Losing interest in cars :(

[Stick Legs]

I had this.

It passed all of it’s own accord luckily & I’m recovered.

Not much help, but some hope!

[Largechris]

charltjr said:

Networkgeek said:

Rowe said:

F1 has been great this year

Really? It has been a yawn fest again. I used to be a massive F1 fan, I even went to the Singapore F1 3 years ago, but now, I can barely watch the highlights.

F1 lost its way when they dropped the high revving V engines, since then it has been a struggle to stay interested in (IMHO).

I've never understood this TBH. The V10 era may have had screaming engines which made your chest cavity vibrate and your head spin, but they produced some of the worst racing in F1's history, about the only thing good about it was the noise.

This season was epic.

Pretty sure there’s been never been a direct correlation between F1 regs and good racing.

Obviously the authorities reckon next year will be the year. History is against them.

Every reg era has had dominant teams or a period. From Williams, Through the MP4s, to the V10 Ferraris, to Red bull to hybrid Mercedes.

[W201_190e]

Kind of the same here.

Cannot bring myself to spend money on anything that has the potential to give a big bill- I enjoy motorsports and racing video games, I can't be arsed to own a decent car anymore. Maybe that will change.

[Shnozz]

W201_190e said:

Kind of the same here.

Cannot bring myself to spend money on anything that has the potential to give a big bill- I enjoy motorsports and racing video games, I can't be arsed to own a decent car anymore. Maybe that will change.

Often wondered about video games.

I don't play them myself but have had a go in some of these race simulators and realised quite how realistic they were. Got me wondering whether it would be far cheaper, far less dangerous and far more licence-keeping to buy a decent car simulator for home and have your choice of any supercar or F1 car for your little hoon on your own rather than a Mcclaren in the garage.

[ingenieur]

OverSteery said:

I was a car nut from the age I could walk. At 6 I took a film roll (my second ever film) of 24 pictures - 22 of Citroen DSes (and the final 2 of a GS).
I knew the registration number, make and model of all my friend's and father friend's car.

Now I love motorbikes. Unless required by passengers, luggage or snow, I use a bike 90% of the time.

I still love cars, but I can't think of much made after 2000 that holds any interest. New cars totally fail to engage any enthusiasm or emotion.

I used to have a 2009 BMW 325i. That has the 3.0 straight 6. Very classical setup with rear wheel drive and a proper ordinary manual gearbox. I don't know if you can still buy a BMW with that configuration but it was great. Very little evidence while driving that your pleasure was being interrupted by computers. A very pure car.

[SturdyHSV]

Shnozz said:

W201_190e said:

Kind of the same here.

Cannot bring myself to spend money on anything that has the potential to give a big bill- I enjoy motorsports and racing video games, I can't be arsed to own a decent car anymore. Maybe that will change.

Often wondered about video games.

I don't play them myself but have had a go in some of these race simulators and realised quite how realistic they were. Got me wondering whether it would be far cheaper, far less dangerous and far more licence-keeping to buy a decent car simulator for home and have your choice of any supercar or F1 car for your little hoon on your own rather than a Mcclaren in the garage.

If you have the space / money for a decent VR set-up, so with an actual seat / decent wheel / pedals / gearshift etc. and really any VR headset, then it's a bloody good alternative in many ways.

Personally it's VR that makes the real difference though, in terms of your brain thinks you're actually inside a car, playing on a flat screen no matter how big just feels like a toy in comparison now (although was perfectly good enough before I experienced VR!)

It can take a few sessions to get your 'VR legs' though

[Networkgeek]

charltjr said:

I've never understood this TBH. The V10 era may have had screaming engines which made your chest cavity vibrate and your head spin, but they produced some of the worst racing in F1's history, about the only thing good about it was the noise.

This season was epic.

For me (not disagreeing with you here) F1 racing has always been predictable and year in year out, it's always the same select teams who win the title. However, back in the day when they had screaming V12, V10, V8 engines, you could guarantee the hairs on your arms would be stood up. The engines were what made it for me, I still watch YT videos on the golden era of F1 (early 2000's for me).

These days it's the same ste, but with terrible sounding cars (yes I've been to many F1 races in person and no, they don't sound better in person), highly predictable racing and even the highlights are ruddy boring.

I was invited a few years ago to the Singapore F1 race, VIP tickets the lot and even then while standing right outside the pitlane, I was more interested in how much free wagu steak I could stuff in my chops

F1 is very close to being equally as dull as Formula E.

Don't even get me started on adverts every 15 minutes...

[honda_exige]

Lost most of my interest in road driving tbh. Had a run of waking up at 5.30am on a Sunday with mates and going for a drive through Surrey/Sussex but you quickly realise that you've only got till 6.15am then all the bicycles and walkers/runners/day trippers are out and about.

Sold the Mustang, bought a Track Slag and couldn't be happier really. Found the love of driving again as well as challenging yourself to improve.

Also of massive interest with the track car is slowly evolving it to be better and faster on track. Upgrades planned every winter, keeps the interest up. Just picked it up from the latest round!

P.S. The track scene is full of great people who are really knowledgeable too. Very few oiks.

Edited by honda_exige on Thursday 20th January 15:21

[phil4]

SturdyHSV said:

It can take a few sessions to get your 'VR legs' though

This. Heading round that first bend can make you feel very ill indeed. You'll want to slowly build up your tolerance, rather than keep making yourself ill, and you'll get there.

[honda_exige]

SturdyHSV said:

Shnozz said:

W201_190e said:

Kind of the same here.

Cannot bring myself to spend money on anything that has the potential to give a big bill- I enjoy motorsports and racing video games, I can't be arsed to own a decent car anymore. Maybe that will change.

Often wondered about video games.

I don't play them myself but have had a go in some of these race simulators and realised quite how realistic they were. Got me wondering whether it would be far cheaper, far less dangerous and far more licence-keeping to buy a decent car simulator for home and have your choice of any supercar or F1 car for your little hoon on your own rather than a Mcclaren in the garage.

If you have the space / money for a decent VR set-up, so with an actual seat / decent wheel / pedals / gearshift etc. and really any VR headset, then it's a bloody good alternative in many ways.

Personally it's VR that makes the real difference though, in terms of your brain thinks you're actually inside a car, playing on a flat screen no matter how big just feels like a toy in comparison now (although was perfectly good enough before I experienced VR!)

It can take a few sessions to get your 'VR legs' though

I bought a set up just before lockdown 1 started anticipating a lot of free time, thank god I did

The most important think is make sure the PC is a good spec as any dropped frames/latency will make you feel ill. But PC VR in general is great, PS4 VR I found terrible, the latency made me ill everytime.

Also in terms of racing, iRacing has by far the best VR implementation with good frame rates and clear graphics. Asseto Corsa isn't great in VR.

[Networkgeek]

honda_exige said:

Lost most of my interest in road driving tbh. Had a run of waking up at 5.30am on a Sunday with mates and going for a drive through Surrey/Sussex but you quickly realise that you've only got till 6.15am then all the bicycles and walkers/runners/day trippers are out and about.

Sold the Mustang, bought a Track Slag and couldn't be happier really. Found the love of driving again as well as challenging yourself to improve.

Also of massive interest with the track car is slowly evolving it to be better and faster on track. Upgrades planned every winter, keeps the interest up. Just picked it up from the latest round!

P.S. The track scene is full of great people who are really knowledgeable too. Very few oiks.

Edited by honda_exige on Thursday 20th January 15:21

Well, your Exige is fking incredible. I've been slowly getting into track days over the last few years, but I just can't fully commit myself to spend big money on a track car. My car of choice now is a cheeky Renault Clio RS200 Cup. I built a BMW 330ci for track days pre lockdown, but it broke down at the Nurburgring and I can remember the exact moment when I lost all love for the car, so that was sold 3 days after coming home .

I'd love to buy a Lotus Elise/Exige or even a Vauxhall VX220, but the thought of having lots of money tied into a car that I'm likely to crash is very hard to justify.

[honda_exige]

Networkgeek said:

Well, your Exige is fking incredible. I've been slowly getting into track days over the last few years, but I just can't fully commit myself to spend big money on a track car. My car of choice now is a cheeky Renault Clio RS200 Cup. I built a BMW 330ci for track days pre lockdown, but it broke down at the Nurburgring and I can remember the exact moment when I lost all love for the car, so that was sold 3 days after coming home .

I'd love to buy a Lotus Elise/Exige or even a Vauxhall VX220, but the thought of having lots of money tied into a car that I'm likely to crash is very hard to justify.

I always have insurance tbf otherwise I'd be too worried to take it on track! Think I pay around £600 a yr for a road policy with 6 trackdays included.

Clio Cups are amazing on track and again adding bits to it would be fun. Off topic but potentially one of the funnest cars I've ever driven was the Clio Cup Race car at Bedford, just so tail happy and that sequential gearbox

I got a cheap ultra boring car on lease as a daily, used to have a Leon Cupra as the daily then slowly realised there was no point.

[Court_S]

0a said:

Buy a convertible. Specifically a cheap, straight 6 manual one. My BMW Z4 2.5 was great fun. No pretences.

This. I’ve really enjoyed my other half’s 125i (been on the cold days much to her annoyance).

I’ve found myself doing far more car stuff in the last year or so. Buying an older car, fixing it and modding it has been interesting (if expensive/ infuriating at times).

I’ve enjoyed making a point of heading out for drives be it solo or with mates and probably spend too much time at Caffeine & Machine. One of my mates who was dead into fiddling with cars seems to be getting distracted / bored of it, so it’ll be interesting to see mow much dicking around with / in cars happens this year.

[Jaguar steve]

W201_190e said:

Kind of the same here.

Cannot bring myself to spend money on anything that has the potential to give a big bill- I enjoy motorsports and racing video games, I can't be arsed to own a decent car anymore. Maybe that will change.

No I can't either, simply because they get in the way of real life and there's no need for them anymore

Years ago if you wanted a decent car that was safe and reliable and pleasant enough to drive you'd have to spend a small fortune to acquire one and chances are it'd be your own money you were forking out too, so having committed to that naturally you'd feel obliged to take pride in your car and be rather precious about caring for it.

But right now any two or three grand Focus or Astra will do all the safe, reliable and pleasant to drive stuff in spades, but because it's not a lot of money and they're easy and cheap to own and any car dealer will have half a dozen more lined up on the forecourt that need to take pride and precious care is no more.

That's a good thing of course because you can acquire a car without spending a fortune that's more than capable of coping with anything from an overloaded tip run to a month long driving holiday and one that comes without the threat of massive depreciation or crippling bills or the life limiting restrictions that decent cars invariably present.

[stogbandard]

I used to love tinkering with cars. I had to as a student in the 90’s and during a disappointing following run of mundane low paid jobs. But I kind of enjoyed easy to do fixes, bits of bodywork (badly I’ll admit) and interior fixes. It put me in stead to strip out the interior of my 2006 A6 to source a water leak, more recently swap out a heater motor in my old 1999 Passat - that kind of thing.

I would also enjoy going for random drives. Nowadays I only drive when I have a destination to go to. It avoids the disappointment of going out purposely for a drive only to having the anxiety of picking a route from home then encountering traffic etc. That way it’s nice when a journey turns out better than expected, especially if you choose different routes that has a good mix of roads.

I tried the car meet thing. I found it disappointing turning up events, linked to forums I used to be a member of, only to find it all a bit too cliquey - I felt like an outsider. The only event I really enjoyed was Viking Volksfest because we looked at it as a camping trip with beers and barbeque and live music - a small festival that just happened to have a lot of people camping with all manner of VWs and other cars with a wide mix of people. Sadly that stopped some time ago.

Lately, I’ve spent more time washing our cars than driving them which Is therapeutic for me. Now it’s long road trips I look forward to for weekends away or holidays - that’s when I’ll go just for a drive to explore - Scotland is a must for that.

[SidewaysSi]

Jaguar steve said:

W201_190e said:

Kind of the same here.

Cannot bring myself to spend money on anything that has the potential to give a big bill- I enjoy motorsports and racing video games, I can't be arsed to own a decent car anymore. Maybe that will change.

No I can't either, simply because they get in the way of real life and there's no need for them anymore

Years ago if you wanted a decent car that was safe and reliable and pleasant enough to drive you'd have to spend a small fortune to acquire one and chances are it'd be your own money you were forking out too, so having committed to that naturally you'd feel obliged to take pride in your car and be rather precious about caring for it.

But right now any two or three grand Focus or Astra will do all the safe, reliable and pleasant to drive stuff in spades, but because it's not a lot of money and they're easy and cheap to own and any car dealer will have half a dozen more lined up on the forecourt that need to take pride and precious care is no more.

That's a good thing of course because you can acquire a car without spending a fortune that's more than capable of coping with anything from an overloaded tip run to a month long driving holiday and one that comes without the threat of massive depreciation or crippling bills or the life limiting restrictions that decent cars invariably present.

The cheapest car I have ever owned was a new Porsche. Didn't live up to anything you just posted and was way cheaper to run than any shed.

Funny that.

[Acapulco99]

Rowe said:

F1 has been great this year

Last year?

I thought it really was quite exciting.

[Milemuncher]

Wouldn’t say I’m losing interest in cars, but I am definitely losing interest in new cars. For example I prefer the Porsche 991 to the 992, and having previewed the new L460 Range Rover, I think I possibly prefer the L405. Although that may change when I drive it.

Also have no real interest in any current Mercedes despite having been a serial Mercedes buyer earlier this century.

Must be an age thing. Or I’m just not the target demographic any more.

[Jaguar steve]

SidewaysSi said:

The cheapest car I have ever owned was a new Porsche. Didn't live up to anything you just posted and was way cheaper to run than any shed.

Your new Porsche was cheaper to run than any shed huh?

I'd never guess that was possible in a million years myself but as you claim that's the case it's well worth repeating for posterity and naturally begs the question if they're really that cheap then why isn't everybody driving one.

[SidewaysSi]

Jaguar steve said:

SidewaysSi said:

The cheapest car I have ever owned was a new Porsche. Didn't live up to anything you just posted and was way cheaper to run than any shed.

Your new Porsche was cheaper to run than any shed huh?

I'd never guess that was possible in a million years myself but as you claim that's the case it's well worth repeating for posterity and naturally begs the question if they're really that cheap then why isn't everybody driving one.

Yep - stick in the capital up front of course. Ran for 18 months, driven hard on road and track, sold. Money in bank afterwards was far greater than if I did the same in an old shed.

Cheap motoring does not need to involve st cars that you don't care about you know. Life's too short to be miserable