Cars are ace. Discuss

Following a recent thread about public transport versus car use, it got me thinking. Regardless of the practical considerations (expense, convenience, environmental impact…) I like driving cars. Sometimes I enjoy it as much as riding bikes and will happily just “go out for a drive”.

So, who else enjoys driving just for the hell of it?

I do, but never drive “just for a drive”.

Having a “fun” car makes a hug difference IMO.

I love driving. Not just cars but anything really. There’s nothing like looning about in a car at 6 o’clock on a Sunday morning when the roads are empty.

A fast car and an empty Foss way are all I need to put a big grin on my face.

I used too, I used to run a late Mk2 Golf 16v and followed that up with an Alfa 156 v6. Both capable of curing the worst winter blues in their own way.

Given the choice now though I’d rather have a great bike ride and use the train. There’s miles of deserted singletrack near my home where I can take a bike by the scruff of the neck and thrash the heck out of it. You can’t do that in a car anymore.

I don’t. I find cars are just too good to have any fun. In order to get any sort of a buzz you have to go so fast that it becomes dangerous to all involved.

Friends who enjoy driving end up telling me how great their gear change is etc. but I really cannot relate to getting turned on by moving a gear nob around.

Driving normally is about being stuck in traffic. I enjoy driving a twisty road to get somewhere but I’d much rather be walking or cycling.

Never nowadays in the car as I drive enough at work.

Motorbike is almost always ‘just for the hell of it’. Main difference is that on the bike you have the speed and power to overtake quickly and can go at the speed you want and not be governed by ‘sunday’ drivers, caravans, tractors etc.

I can’t afford a car that is fast enough to do that.

I enjoy driving but I won’t go out just for a drive. But given half a chance (even if it is just popping out for a take-away) I will hop in my car. I also love having client meetings to go to – another chance to drive somewhere.

Cars are rubbish, I hate being in a tin box, detached from the world.

Motorsickles are where it’s at.

Motorbikes are way more ace.

As with anything in life, it’s each to their own… for me, driving’s a means to an end…

However, I suspect if I were driving through some inspirational or awe-inspiring scenery in something other than a bog-standard family hatchback, then driving would suddenly become a pleasure…

Shopping for a new car with my wife isn’t fun, we really don’t see eye to eye on what we want in a new car … driving can be fun, but driving on the M25 last Friday was not fun, it was arduous!

However, I suspect if I were driving through some inspirational or awe-inspiring scenery in something other than a bog-standard family hatchback, then driving would suddenly become a pleasure…

I guess I’m lucky because that’s exactly what I get to do. Even in the family car I wind the windows down on a nice sunny day and enjoy.

I want to drive over this in a nice car (lucky Top Gear gits)

I don’t drive just for fun anymore

back in the day when cars were much slower – as in poor handling, brakes etc. – you could get some pleasure from ragging a car
now, they’re just too good and you need serious speed to get a buzz

it could just be my age though

now motorbikes ??????? 🙂

98% of the time, it’s just a means to an end for me – doesn’t help that I drive a Berlingo – but I did a trackday at the weekend in my dad’s VX220 Turbo and suddenly remembered what all the fuss was about. Fantastic fun when you can really give it the beans, but that’s best left to a closed circuit.

I quite like cars and driving but the whole excercise is so wrapped up in mundanity and stupid, pointless, lowest-common-denominator laws and restrictions I haven’t gone out for a drive in years.

Also firmly believe that once you start to use something a bit special for a mundane task it loses its appeal – cars & motorcycles included.

I’m not sure I’d go out just for a drive, but I can love or hate driving depending on what car I’m in.
I can also spend most of the day just searching Pistonheads with an imaginary budget. I’m currently daydreaming a damaged/repaired pre-facelift Honda NSX with excellent yet subtle styling modifications and, most importantly, the relatively rare manual transmission:

Droooooollllll……

Mine is.

I have enjoyed driving for fun in the past – both motorcycles and cars.

However these days – roads too crowded, too many speed cameras, cars and bikes so good so to get that thrill you have to go so ridiculously fast.

I ain’t done it for years. Maybe when I get the old BSA running again……………….

Yup love driving add to that it’s massive convenience and you can go direct to your destination is why I never use public transport. I even like driving when at work it’s one the good parts of my job. Woody you’ve spent to long with a load of moaners, you need a new station.

cars are just a means to an end for me, mostly to get me to some biking trails

maybe if i swapped my focus for something more exciting and could rag it round twisty alpine roads all day would be fun but quite frankly if im the alps im taking my dh bike

track day would be fun though

BTW, in a nod to a recent thread I saw a five year old Audi TT convertable for sale yesterday on a local forecourt for under seven grand.

Even at that price, I still wouldn’t.

actually,
I can quite enjoy my regular Thursday morning drive from Guildford to Manchester on a sunny day

Late, leisurely hotel breakfast to let the rush-hour die down and then a few hours with just the sunshine and some music whilst being paid
No phones etc. as we’re not allowed them on in the car

Maybe when I get the old BSA running again

What model? My dad had a C15 as a kid (sold it when he crashed it with mum on the back when she was pregnant with my elder brother). Always wanted to ride one myself.

Beautiful piece of kit

(Although I always wanted a Norton Commando)

I saw a five year old Audi TT convertable for sale yesterday on a local forecourt for under seven grand.

Even at that price, I still wouldn’t.
Never – old style TTs are awful in every respect.

On the occasions I’ve been on a quiet road, driving through beautiful scenery, I’ll admit that driving is nice. But I can’t help but think to myself that being there on the bike would be so much better…

BTW, in a nod to a recent thread I saw a five year old Audi TT convertable for sale yesterday on a local forecourt for under seven grand.

Warrington?

MF – A10 650 twin pre unit

Late, leisurely hotel breakfast to let the rush-hour die down and then a few hours with just the sunshine and some music whilst being paid

This is just a dream, right?

Very nice 🙂

now, they’re just too good and you need serious speed to get a buzz

you are just buying the wrong cars.

You can drive round in a Fiat 500 or Mini or and Alfa without breaking the speed limit and still enjoy the feeling of driving round corners, etc.

Woody you’ve spent to long with a load of moaners, you need a new station.

Nah Drac – they’re a good bunch in Afghanistanley and I can’t afford the prices in the posh parts of Northumberland!

Any RRV jobs going? 😉

Cruising along country roads in an open top or a classic on a nice day aside, I find it hard to believe anyone is having fun driving without breaking the law. In principle I love cars. But actually driving on the roads?? I avoid it whenever I can as it’s always a miserable congested mess of piss poor driving and idiots.

I’d love to have the money and time for a track toy and I’m quite the closet petrol head at heart. But as a means of transport on public roads there’s little joy in it and the unsustainability of it is painfully obvious to so few people.

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

my morning commute across deserted dartmoor is great fun.

my evening commute across tourist infested dartmoor is hellish. still better than slogging through plymouth traffic and a nice fast quattro helps….

I used too, but not any more. Costs of insurance, serivcing, fuel, tax went up and up, whereas enjoyment of driving went down and down, with increasing amounts of traffic, congestion, traffic calming and so on. I found buying a fast car just meant paying more money to be stuck in the same traffic jams as everyone else 90% of the time.

This is down south, i’d imagine it might be possible to still enjoy driving in less densely populated areas, maybe.

i’d rather be cycling these days, off-road, on the road, down the canal path, its all more enjoyable than driving

you are just buying the wrong cars.

Buying?

get out of here 🙂
I’ve not bought a car since 1991

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

Even my lowly C-Max is so drearily within its limits at 60 in a national, have to agree.

Cruising along country roads in an open top or a classic on a nice day

+1, I couldn’t believe the fun or the speed in my old Spitfire, 40mph felt like warp factor 7 on a country lane.
2nd most funnest drive was a Range Rover on an offroad course.
If you want speed and fun, go on a track day. You think you can drive quickly, let a pro show you how to drive. 😈

I used to be really into cars. Had a fair few quick machines culminating in a really really powerful very light Westfield that I used for track days.

I just realised on day that it was just not doing it for me anymore. Now I would rather have something comfy thats fast enough to make progress.

After a few years off motorbike I am back into that now and I love it. I find myself drawn to lots of bikes I want to ride in a way I don’t with cars anymore.

I am off to do a 10day motorcycle tour in France in a couple of weeks taking in the Millau sky bridge then off up to the Alps. I am more excited about this than I have been about anything in a number of years 🙂

Cars are ace – yes.

Early morning summer drive through Snowdonia in a good car is bliss.

You can have a lot of fun in one of these too…