Edited by SLO76 on 12/05/2024 at 15:19

I really miss my invites to Company Car in Action where you could spend the day trying out all the various models from most of the manufacturers.

In the past the cars that gave me the buzz were the Subaru Impreza , Honda Civic R and Honda S2000. Especially on the alpine circuit.

But surprisingly out of all the modern cars it was the humble Volkswagen Golf GTD that impressed the most by offering old style diesel punch low down and nimble handling.

looking back on older cars that still look great, my vote goes to the Mk 2 Audi 80 and Mk1 TT, not forgetting the NSU RO 80 in those never to be repeated colours .

I think the Suzuki swift sport that has just gone out of production, was the last of the affordable old style hot hatches.

My wife has a 2014 Swift sport. We've had it 9 years.

Great fun and mega reliable.

Last hot hatch made with normally aspirated engine.

My wife refuses to replace it.

I drive a CX-5 week days.

Comfortable and nice to sit in but roly and heavy in corners

At weekends (when swmbo) isn't driving it, the MX-5 is a relative revelation.

I also always enjoy washing and waxing the MX too as its curves always look great when shining.

Very, very little interests me, new car-wise.

. If asked today what your favourite current car is what would be your answer?

Rolls Royce Spectre. Is there anything better?

Very posh taste John.

Perhaps you should have asked what's your favourite best value for money car? In which case I would have naturally suggested my own 'poor man's Bentley' (a 2005 Audi W12 SWB sport quattro)

Agree with you both, car design for normal people like us interested in cars and able to maintain our own peaked in the 90's, some makes and models still available well into the noughties from some conservative Japanese makes in particular refusing to fix what wasn't broken until what came next could be proved beyond doubt.

We would and will have a modern car when the old ones we currently run are beyond saving (almost certainly a Toyota hybrid), though in the case of the Landcruiser there's a fair chance i'll peg it before the vehicle does.

edit, Ian_SW is in good company here too, why people boast about never washing their car let alone looking after it mechanically just does not compute, is it the poor mans version of showing to the rest on the housing estate that you are too well heeled/important/busy to be bothered with such menial tasks.

Edited by gordonbennet on 13/05/2024 at 09:46

<< I simply don’t desire anything in current production. >>

You aren't expected to, SLO. Cars now are boxes with too many safety and gimmicky features, which will soon (allegedly) take you anywhere with very little input from you.

Cars are like appliances white goods, when u getting older ur interest in cars die out, I got myself a yaris 15 plate dare I say deisel a very basic car, but with a 1 4 deisel turbo engine the same one found in the auris, it's around a sec quicker and faster due to its light body.

it's the pace of life other things demand your attention, you got family work colleague even spending time on the mobile phone.

I done a motor mechanic course at the local college passed the level 2 imi I recommend it, as I done diy on my yaris saving money.

If u remember the 80s the word gti was the ultimate car. The cars in the 80s were recognisable by the manufacturer., Peugeot 205, 309, fiesta xr2 golf gti iconic shapes

The other thing which I don't get is that it has somehow become deeply unfashionable to bother looking after a car. People who spend a bit of time looking after an ordinary car are now seen as a bit wierd. Even just giving your car a quick wash and hoover on a Sunday afternoon seems to have been conflated with the really obsessive car cleaning people who spend hours cleaning every bit of dirt out of the engine bay and polishing the washer fluid bottle.

Cleaning your car seems to have become seen as either a necessity you pay someone else to do, or something which you actively avoid and take a wierd pride in having the car a complete tip because you don't like cars.

It’s just pure laziness and the rise of PCP and thus take no ownership….why bother spending money on something I don’t own mentality…..

In the good old days cars offered very different qualities - speed, handling, comfort, quality, mpg, etc. Clear national differences influenced design characteristics. None could satisfy all requirements - owners needed to prioritise qualities they valued.

An E-type Jag under optimum conditions did 150mph and 0-60 in ~7 secs - a level of performance easily matched by a moderately endowed family hatch today.

Buyers no longer really need to prioritise. A £25k (new) car can deliver all that 98% of motoring public need or are capable of using. Spending 4 times as much buys little more usable functionality - just a few more gizmos and a bit of carbon fibre!

Cars are designed and manufactured using similar techniques to meet the needs of as many international markets as possible. That the end products are almost indistinguishable is unsurprising.

Driving pleasure arises from the belief that ones input into the process makes a real difference. This would only be the case if cars performed less well than they do - and what intelligent manufacturers is going to build cars with known inadequacies.

Much as I find the noise of hundreds of them heading up into dales on a sunny weekend annoying, motorbikes are the one area where something interesting is still affordable to "ordinary" people.

Yes, I'm not a biker, but I can see that there is still a lot of interest around motorbikes. Many manufacturers, engine configurations, styles. And all topped by the unbanned TT.

Cars just leave me cold these days. And it's not just an age thing. There is nothing to stir the soul. That era of style and individuality is over.

If I had enough money, I'd happily buy a brand new Morgan Plus 4 as something to enjoy on a nice day rather than buying a car merely as a tool. It wouldn't be particularly practical as day to day transport though.

Funnily enough we kind of thought we could just about afford a new Bobby basic one a few years ago when we did the factory tour. At the end there was a new car sat there which was a prize and not for sitting in - we must have shown too much of an interest in it as suddenly we were invited to sit in it. Bubble burst seconds later when I realised I could only push the clutch down on entry and release on exit - my fault I'm tooo big.

Actually my favorite car of all time was rather slow - I restored a 1961 Moggy Minor 948cc a few years (er decades) ago. I also had a company car then as well but I loved using "Alf" when not working as I was sick of being in my company car (65k miles a year then!). I did a surprisingly long distances in the Moggy and bar the usual SU electric fuel pump issue it was remarkably reliable. No power steering or servo brakes and drums all round but everything was in good order. Clearly not great on the motorway but it was great fun on country lanes. Rose tinted glasses probably but compared to my bland 1.3 mkIII Escort it was a tonic to the system.

Favorite "normal" car was a Saab 9000cs turbo.

Edited by Big John on 13/05/2024 at 22:48