Do they have any place in the modern world?
I used to want one when I was growing up in my teens. I used to draw my own designs (mostly from side profile, but progressed to 3d looking across bonnet), with flip up lights, gull wing doors, and massive spoilers.
Then at some point quite quickly when the reality of leaving college hit, in the gap before I went to university, I realized I was never going have one. For a short while I still clung to the dream of building a Lotus 7 kit car replica, but it was only a short while later I realized even that was beyond my means, but mainly I was shit at mechanics.
Now there's climate change, massive wealth inequality, and vehicles such as **** tanks, pozer panzers or teslas geometric inverted wheelbarrow, and to me, they merely represent that massive wealth inequality, greed, and exploitation of people and the planet to the detriment of both.
Mixed feelings about supercars however. They're for the wealthy elite obviously, but I still actually think they look cool.
Absolutely a place for them.
Where I live I can be out on the road bike and get passed by some stunning bits of kit being driven fairly hard but not stupidly .
I think I’m lucky that I live on the Welsh boarders that have some great drivers roads that don’t attract idiots
I was also speaking recently to a guy who works for Bentley and he was saying now the market is nuts that you can create a limited edition 20 run of supercar , barely change anything yet sell it for huge margin
If I could afford one, I'd happily pay whatever taxes or charges required to run one. I've spent 50 years wanting one so if I won the lottery tonight, I'll get one, however briefly, just to make the 5 year old me happy.
(Subject to being able to get in and out of one with my aging back)
Magnum PI. Man of the people, had a Ferrari. Mind you his two best mates had a helicopter and a mansion. (Or was it Higgins' Ferrari? Dunno, he looked the shit though, eh)
Lots of boys like fast toys . 😉
Ah yeah, Magnum, Knight Rider, their fault totally!
I can't decide if I'd have a Countach and F40 for nostalgia, or just go with whatever Lambo/Ferrai is the latest & greatest!
Yes. Supercars aren't really all about how fast you CAN drive them but the implied performance is part of the draw. But I think it's mainly about the excellence of design and engineering. Oh and generally speaking they tend to be less polluting than a traveling salesman's rep-mobile because they don't do much mileage.
Anyway I have a shortlist of Ferraris to buy when my numbers come up.
Despite being an environmentalist, cars have always interested me, but supercars barely at all - I can't conceive of one that you could actually enjoy on a road and naturally, having any car just for fun these days is such a morally bankrupt thing to do. So no, they don't have a place, including the electric ones. To be honest, I think in my lifetime the concept of owning any car will become totally alien.
The gullwing door thing always looked cool, I agree. Until the day that some chap rolled up at our previous office in a BMW whateveritwas, backed into parking space between two normal cars as instructed, and found he couldn't open the door. Then he just looked like a tit 🤣
Cars that do 200mph seem like a daft idea to me, I just don't see the point. I'd rather have an Austin Healey 3000 or an MG A roadster, if I wanted something nice in front of my country pad. But in reality I'd have little use for one. Better all round to have a comfy, spacious automatic/EV, easy driving is great. A lottery win wouldn't change that, if anything I'd have a chauffeur because I can't be arsed to drive and would rather have someone else do it..
Driving for kicks? I'd get a Lotus Elise.
Aren't they just one of the prizes when you "win"(*) Hustle culture?
I guess it comes down to how much you aspire to be compared to Saudi Princes, Andrew Tate or "Mr Beast" then fine, but they are basically for (disgustingly wealthy) losers...
(*nobody really wins).
But those people also like food and breath air too, so our view of supercars shouldn't be based on the fact we find some of the people who own them to be extremely unpalatable human beings, as we all have things in common. Super cars aren't exclusively for dick heads are they?
I honestly don't know if I'd actually buy one if I suddenly had a massive lottery win. Might be more sensible to rent one, race drive it carefully round a track a few times, and that be that.
I'd probably buy something more sensible so I could transport a few bikes and the family in.
Back to reality from this brief super car fantasy this evening.
Looks a bit classier to me than some of the recent super cars which have all the finesse of a 'futuristic' computer game.
With you 100% OP
In my youth I used to love cars.
Now I think owning show off cars, particularly supercars, hyper cars or anything ostentatiously "luxury" just marks you out as a bellend completely out of tune with reality for most people and also the state of the planet.
I would still quite like a ratty track car I could spanner myself and rag round a track (not on the road!) but I don't have the time nor a garage, so not happening any time soon.
I don’t have a problem with them generally, they’re so well engineered that they’re probably less polluting that the bloke next door’s grotbox.
However, they often seem to be owned and driven by entitled assholes, who believe that they can make everyone else’s lives a misery by driving in a stupid and irresponsible manner.
Having said that, there’s even more stupid, irresponsible assholes driving in a reckless and dangerous manner in cars that cost a tiny fraction of what a supercar does.
Would I own one, given the funds necessary? Possibly, but it would likely be something like an Arial Atom V8, a BMC Mono, or a Mazda MX5 with a V6 conversion, cars that I could drive within limits on narrow country roads and be able to use the handling to its best advantage, then drive to my nearest race circuit, which is Castle Combe, and really push the performance to my maximum ability; a road-legal track-day fun car.
I've loved cars ever since the mid-80s when I managed to sneak downstairs way past bedtime to watch Cannonball Run through the staircase rails. That love was only strengthened when I got a PS1 and Gran Turismo to distract me from studying at Uni in the 90s.
At present I don't have a "supercar" per se and certainly wouldn't be regarded as "high-end luxury" but I guess it's an icon in its own right, and at about 700 bhp it can more than hold its own against actual supercars. Talk about there being nowhere to enjoy such a car in the UK I find somewhat lacking in imagination - there are plenty of places to do so legally and without being a hooligan, e.g. a (very) quick spurt from 20-60 coming off a roundabout next to someone wanting to test the legs of their hot hatch, and it is an entirely different experience heading down a deserted NSL road in the Highlands in my car vs my wife's car - but for me it's also the engagement and enjoyment it brings out in the general public. Kids wave, old people comment on the noise (in a good way), enthusiasts give the thumbs up and a beep when they hear the supercharger whine. It's also a very composed long distance GT car, decent luggage space and respectable 30+ mpg on the motorway. All in all I love it, but it's definitely not a car for wallflowers.
On the other hand it is very much one of the last of its kind, or at least it should be, and I find I'm driving it less and less as I feel pangs of guilt the more EVs I see on the roads. At the moment I'm squaring away the guilt with the thought that any potential buyer I might find now is likely to be a climate change denier and would be driving it 5x as much as I do, so by keeping it I'm actually reducing its carbon footprint. My eye is on the EV market though.
With you 100% OP
In my youth I used to love cars.
Now I think owning show off cars, particularly supercars, hyper cars or anything ostentatiously "luxury" just marks you out as a bellend completely out of tune with reality for most people and also the state of the planet.
I would still quite like a ratty track car I could spanner myself and rag round a track (not on the road!) but I don't have the time nor a garage, so not happening any time soon.
Sure it’s not a price tag thing?
I'm 'lucky' enough to have driven a late 80's Countach (LP500) on an old RAF airfield in Bicester. It was hot, difficult to see out of in other direction other than forwards, difficult to get in and out of, and the petrol vapours from the V12 sitting 20cms behind your head were enough to make driving it for more than 15 minutes a genuinely hallucinogenic experience. The controls were clearly out of the Fiat parts bin, It did, however, look amazing - which is essentially the point of cars like this. They're the modern equivalent of the orangery. - look at me, I've enough money to spend to grow oranges in the winter in Gloucester. You wouldn't want to draw up outside the Casio in Monaco in a Juke now, would you? Plus in comparison to Yachts - the other way dicks who've too much money measures themselves, they're waaaay less polluting.
The idea that super/hyper cars are better engineered than others is nonsense - if you want a well engineered car you buy a Toyota. These cars are made in low volume therefore there is not enough budget for the level and depth of engineering design and validation that you would get in a high volume car. Fast does not equal well engineered!
Place for them? On track! However for many Hypercars are investments and they get driven far far less than your average car.
Sure it’s not a price tag thing?
I'm not quite sure what you mean by that
I have ridden motorbikes that are slow by motorbike standards and it can still be a frustrating experience on UK roads as you can't open them up. It's more about keeping a lid on it tbh. I would imagine that would be amplified X10 000 in a super car.
If someone gave me a Ferrari upper Fandango whatever, I'd give it a quick razz and then sell it straight away and keep my Dacia. Local bike shop and motorbike shop would do well though
Unless you ride a rigid, 3x7 steel MTB, I'm not sure you can argue that supercars are unnecessary or ostentatious.
Depends where you live IMO - a supercar in the south of France fits in perfectly.
Driving round Chorley in a supercar you look a bit if a cock!
Anyway - my wedding day in Oct 1990 - my future father-in-law knew a bloke who knew a bloke and wangled this!… 😀
Unless you ride a rigid, 3x7 steel MTB, I'm not sure you can argue that supercars are unnecessary or ostentatious.
Not sure that argument works, my on one whippet compared to a Ferrari?
So many vehicles on the road are totally unnecessarily large show off machines and super cars are just the top of the pile in that respect, wouldn't have one even if I had lottery money to spare. As quoted by a mate who'd had all sorts of fast cars "made me feel like a **** driving it"
Used to like them when I was twenty. These days I just think people who drive them look like tossers.
I love supercars, makes me happy when I see one on the road* to be honest, it just appeals to the child in me. On the flip side, I despise with a passion any form of w**k panzer.
*where "on the road" does not = being driven like a tool round Knightsbridge.
I did a track day once with the chance to drive a range of supercars. Nothing mental, just a Ferrari 430, Lamborghini Gaillardo, Porsche 911 Turbo and a Lotus Evora
It absolutely ruined driving normal cars for me.
The speed and the noise was insane. Did the Ferrari first and I was giggling the entire time. It was sad realising I'll never own one
Super cars aren't exclusively for dick heads are they?
Back in the noughties I did a home visit to a screeder who had a new-ish Ferrari in his barn. Nice chap and quite down to earth.
Then at the other end of the scale we with have steam and tractor enthusiasts! I've been dragged around many tractor fest by my Dad (after one of which, later that evening went to an all night rave 🤣 oh the contrast). I enjoy the steam/tractor fests now, walking along the rows of standing engines chugging along is quite an ASMR experience, and love a good fairground organ!
It appears I'm "morally bankrupt" as I have a car just for fun. Fortunately I don't understand what morally bankrupt means but I suspect it wasn't a compliment.
As for the original post I hope there's always a place for supercars.
I used to play fantasy garage with friends - there would be a Dino, a Zonda, an RS4 estate and whatever took my fancy that week. One of the friends went through various fast things - late 80s Esprit, Elise, Exige, Ferrari 328, WRS, Evo IV, 911, Ferrari 430. Now he's considering going carless.
My fantasy garage would now be something small and electric as a run around (R5?), a bigger electric thing that could take a couple of bikes, and maybe something older and interesting. Always liked the Maserati Granturismo. But I'd need the space to park them too.
The lister xjs on Harry's garage did 2 mpg if you floored it, 6 litre supercharged. Think it managed 10mpg on a run.
This thread reminds me of:
I fancy a Lamborghini Miura and/or a McLaren F1 because they both look gorgeous. At 6'4", I doubt I could fit in either though, which is fortunate for me as I don't have the cash...
Financially I could have something quite interesting in the garage but there's a Zoe, and I love it. My youth was spent rallying autotesting trialling. and hanging around Aldon and Rolling Road Autotune. My status as a champion meant owners would often ask me to try their cars so I drove some interesting things. Interesting maybe but it was only the raw competition cars that really did it for me. Super cars, mehh. I was offered a drive in a 6R4 but turned it down telling the owner the local roads were unsuitable and the cam belt would probably break - it did shortly after.
Best of the lot: The RRAT owner, Graham Hickman's (he of F1 up Shelsley fame) G4 Escort "TUM". So if I were to spend a big sum on a "super car" it would be a replica of Hannu's Eaton Vale Escort (or Marku Alen's 131). And spend the money saved over a super car on hiring forests to drive it in. I had a look at the cost of buying my favourite car that I rallied, the Group N Samba - 35 000e for a good one, no ta. Classic rally cars a fetching stupid money and require constant fettling unlike the Zoe that gets turned on like a microwave oven (shut the door press the button) and goes.
Most of the cars I regard as "super" are in this video:
Sometimes the context in which you experience things has a bearing on what appeals but....
Don't know if it would count as a supercar but..... a Corvette Stingray C3 427 ci (preferably with T-top). Takes me back to regular work trips to Austin Tx where a work colleague (and good friend) would pick me up in the Austin summer heat and take me for a ride and back to his house in Hill Country. Very evocative and I've always lusted after one.
I drove a hardtop one of those, masterdabber, or was it the earlier one. Sloppy steering, inadequate brakes, broke traction flooring the throttle in 2nd, rattled and shook, crazed fibreglass, what a laugh.
So if I were to spend a big sum on a "super car" it would be a replica of Hannu's Eaton Vale Escort (or Marku Alen's 131). And spend the money saved over a super car on hiring forests to drive it in
Nice choice but I'm not sure there would be much money left over. Anyway, I agree, those 70s Gp4 cars are indeed "super". EARS in Macclesfield ran a couple of very swift Escorts in road rallies. Great way to spend the dark winter Saturday nights.
PS Great video - even got the Fiat back seat navigator - which I believe was extremely uncomfortable.
Was behind a LHD Delta Integrale on the M6 this afternoon. That's going on the list....
I have a memory of being a kid on route to a family holiday destination on the motorway seeing a yellow Lotus bomb it past us REALLY FAST!! I knew it was a Lotus because - as I remember it - it had LOTUS written in big letters across the back - but I can't find any images which look similar.
Just read on Wikipedia about the Esprit (another car I used to like when young) that "Door handles from the Morris Marina/Austin Allegro were used until the S4 model in 1994" lol. I did drive an old Austin Allegro for a while, was embarrassed at first, but grew to quite like it.
Let's keep em going. Sound if anything. My current van is faster than any hot hatch from the 90's and sounds like a taxi, but goes like poop off a shovel. Doesn't sound like a washer on a fast spin. So a win.
