Classic Cars with Good Handling

[PositronicRay]

jamieduff1981 said:

Everyone has different ideas about what makes a good handling car. Even those who can distinguish handling from grip have different ideas.

Is steering feel more less important than directness? Is it more important than having all traces of bumpsteer eliminated?

Do you like a car to understeer power off or power on? Do you like a car to oversteer? If so, under what conditions?

Do you like a car that follows a predictable line whilst cornering on an uneven road, or are corrections part of the fun?

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

It's such a subjective thing, as the Autocar report above illustrates. I could give you my top ten handling cars, no doubt they'd be too comfortable so lacking in driver appeal for many.

[s m]

Rjbell said:

Someone has said it. Mk1 mr2.

Yes, according to the panel at the Autocar Handling Day 1989, along with the R5GTTurbo, "one of the great entertainers".

944 and MX5 consistent front-runners in these type of selections as well.

Here's the steam iron notes from 89

[CX53]

skyrover said:

Reliant Scimitar?

Princess Anne has one of those, you know

[s m]

motorhole said:

Perception of handling when driving older cars can sometimes be poor because of the age of springs, shocks, bushes etc! If you know these are in tip top nick then I suppose the opinion can be justified.

Very much agree - I've had quite a few pre 90 cars (partly because I started driving in the early 80s and partly because I like the way they drive compared to more modern stuff so I've bought old examples to do up and drive knowing what a test drive in a new one was like ) and some of the cars mentioned can feel awful on tired suspension/4 different tyres/etc

You maybe wouldn't persevere in getting it up to scratch again if you didn't know how good it was capable of being.

[Mr2Mike]

EnglishTony said:

No. A step up from a 306 - yes. So I think the OP needs to drop the pre 90 thing. 'cos a Sierra Sapphire Cosworth isn't as good as an EVO VI.

I notice lots of love for the M3 E30. Which is fair enough, it's a good car. It's not under 10k though.

An Evo 6 is no more a classic car than my breadvan Civic Type R. To claim otherwise is ridiculous.

mike9009 said:

Mk1 mr2

Find one with the rust properly sorted and they are brilliant little cars.

[s m]

Mr2Mike said:

mike9009 said:

Mk1 mr2

Find one with the rust properly sorted and they are brilliant little cars.

They were excellent handling when new - a family member had 2 and if you only need 2 seats I'd recommend one if you can find a solid one

Edited by s m on Sunday 1st May 13:20

[Mave]

An alfasud would be on my list if I were considering a gti :-)

[gforceg]

I just popped in to suggest the Alfetta GTV.

[s m]

gforceg said:

I just popped in to suggest the Alfetta GTV.

Yes, also the 2.8i Capri - think you can still get one for 10k just - a good handling car

[EnglishTony]

s m said:

Mr2Mike said:

EnglishTony said:

mike9009 said:

Mk1 mr2

Find one with the rust properly sorted and they are brilliant little cars.

They were excellent handling when new - a family member had 2 and if you only need 2 seats I'd recommend one if you can find a solid one

I don't recall having posted on the subject of rust.

And an EVO VI is not 10 yes old. This is 2016. In fact it's closer to 1990 than we are to 2001.

If 1990 must be the cut off then a Lancer Turbo. They are rear wheel drive too.

[rallycross]

s m said:

Yes, also the 2.8i Capri - think you can still get one for 10k just - a good handling car

My 2.8i Special was not what I would call a good handling car (much as I loved it at the time!).

[Speed 3]

My advice would be pick something that generally has a reasonable rep for "handling" and regular usability that you like, then only spend £6-7k as you're going to need to spend the balance on zero-timing those important consumables and getting it set up properly (and reducing reliability risk). Only then can you really judge it. Getting into a set of non-concourse pre-1990 cars is never going to give you the same result as that Autocar test.

As Jamie eloquently said above, "handling" is a too simplistic description. Neutrality and predictability is usually what 'most' people judge good, only those who want to exploit non-neutral aspects will generally disagree. I too was raised on good FWD cars like Mini/Pug/Golf/Corrado and it was a tricky transition to my first powerful RWD. I took me 10k to really understand it and then I was able to steer it as much on throttle as steering wheel. It could bite but I learnt to know exactly when it was going to do that.

[Scootersp]

Another here for the mk1 mr2

You can get a supercharged model (jap import only) for a little extra grunt, but handling wise the na is spot on.

[blade7]

s m said:

Yes, also the 2.8i Capri -

On decent tyres and shocks it would be all over an RS2000 I'd say, and people still rave about those. An E36 328 Coupe reminded me a lot of the 2.8 Injection, but better.

[s m]

blade7 said:

s m said:

Yes, also the 2.8i Capri -

On decent tyres and shocks it would be all over an RS2000 I'd say, and people still rave about those. An E36 328 Coupe reminded me a lot of the 2.8 Injection, but better.

Yes, they usually get good feedback in reviews for good handling cars - Willie Green, historic racer, rated the handling highly and used them as A Nurburgring fun car, albeit with more power.



Someone up above also mentioned the Alfetta GTV and the 2.8 compared favourably with those on handling




SVE had a magic touch on cars of that era with Spring/damper choice

Handling, as many things, is pretty subjective though - ymmv

Edited by s m on Sunday 1st May 13:51

[blade7]

I don't know if the slipper was an option on the early 2.8's but when I fitted the axle from a wrecked 86 2.8 Special on my 83 Injection it transformed it, especially in the wet.

[Mr2Mike]

EnglishTony said:

s m said:

Mr2Mike said:

mike9009 said:

Mk1 mr2

Find one with the rust properly sorted and they are brilliant little cars.

They were excellent handling when new - a family member had 2 and if you only need 2 seats I'd recommend one if you can find a solid one

I don't recall having posted on the subject of rust.

And an EVO VI is not 10 yes old. This is 2016. In fact it's closer to 1990 than we are to 2001.

If 1990 must be the cut off then a Lancer Turbo. They are rear wheel drive too.

1. Fix your quoting
2. No one said you'd posted anything about rust. I quoted mike9009, so unless you are using that alias under another account your comment makes no sense.
3. Who said an Evo 6 was ten years old? You seem to be reading things that aren't written. Again the rest of the comment makes no sense, what is closer 1990 than we are to 2001 and of what relevance is 2001?

Hitting the sauce that hard at lunch time isn't going to do you any good.

[Atmospheric]

gazza285 said:

kambites said:

Early hot hatches are probably a good bet - mk1 Golf GTi; 205 GTi, etc.

As long as you don't mind the torque steer?

Its not that bad.

I think the sweet spot is possibly the 90s french hatches:

106XSI/GTI
Clio 16v, if you can find one
306GTI-6

just spotted the pre-1990

Edited by Atmospheric on Sunday 1st May 16:46

Edited by Atmospheric on Sunday 1st May 16:47

[forest07]

s m said:

gforceg said:

I just popped in to suggest the Alfetta GTV.

Yes, also the 2.8i Capri - think you can still get one for 10k just - a good handling car

-1 my Capri was awful and so was the others a drove. Not as bad a Marina though!

Edited by forest07 on Sunday 1st May 17:41

[s m]

forest07 said:

s m said:

gforceg said:

I just popped in to suggest the Alfetta GTV.

Yes, also the 2.8i Capri - think you can still get one for 10k just - a good handling car

-1 my Capri was awful and so was the others a drove. Not as bad a Marina though!

Edited by forest07 on Sunday 1st May 17:41

2.8i Capri?


Another suggestion for under 10k - the AE86 Corolla - still get them in that budget