most undrivable car ever?

most undrivable car ever?

Author
Discussion

mr_tony

Original Poster:

6,328 posts

268 months

Wednesday 10th April 2002
quotequote all
ok, this months evo reviewing the 4200 suggests that the old 3200 was almost undrivable in manual form. Anyone out there got one and prepared to rubbish this?
I was kind of looking at one as s/h the depreciation makes it pretty attractive.

bertie

8,545 posts

283 months

Wednesday 10th April 2002
quotequote all
My brother has an auto 3200 and a friend a manual, and believe me the auto is the way to go.
The power come in with such a wuuuuummmphhh the manual ends up as huge lunges of acceleration folled by a long pause.
The throttle is so not linear and with the lag....I can only suggest you drive them.

Incedentaly my brother is changing his in June so if you're interested.....

mr_tony

Original Poster:

6,328 posts

268 months

Wednesday 10th April 2002
quotequote all
wait and see bertie wait and see.
Got a lot of things still to drive yet as well as the Maser. Cheers for the info though, I trust evo generally, but it's nice to get an independent opinion from this site as I trust pistonheads more!

sjc

13,879 posts

269 months

Wednesday 17th April 2002
quotequote all
Had a test drive of a manual last year (W reg) and it really was a a pain in the *rse to drive. Very on off power, from the turbos and the drive-by-wire throttle but very quick in the mid range. The dealer told me the autos were a lot easier to drive.

philshort

8,293 posts

276 months

Wednesday 17th April 2002
quotequote all
Drove a 3200 on Tangerine Supercar day. Most people (ie five of of the siz of us) were having trouble with the knife sharp throttle response, but I got on fine with it for some reason. Maybe because I used to be a biker and am used to sharp throttle responses? Whatever, I thought it was an absolute hoot, very very deceptively fast. Excellent Q car, massive performance in a saloon car guise. One you'd have to drive to see if you can live with it, but worth it if you can.

456mgt

2,504 posts

265 months

Wednesday 8th May 2002
quotequote all
How do you think the 3200GT compares with the Jag XKR? Reason I ask is that I'm driving my wifes' old car at the moment and want to replace it with something more interesting. With 2 small children I need the four seats (or "dubious 2+2 practicality" as the motoring hacks describe it), but the choices are then a bit limited. BMW or Porsche don't do it for me, a personal thing, so it's between the Maser, Jaguar XK and an Alfa GTA

Had a manual 3200GT for a weekend last year and though I wanted to buy one, couldn't get past its uncomfortable seats, gritty gearchange, poor headroom, transmission shunt, titchy fuel tank. Had no problem with the throttle though, and I loved the kick when the turbos cut in. Tried an auto a few weeks ago, and it is much more refined, though the trade off is that it feels slower.

Does the XK8/XKR really handle that well? My view is coloured by an XK8 cabrio (was the only XK demo at time) I tried which really didn't like going round corners. In fact it was bloody awful- very choppy & unsettled.

So what would you choose: used 3200GT, XK8/R or wait for a new Alfa GTA?

kevinday

11,553 posts

279 months

Wednesday 8th May 2002
quotequote all
My personal choice would be the Jaguar.

marki

15,763 posts

269 months

Wednesday 8th May 2002
quotequote all
The Jag is a great car , but if you plan on using the rear seats check your kids fit there is very little room in the back, i think the XKR handles ok for such a big heavy car

bennno

11,504 posts

268 months

Sunday 19th May 2002
quotequote all

sorry only just seen this thread...

Jag is lovely as a cab, especially as an XK-R with the 20" wheels and Brembo's. That said rear seats are totally useless (was smaller than even a 911) and the plank dash is horrid. The wheels thump badly and it tramlines...but its a beautiful looking car.

Maser is a bit more individual, more punchy, could seat a pair of 6fters in the back and as an auto is a lovely drive. As a manual it is nasty, it has some sort of electronic throttle and basically you dont touch it until car is rolling in first or all hell happens.

When i called around to check out residuals one dealer said (pretending to sell the car i was about to buy to get an idea of what to expect depreciation wise) he said 'i am only interested if its an auto, manuals are not nice...' then he proceeded to offer 15k less than the bargain price it was on offer for.

Put me off, best reccomendation is to buy one for 30k! Then its a major league bargain.

Ben

funkyboogalooo

1,844 posts

267 months

Sunday 19th May 2002
quotequote all


I'm a reckoning that when you get to this neck of the woods with money its a simple case of individuality. For me it would have to be the Maserati because you see very few of them around. Oh and its italian.

ninja_eli

1,525 posts

266 months

Sunday 19th May 2002
quotequote all
My neighbour just upgraded his Maserati (he had a T reg 3200 before and now he's got a V reg) and he hasn't had any complaints with his car. BUT he did go for the auto box and he also reckons that he couldn't live with the manual. He said it just felt wrong. So I guess Evo are right then.

funkyboogalooo

1,844 posts

267 months

Monday 20th May 2002
quotequote all


just got back from autoshield maserati in manchester. !1st off must say the service was second to none and substantially cheaper than any other quotes I had for the same work.
2nd he owns many cars and has owned about 4 3200's he has just sold his latest and has a new spider coming. What I am getting at is that this man knows just about everything there is too know about Maser's (he used to race them) and he says that although the 3200 he has just sold was a manual the automatic is "a better car". whilst there i noticed a copy of Car magazine november 99 I think which had a road test on both the jag and 3200 back to back and the 3200 won.
More food for thought for you. If you want any info at all on a Maser ring Marios Kriticos at autoshield in manchester he is very helpfull and knows where to locate allmost any maserati you could ever want.

Mike
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mikebatty/

456mgt

2,504 posts

265 months

Monday 20th May 2002
quotequote all
Thanks for this guys. On the strength of the earlier posts I tapped one of my neighbours for a drive of his XKR. This one definitely handled better than the XK8 cabrio, pretty quick and loved the sound of the supercharger. Having said that, it handled like a BIG car. Ideal for wafting along motorways but not what I'm looking for.

It's now between an Alfa and a 2000 3200GT auto with the balance of the fixed price servicing. Starting at ca. 30K and still softening these cars are indeed beginning to look like this year's performance bargain.

Ta

Kevin

bertie

8,545 posts

283 months

Tuesday 21st May 2002
quotequote all
And I do happen to know where a very nice Verde green and tan example will be up for sale soon!

sjc

13,879 posts

269 months

Thursday 23rd May 2002
quotequote all
456mgt, if you're thinking of the Alfa GTA which I'm sure will be gorgeous how about trying an HSV in the meantime? The interior won't win any prizes but beyond that it's a quick, great handling, comfortable, reasonably well built car. I tried everything with 2+2/4 seats before I bought one.

>> Edited by sjc on Thursday 23 May 18:48

viperman

956 posts

264 months

Sunday 9th June 2002
quotequote all
i went down the M6 in a DB7 (its an amazing car) and oh my god, there is literally NO leg room in the back seats, the back seats were touching the front seats, thank god i was in the front!

and by the way if anyone calls the viper 'undrivable' i wont be happy!

>> Edited by viperman on Sunday 9th June 08:17

bennno

11,504 posts

268 months

Sunday 9th June 2002
quotequote all

yep the DB7 is bad, you should see the convertable, its even worse...not to mention the XK convertable, the seats are pathetic.

Viperman, the Viper i drove was orrible, steering wheel on wrong side, pedals have odd weighting and set to high, gearchange was like stirring porridge with a wooden spoon, engine sounded like the truck its based on, oh and the rt10 looks nowhere near as nice as a GTS especially with wet weather kit fitted. Does not stop me wanting a GTS though and may be next car unless sense prevails!

Bennno

>> Edited by bennno on Sunday 9th June 11:35

viperman

956 posts

264 months

Wednesday 12th June 2002
quotequote all
go on, get a viper, i dare ya, but your a bit dense saying how naff they are to drive then thinking of buying one, is it me or dosent that make sense, and the descrptions you used about driving the viper, i have seen used in many car mags, e.g: 'like stirring porridge'

flasher

9,238 posts

283 months

Wednesday 12th June 2002
quotequote all
Agree with Bennno here (my God I can't believe it!!) I drove the same Viper as Ben round the track flat out at Mallory Park....the verdict???

Worse than Ben's verdict I'm afraid.. steering and handling were directly transferred from a London Bus, the gearbox was horrific,the driving position was set up for an ape and the interior has been lifted straight from a 1973 Wartburg...

The GTS does look the bollox but if it's even remotley like the RT10 to drive and sit in then I wouldn't even dream of owning one... I jumped from that car straight into a Noble M12 and it was like night and day. I was at least 10 seconds a lap quicker...

Sorry Viperman, great looking cars but very dissapointing under the skin...