njw
Part of things
Posts: 226
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Feb 22, 2017 20:45:03 GMT
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BMW 840 for me, after all the hype I expected something special. Felt very underwhelmed & looked forward to getting back into the 306 I had at the time! Just seemed to lack the power I expected I suppose & handled like an overweight sea lion on roller skates I find with auto V8 BMW's is that they are more set up for 'waft' rather than 'tyre shredding beast of a thing', off the mark my 540i isn't that quick, in the interests of the thread I would actually say disappointing, mid range is where it gets interesting. The other thing I find with it, and other V8 BMWs I've owned is that they tend to be so refined and the power delivery is so smooth you don't realise how much grunt they've actually got. As an example I was heading up hill around an S bend in my old 535i using the tiptronic and in second gear, I gave it a bootful and didn't realise the inside wheel was spinning up until I looked in the mirror and the saw smoke everywhere.
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Feb 22, 2017 23:00:19 GMT
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My dad had an imported Fairlady (350z) a few years back after hankering after Datsuns his entire life, it felt nowhere near as fast as I thought it should be, generally felt numb and clumsy, the same can be said for the car that replaced it, Z4 coupe. I had just got my mk2 20v at the time which is small and light so that probably didn't help the comparison, not to mention we were often wafting about in a supercharged Jaguar S type R before that which was properly quick for it's size.
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,191
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Feb 22, 2017 23:42:50 GMT
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This is an easy one. BMW E36 323i Manual Coupe. If you read the hype the above should be the thing of dreams. Manual, 6 pot and German; Perfection, right? Not quite. The engine while moving along at a nice pace never made that known. You could rev it harder but it didn't seem to go anywhere, just make more noise. Short shifting got the best out of it. The handling? The car came to me on brand new Konis all round, and certain bits polybushed. While the tyres were cheap they were at least new (BCTs and Acceleras, the better budget tyres or so I am told). It was never that secure to be honest! Even on Contis which improved matters all it was not all that. Then there was the gearbox. I don't get what the hype is about bar people wanting to play with their knobs. Quick change from second to third? CRUNCH! Quick change from Neutral to First? CRUNCH! If you drove normally the gears changed fine. For making progress it leaved little to be desired. Sure it was a light action, but it was not a feelsome one. It's not like it was tired either. I've driven cars with shot 'boxes (I've owned 2 1500 Midgets to testify that!), and the car had a new clutch to boot! If I am honest, the Ford Capri was another one. Great on paper. I loved these cars. I still love the way they look! One day a mate said I could join him as a passenger in one! Unsurprisingly I obliged! Within a mile I realised it was not the car for me. Sure, the engine revved and sounded awesome but you didn't really go anywhere; a friend on a chipped Focus TDDi was keeping up with him! Then there was the handling. At the time I had my MGB GT on 8Jx15" Minilites on Kumho 711 tyres, shod with SuperFlex bushes and Spax dampers. If you believe the internet it would say it would be a harsh handling car with wierd feelings. In short, it wasn't. What it was, was truly superb. hoopsontoast can testify that. On the same road this Capri felt like a puppy off his lead! Even at 30mph the car felt like it was trying to go sideways, or understeer ; it just didn't want to grip the road whatsoever! So, to summarise, it didn't handle or grip, or even go very fast. It was a lovely sounding Cod piece. It put me off a Capri alot! Even my stock '73 MGB GT was a nicer drive! Keeping to RR traditions I may create an antidote to this thread .
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,712
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Ah that's a shame, the A2 is a brilliant concept. Evidently not for everyone though. Agreed, amazing concept which few modern cars can match in terms of space and comfort. Loved mine (1.6se) but it was shockingly unreliable. Ive been using one for 3-4 months and have had the same car for a couple of extended periods previously, as it belongs to the inlaws. I really think they're an excellent car, I had no troubles driving it and I'm 6'4" with size 11 work boots. Way bigger inside than their size would suggest too. They can be a bit crashy/noisy on rough roads, something I put down to the ally monocoque and plastic panels. I was willing to forgive this though as I think you can really appreciate how much lighter They are than anything else their size, especially when 'pushing on'. Theirs is a 1.4 petrol and is let down by some niggly electrical issues, but if I was in the market for a modern daily driver is have the 1.4 tdi without question after having the same engine in our lupo. I've noticed that people tend to buy them And then keep them way longer than 'that sort' of person usually does. The sort of people who usually change cars every 3 years are keeping them indefinitely. A future classic I'm sure.
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fad
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,781
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If you are in the market, don't buy an diesel anything - the reckoning is coming, believe me. So this thread... Well... It seems that it is completely subjective. One man's firebreathing slut is another's "no thanks" - I love threads like these. There are, like, zero cars left to go out and buy if we took the advice here lol! Some cracking reads though. I wonder if anyone here is a statistician who could put the cars mentioned in order of crapness for us?
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Feb 23, 2017 10:33:38 GMT
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My foray into BMW driving has dissapoi ted me the most. I still fancy an e28, which i liked as a kid but havent driven yet, butbi recently drove a 51plate 319i and a brand new 320d. Both of which i know are not BM's most spicy flavoured cars, but from all the hype i was expecting a lot more than what i got. Both were as bland as a staff-room microwave, the 319i had such ruinously uncomfortable seats although its power delivery wasnt bad for what it was, the 320d however was just boring! All the gadgets (although i could hardly fathome any of them...) but absolutely no soul, certaintly not the 'driving machine' bmw and their fams would have you believe. The 320d was a mates car actually, and he swapped a 57plate fiesta zetec S for it, i drove that too and it was, fun, revvy, well balanced and felt a much nicer place ti be. I told my mate he was a plonker
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Feb 23, 2017 10:43:40 GMT
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My foray into BMW driving has dissapoi ted me the most. I still fancy an e28, which i liked as a kid but havent driven yet, butbi recently drove a 51plate 319i and a brand new 320d. Both of which i know are not BM's most spicy flavoured cars, but from all the hype i was expecting a lot more than what i got. Both were as bland as a staff-room microwave, the 319i had such ruinously uncomfortable seats although its power delivery wasnt bad for what it was, the 320d however was just boring! All the gadgets (although i could hardly fathome any of them...) but absolutely no soul, certaintly not the 'driving machine' bmw and their fams would have you believe. The 320d was a mates car actually, and he swapped a 57plate fiesta zetec S for it, i drove that too and it was, fun, revvy, well balanced and felt a much nicer place ti be. I told my mate he was a plonker Everyone I talk to thats looking for a 3 series get's upset when I tell them to avoid any 320d, that engine ruins them. I had a 2004 e46 320d (when it was 4 years old) and I loved the car, but hated the engine.
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Feb 23, 2017 12:47:52 GMT
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E36 328i Sport. This car was incredibly disappointing... DSCF2001 by dbizzle_, on Flickr ...largely because I knew there was a good car in there, somewhere. But the bloody thing broke so many times, in so many different ways, that I just hated every moment of owning it. There was always something going wrong, and nothing on these cars is cheap to fix. Lost a fortune on that car, sold it in disgust. Would very much like to try a good example of a 328i Sport one day, to exorcise the demons.
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Feb 23, 2017 12:49:44 GMT
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...and it's exactly the same story with the Coupe 16v Turbo. 13-03-2011 16;27;00 by dbizzle_, on Flickr Felt like it should have been a great car. But it was always broken, in new and surprising ways.
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Feb 23, 2017 13:18:05 GMT
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E36 328i Sport. This car was incredibly disappointing... ...largely because I knew there was a good car in there, somewhere. But the bloody thing broke so many times, in so many different ways, that I just hated every moment of owning it. There was always something going wrong, and nothing on these cars is cheap to fix. Lost a fortune on that car, sold it in disgust. Would very much like to try a good example of a 328i Sport one day, to exorcise the demons. I owned one for 12 years. Only sold it just over a year ago. Not a single thing went wrong with it in that time apart from a split air hose. Other than serviceable items and upgrades it needed nothing. Amazing car.
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Specialist Bodyshop & Fabrication Classic, Retro, Prestige & Custom Small Repairs to Concours Restorations Mechanical Work Vintage to Modern
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Feb 23, 2017 14:30:05 GMT
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I owned one for 12 years. Only sold it just over a year ago. Not a single thing went wrong with it in that time apart from a split air hose. Other than serviceable items and upgrades it needed nothing. Amazing car. Ha ha, I'm not saying they're bad cars! I'm saying my one was a bad car...
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Feb 23, 2017 14:42:46 GMT
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I owned one for 12 years. Only sold it just over a year ago. Not a single thing went wrong with it in that time apart from a split air hose. Other than serviceable items and upgrades it needed nothing. Amazing car. Ha ha, I'm not saying they're bad cars! I'm saying my one was a bad car... Yes, I understood that! Was just giving the complete opposite account. There are bad examples of every car, even if they're properly maintained etc.
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Specialist Bodyshop & Fabrication Classic, Retro, Prestige & Custom Small Repairs to Concours Restorations Mechanical Work Vintage to Modern
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mgmrw
Part of things
Posts: 701
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Feb 24, 2017 21:06:21 GMT
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Circa 2010 Porsche 911 GT something or other.
Was few months old, 4wd, semi automatic transmission. Awful in every way.
Instructor waxed lyrical about it. It was gash.
Shift button on the wheel, there the horn was, dull engine note, VW bits all over the cabin. £145k of disappointment.
Rapid as hell. But boring in doing so.
The 10 year old 360 Modena was tatty, abused, slower... But better in EVERY possible way. Viceral, heavy handling, noisy, the most instant throttle response ever. Loved it.
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Feb 25, 2017 23:48:39 GMT
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The never meet your heroes thing is so true . As a boy my dream car was the the Porsche 911 (still is) but my first drive in one left me so ,so disappointed . A few years ago I was working with a car trimmer who had the job of creating the interiors for a local Porsche conversion specialist ,whose thing was converting tired 80's 911's into bespoke early 70's cars but with modern running gear. Normally we got the cars first ,before they went off to have the body and mechanical mods done and with limited space in the unit we could only cope with one on site at a time . So when I turned up one morning to find a 3.2 targa left outside the workshop doors, after thinking oh curse word what are we going to do with this, I called the specialist and he said "just take it home mate and use it for as long as you like" the only option was to take it home with me. Man I was so excited firing up that flat six to make the trip home I had the shakes but what a let down it turned out to be ,it was just Dull with a capital D . Maybe the faded gold paint and the threadbare beige cloth interior didn't help but I couldn't help thinking it was just a grunty version of my beetle. I was so under whelmed that after taking my boy for a spin round the block ,just so he could tell the kids at school he'd been out in a Porsche,i parked it on the drive and never used it again .Talk about bursting my car dream bubble. The flip side to this and the reason I would still kill to own one even after my disappointment, was a few weeks later we had the same space problem but this time with a completed converted car back for some snagging issues . This machine was one of his lightweight track inspired specials ,with a later tuned 3.6 ,big brakes, performance exhaust ,adjustable race suspension ,lightweight glass and interior ,roll cage ,etc etc . this was the actual car I honestly don't think ive ever driven anything since that excited me like that car did, it was everything I expected the stock 911 to be and more ,just the sound of that flat 6 at full chat ,howling through the custom exhaust made my palms sweaty and my heart beat like crazy ,in fact I probably didn't use it as much as I could of ,purely out of fear that I would kill myself in it.
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66 Beetle
63 thunderbird
97 mx5
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I run quite a risky move saying this as it's a hero car for some, but the e39 m5s I've driven have all done the same for me. They are not as quick as I expected, and while they are great in most other ways as any e39 bmw is, they just don't have the note or get up and go that I'd like. The first one I bought I was driving my short ratio e34 540i manual as a daily and that thing was like a scalded cat and needed 3rd or 4th gear to exit a junction safely or else the whole Street filled with tyre smoke. It urged and urged onwards. Even the modified m5s I've driven recently didn't have the same go, one came close, but it should be miles better... and that's after it had a load of mods and had just been worked on further by us....
Most other things I find something to redeem them. The sdi golf I drove for a few weeks once was soul sapping, but I expected that, so it wasn't disappointing.
I'm still to this day hugely disappointed that the stainless exhaust fitted to my alfa 156 v6 ruined it and made a horrid drone from it, would love to put a standard one back on.
The alfa 164 12v v6 I had didn't drive like I hoped it would, three weeks I kept that only. Just had no go, can't really remember much apart from I didn't like it. Still want a 24v.
Oh, ford transit connect. Expected a frugal, reliable, Hardy little van to replace some aging berlingos. Got a thirsty, not overly reliable, starting to rust, incredibly, incredibly slow noisy low spec crate with an interior I couldn't abide and seats I didn't like. Kept it a year, staff liked it.
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tofufi
South West
Posts: 1,452
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For me, it was this: A very early MK2 Golf GTI, it belonged to a friend. I only got to drive it round a car park, but it felt dull compared to the aircooled VWs I was driving at the time, particularly the steering. Ironically, my scruffy green van is the only car in this picture that comes up on the DVLA vehicle database 10 years on...
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Last Edit: Feb 26, 2017 9:27:18 GMT by tofufi
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coyote
Part of things
Posts: 96
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i have another one: VW beetle. i hate these things. this one was mine, glad i`m sold it (for a surprisingly good price) just bought it because it was cheap and i hated every single minute i had to spend in this slow,noisy,non-heated piece of curse word! whoever thinks of this as a good car must have been riding a bike all his life before or be a masochist. i`d rather walk than driving one of this things again. glad they rust so well, so the most of the 15 million they made are gone forever.
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Don`t eat yellow snow!
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Feb 27, 2017 21:05:35 GMT
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Mk3 vw caddy van... my god they are dull...
Other than that. Audi s4 late 90s one.. absolute steaming pile of boredom
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Feb 28, 2017 23:43:33 GMT
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my vote is the mk4 astra (astra G) 2.2 sri. (stock image taken from ebay, sorry if the owner reads this ) my reason for this vote is purely because vauxhall had the audacity to market this as the flagship sporting astra.
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A 1995 2.4 petrol lwb frontera, i didn't expect it to be great but I actually hated the damn thing.
I also had a mk1 mr2 about 15 years ago, I'm sure that one in decent condition would be sort of fun to drive but mine was a heap. I expected go-cart, I got horse and cart
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