[Closed] Cars are ace. Discuss

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)

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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:
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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

Beautiful piece of kit
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(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.

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 [b]sunshine[/b] and some music whilst being paid

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.

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

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...

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Some car's are fun.

My midget, doespite it's 101 faults that need fixing (which would make it better, but posibly not as characterfull) is ace.

My sensible boring Ford Focus on the other hand is about as fun as gray paint!

Modern car's are stifled by a mixture of a need to weigh 2 tones to get an NCAP 5 star rating and appeal to mums, a headline BHP figure only achievable for about 3rpm before the redline to apeal to Dads and a mpg figure (thats basicly a lie) that stifles theengine the rest of the time.

As a result the midget actualy does more MPG on the motorway! And there's plenty of 200+bhp MG's getting 40+/50+mpg with modern engines.

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

That said, some utter swine has posted details of his Mk2 Golf 16v in the for sale section...

...for less than the price of a brand new Marin.

I could so easily do it, plus I could probably maintain most of it myself but the missus would kill me.

I love driving, be it my old 4x4 (slow, yet strangely relaxing) or my wife's Golf (fast, yet poor handling). I still miss my old Mk.2 GTi (fast, excellent handling) and my ex-police Omega (very fast, very comfortable) though, purely for driving fun.

Mind you, the Passat I have now is ok. Mixes fast with economical and comfortable very well.

You don't need to have a fast car to enjoy driving. I'm loving the whole ownership experience of this:

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It's free to tax, £100 to insure, 50mph in it feels like 100mph in the mustang did and I get to fiddle with it's workings and you can still get every single part of it either new or repro.
You feel like a proper man after rebuilding an engine or the suspension. Proper boys toys 🙂

I love cars (got a big 4x4) and yes, I do just go for a drive sometimes (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). I love driving, and I especially love towing my caravan somewhere nice, with my dog and all my bikes so I can have a lovely time walking her and riding them.

When I see massive transporters, wide loads, huge cranes etc I always wish I could have a go.

Love cars too - wish I could have a Supra... or an Evo VI..

or maybe an old Mustang, maybe early 60s.. or a chevy with big fins..

oh well

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.