BLD
New member
While my first love is all things moto, I do enjoy just about anything with a throttle and steering. while I have mostly owned trucks, I have been lucky enough to drive some very fun cars in my time. What about you? The funny part is how I enjoyed driving some cars that I never cared about, more than others I held in high regard as a kid.
The honorable mentions for me are my friends? Ford Mustangs. A 1991 and 2007, both manual V8 convertibles. Both were fun, and made some decent power but lacked in the handling and traction departments in the grand scheme. Plus I am not big on convertibles. Overall, cheap thrills and fairly reliable.
I test drove a Chevy Cobalt SS once (supercharged manual) but any cheap thrills I could have enjoyed were gone, with the clutch the sales guy fried leaving the dealership...
I have also driven a newer Chevy Corvette that was totally disappointing. Sure it went fast and handled well, but the clutch was too heavy and it did not like launching in 1st or 2nd gear... I had to wait until third gear to really open it up. It felt like a comprimise between a daily driver and a real sports car.
Now for the fun stuff.
Aston Martin V8 Vantage: My first cool car ever, and I got to exploit it on the Las Vegas Speedway (road course, not oval). Heavy, and one of the slowest cars on the track that day, but I was consistantly surprised with how hard my instructor was telling me to push it. That car had more fun available that day than I knew what to do with, and beat any other car I have ever seen as far as luxury. It really made you feel special driving it. Yup, fell in love with a British girl that day...
Lamborghini Gallardo: This was a first gen hardtop that had been beat on hard! I drove this car on a makeshift auto cross course along with the next two cars, and it is by far my favorite out of all of them. It was an all wheel drive, e-gear equipped car that was rough everywhere, and the trans slipped a lot. With that said, it felt like a go kart and made you feel like a hero everytime you entered a corner too hot! When the e-gear shifted right, it shifted quickly and with authority, and it just went (point and click)! I could see myself seeking out a manual version at some point soon when the finances make sense. I never expected that car to be so fun, especially since it was in such rough shape.
Ferrari F430: I always liked the look of these and was excited to see how nice and fresh this car was. The problem for me was it handled like it looked. Low and tight in the front and big and wide in the rear. It felt like it had a bit of body roll when pushed, and wanted to slide on me a bit. The throttle response was slower than the Gallardo and I never felt like I could push it hard and keep it under control.
Porsche 911 GT3: Dissapointing! This car had a roll cage and race livery so I was pretty excited to drive it. While not bad overall, I felt this car had the most body roll, and the turbo lag caused me to struggle with timing the throttle on corner exits. Plus this is the only car I managed to get off course... multiple times... I know a lot of people who enjoy Porsches, but I just didn?t get it. Nice car overall, but doesn?t get me excited inside or out of the car.
Cadillac CTS: This was a 2008 model my wife owned for a while. While I?m not a big fan of V6s, that little direct injected 6 was a monster! It launched hard, shifted quick, and despite being really heavy, cornered very well. In true GM form the interior rattled a lot and was far from luxurious, but that car was so fun my wife got to where ahe didn?t want me driving it anymore out of fear of me breaking it... In the Caddy?s defense, it took the beatings well!
What about you, what cool cars have you driven? What cars really impressed or dissapointed you?
The honorable mentions for me are my friends? Ford Mustangs. A 1991 and 2007, both manual V8 convertibles. Both were fun, and made some decent power but lacked in the handling and traction departments in the grand scheme. Plus I am not big on convertibles. Overall, cheap thrills and fairly reliable.
I test drove a Chevy Cobalt SS once (supercharged manual) but any cheap thrills I could have enjoyed were gone, with the clutch the sales guy fried leaving the dealership...
I have also driven a newer Chevy Corvette that was totally disappointing. Sure it went fast and handled well, but the clutch was too heavy and it did not like launching in 1st or 2nd gear... I had to wait until third gear to really open it up. It felt like a comprimise between a daily driver and a real sports car.
Now for the fun stuff.
Aston Martin V8 Vantage: My first cool car ever, and I got to exploit it on the Las Vegas Speedway (road course, not oval). Heavy, and one of the slowest cars on the track that day, but I was consistantly surprised with how hard my instructor was telling me to push it. That car had more fun available that day than I knew what to do with, and beat any other car I have ever seen as far as luxury. It really made you feel special driving it. Yup, fell in love with a British girl that day...
Lamborghini Gallardo: This was a first gen hardtop that had been beat on hard! I drove this car on a makeshift auto cross course along with the next two cars, and it is by far my favorite out of all of them. It was an all wheel drive, e-gear equipped car that was rough everywhere, and the trans slipped a lot. With that said, it felt like a go kart and made you feel like a hero everytime you entered a corner too hot! When the e-gear shifted right, it shifted quickly and with authority, and it just went (point and click)! I could see myself seeking out a manual version at some point soon when the finances make sense. I never expected that car to be so fun, especially since it was in such rough shape.
Ferrari F430: I always liked the look of these and was excited to see how nice and fresh this car was. The problem for me was it handled like it looked. Low and tight in the front and big and wide in the rear. It felt like it had a bit of body roll when pushed, and wanted to slide on me a bit. The throttle response was slower than the Gallardo and I never felt like I could push it hard and keep it under control.
Porsche 911 GT3: Dissapointing! This car had a roll cage and race livery so I was pretty excited to drive it. While not bad overall, I felt this car had the most body roll, and the turbo lag caused me to struggle with timing the throttle on corner exits. Plus this is the only car I managed to get off course... multiple times... I know a lot of people who enjoy Porsches, but I just didn?t get it. Nice car overall, but doesn?t get me excited inside or out of the car.
Cadillac CTS: This was a 2008 model my wife owned for a while. While I?m not a big fan of V6s, that little direct injected 6 was a monster! It launched hard, shifted quick, and despite being really heavy, cornered very well. In true GM form the interior rattled a lot and was far from luxurious, but that car was so fun my wife got to where ahe didn?t want me driving it anymore out of fear of me breaking it... In the Caddy?s defense, it took the beatings well!
What about you, what cool cars have you driven? What cars really impressed or dissapointed you?