The best car control.. ever.

[brenflys777]

Not drifting, but I was looking through ebay and old Landrovers were attracting my attention and the most memorable part of an old ex-mod Landrover 109 I had was the handbrake. The control was perfect - lovely weighting, lovely feel to operating it, it was only a handbrake but it felt just perfect. Anyone else think of any controls in a car that just give the right feel?

[chrisispringles]

The brake on a Volvo 850: beautifully weighted with excellent modulation. That and the fact that the bottom right corner of the pedal is angled back slightly, which makes h&t'ing easier, is why it gets my vote.

[Baryonyx]

The pedals in my Volvo S60, they're so well weighted and smooth to engage. Plus, sticking the accelerator down to the floor is great fun! The handbrake is great too, well placed and ergonomic. Not like say, the handbrake in my MX5, which felt too light.

[davepoth]

The choke on my Triumph Dolomite. The clothespeg was just springy enough.

[poing]

Gearshift on my MX5, just feels perfect.

[PaulGT3]

Gearshift in an Mk2 MR2, shame the same can't be said for the steering though!

[anonymous-user]

Let me get this straight. You have found a leaf sprung landrover where the handbrake actually works???? I've never found one that does (they are always full of old transfercase oil from where the rear output seal has failed ("felt" seal in the early ones!) or full of mud, water, old shoping trolleys, that kinda thing ;-)

(Or do you just mean the lever weighting was good, not that it actually did anything??)

(don't worry, one day you will jump in and the lever will go straight up your left trouser leg, happens to every series LR driver eventually......... )

[GenePoolReject13]

Ford Puma gear change. Its light but as a nice mechanical feel to it. My Mx-5 had a nice gear change too if a bit on the heavy side.

[brenflys777]

Max_Torque said:

Let me get this straight. You have found a leaf sprung landrover where the handbrake actually works???? I've never found one that does (they are always full of old transfercase oil from where the rear output seal has failed ("felt" seal in the early ones!) or full of mud, water, old shoping trolleys, that kinda thing ;-)

(Or do you just mean the lever weighting was good, not that it actually did anything??)

(don't worry, one day you will jump in and the lever will go straight up your left trouser leg, happens to every series LR driver eventually......... )

Harsh - but probaly fair... when I had a series 3 109' it was more reliable than the Discovery 3 we had as a family car at the same time.. but the handbrake was perfect.

[Ace-T]

Like the thread topic OP.

Brakes on the 350z GT4 we had were lovely, lots of feedback and feel. Pity the rest of the driving experience was a bit, well, meh... Pedal set up on my Chimaera, perfect for heel and toe, as is the Boxster. Gearchange on the MX5 is sublime. Snick, snick. Oh .

Steering on the Mini. Very pointy with loads of feedback. Lovely and agricultural in a good way.

Trace

[robsco]

Interesting topic OP. The gearbox in a Lexus IS200 rates pretty high for me. That and the obscenely long throttle travel on a TVR.

[judas]

[controversial mode on]
Even though the gearbox on my old 348 was an absolute pig when cold (and not a whole heap better when warm) the 'clack' as you change gear with open gate Ferrari gearbox it still pretty fking awesome!

[brenflys777]

I've tried the IS200 and it had a beautifully satisfying gearchange but not a patch on the handbrake from a series 3! A Lotus Elise I tried a few years ago had the combination of steering/suspension that was unbeatable but in terms of actual controls the feel of a mini Cooper would still have kept it honest.

[brenflys777]

judas][controversial mode on said:

Even though the gearbox on my old 348 was an absolute pig when cold (and not a whole heap better when warm) the 'clack' as you change gear with open gate Ferrari gearbox it still pretty fking awesome!

You just can't argue with a mechanical interface like this in my opinion.

[chunkol]

chrisispringles said:

The brake on a Volvo 850: beautifully weighted with excellent modulation. That and the fact that the bottom right corner of the pedal is angled back slightly, which makes h&t'ing easier, is why it gets my vote.

The brake feel on my V70 with new disks and pads all round, you can hover just on the edge of abs kicking in, lovely planted feel.
The manual choke on my old 240. Only needed the two weeks that it went down to minus 20 centigrade a good few years ago. Started perfectly when all around were dying or dead.

[brenflys777]

chunkol said:

chrisispringles said:

The brake on a Volvo 850: beautifully weighted with excellent modulation. That and the fact that the bottom right corner of the pedal is angled back slightly, which makes h&t'ing easier, is why it gets my vote.

The brake feel on my V70 with new disks and pads all round, you can hover just on the edge of abs kicking in, lovely planted feel.
The manual choke on my old 240. Only needed the two weeks that it went down to minus 20 centigrade a good few years ago. Started perfectly when all around were dying or dead.

Perfect - when it just works is a big plus! The LR I mentioned just felt right, the only Ferrari I've tried was a full on Magnum 308GTSi which felt lovely but was actually pants in every way... but I still want one, but control wise the steering on a Montego EFi was actually better...

[anonymous-user]

brenflys777 said:

judas][controversial mode on said:

Even though the gearbox on my old 348 was an absolute pig when cold (and not a whole heap better when warm) the 'clack' as you change gear with open gate Ferrari gearbox it still pretty fking awesome!

You just can't argue with a mechanical interface like this in my opinion.

The "PTO" engage lever on an old Massey Fergusson tractor i used to drive was like that, a sort of oil smooth clunk into place ;-) (normally followed by a huge whine and rumble/vibration from the absolutely knackered drive prop to the mower....... )

[Toltec]

The ignition switch on the wedge, the engine sounds great just turning over and gets better still when it fires up after a couple of seconds.

[brenflys777]

Max_Torque said:

brenflys777 said:

judas][controversial mode on said:

Even though the gearbox on my old 348 was an absolute pig when cold (and not a whole heap better when warm) the 'clack' as you change gear with open gate Ferrari gearbox it still pretty fking awesome!

You just can't argue with a mechanical interface like this in my opinion.

The "PTO" engage lever on an old Massey Fergusson tractor i used to drive was like that, a sort of oil smooth clunk into place ;-) (normally followed by a huge whine and rumble/vibration from the absolutely knackered drive prop to the mower....... )

As I said - sometimes the ocean is more than the motion.. but occasionally the car makes a difference - the best Police car in the land locked state I was in was the Range Rover...

[GenePoolReject13]

judas][controversial mode on said:

Even though the gearbox on my old 348 was an absolute pig when cold (and not a whole heap better when warm) the 'clack' as you change gear with open gate Ferrari gearbox it still pretty fking awesome!

Ive driven a 355 with an open gate, you're absolutley spot on.