Cars EVERYONE should try
01-11-2012, 12:53 PM
#22
01-11-2012, 01:04 PM
#26
Here's my 2 penceworth....
My list, appreciate everyone's is different and some just go for POWEEEEEER.. alas, its not all about that. Although I have some powerful contenders which i consider as just "gotta own" fodder.
Want to try....
E39 M5 - all time great of super saloons. I currently own an E39 530d Sport now, for 2 and a half years, and love it! The M5 is the king, and I still long to own one, despite the running costs. £7k gets you low end, previously loved though. Brave car as a weekender. Yes the V10 is better, I don't care about that. The V8 is what i've always wanted.
Nissan GTR - techno masterpiece. I think if I was stonkingly rich, the other supercars could p*ss right off. This is my top of the list play thing, and the first thing i'd rush out to buy when those 6 numbers come rolling in. It gets away with looking great, its fantastic value and quick enough for my lame driving skills.
Honda Integra Type R (UK) - as raw as they come, its still high on the wish list but it would be for track work only. I NEEEEEEEED an ITR in the next couple of years, really NEED one. This is the next highly likely car.
Once the above 3 have been tried and tested, that's me I'm afraid. Pipe and slippers in a Quash-cordory or something, but I'm certain I'll still have a "weekender" of some sort ( and will NEVER resort to owning motorbikes).
I have owned ... (and this was part of my earlier wish list over 10 years ago. See, I had one then!)
205 GTi 1.9 - ended up buying one in 1999, F*** WFA, in Laser Green. Perhaps the most unreliable car i've ever owned, but it had so much character I'd swear it was K.I.T.T. It handled fantastic on dreadful Dunlops, had also full leather being a rarer SE. Broke down frequently, leaked coolant on earth points, cold started... but I still loved it. You can see why people shoehorn the Mi 16v in there instead of the 130hp 1.9 just to give it that extra 1 second to 60mpg (7.8 standard). Pug did a great job on the 106 GTi, but its not a "Great" like the 205. Its just so balanced and I go weak at the knees when I see one... never again though, unless i'm an old man ready for many hours in the garage sorting the sodding electrics out.
S2000.. 2003 bought mine after visiting Oz. I saw/heard one screaming through Sydney and it had me wanting to go straight back home (i'd just arrived) and buy one. Its a "Great" in my eyes, always will be.
Accord Type R... A respectful Great... and owned this for 18months early 2008-summer 2009. I always knew that in 1999 when i first saw one, I was smitten. I waited a long, long time and bought a tired example that needed my heavy wallet to get it back to its best. Try one, and you'll see why its one of Honda's best kept secrets. It handles on rails!
Also owned a 330d Sport (204 bhp) M57N engine. Great if you like Dervingtons, nearly 700 miles a tank is possible. A bit harsh of a ride, but worth a punt. I'd never say no to owning another.
And also owned the Focus ST in 2006. Terrible fuel economy, about as thirsty as an M3 but half as slow. Its not a great, and wouldnt go back to one but fab sounding engine. Cheap fitting inside put me off also.
Over and out!
My list, appreciate everyone's is different and some just go for POWEEEEEER.. alas, its not all about that. Although I have some powerful contenders which i consider as just "gotta own" fodder.
Want to try....
E39 M5 - all time great of super saloons. I currently own an E39 530d Sport now, for 2 and a half years, and love it! The M5 is the king, and I still long to own one, despite the running costs. £7k gets you low end, previously loved though. Brave car as a weekender. Yes the V10 is better, I don't care about that. The V8 is what i've always wanted.
Nissan GTR - techno masterpiece. I think if I was stonkingly rich, the other supercars could p*ss right off. This is my top of the list play thing, and the first thing i'd rush out to buy when those 6 numbers come rolling in. It gets away with looking great, its fantastic value and quick enough for my lame driving skills.
Honda Integra Type R (UK) - as raw as they come, its still high on the wish list but it would be for track work only. I NEEEEEEEED an ITR in the next couple of years, really NEED one. This is the next highly likely car.
Once the above 3 have been tried and tested, that's me I'm afraid. Pipe and slippers in a Quash-cordory or something, but I'm certain I'll still have a "weekender" of some sort ( and will NEVER resort to owning motorbikes).
I have owned ... (and this was part of my earlier wish list over 10 years ago. See, I had one then!)
205 GTi 1.9 - ended up buying one in 1999, F*** WFA, in Laser Green. Perhaps the most unreliable car i've ever owned, but it had so much character I'd swear it was K.I.T.T. It handled fantastic on dreadful Dunlops, had also full leather being a rarer SE. Broke down frequently, leaked coolant on earth points, cold started... but I still loved it. You can see why people shoehorn the Mi 16v in there instead of the 130hp 1.9 just to give it that extra 1 second to 60mpg (7.8 standard). Pug did a great job on the 106 GTi, but its not a "Great" like the 205. Its just so balanced and I go weak at the knees when I see one... never again though, unless i'm an old man ready for many hours in the garage sorting the sodding electrics out.
S2000.. 2003 bought mine after visiting Oz. I saw/heard one screaming through Sydney and it had me wanting to go straight back home (i'd just arrived) and buy one. Its a "Great" in my eyes, always will be.
Accord Type R... A respectful Great... and owned this for 18months early 2008-summer 2009. I always knew that in 1999 when i first saw one, I was smitten. I waited a long, long time and bought a tired example that needed my heavy wallet to get it back to its best. Try one, and you'll see why its one of Honda's best kept secrets. It handles on rails!
Also owned a 330d Sport (204 bhp) M57N engine. Great if you like Dervingtons, nearly 700 miles a tank is possible. A bit harsh of a ride, but worth a punt. I'd never say no to owning another.
And also owned the Focus ST in 2006. Terrible fuel economy, about as thirsty as an M3 but half as slow. Its not a great, and wouldnt go back to one but fab sounding engine. Cheap fitting inside put me off also.
Over and out!
01-11-2012, 01:55 PM
#28
Registered User
I had a Pug 1.9 205 GTi for a while after lusting for one when they came out. Sold it after 6 months. If I hadn't, I'd now be pushing up the daisies. Impossible to drive slowly anywhere. Bloody brilliant but such a hooligan nature.
Some things I'd love to try but wonder if the dream is better than the reality. For example, an original Lancia Stratos is on my lust list but if I had the opportunity I don't think I'd have one. I prefer to have the dream. I can't help but thinking in reality it would leave me disappointed.
I'd like a few days with a GTR. Don't think I'd ever own one but would like to give one a go out of curiosity. Not something I lust after though.
I'd like to be able to get hold of a nice RHD Citroen DS. Been looking for the right one for years (The ambassador version with the glass screen between front and rear seats) but nothing has come up that's "just" right for the right money. The longer the hunt goes on, the more expensive they become.
I'd like a nice big, character filled V8 at some point in the near future too. Don't know what though.
Some things I'd love to try but wonder if the dream is better than the reality. For example, an original Lancia Stratos is on my lust list but if I had the opportunity I don't think I'd have one. I prefer to have the dream. I can't help but thinking in reality it would leave me disappointed.
I'd like a few days with a GTR. Don't think I'd ever own one but would like to give one a go out of curiosity. Not something I lust after though.
I'd like to be able to get hold of a nice RHD Citroen DS. Been looking for the right one for years (The ambassador version with the glass screen between front and rear seats) but nothing has come up that's "just" right for the right money. The longer the hunt goes on, the more expensive they become.
I'd like a nice big, character filled V8 at some point in the near future too. Don't know what though.
01-11-2012, 02:14 PM
#29
Registered User
My first car was the worst slowest piece of dogsh1t ever coming in at 40bhp/ton and including lows of being blown away by a Toyota Picnic. Strangely, it was somewhat rewarding to drive because you had to screw it to bits in order to make it keep up with regular traffic. I give you the Mk4 Ford Escort Eclipse 1.3 (with a broken suspension strut).
Everyone should drive a Transit van too - I loved being a white van man
The superbike thing is a good shout. If you think a car is fast, it just isn't. Short of being in a Veyron, you will not comprehend just how fast a litre superbike leaves your brain 100 yards behind. You'll also realise how incredibly vulnerable you are on one, thus you'll give riders a wide birth. My first go of a bike was on a GPZ900 on a wet road. Five minutes in I thought I was Foggy. Five mins and 3 seconds in and I almost came off after giving it the beans in first....
ITR is a very good car but felt pretty much identical to my tuned EG Civic (Which, was pretty much an ITR with a different chassis code
). Front underbody brace is the key with those things.I have had a go in an Mk 2 MX-5 and they are immensely fun. If I was going to enter a race series, it'd probably be the MX-5 one, although my fondness for the above FWD is hard to ignore.
Caterfield. People band about the phrase 'Handles like a go-kart!'. I'm here to tell you that it doesn't. Nothing handles like a go-kart apart from a go-kart. However, a Caterfield is about as close as you are going to get with numberplates and, I use the term loosely, practicality for the road. I have a high powered jobbie and have only managed to use it at about 180-190bhp (another 45bhp to go) thanks to a gearbox/differential issue I had. They are in essence a 4 wheeled motorbike except they can outbrake and out corner pretty much everything else. You really do need to drive one (especially as it makes you appreciate an S2000 even more
).Imprevo. Very impressed with these things. They are pretty much idiot proof in terms of how they go/stop. Don't be put off by reports of unreliability. Only if they have been owned by an idiot with a boost controller should they be avoided.
Ferrari. It's a Ferrari so you kind of have to drive one. I have been bought one of those pi55 poor 6 lap experiences in a 360 so I get to scratch that itch....somewhat. I still want an F355 though!!
Couldn't give a stuff about all those high powered barges. I'm sure they are nice for wafting along the Autobahn at 150, but an Airbus can waft along at 500mph and that wasn't exciting either.
The only thing I want a go in now is somesort of Formula car (F3 etc).
