New car

Skive

my_name wrote:

Why would new cars be bad first cars? You know exactly when everything has been changed and replaced so theres no guessing and hurting your car. Most new cars, unless you've got a lemon, are less likely to have a problem right off the bat as opposed to buying an old one, you never know when something will break. I'd rather have a new car for a first (or any) than some used piece. My second car was used, it was shit! I would have died if that was my first car, I wouldn't have known what to do!

Because it don't matter if you prang it. It also means that you can teach yourself some basic mechanics.

Former Member

my_name wrote:

Why would new cars be bad first cars? You know exactly when everything has been changed and replaced so theres no guessing and hurting your car. Most new cars, unless you've got a lemon, are less likely to have a problem right off the bat as opposed to buying an old one, you never know when something will break. I'd rather have a new car for a first (or any) than some used piece. My second car was used, it was shit! I would have died if that was my first car, I wouldn't have known what to do!

Well theres the thing of like just because you've past your test doesn't mean your a great driver. I'd consider myself fairly safe but i've had several minor (and one pretty major) crashes in the first 18 months of me driving. I'd prefer to bash up an older car then a new one!

Skive wrote:

Typical Bristol mort!

Shut up!

Former Member

Skive wrote:

Typical Bristol mort!

Oi you

Former Member

LacyMay wrote:

Well theres the thing of like just because you've past your test doesn't mean your a great driver. I'd consider myself fairly safe but i've had several minor (and one pretty major) crashes in the first 18 months of me driving. I'd prefer to bash up an older car then a new one!

!

Oh, duh! Good thinking.

Former Member

Skive wrote:

My 205 must have been the most fun car I've ever driven. It was like a fucking go kart and went liek shit off a stick.

MyName obviously don't know what she's on about.

Awesome cars. So much fun, so good as an all-rounder. Much better than my Scooby...

LacyMay wrote:

That Suzuki thing is ugly, as are 205s

Were you dropped on your head when younger or something? They are beautifully simple and elegant - not bad for a car that dates back 20-odd years!

Skive

Click to see more wrote:

Awesome cars. So much fun, so good as an all-rounder. Much better than my Scooby...

I never had a GTi though many of my mates did. I had a GT as a first car and later had a yellow Rallye. Best fun I ever had.

Former Member

Click to see more wrote:

Were you dropped on your head when younger or something? They are beautifully simple and elegant - not bad for a car that dates back 20-odd years!

I think i must of been. I bought a Punto

Why someone didn't talk me out of that one i don't know.

Former Member

I had one of the early 1.9s - a black 1987 one. The original owner had it for 17 years, and had kept every receipt from new. I picked it up for £500 and didn't even attempt to haggle! It was such a lovely, lovely car...

An extract from my old blog, after driving the Scooby and the 205GTi back-to-back - oh, and a 911 as well...

Cor... 21mpg this week. Local hops don't do me any favours in this car!

Very much a car based blog entry, so feel free to bugger off if such things don't interest you. I'll try and keep it interesting to those poor souls in life who just don't feel natural behind the wheel of a car, giving it some beans ;-).

Well, where to start. I've had the Impreza for what, a couple of weeks now. And it's been a very easy car to live with. She starts, she goes, she corners, and she stops. All of them are done with absolute perfection. Nail it and I'm sure she'll hit 60 in well under 6 seconds, likely closer to 5. Keep with a heavy foot and you'll be doing 100mph+ in no time whatsoever. Even driving briskly without nailing it(changing gear at 5000rpm) is faster than you'll ever need.

She corners like there is no tomorrow. Point, squirt, and off you go. No hassle, very rarely a hairy moment. Point, squirt, shoot. Squirt, point, shoot. Play with it however much you like, it just does what you want. Every single time. With absolute perfection, every single time.

Driving down a road is effortless. The clutch is light and easy, the throttle is well balanced, the steering is light and precise, the entire car feels nimble and responsive. Point, squirt, shoot. Off you go again. Blast down the straight and at the next corner... point.... squirt.... shoot.

It's a machine. The wise will have noticed that I've stopped referring to the car as 'her' or 'she' - it wasn't intentional. This car is a machine - a proper machine, with no purpose in life other than to hurl you from A to B as quickly as is mechanically possible. Boot it and... BANG BANG BANG... 100mph+, no matter what the weather is doing, nor the camber of the roads, nor anything else. It goes, it grips, and.... it just carries on doing so. All you do is plant your foot and change gear. Very quickly... and very often.

When you're used to driving a car, you don't have to look at the speedo. From the general sense of speed of items going past, and from the noise from the road or engine, you get used to what is happening at what speeds. It's impossible in this car. I was pretty handy at driving the 205GTi in a quick fashion - I knew how the car would feel around certain corners at certain speeds, and I was fairly sure of how much grip I had left. With this thing, I lose all sense of speed. I've gone down a road at what feels like an acceptable speed - the car is quiet, the ride is fine, things are moving past at a normal rate. I glance down and notice I'm doing 80mph without trying. More-so in fact - I've been caught unaware of the treble-figure speeds being displayed.

Soldierly self-restraint is required in order to keep a clean licence. As time goes by, we'll see how I do.

Went to my folks today, and was quite shocked that I struggled to find a good word to say about the car to one of the neighbours. Simon lives over the road from my folks, and was always keen on the 205 - we had several good chats about them. About the only way I could describe the Subaru was...

"It goes like you'd not believe. Very fast, very grippy, very easy to live with."

Unfortunately, that isn't the end of the story. The car felt rather dull - in absolutely every single way, it is a better car than the 205GTi. I don't bang my head 47 times every journey. My legs aren't squashed into my bumcheeks in order to drive it. I can turn the steering wheel with one hand when parking. I've got room in the back for 2 with perfect comfort, and 3 with a little squeeze. The ride is smooth, quiet and refined. But.... but...

The edge has gone. The steering doesn't lack feel, nor is it imprecise. But it's not a 205GTi. It doesn't talk to you in the same way, it doesn't egg you on - it'll do exactly as you ask.

The brakes stop the car much quicker than a 205 ever could. The light weight of the 205GTi meant it could be difficult slowing down quickly with anything other than dry, straight roads. The Impreza is a bit heavier, which helps no-end.

It just feels.... uninvolving. No, it isn't uninvolving. It just feels like it. But it isn't... Bah! I've just been spoilt by having a 205GTi. To think a car that was designed 20 years ago could be more fun than something this modern - it's a strange one to get your head around. Especially as the Impreza is so much faster - on paper, the Impreza should be the clear winner. In reality, it's a dismal second.

Just to clarify things a little, I went out for a good drive in my Dad's Porsche 911. You'll all know already, but a 911 is probably the 'supercar' most people think of when asked to name something quick. It's a pukka icon of what defines a fast car.

And it felt slow.

Don't believe me - I couldn't give a monkeys. If was cramped, I had nasty leg-ache within 3 miles of setting off. It was noisy, bumpy, harsh, and my head was on the roof. And to top it all off, it felt slow. Flat and slow... lovely noise, but flat and slow.

How the hell can you get into a Porsche 911 and call it slow? You can't. It's a properly fast car. As the drive went on, the car started to feel quicker. Bits of the 205 were creeping in - the steering was precise, the ride was shite, the throttle and clutch were extremely sensitive. Yes, I stalled it. Three times in as many seconds, or near enough. In comparison, I've stalled the Subaru once in 2 weeks.

The 911 has many faults. It's very, very cramped for anyone of my height. It's very noise - not just engine noise, but transmission noise and road noise. It's stupidly wide - you really do feel intimidated when trying to drive it. Okay, so my Dad's is a little worse than a normal 911 as it's a turbo-bodied variant, but you sit low down, the mirrors are small, your head is on the roof and the windscreen is basically sitting where your sunglasses would be. It's a dire car. Every time I went to look at the speedometer, I either put us through a hedge or we were en-route to playing chicken with whatever was on the other side of the road. The mirrors were stupid to adjust - the switch is in the middle of the dashboard, but the adjuster is on the door. My knee was wedged on the steering wheel - and the other one was on the door. To change the situation at all, I had to somehow rest my foot underneath the clutch pedal - which was near enough on the passenger side of the car. All the pedals were, in fact...

...but then you get more used to it. The width of the car becomes more natural. You learn the knack of balancing the clutch and throttle at junctions - once off the driveway, I didn't stall it once. You forget that the steering wheel is like a big third bollock situated between your knees and your nipples. You start to turn and the big third bollock talks back to you. The engien isn't flat, nor is the car slow. It's just.... different to the Impreza.

With the Impreza, you plant your foot and it starts to go, then begins to pull your penis out of your arse when the turbo comes in. There is a huge surge as things start to gain momentum through the side windows and rear view mirror. With the 911, this doesn't happen. At least, it doesn't feel like it happens. The car still pulls very cleanly, but there is no huge kick. A quick glance of the speedometer reveals it's going just as quickly as the Scooby would, and the whole car feels like it's going faster than the Scoob. But it isn't.

You start to get the 911 up to proper road speeds - 60... 70.... 80mph. Everything feels much more balanced. This is where the car is meant to be - fast, gentle, effortless cruising. The steering is responsive and communicative, you go quickly as soon as you tickle the throttle. The brakes don't talk to you very well, but they always felt like they'd do as you asked. The whole car just felt much more fun.

I've no idea what I started writing all this for. We're about th change direction... again....

Enter the little 205GTi. With a lowly 130bhp, front wheel drive, and 18 years of use(150k+) under it's belt, it should be tucked away and polished. Used only on your birthday kinda thing. But it wasn't like that. It's the best all-round fun car ever. Period. Full stop. End of chapter.

Nothing comes close. You could drive it quickly and get spectacular results with minimal effort. You knew just how much more the car had to give. It kangarood in traffic, the steering was sodding heavy(proper heavy, even for me). The gearchange was long, the B pillars were about 36ft behind you, which meant putting on the seatbelt involved the help from a passer by. But as a driving machine, it was leagues ahead of either the 911 or the Impreza.

You could jump in and go down any road - and the experience would be easy, rewarding, and special. I think the 911 would give similar results, but the whole thing would take much, much more effort. If the 205 started to misbehave, you knew you could control it. I think the 911 would be most unforgiving if you started playing too hard. Not that I did - I've no intention of 'extreme' playing with someone else's £25,000 toy.

Former Member

In short, the 205GTi was the best car to own for fun. Out and out fun, nothing can touch it. The Impreza is stupidly fast - almost certainly faster than the 911. The 911 offers the best package - it's nearly as quick as the Impreza(there'd be naff-all in it), it would probably offer a similar level of feedback to that of the 205, and it makes a fantastic noise. Once used to it, I think the 911 could be a fantastic drive. But it would take skill to go quickly.

The Impreza takes nothing. It just does it. 2 weeks after buying what is most probably the fastest car in Wildwood, and I feel let down by the whole experience. Not enough to sell it, but enough to know I'd be bitterly disappointed had I longed for one.

Believe it or not, if the Impreza and the Pug were on the drive now, there'd be no contest as to which one I'd use every-day, and which one would come out for some proper driving fun.

The Impreza - An absolute machine. As fast as you can imagine, as grippy as something really really really grippy on top of something else that was really really really grippy, then the two squeezed together in a vice.

The 205GTi - An legend, and bitterly under-rated by the majority of people today. Noisy, cramped, but so simple and perfect - elegant is the wrong word, but in a strange way, it's perfect for it.

The 911 - A proper legend. Known by everyone throughout the world. Hard work, many more compromises than a 205GTi, and slower than an Impreza. Why buy one?

Because you don't buy a car for speed, or grip, or communication. You buy a car for the package - and the 911 is a very nice one, once you accept it's troubles.

The Impreza is a much easier package to live with, but is ultimately a much less rewarding drive than either of the other two. But Mr Blobby could drive one faster than me in either of the other two cars - even if he had one hand tied behind his back.

The end. :-) Bollocks, that was a huge type. I'm not going to read it looking for typos or whatnot - sod them. Hopefully it didn't get too technical for all you boring people who like shopping, computer games, and naked people of the opposite sex. ;-)

Feel free to diss the 205 - after driving a rather rare Porsche 911 and a rather tweaked and stupidly quick Impreza, I know just what I'd go for. Each and every time .

Sorry for taking this so far off topic...

Former Member

Oh. My. God. Click. lol

Former Member

Yeah, but you love me . I can go a smidge off-topic from time to time . It is one of my most endearing qualities .

Skive

Click to see more wrote:

Feel free to diss the 205 - after driving a rather rare Porsche 911 and a rather tweaked and stupidly quick Impreza, I know just what I'd go for. Each and every time .

Sorry for taking this so far off topic...

:thumb:

It wasn't the smoothest, most powerful or easiest car I've ever driven but it was the most rewarding. It needed to be driven.

Former Member

Click to see more wrote:

Yeah, but you love me . I can go a smidge off-topic from time to time . It is one of my most endearing qualities .

Meh. S'pose I'll let you off then, but only cos I love ya!