I doubt the op would get insurance on a rx8
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First car for a 31 year old IT nerd - something interesting a very bad idea??
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Posted 5 months ago #
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Not a nerd, but after passing my test at 30 I got a Fiesta 1.4 03 plate. Not scandalous to insure and cheap to run/fix.
Posted 5 months ago # -
...And apperently a really good drive as well. Like the mk1 Focus etc.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Hora - the insurance isnt actually too bad, I posted a page or two ago the comparative quotes for a corsa, Octavia and rx-8.
Posted 5 months ago # -
...And apperently a really good drive as well. Like the mk1 Focus etc.
Nothing to compare it to, but is a fun car to throw about.....just have to use the gears right to make up for the lack of grunt.
Posted 5 months ago # -
RRR....hmmmmmmm could be within the 'brief' then.
Hmmm is there anyway I can buy a mx5? How could I explain to hora jnr and mrshora that I can't carry them both?
Posted 5 months ago # -
How about old school cool? Jaguar XJS 4.0
It'll use more oil and more petrol than an RX8, and probably has the actual reliability that the RX8 is perceived to have, but because it's not a rotary it'll pass muster for a STW "list".Get the RX8.
p.s. I love the XJS, so it's a semi-serious suggestion.
Posted 5 months ago # -
My brother has a V12 XJS.
It decided to not start as he and new wife left the church en route to their wedding reception..
It's now in a garage , covered up and unloved at my parents house... A lovely car in a straight line by all accounts, when it worked ...
Posted 5 months ago # -
A-B happens quicker in our Mondeo diesel estate, shifting so much kit and you don't even notice the speed. The MX-5 is slower A-B, but so much more fun and feeling.
get the least amount of car to move as much as you need, the mondeo could never handle like the mx5
Posted 5 months ago # -
On a motorway. On a series of bends the Mondeo would be left behind.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Just to give a contrasting approach... I went from sports bikes, where in all honestly 99% of people can't get anywhere near the edge of the thing's performance, and half the 1% that can choose not to, and bought a diesel focus estate. And tbh I have far more fun trying to make the focus go moderately quickly than I ever had going considerably faster on a bike. Obviously different people take their pleasure in different ways but I'd much rather be trying to hustle a slower car, than being in a fast car feeling slow.
Also feel you learn a lot from driving a more basic car, they flatter you less and don't let you hide mistakes as easily.
YMMV of course- no doubt a lot of people would hate my mobile garden shed.
Posted 5 months ago # -
hora - not many straights on the roads I was thinking of, Welsh B-roads with rarely a chance to get beyond 4th
MX5 is more fun, but the Mondeo will be waiting at the next village.
Like Northwind suggests, lot to be gained from hustling a basic car.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Posted 5 months ago # -
I'd still take a mx5 over a civic type r. After I drive one I thought it was all revs and shouting with little too show.
Timber you've obviously raced someone at somepoint. All that you proved against that driver is someone in a welsh village had their taxi turn up early that day.
Posted 5 months ago # -
OP - Any car with a bit of poke will be entertaining for your first car! All the folk on here going on about 'boring this', 'wouldn't have that', have all drove/owned multiple cars. It's only on driving muliple cars that you notice the difference between them!
Has for the RWD, FWD and AWD debate...I have a RWD car and although I love it, I wouldn't buy another. I live at the bottom of a steep hill and can't drive up it when there's snow/ice about. Luckily I can borrow a 4x4 when that happens, if it wasn't for that, I'd have sold my BMW and bought an Audi Quattro by now.Posted 5 months ago # -
First car for a 31 year old IT nerd, I would say get yourself a cheap Nissan Micra and use it for a year to get used to driving and cheap insurance aswell, after a year then upgrade to a better one.
Good luck
Posted 5 months ago # -
Why? What wierd thinking!
Buy a car with great drive dynamics. You'll be safer as you'll be more in tune with the cars handling and interface with the road.
Buy with the view you'll bang and ding and you will.
So. Buy a mk1 1.6 5door Ford Focus on decent tyres.
Job done.
Posted 5 months ago # -
If the budget will stretch to it.. an unmolested Mk2 Golf late 80's early 90's.. they're not exspensive to buy and you can get classic insurance on them... fit 5 people inside or a bike and a hoot to drive or storm up the motorway, A road, track day, family outing etc....
Posted 5 months ago # -
Race? No.
I own both and it is my drive to work.Taxi comment is true though, stop outside a pub in town on Friday night and chances are someone will try to get in.
Posted 5 months ago # -
NO offence but a mk2.5 Mx5 will beat many many carsa in competent hands down twisties. Yes it means braking later, etc however you'd arrive first. Yes in a turbo diesel you'd arrive more relaxed but you'd arrive first in a mx5 and grinning.
If you've had the rear out you almost automatically 'know' its limits. Wierd.
Posted 5 months ago # -
I sense HUGE amount of complete bollocks in this thread. All 4 pages of it.
Posted 5 months ago # -
DWB you can't just say that- add detail!
Posted 5 months ago # -
"NO offence but a mk2.5 Mx5 will beat many many carsa in competent hands down twisties. Yes it means braking later, etc however you'd arrive first. Yes in a turbo diesel you'd arrive more relaxed but you'd arrive first in a mx5 and grinning."
Not in the wet you wouldnt, or even the slightest damp....FWD is just so much easier to drive to the limit in wet conditions where RWD can catch any one out in the wet and roads dont have any run off.
and I am convinced that with an average driver FWD will always be quicker.
(and I've owned/owe an MX5 Mk3 and Mondeo diesel
)
Posted 5 months ago # -
One word; understeer Funky
Posted 5 months ago # -
Hora - then your driving the FWD wrong Hora
Posted 5 months ago # -
No They tend to understeer, lift off/brake etc positioning all you want but if you are hussling a FWD through twisties at a reasonable rate you will always combat understeer in these sort of situations.
The Mondeo's centre of gravity higher/more body roll etc also adds to the mix as it aint no sports car is it.
I could easily have taken my MX5 down snake pass smoothly with no dramas whereas in a Focus it was
and to a much lesser extent in my Puma. Saying all this I'm no gung-ho driver, its all done at 7am'ish at the weekend and there will always be another driver out there quicker than me.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Sounds like you dont drive smooth enough
Posted 5 months ago # -
I pride myself on using the brake as little as possible on the way home from a ride- just gearing down.
Posted 5 months ago #
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Hora, "gears are for going, brakes are for slowing."
Police driver's handbook
Posted 5 months ago # -
Someone hit the nail on the head up there. Many of us passing comment on here have driven lots of different cars. FWD, RWD, 4WD. Some of us have had near misses (and not so near misses). Try a few and see what you think.
Bear in mind there's a reason that most day-to-day cars are FWD. The very fact they understeer rather than over-steer makes them a safer proposition for most drivers. There's been lots of threads on this here STW explaining why and I'm sure the internet has lots of explanations too.
(as usual, there are always exceptions)
Posted 5 months ago # -
Gosh, there must be some fast drivers on here.
"the Mondeo aint no sports car" - well, on public roads, with mixed surfaces, if you're going round corners faster than a fairly quick driver in a Mondeo can, you're going way too fast. Same applies to a Focus.Posted 5 months ago # -
Bear in mind there's a reason that most day-to-day cars are FWD
Cheaper to manufacture and packaging means you get more cabin space.
Posted 5 months ago # -
Toyota Celica?
Decent size boot, good handling FWD car with a decent size boot / rear seats.
FWIW if you want a 'fun' car do it. Whatever you spend your money on there is always a compromise somewhere. HAving always wanted something a bit 'sporty' and going with a sensible option if I were in your position I'd get something a bit tasty.
I've never driven a RWD car but as you'll be driving a 'normal' car for a few months I'd just jump in and get the RWD car if thats what you want. The learning curve from FWD to RWD is unlikely to be lessened from having ingrained decades worth of FWD style driving inot you, in fact you may be in a better position to drive RWD car.
FWIW I used to love the massive torque you get in a diesel, however I've just gone back to a petrol and love the constant 'mediocre' level of torque you get out of a petrol. Petrol is far more refined, quieter and less brutal IMO.
Posted 5 months ago # -
If I was a new driver again on my shortlist would be:
Fiat Panda
Toyota Aygo
Honda Jazz
Ford Ka (old shape)
Ford FiestaWhy? I love cheeky small cars
Posted 5 months ago # -
Toyota Celica GT4?
Decent size boot, very rapid, good handling 4WD car with a decent size boot / rear seats.
Posted 5 months ago #
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