I often dip into the car threads on here and am ambivalent about driving pleasure and of cars being nice places to be. I’ve had occasion to commute over to Edinburgh recently and derived no pleasure whatsoever in the process

My regular commute is from the AGA to the studio, a walk of around a minute, for the majority, their daily commute will be a significant portion of their day. Can any car compensate for the drudgery of motoring today?

Even road trips into remote landscapes seem fraught. I came within feet of a head on collision with a German plated BMW on the wrong side of the Mallaig road recently.

When I first passed my test, thirty years ago, the roads seemed more useable and our weekend dashes to the mountains were events in themselves before we got our bikes out of the boot. Now, I’d be terrified of meeting my then white knuckle self coming flat out around a bend or over a crest.

With speed cameras everywhere and cars that are so much more capable than their drivers, is there still any pleasure to be found in driving?

I dunno, I quite enjoy driving. I’m on my own with my own music on. The car’s low powered so it gets driven to it’s limit all the time which is kind of fun. It’s also old and cheap so I feel free about not being precious about it. Who cares if it gets scratched etc…

Fair enough, if the weather’s nice I’ll bike or walk, but sod public transport. It’s rubbish. I feel in control of my own destiny in a car, even though I could get held up.

I’ve got a run of the mill car yet I still enjoy driving most of the time.

Depends on the car…

Current one is quick enough to have some fun in and makes a cool noise 😆

In my old french diesel brick shaped object it was purely transport no pleasure.

I’d completely lost interest in driving until recently. It’s a chore fraught with spotting every speed limit change and maintaining concentration for long periods of tedium. Madame shares driving fortunately. There was also the guilt about being part of the problem: air and noise pollution, congestion, making life unpleasant for cyclists just by being there.

Then came Zoé and roughly half reasons for not driving aren’t there. I’ll no doubt get bored with it before long but at present it’s put the fun back into driving at legal speeds.

I take pleasure in the calmness and enjoying the music when sitting in traffic. It is after all a factor of modern driving that any time in a car will involve traffic.

If i get chance then I take the pleasure in open roads. Unfortunately in England the roads are shocking for enjoying, high hedges and stone walls. I prefer the Welsh or Scottish roads that are clearer and have much more open sightlines to avoid the head on collisions!

I enjoy 2/3 of my commute (the bit across mostly empty, twisty moors roads), the other third suck balls.

I do love a “road-trip” to go on holidays somewhere distant…down through France, or across through Belgium (where I can laugh at the amount of nutters on the road) and down though Germany – seeing new stuff, translating road-signs, chatting shit with mrs dd, teasing mini dd in the back, listening to tunes, podcasts etc. It is a fun part of a holiday.

However, commuting, as I kinda have to do in my van for work is just a ballache. Yes, I accept that I can’t whinge about traffic as I take the “I am traffic, you are traffic, we are all traffic.” when driving, but the sheer stupidity of the risks people are willing to take for almost zero gain in rush hour traffic does my head in. In a city, ducking and diving in a car only gets you to back of a queue a bit more quickly. And I get wound up by people driving up my arse while I’m waiting for an opportunity to pass a cyclist, only to see them close-pass him or her in my wing mirrors – it’s almost like they’re punishing the cyclist for holding them up for fifteen seconds. FFS.

No pleasure whatsoever.
Back in the 80s, I had a Triumph 2000 and on occasion, I used to approach my house from wherever I’d been and go, sod it, I’m going for a drive. Then I’d just head off up the road to nowhere in particular… most amusing to think I ever would have driven just for the pleasure of it. Not anymore. Just too many morons out there most hours of the day.

Too many chavy white BMWs on the road for driving to ever be enjoyable.

On the right road on the right day it can be enjoyable.

I don’t have to worry about rush hour. It’s just tourists around here that frustrates me, if you want to take in the scenery pull over and have a walk!

To be fair I feel like this about cycling sometimes. I’ve lost the pleasure of “just going for a ride” I hate riding in traffic, I haven’t been off road in ages (injury stopped that), I commute daily by bike but it’s not an event so much as a £4 saving of not usIng the bus!

Then on a Sunday morning I’ll get up before sunrise, jump in the car and blast round the back roads of North Yorkshire having a great time, get home by 9 feeling exhilarated and ready to make the most of my day.

If you do something enoughbit becomes dull i suppose!

Too many chavy white BMWs on the road for driving to ever be enjoyable.

Pretty certain most Beemers are a variety of colours, only some are white.
Much like every other make and model, and ‘chavvy’ is such a 20th Century concept, don’t you think?
I drive enough miles every day to see that dickish driving is absolutely not the sole preserve of BMW or Audi drivers, it can be the Volvo V60 driver who was sat in the outside lane of the M4 tonight cruising at exactly the same speed as the two trucks who were side-by-side overtaking on the two inner lanes, and making no effort to speed up to 70, despite having left the variable 60 zone behind, and who was only doing 50 anyway.
Complete knob.
As are those who either drift out into the next lane in front of me without indicating, or else pulling out and indicating at exactly the same time, while I’m approaching at a higher speed, with faster traffic coming up behind me in the outside lane, forcing me to brake hard to avoid running into them. There seems to be a general inability to use the mirrors that vehicle manufacturers thoughtfully fit for the use of drivers.

Yeah but your house isn’t modest that’s the issue.

I enjoy driving.

I posted this on another thread here a couple of months back.

I don’t just enjoy driving in a “go for a nice drive in the country” kind of way, I enjoy the act of driving. Like, you might enjoy watching TV – nice big telly with the surround sound on the go, curled up on the sofa with a nice bottle of red, log fire on the go, it then doesn’t really matter if the programme you watched turned out to be crap.

I enjoy reading the road. I like people-watching. I like to try and predict what’s going to happen next from people’s little tells and road position attitudes. I enjoy trying to improve my driving: smoothing out roads; changing gears efficiently; thinking about what’s coming next; judging relative speeds of other vehicles to get to a motorway exit without carving anyone up or sitting behind a truck for half a mile; hill-starting without rolling back; coming down a hill without touching my brakes while the car in front’s brake lights are in disco mode; reverse parking like a boss; rolling up to a quiet junction and seeing if I can get it to roll to a stop and hit the line without needing to either accelerate of brake; etc, etc.

I enjoy driving, even if the programme is crap.

That’s all aside from going for a drive somewhere interesting in the same way you’d go for a bike ride in the countryside. It doesn’t have to be a chore, you just need to realise what you can take from it rather than staring at tail-lights.

Good driving means good roads, not the car. Zipping along a quiet road that’s just windy enough, that’s a pleasure. Also an empty motorway in a comfy car, that’s a pleasure too. Best drive Iv’e done recently (a couple of times) is the M6/M74 between Preston and Glasgow. Just watching the countryside roll past is a joy.

Oh and I really love long road trips.

Driving can be a chore, and I probably get a bit too annoyed that other people seem to take it a bit less seriously than me but I do actually enjoy it most of the time.

Early weekend morning drives to Peebles with the bikes are good for obvious reasons but I genuinely enjoy the drive too.

A dash home on a dark empty motorway

Cresting a rise on an unfamiliar road and seeing an undulating ribbon of empty tarmac in front of you surrounded by amazing scenery.

The mundane stuff Cougar mentions above is also true, its nice to derive pleasure from just doing the everyday stuff well too.

Now, I’d be terrified of meeting my then white knuckle self coming flat out around a bend or over a crest

It’s called getting old.

Drove the Alston pass today. For the first time ever I had a clear go at it. It’s a nice reminder to how well BMWs handle (not once did I exceed 60….).

Put a smile on my face 😀

Can any car compensate for the drudgery of motoring today?

Personal tastes isn’t it. And it’s not really about the car for me.

Much like cougar said, I just like driving.

I drive a LOT. Do roughly 1500 miles a week, And I love it.

No more than 50% of my time is motorway driving, so it’s not all “easy” miles. And most of it is done in a Citroen Van, so my enjoyment is nothing to do with the vehicle 😯

I’d be terrified of meeting my then white knuckle self coming flat out around a bend or over a crest

The rule of thumb I always used in my younger stupider days was, “if I meet myself coming the other way, will I die?” if the answer was “yes” then I needed to dial back the hooligan.

I came within feet of a head on collision with a German plated BMW on the wrong side

Was he indicating though? 😉

mcmoonter – Member
Can any car compensate for the drudgery of motoring today?

I’m going to say yes.

I’m lucky enough to own a very nice car. Ever time I get in it, whether it’s a couple of miles to the shops, or to the other end of the country for work, I love it. It’s a lovely comfortable place to be, but capable of going like shit off a shovel if I choose. It reminds me how hard I’ve worked to be in a position to own it, and gain some of the rewards of that work.

Doesn’t completely remove the other **** on the road, but certainly makes them more tolerable.

Best drive Iv’e done recently (a couple of times) is the M6/M74 between Preston and Glasgow. Just watching the countryside roll past is a joy.

This. In my white BMW. Limiter @75, especially the scalextric like section by the wind farm.

Unfortunately in England the roads are shocking for enjoying, high hedges and stone walls.

Get yourself down to Sussex; there are some cracking roads that are pretty empty on week days.

I used to but cars are too big and too capable these days and roads are too busy. I get the pleasure of driving a good car on a nice road, but in this day and age I think driving for pleasure and ‘making progress, is a pastime that needs to be kicked into the ‘socially unacceptable’ bucket: it’s dangerous, it’s a nuisance for other road users, and environmentally unacceptable. I enjoy driving my van, not for the ‘driving pleasure’, but for other reasons and now get my thrills from other things. The day we whistle on the road side for driverless pods and we look back in disbelief and horror on the olden days when people actually operated cars killing thousands of people every year can’t come soon enough.

Acceleration is far more fun than speed, every now and again going to 9000RPM* in first from the lights up to 30mph then just shift up a few and drive sensible.

But nothing beats a nice open flowing road on a nice day

*well nearly as 9000 would be over 30MPH which I would never do

@CountZero – but you’re a Count, surely you have a chauffeur?

It makes it bearable more than anything for me. I went form a short commute where I biked or took my tupperware like kia about 50% of the time to a longer commute, only 40km/~40mins. After a few years the kia was such a depressing place to be, perfectly functional and reliable, but a swap to a little GTI has made the commute bearable again, I still enjoy getting in that after a couple of years, even though its mostly highway, errr… motorway. I’d still take a bike ride over driving. Driving up through the mountains can be fun though.

Work from home too after spending 2hrs a day commuting for 6 years. You get used do it but it is just dead time, I’d actually rather be working.
In contrast my favourite holidays have all been roadtrips.

I think driving for pleasure and ‘making progress, is a pastime that needs to be kicked into the ‘socially unacceptable’ bucket

Depends whether “making progress” is a euphemism for “driving like you stole it” or not, really.

Too much congestion and too many bad drivers really, takes all the fun out of it.

I’ve not had a car out of choice for nearly 2 years now, and I don’t really miss driving.

Yes some things take more planning, but between bike and train I cope fine.

Move to the sticks. The bits that nobody cares about enough to stick speed cameras on. Plenty fun to be had driving. 😀

Tools for the job as well though innit? In a modern executive barge i’m Sure the ‘Top Road’ would be quite dull. In a 20 year old Mapped Golf GTi its an absolute hoot!

Yes I drive for pleasure. If ever I have to go anywhere more than about 40 miles away I’ll have a proper trawl over maps looking for backroad twisties, drop some waypoints into a sat nav and off I go. And it’s not about speed. It’s the whole thing: what gear you’re in, line choice, hazard anticipation and perception. Doing it all properly is what makes me happy. It’s even more satisfying on a motorbike but I rarely get to use that nowadays.

(Fully expect to be STW flamed now).

binners – Member
Move to the sticks. The bits that nobody cares about enough to stick speed cameras on. Plenty fun to be had driving.

What about the baby robins on cycles? 🙁

What about the baby robins on cycles?

I once beheaded a suicidal pheasant on my KTM awhile heading up the A697. Feathers, blood and gore everywhere. It went into the radiator, in behind the dry sump and all over the down pipe which then set fire to the splatterings. bike smelled like a mobile KFC for weeks. That didn’t upset me, what did was my empathy which built a scenario about the bird’s life and family and how me riding along would have wrecked it all. 🙁

I absolutely love driving but have given it up as an example to my peers.
Very few people actually need to drive, it is a selfish lifestyle choice.

No, don’t enjoy it at all. I don’t particularly want to either. I try to minimise the amount I drive, and not enjoying it helps with that!

I have always enjoyed driving…and have 43 years of it under my belt having passed my driving test at the age of 17.
It was in many ways one of the reasons for my career choice in Sales ..where else was I going to get a nice shiny new car at that age for nowt..and apart from my very first car ( a Wolsley Hornet which was verging on being a classic even back then)..I didn’t buy my own for another 22years enjoying some nice company cars along the way..
Thankfully these days my driving doesn’t involve a rush hour commute at either end of the day.
North West Northumberland is very rural/ quiet with some great “driving ” roads, very few speed cameras and the scenery ain’t half bad either and any appointments are made well within the quieter times of 10.00am to 3.00pm..on the odd occasion that I have had to travel to Newcastle within the rush hour in the last decade ..it makes me wonder how folks keep their sanity travelling in that volume of traffic twice a day on a daily basis ..I would top myself ! 😆

I enjoy driving and have done for 30+ years. Doesn’t matter what the car, sometimes the small low powered cars can be just as much fun.