brickboy

Just curious to find out which cars you've driven which stick in your mind -- for good reasons, not bad. My good memories are:

R5 GT Turbo: the first turbo car I ever drove. Still remember that feeling in your gut when it hit 3250rpm, the boost gauge suddenly woke up and it seemed to gain 20mph instantly. Lovely little rollerskate.

Costello MGB V8: fantastic noise, brilliant grunt. Great on roundabouts ;-)

Volvo T-5: big fun on dual carriageways and A roads -- the fastest-overtaking car I'd ever driven until now.

whizzer

Mine still has to be a drive in a Ultima GTR . Nothing beats a good old Chevy V8 !

simon_prickett

Fiat Coupe 20v turbo, floor one in 3rd and let it keep going :-)

Loved it, sold it and got the Scoob cos the dog wouldn't fit in the boot (not legally anyway).

chiark

I've had a passion for the explosive power of turbos ever since taking a test drive in a Renault 5 GT Turbo...

Guy Humpage

The one car that has exceeded all expectations I had of it was the Seat Ibiza TDi which I had as a hire car for 3 weeks when my Impreza got written off.

It had huge amounts of torque, wonderfully log legged gearing (90mph@3000rpm) and got 55mpg, all it was missing was air-con (which is an option). The UK model is only the 90bhp engine, but on the continent they do the 110bhp engine with the 'sports' suspension - that would be an excellent sensible car.

manny

I have had turbo cars for the last 8 years, and i agree, nothing comes close for cheap power. I was let loose in an RS500 sierra cossie when i was 19, the guy was a familly friend. My main memory is watching my mate in his twin cam corrolla vanish into the distance as the worlds biggest blower span up to speed and hurtled me forward into oblivion. I was hooked and have never looked back. Turbos are the future!!

Diablo

A mini I owned is right up there with the best memories.

Re bored 1100, twin choke weber carb, manic camshaft, lightened and balanced, big valve head, Yoko 502's (10 inch) on wide alloys, janspeed LCB and staight through exhaust.

Had a lot of fun with that!

Apart from that, V12 XJS with TWR brakes, wheels, engine mods, exhaust....mmmm....effortless power all the way to 160 plus..

Stupot

My mates triumph dolomite sprint was pretty impressive

PeteC

OK then, rave-from-the-grave time.........

During the 60's, I drove a Lotus Super Seven (the "original" Caterham) for a period. In its day, it was just about the fastest thing around up to 100. One of the lowest things on the road, too - when stopped, you could stub your *** out on the road! There wasn't room underneath it to run the exhaust, so they ran that along the passenger's side of the car. With no doors ( - you climbed over the side), and with the hood up, it was a riot seeing a girl in a pencil skirt trying to get into the passenger seat. A fuel gauge was deemed "unnecessary", so you had to develop a fairly good feeling for how much fuel you had left. Fantastic performance and handling, but hellishly noisy with the hood up. Great fun though!

Markus

Saxo VTS, my first 'sports' car. Great little beasty, pretty quick, put a smile on my face.

Other cars? DomA's RB5 at Brands last year, especially the bit where he was deciding if he was staying out, or going into the pits lots of fun.

SDB

Ooh.. this is a nice one!

The cars that have surprised me / left me drop-jawed (for whatever reason at the time) are...

Handling:
Esprit S4s (my all time favourite handling car.)
M Coupe
Integra Type R (most incredible FWD car I've ever driven)
EVO 5 RS (Stunning pickup, great handling, no silly electronic interference)
rsquire's 22B (To date, the best impreza (IMHO) I've driven)
Moray's Type RA (first time I'd driven a PS Bump-steer car and nearly went in to shock!! )
Renault 5 Turbo (weren't they great in their day!!)
Capri 2.8 (ok ok it was a long time ago!)
Group A Prodrive Legacy (OMG!!!)
AMG 55 (the most staggering road driving car I've driven. Incredibly quick, comfortable, refined, etc)

There are probably more. Aren't cars great!

Cheers

Simon

FozziesCossie

Porsche 911 Just fantastic.
Jaguar XJR superb car but was like parking a Jumbo 747

TRIGGER

My Daihatsu Charade GTti was fantastic fun - turbocharged 3 cylinder that sounded like a 911, and accelerated like one to abt 50/60 mph.

Also many fond memories of the Sierra Sapphire Cosworth 4x4 when working at Guy Salmon Car Rentals - crazy days.

glen4

A mates Lotus Sunbeam with Hartwell head and cams, running on 48 webers and a group B exhaust. 180 bhp @wheels
Nice noises
Lots of sideways driving and opposite lock

Dr Hu

Subaru SVX - 3.3 flat6 how much torque - probably still the best car all round car I've ever driven. Quick, so much grip and supremely comfortable.

Renault 9 Turbo - R5GT engine in a saloon - it was so damn quick - I learnt to drive in my mothers...!!!!!! - How much fun was that when you're 17!! :0

Funnily enough though I don't rate my Impreza as one of the great cars I've driven - yep its quick but the suspension is harsh and its not refined cruising. Maybe I'm gettin' old!! (99my)

SVX was lovely though.....

Subaru L series 1.8GTi Saloon - fast for its day and made a lovely noise!

Subaru L Series RX Turbo saloon - quite rare and again quick in its day!

Triumph Spitfire for learning how to opposite lock a car under power!!!

Oh! and did I say how nice the SVX was??

RonaldoH

Crikey, I would have to say being a passenger in a Lamborghini Diablo SV with the roof partion off was kinda

The most raging car I have driven to this date was a Tom Wakinshaw Racing Aston Martin Vantage. Spleen ripping experience.

Experience that you cannot find words to desribe-Being a passenger in Simon De Bankes STI at bruntingthorpe doing 130mph in 2 foot of snow following a track that is a tyres width wide and then going sideways and mantaining a steady 90-100mph. Simply breathtaking, look out for the footage on the scoobynet cd and if the censorhip allows it-My explicit commentary!

Scariest experience to date-Yesterday returning from Donno and having a blow out on the M1

R

[This message has been edited by RonaldoH (edited 19 February 2001).]

RonaldoH

Ooops...double post.


[This message has been edited by RonaldoH (edited 19 February 2001).]

SimonD

Citroen 2CV6.........really!

+ of course the wonderful MCoupe

Simon

The_Gza

Best car and experience was driving in the parade lap before the Touring Cars at Knockhill in 1999 - in a 911 Turbo . Not a standard Turbo either

As it was the parade lap I had to take it reasonably easy, but followed an ex-works McLaren F1 up the straight from the hairpin - - we both gave it full welly and I kept up with him Nearly broke my bl00dy neck

Had a couple of sideways moments coming out of Butchers but this was definitely one of the best experiences of my entire life (so far )

I would really like to see a video of the day, but no-one I knew had a tape I could play it for the grandchildren many years hence....

JayRaj

The best I've ever driven was my mates M Coupe. Simply awesome in the wet.

Love to drive a Buggati EB110 though.

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

Both my 106 XSI and my beloved, rather modified 106GTI. Bright yellow, magnex, 57i, Racelogic adjustable traction control etc. Phenomenal car, loved every journey in it. Just traded it for my Scooby though. Wish I could have kept it for the ball and chain...

Alas

Good memories for me would have to be a Saab convertible I had. Performance was rubbish but you could not beat the feeling of cruising on a summers day or evening with the top down. Happy days.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

My last 2 pug 306 gti-6's, people may think that they are a lardy gti but they have so much grunt down low that driving in town is a doddle also an armoured v8 landrover, painted in white with nice UN stickers on, the bullet proof glass was nice too but it was the way the damn thing flew for something so heavy!! oh and people got out of your way

Tony

DavidBrown

My old '68 Mk1 Escort 1600 with capri-struts.

I'm sure I could take roundabouts faster in that than any other car I've had.. or perhaps the car went slower, so could handle it.

And my Exige is simply phenomenal.

GaryC

- Caterham Superlight - the best driving experience ever
- TVR Cerbera - pure brute
- Same TVR Cerbera but as passenger to Willie Green
- Ferrari 355 - driven straight after cerbera - enormous difference, felt like it was on rails round donington park, and the brakes!!
- 991 RS (993) - beautiful allrounder
- F40 (as passenger) - words fail
- First PPP'd scoob - "move over Richard Burns"
and the one surpassed my expectations more than any of the above...

BMW 330d touring - so good I swapped my Impreza for one

kav

I was lucky enough to have a blast in a friend's Seleen Mustang - awesome! 500 BHP + rear wheel drive + huge dollops of opposite lock =

logiclee

Have fond memories of my XR4X4 in 1990, yes I know how crap it is now but it felt awesome back then.

A group of friends used to rally a 2.3HS Chevette, was great fun.

Also had a ride in a Peugeot 205 T16 group B rally car . VIP job thanks to a local dealer back in the late 80's, its now a B&Q.

Of the modern stuff Scoobs, Evo's, TypeR's, certain cossies etc. all impress.
Wifes Uncle has just bought a BMW 330D, very fast and refined diesel, economy I can only dream of.

Lee

SKYMAN

Would have to be two Porsches (both of which I owned before returning to the Impreza): -

1. Boxster - the incredible, fixed at the waist hanndling, which meant that break away at high speeds was just so progressive. Best handling car I have driven.
2. 911 Carrera 2 - warp drive acceleration throughout the gears, but particularly 2nd to 3rd.

But, still returned to the Impreza for all round, all weather thrills.

SKYMAN

Maddy

Most stunning and unexpected car I've been in ... wait for it ..... ....
drum roll..........
* The MG metro 1300 *

what's that laughter in the background ?

yup I can tell I'm going to get slated for this one , (I can sence the Scoobynet admin's thinking this ones going straight into muppet land) but.. 10 years ago I went to buy my wife a cheap little run about and spotted an MG 1300 metro for 1K in the paper , so of we went to his house. arrived and it was a pretty big house and he also had a long white trailer outside his house with his name splashed on it in fancy hand writing, I wondered if the MG was inside it but to my surprise it wasn't , no it was parked in his huge driveway.

Anyway met up with the guy who was in his mid 30's reminded me of some **** star with the gold jewelry and hairy chest bursting out of his shirt, he said "would you like to take it for a test drive" , Gullable as I was at that age I replied "it's ok its not for me but my wife (whom was my bird at that time) would like to !", but for some strange reason my dizzy bird said she didn't want to drive it either Hmmmmmm.

So he said he would take us out for a spin in the country side of where he lived (very picturess) just to show that it was a good little runner.

Well some drive it turned out to be, he floored the b0ll0cks out of it , hand brake turns the lot , was doing 90 on the straight and taking tight bends at 60 without a care in the world (60 and 90 you may be thinking that's nothing new, my scoob can do that without twitching ?) , but in a MG shed of a machine it was scarry as hell , I'm serious I really thought I was going to die that day and so did my wife.

Turns out that he is a professional rally driver and the big trailer outside had his racing machine inside, I was not really into cars rallying or racing at the time so paid little attention to who he was , in fact I was still quaking when I got out but wish I could remember his name, Yes sorry to admit it but the MG 1300 metro was the most thrilling ride yet in my life.

Bet your all thinking you should try to get out more maddy !

So there you have it , 'The MG Metro beast' - or maybe 'rusty old skip' is more appropriate.

Oh forgot to tell you , we bought it..

Maddy




[This message has been edited by Maddy (edited 19 February 2001).]

NeilT

gotta be my old (and now probably very dead)Citroen AX GT.

Noisy as hell (big bore exhaust from my Lax Power days), freezing cold (heater packed up) and rattly as a tin can full of nails - but what character!