Car enthusiasts?

[willinglywet 242]

I am a car guy and just thinking is there car enthusiast here? I have always being interested of cars and i have owned a few classic cars which i have been driving in the summer time. Cars i have owned most of them has been european starting at 71 vw beetle.. Now i have a american made car and i am just restoring it slowly as i will use it again in the next summer.

Edited January 22, 2021 by willinglywet

[gldenwetgoose 21,485]

Great topic.  I must confess I've never owned anything special and if I started now it would no doubt be branded a mid-life crisis.

My parents were avid motorsport fans before I was born, and my toddler years were spent with plenty of visits to our local racing circuit where they held season tickets. Back in those days the weekend club racers could find themselves on the grid next to the F1 greats of the era. I got my middle name from the British F1 legend who was world champion of the year.  So that was an era of Lotus Cortina's, Minis, GT40s, Lolas and the Cosworth DFV powered F1 cars.

The next few years saw a bit of austerity and my motoring experiences were helping my dad trying to keep a string of 70's rust bucket cars on the road - everything from being the extra pair of hands for the brake bleeding to the changing of engines on the driveway.

Later was my turn... still only a spectator unfortunately - taking in stages of the RAC Rally at Grizedale Forest. taking my own son a few times to the circuit I'd been brought up, to the now closed F1 Museum at Donington and generally being an armchair enthusiast.

[Kupar 13,335]

I have never owned anything special either. Have had quite a few cars in my time, starting with a Morris Minor when I first passed my test, then a company-provided Ford Fiesta XR2 hot (ish) hatch. Mid-life crisis car was bought for aesthetic rather than performance reasons, but it's still fun: Peugeot RCZ which I love dearly.

[willinglywet 242]

Here are few of my dream cars which i would buy if i got enough cash, maybe someday if i work hard enough or win a lottery..hah. But hey it is free to dream about everything, right?

Porsche and Ford mustang gt350( or any mustang) prices are skyhigh nowadays here, but the 2nd gen firebird is still in somewhat reasonable prices allthough they are creeping up prices too.

Now i own a 3gen firebird and they are still quite affortable but they are getting more pricey aswell, and there is a still quite of them on the market in very different conditions.

[Kupar 13,335]

Just following on from your posts @willinglywet. My RCZ is a lovely car and handles really well, but it's only the small engine (1600cc, 156bhp). They did make a 200bhp version with stiffer suspension, but it was quite a bit more money even when I bought mine second-hand 3 and a bit years ago.

If I were looking to change (I am not, at the moment) and thought I could get the idea past K (my wife, who is an excellent driver and who enjoys driving, but who considers a car to be purely functional) I thought I might see if I could stretch to an old Porsche Cayman or Audi TT Quattro, or failing that, a Toyota GT86. So those are the 'nearly realistic dream cars' for me right now. After that, I guess I would be quite keen to try out a Jaguar F-Type. I will never own one, but it would be fun to test-drive I think. 

I have two friends who are in the fortunate position to have made enough money in their careers to indulge their petrol-head nature: one has a Bentley Continental GT, and the other a Ferrari Portofino. Am I jealous? Just a little!

Pics show my RCZ and the three potential replacements - you'll see a type emerging: pretty coupés!

[willinglywet 242]

1 hour ago, Kupar said:

Just following on from your posts @willinglywet. My RCZ is a lovely car and handles really well, but it's only the small engine (1600cc, 156bhp). They did make a 200bhp version with stiffer suspension, but it was quite a bit more money even when I bought mine second-hand 3 and a bit years ago.

If I were looking to change (I am not, at the moment) and thought I could get the idea past K (my wife, who is an excellent driver and who enjoys driving, but who considers a car to be purely functional) I thought I might see if I could stretch to an old Porsche Cayman or Audi TT Quattro, or failing that, a Toyota GT86. So those are the 'nearly realistic dream cars' for me right now. After that, I guess I would be quite keen to try out a Jaguar F-Type. I will never own one, but it would be fun to test-drive I think. 

I have two friends who are in the fortunate position to have made enough money in their careers to indulge their petrol-head nature: one has a Bentley Continental GT, and the other a Ferrari Portofino. Am I jealous? Just a little!

Pics show my RCZ and the three potential replacements - you'll see a type emerging: pretty coupés!

Nice cars indeed and i bet quite fun to drive too. In the perfect world where i would have enough money i would propably buy a new Porsche as a daily driver, but for my hobby and summertime car has to be classic. Dont know why but i love the simple mechanics and pure driving experience without any modern aids nursing you, its just you who is driving. And offcourse one major thing about older cars is the looks, i cant deny that i love how they look. Offcourse there is a plenty of cool modern cars aswell but its not same to me.

Edited January 23, 2021 by willinglywet

[oliver2 4,418]

3 hours ago, Kupar said:

Pics show my RCZ and the three potential replacements - you'll see a type emerging: pretty coupés!

Car industry: did you mean giant CUVs?

[oliver2 4,418]

19 hours ago, gldenwetgoose said:

Great topic.  I must confess I've never owned anything special and if I started now it would no doubt be branded a mid-life crisis.

I wonder what would be the most un-mid-life crisis sort of car? A campervan? A very old, slow and basic (but now classic) VW Beetle, or a Trabant? A Citroën 2CV? Maybe a Smart Car...

[Kupar 13,335]

18 minutes ago, oliver2 said:

Car industry: did you mean giant CUVs?

That's all they seem to want to make these days 😞

[Kupar 13,335]

12 minutes ago, oliver2 said:

I wonder what would be the most un-mid-life crisis sort of car? A campervan? A very old, slow and basic (but now classic) VW Beetle, or a Trabant? A Citroën 2CV? Maybe a Smart Car...

Vauxhall/Opel Vectra Estate. No doubt about it.

[gldenwetgoose 21,485]

3 hours ago, Kupar said:

Vauxhall/Opel Vectra Estate. No doubt about it.

My previous was a Volvo V50 diesel estate....   that could be the one.

[Kupar 13,335]

The MX-5 seems to have been the go-to affordable rear-wheel-drive, fun two-seater for a very long time, and it's very tempting, unless you want more power. 

[Kupar 13,335]

9 minutes ago, Uroguy said:

If a 2-seater, then no thanks. What do you make of Ford cars?

I've only ever had one Ford - a new Fiesta XR2 in the late 1980s / early 1990s. I loved it. But I was a pretty inexperienced driver then so I can't really give you much of an answer.

I chose a SEAT Altea over a Ford C-Max many years ago when I needed a decent sized family car because the Altea felt more comfortable, looked nicer and was less plasticky inside. 

[willinglywet 242]

This a style of the car i own at the moment. Dont want post an actual picture for privacy reasons.

[willinglywet 242]

8 hours ago, p1ssputz said:

For a second, I thought that was KARR from Knight Rider, but it isn't. If I remember correctly, that body style was shared by GM, Pontiac, and Chevrolet for a while. Might be wrong on that, though. (I feel like it was the Firebird and also the Camaro, but I'm forgetting another model...)

You are absolutely right, chevrolet and pontiac share the same body just a differences on headlights,tail lights and interior. Chevrolet camaro and pontiac firebird are based on the same chassis.

[willinglywet 242]

29 minutes ago, owlman76 said:

I think to appreciate cars and certainly to 'mod' them properly you have to be a cartain age, at least here in the UK anyway. we have loads of idiots near me, sadly not all of them young males, yes females are doing it too, who's idea of 'modding' a car is to tint the windows and the lights, widen the arches and lower the suspension, some even go as far as fitting larger exhausts to make them loud, they are incapable however of doing anything to the engines of their nasty little 1.6 litre engines!

I had one lad in front of me a while back in his pimped up little motor at the junction, I'm behind him in my bog standard 2.0litre diesel citroen, VROOM, VROOM, VROOM, he's revving this thing like he's on the grid at a racing circuit, the traffic clears and he goes for it, phaaaaaaaart!, it was pathetic, all that revving for nothing, just to piss him off I wheelspun mine and left him in a cloud of rubber! I'd much rather have something that looks like a piece of crap but can haul ass when I need it, than something that looks like it's a racing car but gets overtaken by pushbikes. lol

Hah.. that sound so familiar to me,  here are the same thing. Mostly the cars what are "modded" around here are typically bmw´s variable models. All of those things you listed above are common mods of those with a straight exhaust without mufflers, horrible sound with 1.6-2.0 litre engines without actual performance. For myself i like a good and quiet enough exhaust system in my cars.

[Kupar 13,335]

@Sophie may confirm that one of the best modifications you can make is to the driver 😉  

[JDG 870]

I consider myself to be a car enthusiast, although I am not handy at all and cannot do any modifications or maintenance myself at all. 

I have also owned only two cars in my entire life. I first had a Skoda, but it was a RS-version. It had the famous 1.8VT engine of the Volkswagen Group, chiptuned to 235 horsepower. Even though it was "only" a Skoda, it was very enjoyable to drive. It could reach 100km/h within 7 seconds and I once maxed it at 260km/h on the Autobahn (only to be overtaken by a SUV, that's Germany for ya!). I bought it when it was 12 years old though and when it was about to turn 16, the maintenance on it became too expensive unfortunately and I had to get rid of it. The engine was still perfect, but pretty much every other thing on the car started to break down..

Now I drive a small Kia. It only has 60 horsepower, so it is slow as fuck, but I got it brand spanking new (company car) and it is a full option version. Apart from the speed it is actually pretty good to drive, but I would really want something faster again after this. Secretly looking around if I can buy a Mazda MX-5 or something similar as fun car for summer periods, but I don't think it will happen in the near future.

[Kupar 13,335]

18 minutes ago, JDG said:

I consider myself to be a car enthusiast, although I am not handy at all and cannot do any modifications or maintenance myself at all. 

I have also owned only two cars in my entire life. I first had a Skoda, but it was a RS-version. It had the famous 1.8VT engine of the Volkswagen Group, chiptuned to 235 horsepower. Even though it was "only" a Skoda, it was very enjoyable to drive. It could reach 100km/h within 7 seconds and I once maxed it at 260km/h on the Autobahn (only to be overtaken by a SUV, that's Germany for ya!). I bought it when it was 12 years old though and when it was about to turn 16, the maintenance on it became too expensive unfortunately and I had to get rid of it. The engine was still perfect, but pretty much every other thing on the car started to break down..

Now I drive a small Kia. It only has 60 horsepower, so it is slow as fuck, but I got it brand spanking new (company car) and it is a full option version. Apart from the speed it is actually pretty good to drive, but I would really want something faster again after this. Secretly looking around if I can buy a Mazda MX-5 or something similar as fun car for summer periods, but I don't think it will happen in the near future.

Everyone's car history is interesting - thanks for sharing yours. That Skoda sounds like a great thing to have owned 🙂

[JDG 870]

24 minutes ago, Kupar said:

Everyone's car history is interesting - thanks for sharing yours. That Skoda sounds like a great thing to have owned 🙂

It certainly was! And not even because of the speed. I remember that when I owned that Skoda, my dad owned the exact same model but brand new instead of 12 years old. I preferred to drive in mine. All technique was still mechanical and you really had a lot of feeling with the car while driving. My dad's car was all electronics and driving it felt much more artifical than mine if you know what I mean..

[Kupar 13,335]

1 minute ago, JDG said:

It certainly was! And not even because of the speed. I remember that when I owned that Skoda, my dad owned the exact same model but brand new instead of 12 years old. I preferred to drive in mine. All technique was still mechanical and you really had a lot of feeling with the car while driving. My dad's car was all electronics and driving it felt much more artifical than mine if you know what I mean..

I know what you mean . I can switch off the electronic stability program / traction control in my car - the chassis is sorted and though it's FWD I still love to sense the connection to the road and how far I can push it round corners. Just so much more of an experience. Strangely the only thing I find myself worrying about is whether the tyres are OK. Irrational I know, but there it is.

[JDG 870]

4 minutes ago, Kupar said:

I know what you mean . I can switch off the electronic stability program / traction control in my car - the chassis is sorted and though it's FWD I still love to sense the connection to the road and how far I can push it round corners. Just so much more of an experience. Strangely the only thing I find myself worrying about is whether the tyres are OK. Irrational I know, but there it is.

For sure! Pushing it through corners is much more statisfying than hitting 260km/h on the Autobahn to be honest.. 

I by the way really liked the fact that I had a manual gearbox in that car as well. I really learned to appreciate a good automatic gearbox during my job as a driver when I was in college, but in a sporty car a manual is a must for me. 

[Kupar 13,335]

2 minutes ago, JDG said:

For sure! Pushing it through corners is much more statisfying than hitting 260km/h on the Autobahn to be honest.. 

I by the way really liked the fact that I had a manual gearbox in that car as well. I really learned to appreciate a good automatic gearbox during my job as a driver when I was in college, but in a sporty car a manual is a must for me. 

Manuals all the way for me. I drove an automatic Audi 80 for a few months (precursor to the A4). It was a company car and I didn't have a choice. Nice enough car, but I really didn't like the automatic box. (And I kept doing emergency stops when I forgot, and stepped on the non-existent clutch pedal.) 

[speedy3471 10,655]

Iam not much of a car guy at all, not much use for them living out in the country side lol. That's not to say I don't appreciate cars tho. 

A buddy of mine worked at a Ford dealership awhile back, iam in town and ask if he wants to go for lunch, we did. Once we got back he asked me of I wanna take a car for a test drive lol, o say yes. Well he grabs the keys to a gt500, I was driving at 240km/h! What a ride lol. 

When we get back with the car(we burned half a tank of gas lol) my friend tells the sales manager that the hood starts to lift at 240km/h(the hood is on quick pins).he just says ya right and laughs. Little does he know lol

[JDG 870]

13 hours ago, Kupar said:

Manuals all the way for me. I drove an automatic Audi 80 for a few months (precursor to the A4). It was a company car and I didn't have a choice. Nice enough car, but I really didn't like the automatic box. (And I kept doing emergency stops when I forgot, and stepped on the non-existent clutch pedal.) 

Lol, I know that non-existent clutch pedal feeling. It only happened to me once or twice though😁

Before I got that student job as a driver, I had never driven an automatic and considered them to be for old, lazy people. But when I got that job and drove BMW's, Audi's, Volvo's etc with automatics, I started to really appreciate them. It is so smooth while shifting gears and the kick down is quite awesome when you have a powerful car to be honest!
On the other hand, I have also driven Renault's, Citroen's, Hyundai's and those kind of brands with an automatic and then it's not as enjoyable. Also smaller models usually have those semi-automatic gearboxes and those are terrible. Even a VW Up! has that instead of the lovely VW DSG and it is quite bad....

In short, I would say that I'd prefer a good automatic over a manual, but a manual over a bad automatic. And if it's a sporty car, manual all the way.

I by the way have also driven cars with these flappy pedal gearboxes and I found that terrible in a BMW 6 series as well, so that's not for me I guess😁