What defines a fast car in 2020?

pugheaven said:
Agreed, the most fun I ever had in ANY car was my Pug 205GTI MI16, that was 196bhp in a car that weighed 880kg!!! That thing flew down the lanes on Spax Adjustables... epic car that was and handled like a go kart. Everything is just so bloated nowadays and there is something missing... I think nowadays a lot of younger guys are missing out on the essentials of what it is to drive a car now... the absolute fun factor you get from just a light car with decent horse power... we're in power wars and have been for a decade. People scoff now if it's not 300bhp!
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Totally agree.
A RS3 is crushingly fast - but is it fun?
 
SkodaMart said:
Totally agree.
A RS3 is crushingly fast - but is it fun?
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It bores me looking at iit like the Golf which I find one of the dullest cars ever tbh. There's a difference between a really good car and a fun car and it seems it's rare to find one that's both nowadays. maybe I'm just an old fart now hahaha... but when you think of the 80/90's cars even NOVA GTE's were fun... and at the time I thought they were crap but looking back now at them... they all had a purpose... fun, cheap and this is the BIG THING... maintainable by most people who can use a spanner... the cars nowadays are so overly complicated and do they give you anymore fun? Nope... no way! You used to be able to delve into an engine bay and work on it yourself, I wouldn't touch a modern engine nowadays...
 
pugheaven said:
It bores me looking at iit like the Golf which I find one of the dullest cars ever tbh. There's a difference between a really good car and a fun car and it seems it's rare to find one that's both nowadays. maybe I'm just an old fart now hahaha... but when you think of the 80/90's cars even NOVA GTE's were fun... and at the time I thought they were crap but looking back now at them... they all had a purpose... fun, cheap and this is the BIG THING... maintainable by most people who can use a spanner... the cars nowadays are so overly complicated and do they give you anymore fun? Nope... no way! You used to be able to delve into an engine bay and work on it yourself, I wouldn't touch a modern engine nowadays...
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Amen brother!

I took a mature lady I worked with to look at a Civic.
She ended up with a gen 4 1.6i 16v vtec lol

We got an invite to the launch of the NSX.
I was 18 or so.
 
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naefeart said:
By that point you’ve broken the inner city land speed record and you’re looking at a steep fine! Bloomin’ emissions regs, strangling all the throaty car sounds
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Yeah sucks - drop a gear and put your foot down my truck sounds great but they tweaked the normal driving mode for emissions/eco reasons and it is quite neutered normally.
 
SkodaMart said:
Totally agree.
A RS3 is crushingly fast - but is it fun?
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It's just a tarted up Golf at the end of the day. But with added understeer, numbness and weight.

There is a huge difference in how light cars feel, the lack of momentum makes them very punchy and it feels like everything is more responsive.
 
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Nasher said:
It's just a tarted up Golf at the end of the day. But with added understeer, numbness and weight.

There is a huge difference in how light cars feel, the lack of momentum makes them very punchy and it feels like everything is more responsive.
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I loved the MK1 and MK2 GTIs
Insurance stopped me back in the day.
 
pugheaven said:
Agreed, the most fun I ever had in ANY car was my Pug 205GTI MI16, that was 196bhp in a car that weighed 880kg!!! That thing flew down the lanes on Spax Adjustables... epic car that was and handled like a go kart. Everything is just so bloated nowadays and there is something missing... I think nowadays a lot of younger guys are missing out on the essentials of what it is to drive a car now... the absolute fun factor you get from just a light car with decent horse power... we're in power wars and have been for a decade. People scoff now if it's not 300bhp!
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I had to Google that varient, looks to be a bit slower than a current fiesta st:D.
 
A Miami blue 205 Mi16 was god back in the day. I remember there was a nice Roland Garros 309 Mi16 in a lot of the car mags too
 
The 205 was sort of the enemy to me.
I was Honda/VW/Ford guy back then.

The 1.9 205 GTI probably was best of the bunch though.
 
Simon said:
A Miami blue 205 Mi16 was god back in the day. I remember there was a nice Roland Garros 309 Mi16 in a lot of the car mags too
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This!
My mate had a 205 GTI but it had a turbo conversion maybe turbo technics can’t remember but one of the buttons on the dash would toggle 160HP and 210HP and this thing running 210HP it felt like an absolute monster, way way faster than say a Golf R today but reality is the 205 would not stand a chance in a race but what counts is it felt insane, huge fun.

Been fortunate to own and drive a lot of stuff and speed/performance does not equate fun. Go drive an S2000 or Boxster 2.9DFI and then go drive an Audi RS3 or Focus RS and the latter two would eat the previous two for breakfast but I’d be smiling far more in the Honda or Porsche on a drive out, yes for a trip to the shops or miserable weather I’d rather the RS3 but it’s my example of performance does not equal fun.
 
It’s horses for courses, ideally we’d all have multiple cars; something modern and practical for the fam, something light and nimble for the thrills and perhaps a classic for chilled cruising and getting your hands oily. Sad fact is many of us don’t have the time/space/money to do this and we try to have one car to cover multiple use cases. Welcome to compromise.

I’m of a mind to start looking for the nimble and classic options, especially as we move to electrification. At some point our options are going to be greatly reduced in these areas.
 
MrKnifey said:
I have got four "toys" and they are all sub 250hp! :eek::D I do want something nice and fast for family duties.. I quite like the Jag XF S
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Not in the same league but I remember having a vRS for ‘family duties’ had to give myself a serious talking to on a couple of occasions.
 
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The problem is so many boring looking saloon cars are so powerful and fast.
You need an outrageous sports car to smoke’em.
Watched JayEmms review of the Z4M (my wish list car, but I will never own one as not willing to pay £600/yr road tax) he said it’s not fast by today’s turbo standards.
 
Owned 205 GTi’s including Mi16 conversion with a 1.6 gearbox final drive. Properly quick. Despite owning two, 1.6 8v, 1.9 8v and 1.9 16v, for me, I always preferred the 306 GTI-6. A bit more civilised, aircon, sublime gearbox and passive rear steer. 6k RPM in 3rd was glorious!

There was a guy that owned a garage that would supercharge the 306 GTi-6 and most made 300-500BHP.
 
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