Do you/Can you, really enjoy DRIVING your supercar anymore?

[willy wombat]

My final comment now I am back in the UK. Other than the twisty bits at the beginning in the hills behind St Tropez, I didn't enjoy the run to Troyes on Saturday on motorways that at times resembled the M25 on a Friday afternoon (note to self - don't drive through France on a Saturday at the start of the holidays) but then I wouldn't have enjoyed it in any car. Lovely, traffic free run from Troyes to the Tunnel yesterday morning and then home. Overall we really enjoyed the trip and I really enjoyed driving the car (most of the time!). Even though I can't use the top speed, the excess of power available when you are travelling at , say, half the top speed makes overtaking so easy that's a joy in itself. So in answer to your question, even with all the restrictions that exist, I do still really enjoy driving my supercar. Over and out.

[A44RON]

The Surveyor said:

A44RON said:

ntiz said:

The Surveyor said:

I sold my Aston Vantage because it wasn't scary enough. Coming from a TVR Tuscan it looked and sounded great but lacked any real ability to thrill. My 570s does thrill even at 50% and has proved to be cheaper than either the Tuscan or the Aston to service over the last 12 months.

So yes, I do really enjoy driving it and part of that is knowing that the car has much more potential than I have skill.

I have looked at Astons a couple of times as I grew up lusting after DB5s and 6s. Every time though I have come away thinking to drive they are no better than an M3 or similar. Much more special but not any more exciting to drive.

Just my personal opinion of course.

Yup. I spent two weeks in an Aston V8 Vantage N430, followed by two weeks in a Jaguar F-type R Coupe rwd. I missed the Jag a lot more and found it better in every respect, minus steering feel. The Aston sounded fractionally better, but the F-type R sounds mega in its own right; plus it was about 10k cheaper. The perceived/build quality on the Aston was surprisingly disappointing. The amount of compliments I got in the Jag was insane during that time.

A friend of mine who runs an entry-level F-type V6 said "it's all you really need", but I disagree and so do many others. It's not just about outright power, but the sound too. Plus the V8 R looks more aggressive and sits better than the V6, in my opinion.

The Aston V8 Vantage is still a great car but it's a GT, not a sports car, and certainly not a supercar alternative. It's thrills are dished up like a well oiled massage rather than a punch in the chops.

As you say, the same with the V6 F Type, a great sports car, but not quite the 'turned up to 11' madness which the V8 R dishes up. It's that real extra lunacy which makes a car more thrilling.

The V8 Vantage N430 is more sports car than GT, for me; slightly more focused over the standard V8 Vantage. It's essentially a 911 GT3 rival, but not as good.

I'd class a V12 Vantage, Vanquish and F-type R as GT cars. The V12 Vantage, Vanquish and new DBS Superleggera are the only Astons I lust after. But for new DBS money, may as well go all the way and get a Ferrari 812... how they improve on an 812 for their next super-GT I have no idea... ludicrous machine.

As absurd as 789bhp and 0-62mph in under 3 secs is, I'd happily go everywhere in 1st gear and 2nd gear with that n/a V12 over 8000rpm. Heaven. Closest I've experienced to that was a couple of weeks in a '14 Ferrari FF with 'just' 652bhp, but that will live with me forever.

Huge hat-tip to any 812 owners on here

[Oilchange]

Everywhere in 1st and 2nd at 8000 rpm would get somewhat tiresome I’d imagine...

[lawtoni]

The Surveyor said:

I sold my Aston Vantage because it wasn't scary enough. Coming from a TVR Tuscan it looked and sounded great but lacked any real ability to thrill. My 570s does thrill even at 50% and has proved to be cheaper than either the Tuscan or the Aston to service over the last 12 months.

So yes, I do really enjoy driving it and part of that is knowing that the car has much more potential than I have skill.

Can I ask what Aston you grew bored of?
I've a 4.3 Tuscan 2 which I'm considering swapping for a vantage 4.7 am I'm concerned that I might be making a mistake
thank-you

[Felonious]

Caveat: I've only skimmed this thread, but I get the gist.

Answer: yes, I do enjoy driving my supercar (V12 Vantage S; not sure if it's a supercar a sports car or just a bloody nice car, but I like it regardless). Can I drive it at 9/10s on the public road? No - I lack the talent and to do that would be stupid. Do I enjoy the experience and theatre of simply driving it around country roads, even through town and even on a motorway (with all settings to normal and the stereo on)? Yes, very much.

If I had a car which was a hardcore track-focused rock-hard rocket I may get little pleasure from driving it on public roads and I suspect the same would have been true 10, 20 or 30 years ago.

My summary is that supercars are just as relevant now as they have ever been, and just as pleasurable. Face it, lots of cars attract a crowd even when they're just parked! It's not all about going sideways in a cloud of smoke and seeing how many Gs you can pull on your favourite corner.

[Larry5.2]

Here's a twist on the original question. Hypothetically speaking, if there was a sudden (EU ) rule that halved the power on all cars, halved the tyre width to halve the traction, and enforced a much shorter final drive, say 2:1 in order to bring top speed down to just over 100mph.... would you enjoy your car more or less?

[Felonious]

Larry5.2 said:

Here's a twist on the original question. Hypothetically speaking, if there was a sudden (EU ) rule that halved the power on all cars, halved the tyre width to halve the traction, and enforced a much shorter final drive, say 2:1 in order to bring top speed down to just over 100mph.... would you enjoy your car more or less?

I'd still have phenomenal mid-range acceleration, right? Well, I say mid-range... that 30 to the new hypothetical 110ish range? That's the bit where I get the most grins. In that case yes. Mind you, those skinny tyres would make for far more cautious use of my right foot, which would be fun and occasionally perilous.

What you've described is along the lines of a GT86, I think. Similar philosophy. I'd probably have as much fun in one of them, but I'm addicted to the sound of an N/A V12 with no secondary cats. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

I'd probably have as much fun in your new world but I want to keep the symphony.

[_Leg_]

Yup. I've spent 2 nights at home in the last 5 weeks (for laundry and a car change). Just got to Brescia. F12 is absolutely filthy.

Been to Munich, all round Austria covering the mountain passes, did some downhill mountain karting and summer toboggan (kart video link below). Then swapped the Spider for the F12 (and the lads for the Mrs), down through Germany, through Switzerland, 2 weeks round Italy (Portofino, Riomaggiore, Porto Stefano, Spoleto (to the Festival to see open air classical and jazz music and a bizarre but entertaining Russian with Italian subtitles live marionette play - my Italian is ok but it confused the crap out of us).

Then onto Amalfi, Florence and now Brescia. Did the Autotechnik Museum near Stuttgart and the Alfa Romeo museum in Milan. Cooking lessons in Florence, guided tour of Michel Angelo's works, DaVinci museum, Uffezi Gallery, private tour with an archeologist of Pompeii (getyourguide.com is a really useful website).

Mountain Karting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zypICVJzzeY&t=...

I enjoy the cars at home but touring Europe is where they really come alive.

[diablodavs]

Why do you feel the needs to show off so much, what’s cookery lessons and private tours got to do with it..

[johnwilliams77]

diablodavs said:

Why do you feel the needs to show off so much, what’s cookery lessons and private tours got to do with it..

Is this a serious post ?

[_Leg_]

diablodavs said:

Why do you feel the needs to show off so much, what’s cookery lessons and private tours got to do with it..

Silly post. A couple of hundred quids worth of tours etc is hardly showing off in a supercar forum. Duh.

The point was that the discussion is about using and enjoying the cars. Ive just been on two completely different tours. One with the lads driving the mountain passes at pace and doing stuff like the mountain karting, and the other with the Mrs doing a bit of culture. Ive enjoyed both even though I don't think I've been over 4000rpm in the F12 as my wife doesn't like going fast but, it's still enjoyable to tour Italy in it. People may be inspired to do the same, share their experiences touring Europe or ask questions about organising trips.

Dropping her off at the airport today and heading through the Alps/Dolomites to Austria on my way home though so I'll be able to open the car up a bit,

[Felonious]

_Leg_ said:

Silly post. A couple of hundred quids worth of tours etc is hardly showing off in a supercar forum. Duh.

The point was that the discussion is about using and enjoying the cars. Ive just been on two completely different tours. One with the lads driving the mountain passes at pace and doing stuff like the mountain karting, and the other with the Mrs doing a bit of culture. Ive enjoyed both even though I don't think I've been over 4000rpm in the F12 as my wife doesn't like going fast but, it's still enjoyable to tour Italy in it. People may be inspired to do the same, share their experiences touring Europe or ask questions about organising trips.

Dropping her off at the airport today and heading through the Alps/Dolomites to Austria on my way home though so I'll be able to open the car up a bit,

Sounds like a resounding ‘yes’ to the original question, then. Good job. It’s good to see these cars being used, not tucked up in a garage.

To be frank, the biggest hindrance to using my car is the need to keep going to work so I can afford to run the thing. Any tips on that conflict would be very welcome.

[taz turbo]

_Leg_ said:

That picture looks as if it’s taken straight off my Sega F355 challenge two seat sit down race game.

On a side note, had my 355 spider out yesterday (don’t know it would class as a Supercar on this thread), my god it was/is fabulous, and with its tubi, what a soundtrack.

So yes I enjoyed my drive.

Chris.

[will_]

_Leg_ said:

Yup. I've spent 2 nights at home in the last 5 weeks (for laundry and a car change). Just got to Brescia. F12 is absolutely filthy.

Been to Munich, all round Austria covering the mountain passes, did some downhill mountain karting and summer toboggan (kart video link below). Then swapped the Spider for the F12 (and the lads for the Mrs), down through Germany, through Switzerland, 2 weeks round Italy (Portofino, Riomaggiore, Porto Stefano, Spoleto (to the Festival to see open air classical and jazz music and a bizarre but entertaining Russian with Italian subtitles live marionette play - my Italian is ok but it confused the crap out of us).

Then onto Amalfi, Florence and now Brescia. Did the Autotechnik Museum near Stuttgart and the Alfa Romeo museum in Milan. Cooking lessons in Florence, guided tour of Michel Angelo's works, DaVinci museum, Uffezi Gallery, private tour with an archeologist of Pompeii (getyourguide.com is a really useful website).

Mountain Karting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zypICVJzzeY&t=...

I enjoy the cars at home but touring Europe is where they really come alive.

Swapping your Ferraris in the middle of a massive Euro road trip? Living the dream. Well done for actually using the cars.

South-East England is hopeless for decent driving nowadays - Europe (specifically, the Spanish Pyrenees) is still awesome, at least for the moment.

[_Leg_]

Felonious said:

Sounds like a resounding ‘yes’ to the original question, then. Good job. It’s good to see these cars being used, not tucked up in a garage.

To be frank, the biggest hindrance to using my car is the need to keep going to work so I can afford to run the thing. Any tips on that conflict would be very welcome.

Hard to say mate. I retired quite early and have a very understanding wife. My sons are 17 and 20 and doing their own thing. So I can bugger off quite a bit.

The change came for me when I switched from working for other people to owning my own business. I would recommend anyone to create, take and doggedly pursue any opportunity to have their own business and make it successful.

I would also say don't chase after retirement like it's the be all and end all. I kinda miss running the company and am considering taking a couple of days a week work on. I miss the people and the problem solving after 3 years out of it (I'm 48 btw). A balance between working and playing is probably ideal (so long as there is flexibility on leave ;-) ).

[johnwilliams77]

_Leg_ said:

Hard to say mate. I retired quite early and have a very understanding wife. My sons are 17 and 20 and doing their own thing. So I can bugger off quite a bit.

The change came for me when I switched from working for other people to owning my own business. I would recommend anyone to create, take and doggedly pursue any opportunity to have their own business and make it successful.

I would also say don't chase after retirement like it's the be all and end all. I kinda miss running the company and am considering taking a couple of days a week work on. I miss the people and the problem solving after 3 years out of it (I'm 48 btw). A balance between working and playing is probably ideal (so long as there is flexibility on leave ;-) ).

Am I going crazy? Where is your post about life being like a game of roulette? I liked that analogy...!

[MDL111]

diablodavs said:

Why do you feel the needs to show off so much, what’s cookery lessons and private tours got to do with it..

I enjoy his posts - at least he does stomething with his cars as opposed to constantly analyzing their investment potential .... nothing better than reading about a good road trip

[dad_drive]

_Leg_ said:

Hard to say mate. I retired quite early and have a very understanding wife. My sons are 17 and 20 and doing their own thing. So I can bugger off quite a bit.

The change came for me when I switched from working for other people to owning my own business. I would recommend anyone to create, take and doggedly pursue any opportunity to have their own business and make it successful.

I would also say don't chase after retirement like it's the be all and end all. I kinda miss running the company and am considering taking a couple of days a week work on. I miss the people and the problem solving after 3 years out of it (I'm 48 btw). A balance between working and playing is probably ideal (so long as there is flexibility on leave ;-) ).

Agree on the retirement front. I can hardly say I'm retired but I'm hands-tied due to a non-compete and, despite my wife threatening to go into labour at any minute with our 2nd child, what I really want to do is get stuck into my next business.

When I sold my company (similar story to you) I set about buying and driving supercars to try to fill the void and it hasn't worked, it's shallow happiness compared to building a business from nothing and seeing the rewards.

Back to the original question, yes I can enjoy driving my supercars. There are plenty of roads where you can push hard if so inclined, provided you know the road and where the potential hazards might be. However, day to day, I get more driving pleasure from my Cayman GT4 and V12VS which are substantially less capable.

[_Leg_]

johnwilliams77 said:

Am I going crazy? Where is your post about life being like a game of roulette? I liked that analogy...!

Deleted it. Thought I had blathered on a bit.

Sorry.

[johnwilliams77]

_Leg_ said:

Deleted it. Thought I had blathered on a bit.

Sorry.

Well, it is sort of true and insightful even if people didn't comment. What are your plans for the future? Have you decided to play with cars for a while or start another business?