If you've driven your dream car(s), did it live up to expectations?

HangTime

HangTime

HangTime

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Given the aging demographic on this forum I imagine there's a fair few people that had gotten the opportunity to drive a car they used to lust after, either due to getting richer, doing a track day or whatever.
As a kid I was in awe of the F40, which I imagine a few on here have driven (iirc EyeDot had one).

So my question is, if you have got the chance to drive your own dream car (not an F40), did it live up to expectations? Or were you left with a sort of lingering disappointment having 'ticked the box' and found out that a decades old motor with no mod cons and perhaps even underwhelming performance/handling by modern standards isn't quite what you imagined it to be? An itch best left unscratched if you like?
edit: to clarify, it doesn't necessarily have to be a decades old car.

Doesn't have to be any single car, as probably some people had truly out of reach aspirations but also some others they waited a long time to experience.
 
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Back in 2007, I was in the market for a Delta Evo. I drove one - it was at the dealers who specialise (d) in them up north, forget their name. I'd come from an Impreza UK Turbo.

I didn't like it. :( this particular example was at the top end of the market at the time so not a tatty wreck brought over from Japan. It just didn't do it for me.

Probably didn't help I drove a P1 in the afternoon and decided I'd stick with Subaru. In hindsight, the Lancia would been the better long term buy.


Drove a Skyline GTR at one of those track day things. I went with the car I was mostly going to be able to afford at the time - Gallardo, 997 Turbo - an R8 but it was the V8 so that was a nope.

GTR was great, very quick, but numb. Drove the 997 and it felt like it wanted to kill me. Never been interested in GTRs since and Porsche (of some kind) is likely my next purchase.
 
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Drove a Ferrari on a track experience for my 50th. Had to drive it with others on the track so you couldn't really get a good go at it and only 6 laps. It was abit meh to be honest, I drove my Mondeo faster.
 
I always had relatively simple tastes, I wanted a Beetle and a 911 Targa. Hated the Bug with a passion, they were just rubbish to drive and be in. The 911 was a 996, and it just didnt stir any emotions like i wanted.

In recent years, 2 cars from my childhood have become the ultimate, a 240Z and a Celica TA22. Ive driven both, and because they took me back to my childhood, both are still cars I lust after.

Another one id like to drive is the Testarossa. No supercar made in the last 15-20 years ticks any boxes for me, i see far too many of them so the romance isnt there for me, as odd as that sounds.
 
My realistic dream car was an S15 Spec-R, managed to buy one few days before my 21st birthday. Once the excitement wore off, the car was ok, nothing special, I was slightly disappointed.

Some of my other attainable dream cars now have eye watering price tags and although I can afford some of them, they just don't make sense as there are better cars out there for half the price...
 
BMW i8 - very nice. If I were to move to somewhere where I could keep one I’d likely revisit.

Morgan 3 wheeler - I couldn’t get in. And that was before I put on weight.

Nissan GTR - I sat in the original at the Festival of Speed where it was hidden away in a tent and it was love at first sit. By the time I could afford one they’d revised the car and made the cabin smaller or raised the seat or something so I no longer had any headroom.
 
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Ace Modder said:
Those track days are pants and never give you any real chance to drive properly. They are rubbish.
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Don't I know it, but it was a birthday gift.
It was at Rockingham Circuit, Corby. I did tell the instructor who took me round that I enjoyed having a Helicopter flight more (40th birthday gift), he didn't seem to pleased with that. Did a 4x4 drive for my 60th and that was enjoyable.
 
A funny one in this respect - one of the cars I really liked as a kid was the Golf VR6, at around 20 it lived up to everything I expected, now though I find them a bit meh in some ways though they still sound awesome. If I'd never got to experience one until now I think I'd largely be disappointed.

Around my 20s the Nissan GT-R R34 got my attention, I've never driven one but from watching YouTube videos I don't think it would have lived up to my expectations, while the R35 was everything I imagined the R34 to be. I'm still a bit conflicted on which I like the exterior look of best.
 
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Kinda? I drove one a 2F2F R34 replica in Oxford which was great to actually sit in and hear an R34 from the inside. The shame was that the "track" was an airstrip with cones, the odometer and Speedo were both broken so no real sense of thrill. The track was short bursts and corners so never left 3rd, but once it got moving it still sounded like perfection.

But I got to pelt a Skyline for a bit, so there's that. If I was to do it again I'd do an actual track.
 
Wow prices on the R35 have gone up a bit since I last looked - even the older ones are 35K plus, when I last looked they were high 20s.
 
Ace Modder said:
Those track days are pants and never give you any real chance to drive properly. They are rubbish.
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I had one bought for my birthday a few years ago and with all the horror stories about the instructors holding you back, slow down etc I couldn't fault this. The main car I tried was the McLaren 570S and all the Italian instructor kept saying was "faster, faster" and I had my foot floored! :D

He was also told there were no extra laps available as they were far behind schedule, so ofc, he let me have the extra laps and took the rollicking when we got back :p
 
It isn't some mega super/hyper car, but from about 10 years old I have always wanted, and will always want, an original Mustang (preferably a fastback). I blame the Midtown Madness games for this.

A few years back I went on one of the aforemention track days (birthday present) and got to drive a 700bhp ex-race Mustang with a manual gearbox. The instructor was happy for me to open it up on the straights, but he was right in that it was a heavy, clunky, slow turning mess in the corners despite being an ex-racecar, so I took it steady around the corners. Ok, it is going to be nothing like a tidy restored/original car, but it solidified that if I ever have enough spare money I will be buying a nice original example. As long as it has a V8 soundtrack I don't car how much slower a road going variant is.

The same day, I also drove a big turbo R34 GTR which was a much more pleasant place to be, but the Mustang was the standout for me.
 
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tonys said:
Drove a Ferrari on a track experience for my 50th. Had to drive it with others on the track so you couldn't really get a good go at it and only 6 laps. It was abit meh to be honest, I drove my Mondeo faster.
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This is what has always put me off these track experiences. Your never just get given the keys & & told to enjoy yourself!
 
GTAMADDOG said:
I also drove a big turbo R34 GTR which was a much more pleasant place to be, but the Mustang was the standout for me.
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Someone used the word numb above albeit that is more the R35 onwards - the GT-Rs are lacking for raw emotion, but personally I like this kind of juxtaposition of savagery and refinement (mechanically) they have for want of a better way to describe it.
 
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Freakbro said:
I had one bought for my birthday a few years ago and with all the horror stories about the instructors holding you back, slow down etc I couldn't fault this. The main car I tried was the McLaren 570S and all the Italian instructor kept saying was "faster, faster" and I had my foot floored! :D

He was also told there were no extra laps available as they were far behind schedule, so ofc, he let me have the extra laps and took the rollicking when we got back :p
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The rules are always different in Italian.
 
My ultimate dream car is an Oscar India Aston V8 Vantage. And my wife managed to surprise me by hiring one for the weekend as our wedding car, back in 2003.

It was absolutely incredible. But the reasons why it's my dream car are nothing to do with how fast it can go or how it handles. It looked and sounded incredible. It added a real extra wow factor to the wedding. It had people smiling and waving at you as you drove past - even before we added the wedding ribbons.

I thought I'd never get to drive one again, as their value has shot up well into 6 figures since then. Over years of occasionally checking, I've found no-one that hires one out any more. But the wife again has found a trackday Aston experience which apparently includes one. Surely must be a tatty example! But we will see. (And a track really isn't what it's about - but the chance to get behind the wheel of one again...)
 
Honda NSX (facelift) - Yes in all but outright power, my M3 has a greater sense of urgency and my induction/ITB noise trumps the NSX across the entire rev range. Other than that the NSX obviously wins :D
 
The motoring press and owners of cars often overstate how good a car is. Different people also have different expectations and desires as to what they want out of a car. It also depends what you're comparing to/have driven previously.

I wasn't blown away by an E46 M3 when I drove one, for example.
 
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