nearly got the set

[oioi]

been doing a fair bit of travelling of late, tend to fly somewhere (mostly

stansted) and pick up a hire car.

today i got a focus.  so in the last 6 months or so ive had a mazda3, pug

307, citroen c4, seat leon, astra,megane, and now focus. not sure what im

missing in the mid size hatchback affordable range - civic? skoda? that must

be about it i reckon

what an amazingly bland boring pile of perfectly accomplished cars they are.

they will all do an indicated 120 there or there abouts regardless of diesel

or petrol.  they all understeer.  they all squeeal like a stuck pig when

nailed mid corner and they can all be provoked into oversteer with a HUGE

lift mid corner.  for the most they are all incredibly boring to be in and

very dark (tho this may just be hire car spec?). driving the focus wasnt

sure whether i was in the 307 or the astra so similar they all are. all of

them can be driven very very hard with a high degree of confidence.  its not

that much fun except for the fear factor.

the one i liked the most was the c4, purely because the steering wheel

turned and the center boss stayed stationary and the hole dash went amber as

you approached the rev limiter, then when on the rev limiter it flashed red,

as you can imagine much time was spent on the limiter :-) shame about the

build quality as it felt the least solid and the brakes were dead snatchy.

the most damage was caused to the megane where we managed to run out of

brakes, warp the discs and tear a bush or two out of the subframe.  these

simply are not up to the job of 1000 miles of hard alpine roads.  although

also only car got done for speeding in, 173km/hr!!!!!

in summary all boring bland pap that will do a great job doing what theyre

designed for.  just didnt like any of them :-( when did a car stop being fun

and become transport?

[samcooke]

when did a car stop being fun

and become transport?

1934 :

[oioi]

mini? beetle? mx5?

[Boomy]

when did a car stop being fun

and become transport?

When cameras and school runs appeared and almost every single motorway only allowed you to average about 15mph at certain times of the day.

I'm not sure about other parts of the country, but in Kent it seems no matter where you are or how remote the road/country lane is that you discover, after a maximum of about 10 seconds you will have to either give way to traffic or sit in a queue of some sorts.

Even HGV's (sat nav powered no doubt) are starting to fill lanes only wide enough for bikes.

So, cars stopped being fun when every single person and their dog got a car imho.

[oioi]

no thats just the SE

borders are still lovely and empty

[Rory's Dad]

... North Yorkshire too ... and guess how many fixed GATSOs in England's largest County??  None!!  ( but need to watch out for the Police and drive safely of course  )

Rory's Dad

[Boomy]

Ok, cars became boring when the dreaded word "refinement" entered into the automotive vocabulary.

A gritty raw edge that made you feel like you were involved in what was happening as you felt the vibrations through the seat, gearstick and wheel were where it was at  

Computer designed super safe characterless boxes now fill our roads.But then we probably wanted it and needed it to be that way right?.

[pistonbroke]

I was admiring a friends 7 today , looked like fun !

Twas an Austin 7 1930's style open top sports body , centrifugal blower ,side valve , crash box,  drum brakes , leaf springs .

Would love to have driven it bet that was fun to drive  

[cast iron]

You missed out an Almera        

[funbobby]

and a golf