What's the perfect FWD/RWD/AWD performance car for you?
Discussion
We all know the feeling when you get in a car and drive it and it just "fits like a glove" and feels inherently "right". What are those cars that feel like they were made for you and what were the ones perhaps that you thought could be that car but didn't quite hit the mark for you?
FWD - Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9
I had a 15 year love affair with this car from before I could even drive and when I finally got to drive one, it felt just right from the moment that it first turned a wheel and I felt "locked in" to it straight away (honourable mention for the mk1 Golf GTi, Supercharged MINI Cooper S and DC2 Integra Type R too).
Renault Clio RS 182 following essentially the same formula should have been just as great but just lacked something for me.
RWD - BMW 1M
A BMW has been the "daily driver" car that I have aspired to for as long as I can remember until relatively recently. My first "proper" BMW driving experience was an E30 325i, which I absolutely loved but newer generations of 3-Series have felt a bit too big and refined to give me the same feeling and I have only really replicated that feeling in the big-engined 1-Series, which feel a bit more raw and "rough and ready". I've never driven a 1M of course but for that reason and its pugnacious styling, which I like better than the 2-Series/M2, this has to be the ultimate modern BMW for me and one of the great BMW M cars? I'd take a 1st generation BMW M2 as a close 2nd though.
The last generation Mustang GT was the RWD performance car that I really thought that I was going to love but just didn't gel with. Looked cool and sounded fantastic and it was fast but not as fast as I imagined and it just felt a bit numb and dim-witted to me. Lots of mechanical grip though, so I'm not sure why people crash them so much!
AWD - Subaru Impreza P1
I had a "Blobeye" WRX and it just felt so perfectly setup for "making progress" in any weather on a bumpy and twisty British B-road but the ultimate Impreza for me was always the P1.
The Mitsubishi Evo VIII was the AWD performance car that missed the mark a little for me. I thought that the Evo looked better than the Impreza, was faster and sensational when you were "on it" but not very enjoyable to drive the rest of the time, too laggy and "crashy" and the engine just lacked the character of the Subaru "Boxer" engine, so even though the image of the Impreza was a bit of a negative for me in the 2000s, ultimately it just felt better to me to drive more of the time (and the one that I drove was the least extreme 260 version).
So what are the "perfect" FWD, RWD and AWD performance cars for you?
FWD - Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9
I had a 15 year love affair with this car from before I could even drive and when I finally got to drive one, it felt just right from the moment that it first turned a wheel and I felt "locked in" to it straight away (honourable mention for the mk1 Golf GTi, Supercharged MINI Cooper S and DC2 Integra Type R too).
Renault Clio RS 182 following essentially the same formula should have been just as great but just lacked something for me.
RWD - BMW 1M
A BMW has been the "daily driver" car that I have aspired to for as long as I can remember until relatively recently. My first "proper" BMW driving experience was an E30 325i, which I absolutely loved but newer generations of 3-Series have felt a bit too big and refined to give me the same feeling and I have only really replicated that feeling in the big-engined 1-Series, which feel a bit more raw and "rough and ready". I've never driven a 1M of course but for that reason and its pugnacious styling, which I like better than the 2-Series/M2, this has to be the ultimate modern BMW for me and one of the great BMW M cars? I'd take a 1st generation BMW M2 as a close 2nd though.
The last generation Mustang GT was the RWD performance car that I really thought that I was going to love but just didn't gel with. Looked cool and sounded fantastic and it was fast but not as fast as I imagined and it just felt a bit numb and dim-witted to me. Lots of mechanical grip though, so I'm not sure why people crash them so much!
AWD - Subaru Impreza P1
I had a "Blobeye" WRX and it just felt so perfectly setup for "making progress" in any weather on a bumpy and twisty British B-road but the ultimate Impreza for me was always the P1.
The Mitsubishi Evo VIII was the AWD performance car that missed the mark a little for me. I thought that the Evo looked better than the Impreza, was faster and sensational when you were "on it" but not very enjoyable to drive the rest of the time, too laggy and "crashy" and the engine just lacked the character of the Subaru "Boxer" engine, so even though the image of the Impreza was a bit of a negative for me in the 2000s, ultimately it just felt better to me to drive more of the time (and the one that I drove was the least extreme 260 version).
So what are the "perfect" FWD, RWD and AWD performance cars for you?
Edited by white_goodman on Friday 4th September 17:53
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