RE: The best sports cars to buy in 2020
Discussion
CABC said:
lee_erm said:
I've never really understood the comments about the Z4M being tricky to drive. Leave the DCS on and it's as easy as a Nissan Micra. Ok it's a different story with it off, in the wet. But nobody is forcing you to turn it off!
Worth highlighting this post for what is wrong with ph. So I would agree with the sentiment that really so long as you leave the stability control on, you've got to be a bit of a knob to bin a Z4M.
I would also agree with the sentiment that with it off the car can be a bit of a handful in the wet. If provoked. Much more so than my Elise, which has no stability or traction control.
I don't know what it's like if you turn it off and drive it sensibly and don't provoke it, because to be honest if I want to drive it sensibly, I leave it on.
I'm not sure that I would say that the Z4M's stability control is particularly nannying either, like my old RX-8 it will allow some slip before it reins things in. Nothing like my E-class, which is like having the fun police in the passenger seat with ESP on (and with it off, like having the fun police lightly snoozing in the back seat)
EggsBenedict said:
No it's not.
Things need definitions. Otherwise my 3.0 Audi A4 Convertible Sport is a sports car.
He might not be correct, but he's not saying that the cars in the article are crap because they have roofs, he's just saying they're not sports cars.
It's the being-wrong that makes it cork-sniffing.Things need definitions. Otherwise my 3.0 Audi A4 Convertible Sport is a sports car.
He might not be correct, but he's not saying that the cars in the article are crap because they have roofs, he's just saying they're not sports cars.
By those rules, no 911 is a sports car, for starters, and neither is the Esprit or the Cerbera. Lots of other definitely-a-sports-car examples. The manual gearbox thing is personal preference (which is fine), not a defining feature of a sports car, as is there being a convertible option.
Non-cork-sniffing example definitions might include "has no more than six wheels", "doesn't seat more than four", "has less than a foot of ground clearance", or even "has being fun to drive as its core reason for existence".
Obviously there are edge cases for any set of rules, but ruling out huge numbers of definitely-a-sports-car options clearly marks those rules as cork-sniffery.
Sporky said:
It's the being-wrong that makes it cork-sniffing.
By those rules, no 911 is a sports car, for starters, and neither is the Esprit or the Cerbera. Lots of other definitely-a-sports-car examples. The manual gearbox thing is personal preference (which is fine), not a defining feature of a sports car, as is there being a convertible option.
Non-cork-sniffing example definitions might include "has no more than six wheels", "doesn't seat more than four", "has less than a foot of ground clearance", or even "has being fun to drive as its core reason for existence".
Obviously there are edge cases for any set of rules, but ruling out huge numbers of definitely-a-sports-car options clearly marks those rules as cork-sniffery.
OK. I think my definition of cork-sniffing might be subtly different to yours. And we can stop this now By those rules, no 911 is a sports car, for starters, and neither is the Esprit or the Cerbera. Lots of other definitely-a-sports-car examples. The manual gearbox thing is personal preference (which is fine), not a defining feature of a sports car, as is there being a convertible option.
Non-cork-sniffing example definitions might include "has no more than six wheels", "doesn't seat more than four", "has less than a foot of ground clearance", or even "has being fun to drive as its core reason for existence".
Obviously there are edge cases for any set of rules, but ruling out huge numbers of definitely-a-sports-car options clearly marks those rules as cork-sniffery.
What's bothering me slightly is that I think of my TVR Chimaera as pretty much the definition of 'Sports Car' - 2 seats, open top. And I can't see any similarities between that and a 911 (which, even at the bottom end of the range I see more of a Supercar) but I totally see your point.
'cork sniffing'
Not heard that on here before.... I've drunk a lot of red wine over the years but I have to confess to never having smelt a cork
Automotive smells can be quite intoxicating though, rebuilt a second hand engine for my first car when I was a yoof... with Castrol R. Not smelt that in a long time
Not heard that on here before.... I've drunk a lot of red wine over the years but I have to confess to never having smelt a cork
Automotive smells can be quite intoxicating though, rebuilt a second hand engine for my first car when I was a yoof... with Castrol R. Not smelt that in a long time
Yep!!!Vee12V said:
I'm sorry but the RCZ just isn't a sports car.
Agree but it is one heck of a neat looking machine & a darn sight more interesting than a dreary box saloon. OK it's a shame about the badge but it shames the TT in the looks department which forever have a hint of a fairground dodgem car about them.. Leins said:
Re the Mk1 TT, these cars received very favourable reviews when new in terms of their handling. Unfortunately the revisions that were implemented/retrospectively fitted after a few left the road at high speed seemed to neuter them somewhat in this regards
Just wondering if any have subsequently been returned to the original set-up?
Yes, kind of. Look up Cookbot bushes - they were made to essentially replicate what was there before Audi messed with it. Seem to get rave reviews!Just wondering if any have subsequently been returned to the original set-up?
Ben Lowden said:
Yes, kind of. Look up Cookbot bushes - they were made to essentially replicate what was there before Audi messed with it. Seem to get rave reviews!
Interesting. I hadn’t realised until looking at those that they also changed the S3 at the same time, so early ones handled differently to the later post-2000 carscerb4.5lee said:
The DSC isn't the issue with the Z4M(although I did prefer it all off because it is a very intrusive/old system), it is the unpredictability of the suspension/ride/chassis for me. If you drive it very quickly across a bumpy road you never really know what it will do, and the suspension is so unforgiving that it made me very nervous of it.
My Cerbera communicated far more to me about what it was going to do, and I could read it and react accordingly. The Z4M just didn't do that for me, yet the E92 M3 that I had after the Z4M was another car that communicated well to me I thought. So for me the Z4M is flawed, and that is plain and simple in my eyes.
Anyone done anything to improve this z4m unpredictability, like ohlinns or such? Be interested to hearMy Cerbera communicated far more to me about what it was going to do, and I could read it and react accordingly. The Z4M just didn't do that for me, yet the E92 M3 that I had after the Z4M was another car that communicated well to me I thought. So for me the Z4M is flawed, and that is plain and simple in my eyes.
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