[Closed] Cars are ace. Discuss

I'd be inclined to agree on the line

"driving / cars are too good to be fun these days"

and that is without the safety, traffic and law enforcement considerations...

However, there are still cars around that allow you to have an absolute ball at legal(ish) speeds.

mrs rkk01 has an Abarth 500 and it is an absolute hoot. Reminds me of the old 205 / 309 GTi - small, rorty, similar bhp, noisy and getting uncomfortable at top end speeds, but fantastic on normal roads.

Really puts a grin into everyday motoring. 8)
What hot hatchery used to be about, before everyone tried cramming 250 bhp plus motors to try and make the "ultimate hot hatch" 🙁

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Stuff like the Golf GTi is so pollished these days - very quick and accomplished, but not a lot of fun.

What motor's that got Tim? I had a 1500 O/drive bucket of fun.

about as fun as gray paint!

grey paint not fun....! How dare thee

That there above IS fun grey paint.

Although mrs rkk gets annoyed with "aircraft primer grey" comments. Apparently the primer grey is "traditional" Abarth race colours - based on the abundance of cheap aircraft primer in the post war years

In the same way that riding a commuter bike around town is never going to be as much fun as ragging a mtb down the side of a mountain, it's all about driving the right car on the right road.

I've recently got myself an MR2 Turbo (sorry, had to get that in there!) and my Sundays now usually involve putting the bike on the car, driving down some windy country road until i get somewhere good to ride, ride the bike for a few hours, then back in the car for some more fun. Always a fun day!

I occasionally enjoy it, but mostly I'm worrying about who or what I'm going to crash into next, and if they've got my number plate.
There is a rutted byway opposite where I live that I'm quite tempted to take my little non 4x4 panda down, which would be stupid but probably great fun assuming it doesn't get stuck and the front bumper doesn't fall off.

What motor's that got Tim? I had a 1500 O/drive bucket of fun.

It's a '72 with the last of the 1300's. Apparently it's the worst of all the engines as it has the smaller capacity of the 1300 with a larger crank, so it's not as revvy as the small crank 1300 or as torquey as the 1500. It's still a hoot though and once the engine needs a full re-build those issues can be addressed.

O/D would be nice, but I just avoid motorways where possible, so you get a nicer drive (even though it takes ages to get there...)

Love driving. Even my modest Fiesta can flow through the corners at a decent pace. King Valley to Mansfield in Victoria last year was a highlight.
Even driving to work over Tunnel Hill instead of the highway is a pleasure on a monday when I usually get a clean run through the tight, right-left-right, under the underpass.
Have to take the bosses Sprinter into town tomorrow, this should be fun.

turner guy - a classic or a modern one? Remember a road limit is 60 mph. there is hardly a modern car surely that is anywhere near the limit on most A roads at 60 mph

modern.

the car doesn't have to be near the limit, just provide enough feedback from the road to make carving round corners, etc fun.

It is a bit like skis, you can carve down the piste having loads of fun if you have the right skis, but for others you would need to be hurtling down doing GS turns to get the same kicks.

I knew a civil engineer who got a 156 as a company car. Instead of cruising up and down the country on the motorways he would search the map for interesting A roads to get him around.

Bring on cars made of composites that weigh the right side of a ton, do a reasnoble MPG and are fun to drive.

Lotus Elise 😉

Nice Spitty Tim, on the look out for one myself for a year.. I want a second fun car I can bond with over a head rebuild, but need to hide it from mrs b somewhere 🙂
Is that a Mk IV?

EDIT: Just read your post - I don't think there's one in the range that doesn't have it's own idiosyncracies - 1500s seem least bother but free tax.. mmmmmmmm

ah well - for me the whole fun of fast driving is getting it to the limit. feeling the tyres scrabbling for grip etc.

Nice Spitty Tim, on the look out for one myself for a year.. I want a second fun car I can bond with over a head rebuild, but need to hide it from mrs b somewhere
Is that a Mk IV?

It is. We picked up a Mk3 for my lad to restore last year, he's 14 in a few days time so has three years in order to finish it. I got bored waiting for him to make decent progress so went looking for one of my own. This one isn't a colour I really wanted, but it was too good an example to let go and it was local. They do need to be garaged though 🙁

ah well - for me the whole fun of fast driving is getting it to the limit. feeling the tyres scrabbling for grip etc

every morning for me.

with the added excitement of suicidal sheep and ponies.

I like the colour myself - I'd have that or the one that should be called [url= http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=blue+triumph+spitfire&hl=en&sa=X&tbm=isch&prmd=ivns&tbnid=T5An7scAigQkeM:&imgrefurl=http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2734417/1973-triumph-spitfire&docid=hyHOQ3p9187l0M&w=575&h=431&ei=4uk3TqW7EcmVOvCUydgD&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=551&page=1&tbnh=140&tbnw=198&start=0&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0&tx=129&ty=64&biw=1280&bih=909 ]Singular Swift Blue[/url]

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END OF THREAD

there is hardly a modern car surely that is anywhere near the limit on most A roads at 60 mph

[b]MOST[/b] roads, but by no means all. I would have thought all of us on here live somewhere near an A road where you can get a brown-trouser moment going at 60mph or less. The A5004 between Buxton and Whaley Bridge has some corners that would spit the average driver off if they were going 60. Ditto the Cat and Fiddle road. The roads are out there, and they're not always busy 🙂

We picked up a Mk3 for my lad to restore last year,

Now THAT'S a birthday present! I keep encouraging Grandad to do the same for my boys as he's got more time and way more mechanical/electrical nous than me.

Stilltortoise - cat and fiddle is 50 mph limit nowadays for most of it - and few corners that slow - used to be my stomping ground back in the day.

I've recently got myself an MR2 Turbo (sorry, had to get that in there!)

Awesome cars. I really don't think there's a better "play" car for the money, and yet they're still supremely useable day to day.

I had a MR2 Turbo with uprated turbo, intercooler, decat & Blitz Nur Spec R, Tein suspension, Volk wheels, in black (the fastest colour). Never have I had so much fun in a car, and I could get 2 bikes on the back and/or 1 in the passenger seat, plus there was boot space enough for me and the missus to take suitcases for a 2 week holiday. 30+mpg too if I wasn't in a spirited driving mood.

and [b][i]few [/i][/b]corners that slow

But not none!

Granted their will be some driving Gods on this thread who will demolish these roads, but I've had plenty of fun in my (ex) Elise throughout the Peak District and without having to drive like it was stolen. Granted doing 60mph in an Elise over a bumpy B road is considerably more exciting than doing the same in a modern car with all the safety bells and whistles.

However these days - roads too crowded, too many speed cameras

Given you live in Edinburgh then I'd have to say that is bollocks. There are loads of great fun and empty roads with no speed cameras to the south of Edinburgh.

@ The Flying Ox

That sounds nice! Mines a completely standard white t-bar rev 4 just imported from Japan. Had it 3 months now and love it! I've got a roof rack which goes on in about 2 minutes and carries 2 bikes.

It's got to be one of the few 'bike friendly' mid-engined, rear wheel drive cars ever!

Standard rev4? Hehe. Get a grainger bleed valve, a 2 bar pressure gauge and some 5mm plastic hose. Fit the valve between the turbo actuator and the TVSV and plug the other hose that comes out of the TVSV, run the plastic hose from the manifold pressure sensor into the cabin and connect it up to the pressure gauge so you can keep an eye on the boost. Half an hour's job, if that. Turn the boost up to 1.1/1.2 bar and prepare to be amazed 😈

Thanks, i've read a lot about all the things you can do to get more power out of them (up to 700bhp) but the plan for now at least is to leave at the standard 242bhp, which is plenty for me!

I think going down the modification route would just be a slippery slope into a money pit....

epicsteve - I guess our definition of fast driving is different.

epicsteve - I guess our definition of fast driving is different.

Give me your definition and I'll tell you.

All cars became instantly boring after I first experienced throwing myself down a muddy hill on a pushbike. I occasionally get invited to Palmersport days and although they are great, I don't get the buzz any more.

Some cars are ace, some aren't.

If they had been kept as a luxury, rather being subject to democratisation then I think we'd have so many more interesting and creative cars around. It's a shame that a product with such creative potential has been stifled and the majority of vehicles on the roads can fall into the same tedious (but comfortable I suppose) Vectra, Golf, A4, 3 Series, mould.

Some cars are ace, some aren't.

So very true. On a previous thread I commented on the Golf GTi with DSG. Very impressive, very quick but ultimately a bit dull...and then you find yourself the wrong side of a speeding ban!

wish i still had this, 1964 1275 Austin Cooper S.

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the old couple next door were visited a while ago by their son in a Nissan SkyLine. As he drove off I asked what was he doing in a hooligans cars, which they tried to ignore.

Asked them yesterday if sonny still had the Skyline - no came the reply - 6 points and now driving a mini!

My favourite car was def my "proper" mini. Think it was an 81 mayfair with spots and sunroof. So much fun doing hand brakes and the like in a local gravelly car park. Managed to get the gauge up to 100 down the creg ny bar, was thankful that you can go straight at the end as the brakes were not ready to get me round the right hander 🙂

Something to put the fun back in for all those saying cars are now all too good to be fun...

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Looking through an article in Autocar yesterday lunchtime. £30k (ok more than I can / want to afford), <800kg, 175bhp, RWD, 6 sp manual

[url= http://ginetta.com/cars_g40r ]Ginetta[/url]

The best thing about cars is when you've been out in the mountains all day - it's cold, snowing, got dark half an hour ago, you're very hungry and tired, and with the last dregs of light you see your car up the road waiting for you.

Toss the bike in, engine on, lights on, heater on.. there's a packet of sweets in the centre console... brilliant 🙂 Regardless of what kind of car it is 🙂

after years and years of not doing it, in order to save the planet, I finally realised that my input is going to make c*ck all difference when set against the China's immediately projected car production/use

Except that everyone thinks like that.. and ooh look, we're in a mess...

As a result the midget actualy does more MPG on the motorway!

Not surprising - far less frontal surface area.