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Pure driving machines
MarcV - 21/6/24 at 06:15 PM

Hi All,

With all the new legislation put upon the car industry recently (mandatory beeps on exceeding speed limit, lane assist, fatigue monitoring, emergency braking and black box to name a few), these cars really are shit. They will decrease road safety just by annoying the drivers, a very horrible trend has set in.

And that made me wonder which cars are there just giving a pure driving experience. In my mind it may have ABS and airbags, steering assist and even traction / stability control (as long as it can be turned off), but it must not interfere with everyday driving and just provide an experience of being connected to the road and giving good feedback of what it does.

To my mind would come any Lotus Elise, First few generations of Porsche Boxster (hopefully haha). Also the car I have enjoyed the most over the years (own ownership) was the 90s (E36) BMW 3-series. Just looking for ideas on which machines would fit the above, say 80s and newer.

I guess there will come a niche market for such cars, as many people around me also dislike the new cars..

Slimy38 - 21/6/24 at 06:54 PM

Anything with a TVR badge would suit me fine. I've never driven one, the closest I've ever been to one is walking past them in the car park, but I've heard quite a few. I don't even know if they could be classed as 'pure driving'. I just know I want to experience one at some point.

Unfortunately I don't have enough of a driving history to pick a notable car, although I can definitely pick one that is the complete opposite. A 64 plate C class estate that I had as a company car. It was full of all of that new legislation stuff, even though it was quite old. To be honest, I couldn't tell I was going round a corner when I turned the wheel, even the brakes felt 'disconnected'.

[Edited on 21/6/24 by Slimy38]

craig1410 - 21/6/24 at 10:11 PM

I'm very happy with my 2008 BMW E61 535d Touring.

It was a £60k car to the first owner but I bought it for £8k in 2020 with 105k miles on the clock. It has 286BHP, rear wheel drive, sport auto box with paddle shifters and handles great!

It can also tow large trailers and caravans, has built in roof rails for whatever you want to carry on the roof, and can carry loads of people and cargo inside in comfort.

It is modern enough to connect my iPhone to it to play music and podcasts while I drive, but also old enough to not have all that nanny-state nonsense in it. You can also easily get the BMW software required to interrogate and manipulate the onboard computer systems so there is very little you can't do.

Our 2017 BMW i3 electric car is also relatively free of nanny-state nonsense and is also rear wheel drive and with 170BHP of instant power, it's pretty fun to drive fast and a doddle to drive slowly around town.

I agree the direction the policymakers have taken on us recently is not good but I think there are plenty of cars out there for enthusiasts of all tastes.

coyoteboy - 26/6/24 at 09:47 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Slimy38
Anything with a TVR badge would suit me fine. I've never driven one, the closest I've ever been to one is walking past them in the car park, but I've heard quite a few. I don't even know if they could be classed as 'pure driving'. I just know I want to experience one at some point.

Unfortunately I don't have enough of a driving history to pick a notable car, although I can definitely pick one that is the complete opposite. A 64 plate C class estate that I had as a company car. It was full of all of that new legislation stuff, even though it was quite old. To be honest, I couldn't tell I was going round a corner when I turned the wheel, even the brakes felt 'disconnected'.

[Edited on 21/6/24 by Slimy38]


Having been in one, I loved the smell of fibreglass and the random mishmash of parts bin parts, felt like a real kit car! Especially as it broke loose at 130mph crossing the white line under power....

[Edited on 26/6/2024 by coyoteboy]

MikeR - 26/6/24 at 11:25 AM

Neighbour has two TVRs. I thought they'd be the same - very different cars to be out in and both very nice ..... but at 6'2" i fit in neither very well when the hard top is on.

Like Caterham they have a following and owners group who do a lot of activities so as an owner you're in a 'club'

loggyboy - 26/6/24 at 03:48 PM

I think a lot of "the feel" is a matter of familiarity. Being a hot hatch fan and generally always having 1 as a fun road car, I remember years back when moving from a Mk1 fiesta to a MK2 Nova SRi in the late 90s thinking how disconnected I felt in Nova, then in late 00s I moved to a MK2 Clio sport I felt the same, then the same in mid '10s when I tested the mk4 Clio sport, but if I ever went back 2 or more 'steps' to the older cars, that connection I had, suddenly just felt cheap and rattley, rather than a true driving connection.

I do agree driver aids just pander to those who drive because they can, not because they should, and I see more people driving at night with no lights on because they accidently turned the auto lights out. The less we have of them the better. Was also shocked the reverse turn and turn in the road have been swapped with reverse for 2 car lengths and parking in a normal space. They should be adding things not making things simpler!

[Edited on 26-6-24 by loggyboy]

nick205 - 27/6/24 at 08:08 AM

Newer cars certainly seem to be filled with more and more "nannying" driver aids.

However I suspect if things like ABS and traction control were removed we'd see an immense number of cars in hedges and upside down. Both those systems are working far harder and more often than most drivers realise (just to keep the car balanced and stable).

Having gone back to an F reg 205 GTI a few years back (with none of those systems) it makes you concentrate a lot harder!