Has anyone changed their preference from sporty to wafty?

[Northernboy]

TameRacingDriver said:

Its still possible to find quiet roads, but you do have to travel further away to get to them. Still way, way, way better than down south I would imagine. But I've definitely noticed the roads are busier than they were a decade or so ago. Yesterday I was virtually in the middle of nowhere and still more traffic than I would have liked. Good weather does tend to bring people out more, and we get less of that up here so

I'm planning on moving my sports car up to Newcastle when I can sort out the logistics, so that I get to drive it for fun more. Hopefully there are still plenty of times when the roads are not too bad.

[TameRacingDriver]

mintmansam said:

TameRacingDriver said:

Funnily enough I've been trying to make my Mini ride better... added coilovers and the ride is much better and the handling was fantastic. Then went and got a tyre with a slighter higher sidewall - nothing too drastic, going from 205/45/16 to 205/50/16 and the ride is even better but it now handles like st. Very disappointing. I've got it booked in for an alignment and corner weighting so hoping that fixes it otherwise I've just wasted a lot of money.

Ah the trouble there is you’ve added mass the wheel, looks better less arch gap, but you’ve given the suspension a harder time controlling the wheel and more flex. You’ve also changed the geometry a fair bit as well. I was going to go down a similar option but didn’t as I sold before I did, interesting to hear about someone else doing it

Suzuki Swift Sport is such a fun car. I suppose that’s the issue cars are focused about being fast and not fun. Nothing beats weight transfer and a bit of roll, in terms of communication. And you can drive a car in so many ways when it softer sprung. Dive on the bends, let the back rotate round.

It's frustrating as I now realise I had things spot on before and now I've spoiled it. Looks like I'll be going back to the lower profile, sportier tyre and hope it gives me my handling back. I probably need to do this before I get my geo done next week otherwise I've got an obvious weak link.

And yeah I'm sure people are wondering why I'm spending the money on the car when I'm asking about something else and all I can say to that is I'm extremely fickle and don't know what I want yet!

Northernboy said:

I'm planning on moving my sports car up to Newcastle when I can sort out the logistics, so that I get to drive it for fun more. Hopefully there are still plenty of times when the roads are not too bad.

If you're prepared to either go out early or drive a few miles out you'll have no bother there tbh. It was merely an observation that things have become trickier lately. One thing I've noticed is people drive slower than ever before. I can't remember the last time anyone caught me up and I don't even drive all that quick most of the time, but I'm forever catching up dawdlers doing 30 in a 60.

Edited by TameRacingDriver on Tuesday 8th June 13:50

[FIREBIRDC9]

I'm 28 now , used to like have a sporty car as a daily.

Now i just want Soft springs and good AC. I have a weekend toy for fun , i just want the commute to be comfortable.

[CABC]

TameRacingDriver said:

One thing I've noticed is people drive slower than ever before. I can't remember the last time anyone caught me up and I don't even drive all that quick most of the time, but I'm forever catching up dawdlers doing 30 in a 60.

Edited by TameRacingDriver on Tuesday 8th June 13:50

You’re right.
I’m thinking of getting a wafty suv and chill out with podcasts.
No doubt I’ll be less alert and have a crash, which does seem to be the trend despite better safety tech.

I’m serious on this.
But I’ll also get a trailer and a Caterham
I feel beaten into submission!

[Northernboy]

TameRacingDriver said:

If you're prepared to either go out early or drive a few miles out you'll have no bother there tbh. It was merely an observation that things have become trickier lately. One thing I've noticed is people drive slower than ever before. I can't remember the last time anyone caught me up and I don't even drive all that quick most of the time, but I'm forever catching up dawdlers doing 30 in a 60.

Edited by TameRacingDriver on Tuesday 8th June 13:50

I was hoping to get it taken up tomorow, but annoyingly couldnt get anyone to transport it, and I can't drive it myself as I need to take the family car up.

[TommoAE86]

Under 35 and I sold the Skyline GTS-t and bought a Crown Athlete instead - a couple of button pushes make the Crown actually faster than the Skyline but it can't hide the extra mass and isn't very communicative to the driver... 90% of the time I don't notice though and waft around in comfort

[trowelhead]

I've always preferred the waft to sports just took a while to accept it...

Bought an S320 when i was about 24 and was sublime but did get sick of people thinking i had my dads / grandads car - all my mates had clios/yaris at the time

Also had an W124 C63 which was the only car i've owned that did both sporty and wafty (almost) in that is was still lovely to just pootle about and listen to the noise...

Now in a range rover sport which i think are the best cars in the world, and most likely will be in one of these for the foreseeable

[LeroyLoser]

trowelhead said:

I've always preferred the waft to sports just took a while to accept it...

Bought an S320 when i was about 24 and was sublime but did get sick of people thinking i had my dads / grandads car - all my mates had clios/yaris at the time

Also had an W124 C63 which was the only car i've owned that did both sporty and wafty (almost) in that is was still lovely to just pootle about and listen to the noise...

Now in a range rover sport which i think are the best cars in the world, and most likely will be in one of these for the foreseeable

Its funny, ive had almost 150 sports cars by now and i would have said that i’ve always had only sports cars, but your comment reminded me that back in 1989 my 2nd car (1st being a 205gti at 17) was in fact a bmw 728i (e28 i think?) and i loved it, kitted it out with 2 x 15” subs it was the perfect acoustic car for my ice.

That was the last luxury car i owned until about 8 years ago when we bought a l322 range rover to sit alongside the sports cars, not the most reliable but straight road wafting was nice.

Then about 4 years ago my sports cars became supercars and at that point luxury cars became more important..

Starred with a jaguar Xf which impressed me muchly so thought i’d try the XJ whichnupped the game a bit more and then the best luxury car available imo, i tested all of them including the bentley and the S63 saloon (w222) mapped to 720hp was so much better than the opposition, so sad to wave goodbye to it a few weeks back but i needed LHD.

Now I have an S65 cabriolet waiting to be collected and i cant wait!

If you get the chance to, then drive one on a long journey, they are an absolutely perfect luxury gt & you can have fun if you want, no track car but then most who own one of these already have the track options.

I’d say owning the S63 saloon was one of my most surprising and impressive motoring moments tbh, driving an i3 10 years ago was also game changing and also the Diablo at 28 years old.

[mikey_b]

trowelhead said:

Also had an W124 C63

A what? The W124 is the mid-80s to mid-90s forerunner of the E-class…

[kiseca]

It's always been about character for me. Does the car have any character, does the character suit the car, does it feel honest, do I like the car's character?

I prefer engaging cars, which would usually mean a sports car, but I've usually just had a single car so it's had to be a practical daily, and when Alfa stopped making RWD cars - the FWD ones have character too but it was just different from the old Alfettas I had grown to love - I actually didn't find much to get excited about for a good 20 years.

3 series BMWs always left me cold. I felt Mercs had more character, or had a character better matched to the type of car it was. I tried a 205GTI and felt it was having an identity crisis. Much to uncompromising for a hatchback much too FWD to be the sportscar it seemed to want to be.

I still like Jaguars and Mercs and always have. At least the bigger Mercs. You could never mistake them for anything else.

I've tried a Ferrari 360 and a TVR Tuscan, both of which were nice, but both were, weirdly, too easy to drive. That conclusion might have changed if I had tried pressing on harder in either of them, but for me, the character I like in a sportscar is something that is a bit of a challenge, a bit uncompromising, to drive all the time, not just when you're on it.

So sporty or wafty, depends on the car. If it's supposed to be sporty, I want it to be properly sporty. If it's supposed to be a hatch, I want it to be fun and practical. If it's supposed to be luxurious, that's the character I want to find in it.

[Alex_225]

Throughout my 20s it was all about hot hatches, various RenaultSport models a couple of which I still own but I got to 33 and fancied comfort and power so bought a CLS63 and now my daily car is an S Class.

I still love a direct, quick car but for boring driving I enjoy being super comfortable and minimum effort.

[anonymous-user]

My mum's 80 and drives a 997 C2.

[anonymous-user]

Ron240 said:

...
At 71 do you consider yourself capable of driving a "hot hatch" in the manner it was designed to do, and more importantly safely controlling it?
...

I suspect many 71 year olds are far more capable of driving a hot hatch than most 21 year olds!

[AC43]

mikey_b said:

trowelhead said:

Also had an W124 C63

A what? The W124 is the mid-80s to mid-90s forerunner of the E-class…

It'll be a typo - I assume he meant the C36.

[Deranged Rover]

Sporty or wafty, you say? Well, my second car was a 2.5i Senator, so that gives an idea of my preferred option!

To be fair, I've had examples of both and now am lucky enough to own one of each (a Range Rover and a Marcos). If I find myself only able to keep one in the future, though, it'll be the Range Rover.