New Car Choice

ilm_zero7

MattC59
a purple smart car?!

Dancing Bear

MattC59 wrote:

Steer clear of the American rubbish, unless you're going to go for a classic ('68 fastback Mustang, anyone ?). Technologically, they're still in thee stone age, and I'm not talking electronics, I'm talking basics such as suspension.

Matt: partly agree with the American comment, but pair an engine with a G50 box F1 designer created chassis, and you get this baby which dyno'd at 500BHP and 0-60 in 3.6 sec. Yes it was scary in the wet, very scary, or at slow speed without the wing on, but bloody good fun! The best 12 mpg fun you can have!

andy162

Porsche 993 Turbo. Bulletproof residuals ( some years they don't lose a dime), bulletproof engineering, hugely rapid, best looking 911, the purist's choice.

Won't be able to leave it anywhere unattended & relax & the dashboard resembles a Beetle from 1974. Offset pedal layout is abit weird at first too.

dmch2

I've got 400 bhp / tonne and it's fine in the wet. Just takes a little care and practice, same as cycling in the wet downhill.

It's actually more fun and rewarding as you need to concentrate more to get it sliding

I can't suggest an ultima though, the looks just don't agree with me

rake

dmch2 wrote:

I've got 400 bhp / tonne and it's fine in the wet. Just takes a little care and practice, same as cycling in the wet downhill.

It's actually more fun and rewarding as you need to concentrate more to get it sliding

I can't suggest an ultima though, the looks just don't agree with me

they do look great fun, i bet you cant have more enjoyment for less money (car driving). has anyone ever put a hayabusa v8 in one of those? 400bhp without full tuning and less weight than a car 4 cyclinder. you'd have 800bhp/tonne @10000rpm.

Cleat Eastwood

Never mind a new car get a load of these speedbumps

Anonymous

I freakin' knew what was coming when I saw you were the last person to update this thread, yet I still laughed!

tlw1

just got rid of my westfield & miss those power slides on demand

andy162

rake wrote:

dmch2 wrote:

I've got 400 bhp / tonne and it's fine in the wet. Just takes a little care and practice, same as cycling in the wet downhill.

It's actually more fun and rewarding as you need to concentrate more to get it sliding

I can't suggest an ultima though, the looks just don't agree with me

they do look great fun, i bet you cant have more enjoyment for less money (car driving). has anyone ever put a hayabusa v8 in one of those?

V8? Hayabusa engine is a fairly straightforward 4cyl motorbike engine with about 1300cc. It's a belting powerplant & when I rode a 'Busa some years ago I was gobsmacked with the way the thing accelerated. Westfield do/did the Megabusa. This had the Suzuki engine with a sequential gearbox. It weighs twice what the bike does but I would imagine it would be ferocious.

rake

ha ha

dmch2

There are several companies turning a pair of straight 4 bike engines into V8s. I know a few Caterhams with them fitted and Aerial have just announced a 140,000 V8 Atom on the same principle.

Silly as it sounds but I'm not convinced the extra power would help that much as you need to move the engine forward to get it to fit and it's heavier than a straight 4 engine. That'll affect the handling in a negative way. Would be a blast on a straight though

There's also the case of being able to get the power down, if you can wheelspin in the dry at 100mph you've probably got 'sufficient' power!

father_jack

Rouge Penguin wrote:

I'd rather the crossbow.

performance and handling is inferior to the Arial.

dmch2

Crossbows are surprisingly heavy, expensive and slow. Plus turbocharging (which the KTM has) ruins a light sports car in my opinion as you get a load of lag whenever you ask for power. It's hard to control slides on the throttle if the throttle is full of sleep.

Aerial (or Ariel? one is the washing powder, one is for listening to the wireless and another is the car :? ), Caterham, Westfield, Fury, Striker, Phoenix, Dax Rush etc are all better. In my opnion of course

Mad Roadie

Gentlemen, your attention please.
I am a petrolhead and a roadie - like so many others of your clearly are too, but the OP was a consideration of a V8 engined 2+2, and as is easilly done with car discussions the thread has drifted off into sub 4 second stripped out track day specials

these are all WOW factor cars, but...

I cant take my wife, and my dogs in an Atom/7/Caterham etc - maybe the Evora is a better UK road friendly option

father_jack

I cant take my wife, and my dogs in an Atom/7/Caterham etc

Course you can just force them into the boot

Mad Roadie

Father Jack
if that suggestion was'nt life threatening, it would be funny !! :shock:

verylonglegs

I saw someone else today when out on the bike who obviously had a struggle with the compromise between practicality and driving pleasure...it was a Porsche Carrera with roof bars and a storage pod, just didn't look right.

softlad

Citroen SM, or an ISO Grifo.....

Anonymous

A nice 2.0CDTi Zafira, lots of room for kids and shopping, 7 seats and good MPG. You can get them in a nice range of colours.

Anonymous

Dancing Bear wrote:

MattC59 wrote:

Steer clear of the American rubbish, unless you're going to go for a classic ('68 fastback Mustang, anyone ?). Technologically, they're still in thee stone age, and I'm not talking electronics, I'm talking basics such as suspension.

Matt: partly agree with the American comment, but pair an engine with a G50 box F1 designer created chassis, and you get this baby which dyno'd at 500BHP and 0-60 in 3.6 sec. Yes it was scary in the wet, very scary, or at slow speed without the wing on, but bloody good fun! The best 12 mpg fun you can have!

Thats a lovely jumper, especially with the sleeves pushed up a bit. Goes nicely with insanely fast car. Do you drape said jumper over the shoulders when hot ?

MattC59

Felt so Good wrote:

MattC59
a purple smart car?!

eeeerm............... that's the Mrs' car.......... Ace to drive though, even if I do get a few funny looks

dmch2

Do you need me to take a picture of a caterham boot? The missus would have to be both a midget and a contortionist to get in there!

I didn't notice the OP asking for 4 seats and a V8, but for the price of a mustang you could get a Caterham and a Berlingo

Proper fun cars with 4 seats and no roof that aren't as sporty as a spongecake, or indeed as stiff as well is a tricky one. My wife wants to get a 2nd caterham (or equivalent) so we can go out with our daughter!

father_jack

Why would you take the missis anyway. Do you really want to hear this?

slow down you're driving too fast.
I want to go shopping
My hair is being messed up.
Don't mount the pavement and hit those zombies.

Mad Roadie

dmclite
that was my car - that is NOT ME stood by it

Anonymous

Mad Roadie wrote:

dmclite
that was my car - that is NOT ME stood by it

Yeah, we believe you, honest.

dmch2

Father Jack wrote:

Why would you take the missis anyway. Do you really want to hear this?

slow down you're driving too fast.
I want to go shopping
My hair is being messed up.
Don't mount the pavement and hit those zombies.

First time I took her in it I expected that so was tootling around. "You can go a bit faster" - so I did. "You can go a bit faster" - so I did. and repeat a few times until "Oh no I can't, that's full throttle at 8000 rpm!" So mostly she sits there happy and holds the map

MattC59

Masserati Quatroporte ?

Yum Yum Yum

ilm_zero7

MattC59 wrote:

Masserati Quatroporte ?

Yum Yum Yum

indeed - very tasty! and pure class

ilm_zero7

dmclite wrote:

Mad Roadie wrote:

dmclite
that was my car - that is NOT ME stood by it

Yeah, we believe you, honest.

could well be true - UK plates on the Ultima - dutch or danish plates on all the cars behind....

HebdenBiker

Buy a small, economical runabout. Save your money and retire a year or two earlier.

When I see people in expensive cars I just think "fool". Sorry.