Driving a Faster Car Slower?

[anonymous-user]

Anyone find they've slowed down over time, despite driving a faster car?

Driving down a favourite driving road of mine today, I realised I now take a particular bend slower than I did "back in the day".

I remember driving down that road, round a particular bend, in my Scirocco 1.8 GTi at 21/22 yo (I'm 48 now) at 70 no sweat, and now I don't wanna take the same bend at more than 60.

I'm now driving a Porsche 987 Boxster, the most capable car I've ever owned in handling terms, but I've actually slowed down over time.

What is it that happens to us? Do we bear the memories of all the accidents we've seen or heard about and slow down accordingly? Or were we just young and stupid/ignorant of the risks we were taking?

[Daston]

I take a lot less risks since having kids but have become quicker A-B through experience and being able to read the road better than I did when I was younger.

[Pit Pony]

I think.knowing that you could go alot faster but choose not to, brings a kind of comfort to the sole.

[Nickp82]

Pit Pony said:

I think.knowing that you could go alot faster but choose not to, brings a kind of comfort to the sole.

Yup, it’ll certainly wear your shoes out slower.

[donkmeister]

I find that in faster cars i tend to accelerate a bit more slowly in low speed situations (e.g. built up areas). It's not a conscious choice to go slower in the faster car but in a slower car you have more time to roll on and off the throttle so it's much less effort to accelerate at 10/10ths without exceeding 30mph. You also feel like a prat if you cane it to 30mph in 1.x seconds, especially if you are in an auto which is wondering "wtaf" as it continues pootling but in 1st gear for a second while it works out what you are doing.

Also I find modern slower cars tend to be mapped to flatter the performance, so you are often accelerating at a decent fraction of maximum without meaning to. Hence why you hear people talking about what a beast/rocketship their 2.0 diesel is; they've never actually floored it as 40% throttle feels pretty impressive, because it's actually 95% throttle.

[carinaman]

Nickp82 said:

Pit Pony said:

I think.knowing that you could go alot faster but choose not to, brings a kind of comfort to the sole.

Yup, it’ll certainly wear your shoes out slower.

Reduces the likelihood of fishtailing too.

[Fleckers]

recently got a new to me SUV

its quick for what it is and I dont need to prove how quick it is despite every silly sod in an A3, or 3 series 2 inches from my bumper driving down the local high street, get to the trafic lights and let them race away muppets

[TurboHatchback]

I certainly drive slower now than I ever have, despite driving the fastest car on paper I've ever owned. Supposedly it does 0-62 in 5.1 seconds, I've never bothered to try though. I could have bought a version with 1/2 the power and it would have been more than adequate. It's all about smoothness, comfort and safety for me now, my days of tearing around like a dhead and getting angry are behind me.

[P. ONeill]

I would have taken a lot of risks in my younger days, I just don’t seem to be in as much of a hurry these days. I still go out for a late night blast from time to time, but I wouldn’t take risks like that if there was a chance of meeting another car.

[cerb4.5lee]

It varies a bit for me. Sometimes I'm happy going steady, whereas at other times I can still go a bit mad speed wise though.

I definitely don't take risks(when overtaking etc) like I did when I was younger though.

[samoht]

I used to commute in a 1.4 Pug 306 along the Castle Howard road - south of the dead straight section there's a twisty descent to the A64. Doing it daily, often one of the fun parts of the day was nailing the Pug along there, feeling the chassis load up in the corners.

Have been back on occasional visits to my parents in (much) faster cars, and thought, I'm sure I used to drive this road quicker. Looking at it now, the hedgerows restrict your view quite a lot on most corners, and it's also not that wide - easy for a tractor or lorry coming the other way to be leaving less free space than you would anticipate. There's also the memory of the time I found someone 'parked' round a blind bend and was fortunate nothing was coming the other way, or the Punto driver who decided to do a three point turn just over a blind crest.

So yeah, direct experience plus generally being more aware of risks, and also perhaps having found safer places to push a car to the limit (better sighted roads, and racetracks), means I'm less inclined to drive beyond how far I can see, in the way I used to.

[MitchT]

Johnny5hoods said:

What is it that happens to us?

We cease to feel the need to prove something, perhaps?

I'm shaping up to buy a BMW 440i M Sport. 332bhp. 0-60 in 5 seconds. However, I want it purely because I've always wanted a six cylinder BMW for the lovely noise it makes, not for the outright performance. I like the idea of effortless wafting much more than outright speed.

[Canon_Fodder]

I've only slowed down because of all the cameras

[cerb4.5lee]

MitchT said:

Johnny5hoods said:

What is it that happens to us?

We cease to feel the need to prove something, perhaps?

I'm shaping up to buy a BMW 440i M Sport. 332bhp. 0-60 in 5 seconds. However, I want it purely because I've always wanted a six cylinder BMW for the lovely noise it makes, not for the outright performance. I like the idea of effortless wafting much more than outright speed.

We all obviously grow up as we get older, but I still enjoy driving fast as much as I did when I was younger. I still get a big thrill from it every now and again. I've had a pretty quick car for a number of years though, so maybe it is a bit of an addiction in my case perhaps.

[Lincsls1]

donkmeister said:

Also I find modern slower cars tend to be mapped to flatter the performance, so you are often accelerating at a decent fraction of maximum without meaning to. Hence why you hear people talking about what a beast/rocketship their 2.0 diesel is; they've never actually floored it as 40% throttle feels pretty impressive, because it's actually 95% throttle.

My diesel is absolutely (factory) mapped as you've described, it does make it feel very much more potent than it is.
I know back in the days of my 2003 Astra GSI turbo, the factory map had the throttle operating at something like 75% at just 25% pedal travel, made it feel very muscular, but it is fake!
I'm now back to a cable driven throttle on my LS1 V8, you can so tell the difference with its 'manual' throttle, 100% linear and true, but unsurprisingly can make it 'feel' less powerful than it is.

[cologne2792]

I drove an XJ8 and then an XK8 about 25 years ago when I was in my twenties and they both changed my perception of what swift was.

Around 300 bhp was more than you really needed in almost all situations which meant that you never needed a run up at a steep hill or to be in the right gear at the right time.

Once you're freed from 'overthinking' you start to feel very relaxed and concentrate more on what's immediately around you.

The comfort of the XJ and the subsequent feeling of well being it produces then means that you slow down as you don't want to upset the car or the mood.

[Mr Tidy]

I still enjoy going for a quick blast from time to time, but I'm much more selective about where and when I do it than I was young and foolish.

[Numpty with honours]

With more expensive cars, whilst they can be repaired following an accident, there will be a stigma attached to them which will affect their value,

[cerb4.5lee]

MitchT said:

I'm shaping up to buy a BMW 440i M Sport. 332bhp. 0-60 in 5 seconds. However, I want it purely because I've always wanted a six cylinder BMW for the lovely noise it makes, not for the outright performance. I like the idea of effortless wafting much more than outright speed.

You won't be doing much wafting in a M Sport BMW...because the ride is rock hard!

I vote for tanking it around everywhere if you do get the 440i instead!

[VSKeith]

If the theories about our mental clocks speeding up as we age are true, then it could well be that 40 feels like 60 used to. Certainly feels like that to me sometimes (not all the time yet though thankfully)