Do fast cars provide long term satisfaction?

Soldato
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Well yeah you get used to the speed but the real question is do slow cars provide long term dissatisfaction and the answer is yes.
 
Caporegime
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It depends on you as a person. If it was viable I'm sure most people would love a new car every 3 months.

It shouldn't take you more than that to get bored and want something different. However that isn't really viable unless you like setting fire to money.

There is a business that could be made from this. Say you have 50 cars and timeshare them between 50 people. Where they can't book the same care more than once and they have them for a week at a time. So they have to go through all 50 cars of varying class and power.

You could also have an elite membership where they get an even better selection of 50 cars.

Wouldn't be cheap plus it's likely the demand wouldn't be enough here would need to be in a major city with a lot of rich people with money to burn. London and the footballers scene would be a good one to crack.
 
Caporegime
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I never understood why people had classic cars when I was younger when there was plenty of fast stuff about but their is something really satisfying taking a slow car to 10/10th then driving an extremely capable car at 50% of its potential because the roads do not allow it. Then you take that fast car on a track where you can exploit its power but then quickly realize you are better off having something dedicated to that.

For me at least chassis and user interface is the most important thing when driving a car for fun.
 
Soldato
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10,401
You'll always get used to power but if the rest of the package works for you it's much easier to find a happy place with it. Buy a car that is either completely impactical for you or only appeals for the power and the novelty is unlikely to last.

Interesting the OP has a Spec B as i've been half considering cashing in on the fact that the Focus has lost very little value in the last two years, pocketing a few grand and picking up either another reasonably nippy estate(i.e spec B) or changing the type of car completely and finding somehing like a decent V8 Lexus GS for similar cash.

I'm finding it really difficult to even start to justify moving the car on though as it just works for me as a package. 270/280 bhp, just under 1.5 tonnes, handles pretty well and can deal with family plus dog - hard to complain really.
 
Associate
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Peterboghorror
I'm trying to work this out at the moment. I ran a 2007 350Z for four years and have now moved to an E92 M3. The performance is obviously quite a bit higher but you can't really ever floor it through the gears as you are doing over 100 in what seems like no time. Doing track days in the 350Z showed me that I would never get near to what even that car would do on the road so the M3 just has even more performance that I will never use.
 
Permabanned
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It depends on you as a person. If it was viable I'm sure most people would love a new car every 3 months.

It shouldn't take you more than that to get bored and want something different. However that isn't really viable unless you like setting fire to money.

There is a business that could be made from this. Say you have 50 cars and timeshare them between 50 people. Where they can't book the same care more than once and they have them for a week at a time. So they have to go through all 50 cars of varying class and power.

You could also have an elite membership where they get an even better selection of 50 cars.

Wouldn't be cheap plus it's likely the demand wouldn't be enough here would need to be in a major city with a lot of rich people with money to burn. London and the footballers scene would be a good one to crack.
There are already a couple of clubs like that... one has a tier with things like Veyron and F40
 
Soldato
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Depends what the fast car is, otherwise (as commented) a slower car with good handling, smooth power delivery, nice engine note (inline NA >=6), plus economy!, may be more satisfying.

[
I'm sure most people would love a new car every 3 months.
can you learn a car in 3 months
]
 
Caporegime
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In acme's chair.
I had 190HP and it felt like a rocketship for a few months, then it felt slow to me.
I then had 250HP and it felt like a rocketship for a few weeks, and then I wanted more...
I now have 300HP and I can feel myself getting used to it...
Need to save a few more pennies and then I shall have 350HP. :p
 
Joined
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Wilds of suffolk
In short my first answer would be no. In fact the last fast car I had was a modified scoob, and I actually found I was getting annoyed at struggling to drive at a level that was fun, because I was cnstantly in traffic or village speed limits etc. By fun I mean even starting to be some challenge.
Plus by then you are either close to or in three figure land and its just not worth the risk.

The most fun car I played with was a 1.7 puma, I bought it for cheap motoring when I left a role and was going to spend 3 months on garden leave, I actually still had my company 5 series but once I bought the puma I didnt go out once in the BMW until I took it back on my last day of leave. That cars limits were low, relatively light and with the 1.7 not particularly slow.

Honestly though I guess it really depends on what you want to be fun, if its just acceleration then thats one thing, if its some driving challenge then thats another.
Also your personal view on the line between fun and driving safely on the roads. Most modern cars are capable of driving well above the limits of what you can do according to the law, so this also affects your personal point where you would be wise to set your limits IMO
 
Man of Honour
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I keep thinking my car is down on power. It isn't, I'm just very much used to it. I have to be very very careful when I drive my wife's car, especially on brakes - the AMG brakes are very powerful, especially for a very light car. The initial excitement soon wears off though and you are soon looking to the next car - I look at cars like the TTRS, M4, R8, SL63 etc, but then think about the cost and wonder if its worth it anymore. I have the odd day like Saturday morning when the roads were warm and deserted and I had some fun, but I don't do it much anymore.

It can also attract the wrong type of attention - from window beatings to two fingers when I am genuinely not in the wrong (I'll apologise if I am), I doubt if I was driving a cheaper car anyone would care.

I don't even bother with car meets anymore.

You get used to the power of the car pretty fast, but there is more to satisfaction with cars than just speed :)

Heh, true. I enjoy washing it and watching it shine on the driveway more than anything else.
 
OcUK Staff
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As already said here, chassis is important.

Also what is a fast car if it don't feel fast?

Some cars makes 100mph feel like 50mph, whereas other cars 50mph can feel like 100mph.

Fun is subjective!

I drove quite a lot of stuff, the 458 won by a country mile because of its chassis, you can drive at 50mph hardly pushing the car but it feels fast and like a race car, or you can drive it around 8-9/10th's and feel like your flying, its a crazy experience, its a quick car but its not the fastest I could have got a much faster car but they lacked the audio experience and simply did not feel engaging or fast without going like twice the maximum speed limit.

The 458 feels mid engine on turn in and superbly balanced and fun at all speeds, but at the same time if you dial the traction systems towards off or off it goes from feeling like a mid-engine supercar to more of a front engine, RWD drift car with beautiful control, how they did it, I will never know, but easily the best car I've owned by miles for its ability, performance but most of all how much fun it feels even at low speeds, plus its really got that special feeling that so many cars simply don't have.
 
Caporegime
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In acme's chair.
Yeah I must say my ratty old MX5 was much more fun than the Volvo is despite the Volvo having three times the power and being hugely faster as a result. Probably half the 0 - 60 time etc.

But as Gibbo says it makes 100MPH feel like 50MPH whereas the MX5 was the other way round, so it was possible to have fun with less risk!

Still, I do enjoy the shove of the torque in the Volvo, and the 5 cylinder noises and turbo fluttering... :D
 
Caporegime
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On the road....
Long term,it very much depends on the car.

I’ve known an old boy since I was at school who has a current model M5 along with an Audi TTS (his wife’s car) and a fair few other golden oldies.

The M5 is replaced every 3-4 years, he’s had every model from the original e28 (by far his favourite of them) to the G30 over the years.

Despite his long line of M5’s and other quick cars, the one car he takes out purely for fun is the one he’s owned since it was new, ~31 years ago. An e30 M3.

So long term the e30 has most certainly provided him with satisfaction,he liked it so much he’s still got it.

He never had a hankering to hang onto any of his M5’s even the original e28.

The e30 is slow by modern standards but is still a wonderfully involving thing to drive and that’s the key,it’s not down to the performance it’s how it’s experienced imo.
 
Caporegime
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21 Jun 2006
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38,372
There've been car clubs in the UK forever. How old are you sunny?

I'm early 30's but I've never seen anything other than hiring sports cars for a day or so.

D

can you learn a car in 3 months

why not? if you want to learn it's limits give it some beans while cornering. not that hard to figure out what it can handle. best to do this on a large roundabout, inside lane when it's quiet. that way if it slips you can let go of accelerator and recover. if it doesn't let you then hit the brakes.

any car can go fast in a straight line. all you need to learn is how it handles corners.
 
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