Car I enjoyed the Most was an 827 honda engined Rover Vitesse.

God, that was good!

Flogged loads of 800’s, mostly 2.0’s and they were much better than their reputation suggested. I was a big fan of these back in the day, especially the 5dr fastbacks. I made a pretty penny flogging them. The reason why the V6 was so rare is that the 2.0 16v went very well itself even mated to an auto box. The original Honda V6 2.5 didn’t feel that quick but the later 2.7 was an improvement. Sadly the BMW debacle meant Rover lost access to this and they quickly had to cobble together a replacement based on an engine that was never meant to be larger than 1400cc, the K series and it was a disaster initially. Later re-engineered cars were better but who thought that three timing belts was a wise idea? It costs the guts of a grand to do the belts and water pump on a KV6 which was widely neglected thus killing many 825’s and 75’s.

Given the criteria...for me, in pure driving terms, (what you would call a driver's car) the ones that stand out are a Lancia Fulvia..road holding par excellence..and a more modern Gen 7 Toyota Celica....both very rewarding to drive enthusiastically.

I haven’t had the pleasure of either yet but for me it’s about feel rather than outright performance or grip. A car can offer huge power and grip yet offer no feel with numb steering, a clunky gear change and overly firm suspension, i’m thinking most Audi’s in the 80’s and 90’s. Yes an S2 Coupe 20v was fast but it was dull to drive while a 1.25 Ford Fiesta or a Peugeot 106 1.1 felt alive and fun. Small hot hatches, lightweight two seaters and basic fwd hatchbacks are often the best on the road. Just reminds me of one I’ve forgot which is the Lotus Elise. Get one with a Toyota engine or one that’s had the K series correctly upgraded and you can keep it forever. I’m bored without a wee toy to tinker with but it’s hardly the time to buy and funds are tight with swmbo a student until the end of the summer and my commercial buy to let investment on a two month rent holiday. Bit skint.

I agree SLO...that's why I used the word "rewarding"..neither of my choices have huge power/performance to offer but they always "felt" right and were responsive and a joy to drive.

Agree about the Elise.,!

Can’t help thinking of the best car chase in movie history every time you mention that big Audi John. The S8 in Ronin was awesome. I loved that film .....

.....Me too! As you probably know, my poor man's Bentley was a stop gap between the old D2 S8 and the D3 S8 which used the V10 (same power, less torque, more raucous). VW decided to reserve the W12 for footballers' Continentals, plutocrats' Flying Spurs (with turbos) and eurocrats' A8L limos. It apparently featured in a 'Transporter' film, a genre of which I am blissfully ignorant.

.....my Dolomite Sprint's powertrain had some impressive engineering....

I can remember helping a friend with his. As I recall, it had both rocker arms and a direct overhead cam. But the rusty body killed it off.

Yes, 16 valves operated by a single cam with rockers. Brilliant! Fortunately I never had to adjust the clearances.

www.uniquecarsandparts.com/triumph_dolomite_swindl...m

The Triumph slant 4 engine Achilles heel is the water pump, mounted high up horizontally on the block driven by a jackshaft. When the bearing begins to fail, it leaks almost imperceptibly from the side of the block. With neither coolant level indicator nor transparent tank, just a few mls each day which evaporate almost as fast as they leak will eventually cause catastrophic overheating of the cylinder head. I owned one from around 44,000 miles to about 70,000 miles and I see from my old Haynes manual records that I fitted a new water pump at 60,500. (I also changed the oil every 5,000 miles!!). Coincidentally - and twenty five years later, I had to replace my TR7 water pump at almost exactly the same mileage. I think the same incontinence problem affected the Triumph Stag's V8.