Refinement is boring?

[act smiley]

I think I've got a problem... I seem to like rubbish cars!

So I've recently been driving a slightly sheddy Citroen Saxo diesel and finding it more fun to drive than my Alfa 156 V6. The Alfa is of course very pretty, very comfy, nice to drive (though everything's a little over-assisted) and has an utterly fantastic engine.

The Citroen meanwhile, is as refined as a tin of beans, has an engine that when new had a quarter of the Alfa's power and feels like it probably has even less now. Being an NA diesel it doesn't really rev either, so every road becomes a case of foot-to-the-floor and working the gearbox to keep the revs up, trying to be as smooth as possible through corners to keep the exit speed up etc. Occasionally annoying, but often quite amusing.

The problem with the Alfa is that its almost too good to be fun most of the time - the engine is just a complete get out of jail free card and aside from a fantastic gearchange the rest of the car feels a bit more detached - other than the over-light steering though, its just the inevitable result of the car being made to be more comfortable and refined than its predecessors.

Is it just me?

What should I look at getting instead that actually feels mechanical and less effortless? A petrol Saxo/106? An MX5? mk1 MR2?

 

[act smiley]

Hmm, I think I'd far rather something like an e39 M5 than any 80's hot hatch / performance icon, perhaps it's my age (41), maybe it's because an e39 can still feel like a go-cart after a week driving an HGV....

Having driven a few lairy & very powerful Sierra Cosworths for example, give me the refinement of the later BMW every time.

The Sierra is lighter, and more raw as such, but the M5 gives both refinement and great driving fun.

And that's coming from somebody who hero worshiped the Sierra back in the mid 80's when it was King.

There's a point that this comparison misses though, which is that its not just a question of refinement but also performance. Both of the cars you mention are very quick indeed.

The E39 M5 is pretty much the perfect car in that it's good at everything, yet I now have the sneaking suspicion I'd find it a bit OTT as it would make roads that would otherwise be fun to drive just plain normal because the car would just eat its way through them with no fuss regardless of how badly driven it was. Its just too good.