooning lanes and having less fun.
In dynamic terms my Capri is slow and handles like a dog but lurching it down a B road with the 6 cyl engine bellowing through its rather silly twin aftermarket drain pipe exhausts is more fun as 40mph than hurtling down the same road at 80 feeling all safe and insulated in a modern thing.
Everything is relative though and probably if id owned something properley quick I might feel differently but as it is I wouldnt really want a quick and powerfull car but something nimble and responsive like an elise would definitely be considered.
I currently run a 2.0ts Gtv for the winter and a 2.8i Capri fir the summer,both of which can be mercilessly ragged without troubling high speeds,ex er indoors had a 1.6 mk Eunos that with its lsd was epic for this too.
I've never really owned a modern or particularly quick car but Im sort of in the motor trade so have driven quite a variety of stuff and even the 09 Golf gti I took in px and borrowed for a few days lead to me driving at twice the speeds round my normal hooning lanes and having less fun.
In dynamic terms my Capri is slow and handles like a dog but lurching it down a B road with the 6 cyl engine bellowing through its rather silly twin aftermarket drain pipe exhausts is more fun as 40mph than hurtling down the same road at 80 feeling all safe and insulated in a modern thing.
Everything is relative though and probably if id owned something properley quick I might feel differently but as it is I wouldnt really want a quick and powerfull car but something nimble and responsive like an elise would definitely be considered.
LordHaveMurci said:
Fun doesn't have to mean fast. I have a 996 & a Clio 172 Cup, the Clio is in many ways more fun yet I love both to bits & the 996 is a fantastic car. It is easier to enjoy the 172 on a daily basis, the 996 you need an early Sunday morning to enjoy 
But even the Clio is a quick car! it does the 0-60 sprint in about .7 of a second longer then the ferrari 308GTB pictured above.This has been debated many times before.
I think you have to get really fast cars out of your system.
The last one I had was a 6 litre V8 RX7 with 420+bhp - however only being able to use perhaps 300bhp due to wheelspin, getting 14mpg and only being able to have fun in 2nd gear (1st was pointless and the top of 3rd was well into a ban) I soon sold it despite it being my dream car.
I've had lots of fast and fun cars over the years but the one I've kept is a supercharged MX5 - fast and practical enough to use everyday but great fun and 100mph feels fast.
If you can put up with them, you can't beat a Caterham / Westfield etc for fun on the roads.
I think you have to get really fast cars out of your system.
The last one I had was a 6 litre V8 RX7 with 420+bhp - however only being able to use perhaps 300bhp due to wheelspin, getting 14mpg and only being able to have fun in 2nd gear (1st was pointless and the top of 3rd was well into a ban) I soon sold it despite it being my dream car.
I've had lots of fast and fun cars over the years but the one I've kept is a supercharged MX5 - fast and practical enough to use everyday but great fun and 100mph feels fast.
If you can put up with them, you can't beat a Caterham / Westfield etc for fun on the roads.
I like this thread. It reflects exactly how I feel about performance cars these days. I just can't see the point any more. That's why I bought a Fiat500 TwinAir - it sounds and feels like its fifty times faster than it is. You can wring its little neck and use whatever skill you have to squeeze every bit of performance out of it, and still not be upsetting anyone. Quite a few of my friends were completely baffled about why on earth I had 'traded down' to such an extent, but I genuinely love driving it.
And my old classics are just the thing - my eighties Merc SL sounds all blood and thunder but is actually not that fast at all, and piloting an old Humber Super Snipe to maintain good progress takes skill, planning, judgment and a real awareness of what the car is doing. All without troubling the speed cameras at all....Which is what driving fun is all about.
All I have to do now is find a way of persuading the old girls to return more than (ahem!) per gallon, and my motoring pleasure will be complete.
And my old classics are just the thing - my eighties Merc SL sounds all blood and thunder but is actually not that fast at all, and piloting an old Humber Super Snipe to maintain good progress takes skill, planning, judgment and a real awareness of what the car is doing. All without troubling the speed cameras at all....Which is what driving fun is all about.
All I have to do now is find a way of persuading the old girls to return more than (ahem!) per gallon, and my motoring pleasure will be complete.
Sid's Dad said:
I like this thread. It reflects exactly how I feel about performance cars these days. I just can't see the point any more. That's why I bought a Fiat500 TwinAir - it sounds and feels like its fifty times faster than it is.
say a little more about the twin air, sounds good. I loved the idea and spec of these, just wondered about real life experience. You can drive the engine like an italian? and is the handling up to the looks?Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff