Japday Review - TT Article #13 **Page 8**

[Deano94]

Any cars that break your 200bhp/ton 'rule'? That are controllable yet fun on b roads and track but also have neck breaking speed. Without breaking the bank.

Good question! I'm not sure, if I'm honest. I mean, my old 911 came close but even then on some roads it just felt silly quick (PDK didn't help), and they're still quite pricey for a good 997.2 car. A 458 is delightful but not exactly cheap, and I've driven FI Zeds that come quite close but again at points they just feel a bit much.

 

I guess the closest I've come would be an R300. Never driven on the roads in one sadly, only on the track, but for me that never felt crazy like other stuff has in the same situation. What you really want is something light with a nice linear throttle and a low top speed, so you can spend all your time chasing the red line and changing gears which, ultimately, is the real fun part of driving.

I think high revving also helps the fun driving experience. An EK9 or DC2 would be perfect in my mind. Two cars I would happily choose over far more powerful and expensive cars.

Bit like this... (Cue Gran Turismo music)

 

[Ekona]

Agreed, apart from the fact they're FWD. As fun as a good hot hatch can be, I'd always prefer to have something that drives the rear wheels.

[Grundy]

Article #3 is live - http://www.teamtarmac.com/media/the-daily-driver-struggles/

 

First glimpse found here, as it's not been released on facebook yet.

 

 

This weeks topic is - The Daily Driver Struggles. I'm hoping this will make a lot of sense to people who drive their car to work/shows/track/across country

 

Let me know what you guys think.

[Davectr]

Yet another great article and enjoyable read (whilst sat watching her make tea 😄). I can relate to just about every comment, however if modifying is in your blood it's something we live with.

[BulletMagnet]

Well, it's your own fault for not having the tools ready at hand BEFORE attemping anything car related

 

Like Dominic Toretto said: "If you can't the right tool in THIS garage....then you don't belong to your car"

[ZEUS]

Nice one Matt another good read, I'm enjoying these.

[Stutopia]

Another good 'un

 

Shared on faceballz

[Ekona]

Nice one Grundy on a great article

 

I see so much of how I used to be in that, and god bless having more than one car these days!

[glrnet]

Enjoyed it too but one "picky" grammatical error😳

 

 

Sent from my Zed using Nangkang tyres front, RE040's rear

[Stutopia]

How much is the typical fee for freelance stuff? I could be tempted to put finger to keyboard.

[gsexr]

Great read Grundy, i really enjoyed it

[Grundy]

Cheers for the comments guys Think this will be my one and only article I write, I struggled coming up with ideas to liven it up on the website.

 

@Graham - Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere

 

 

@Stu, knock something up and just send it over

[Deano94]

Another great read. Never realised this was your daily, I bet you get a few looks on your way to work every day.

 

I can especially relate to storage and mileage. As recently bought new wheels and only just able to fit two wheels in at a time. Then making the 25 mile all-round trip to drop them off to fit, then backhome to squeeze the other two wheels in.

Then the hassle of getting the rays back home >_>

Couldn't agree more with the mileage too. My friends just don't understand when I tell them i don't want to drive my car somewhere or drop them off. There like "I'll give you petrol money ". It's not petrol, I just don't want the mileage racking up

 

Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

 

 

[glrnet]

Cheers for the comments guys Think this will be my one and only article I write, I struggled coming up with ideas to liven it up on the website.

 

@Graham - Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere

 

 

@Stu, knock something up and just send it over

I did say it was "picky" it was one of my old english teacher "creep" Phillips' favourites

 

"then all of a sudden you're slammed on 11J wheels"

 

"then suddenly, you're slammed on 11J wheels"

 

[Grundy]

Big thank you to Steve for an awesome write up. Hits the nail on the head in most areas.

 

Are Old Cars Rubbish?

 

http://www.teamtarmac.com/media/old-cars-are-rubbish/

[brillomaster]

good read... need to see someone post the other side of the argument though!

For me, the ideal car takes bits from both old and new cars:

 

Old car - breaks down more often, but easier to fix

New car - more reliable, but considerably more expensive/difficult to fix when it breaks

 

Old car - better handling, low on grip

New car - Very high levels of grip, at the expense of handling

 

Old car - tuneful, naturally aspirated engines, but poor fuel economy and not that powerful

New car - monotonous turbo engines, but more powerful and better fuel economy

 

Old car - no driver aids, very little electronic distractions - more likely to crash, cant Bluetooth to your phone to play music

New car - lots of electronic gizmos, considerably less likely to crash - heavier car, more things to go wrong

 

So the ideal car is reliable but easy to fix, naturally aspirated yet fuel efficient and powerful, has good handling and high levels of grip, is light but still has creature comforts.

 

for me the sweetspot was the 90s - modern enough to not break down every 5 minutes yet no so complicated you need to go to a dealer to change a lightbulb, good looks rather than an amorphous blob, enough driver aids to prevent crashing but not so many as to detract from driving, powerful engines that aren't dull.

 

 

[BulletMagnet]

For the best of both worlds, you inly have to look at Rocky Auto Japan, vintage chassis with modern running gear

http://www.speedhunters.com/2013/08/a-private-collection-rocky-autos-secret-garage/

[BobbyZ]

I think it's hard to argue that modern cars are objectively better - reliability and interior quality being the two obvious areas for me. As others have said though (including in the article), car designers are at risk of losing sight of what makes cars enjoyable, at the expense of more speed and grip. As brillo said, I think there is a happy medium, and we're probably getting past that now (although there are still currently great new cars out there).

 

Nice article though

[Jetpilot]

I guess you will probably find a lot of the love for "old" cars is nostalgia for us oldies, fond memories of days gone by or maybe even cars that were out of reach as we were youths but we can now afford.

 

I am not sure i believe the hype of people wanting "drivers cars" either, i didnt see many of these people shouting about how great the gt86 was dipping into their pockets, i often think people get too swept up with thinking its cool to proclaim to be "purists" and "drivers".

 

But, Focus or Escort cossie........Escort in a heartbeat please or Sierra if i had a choice

Edited December 18, 2015 by Jetpilot

[TT350]

All a good read

[coldel]

for me the sweetspot was the 90s - modern enough to not break down every 5 minutes yet no so complicated you need to go to a dealer to change a lightbulb, good looks rather than an amorphous blob, enough driver aids to prevent crashing but not so many as to detract from driving, powerful engines that aren't dull.

 

Have been sat in two 90s cars for the last two years and very much agree

 

Interestingly no mention of cost in the article? You can pick up a pretty good nick R33 GTST running a safe 300bhp for example for around £5k, getting a 'new car' (what is the definition of new anyway? 5 years old? 10?) would be almost impossible to get anything near those performance levels, advantage of old cars, more go for your money (so would disagree Brillo, old cars less powerful?)

[Jetpilot]

Also interesting to note the 90's era of whack a turbo on it, 300zx, gto, skyline, rx7, evos/scoobs, cosworths, celica....the list goes on and now it seems we are heading back that way, with better tech of course and as discussed in another thread, since the release of the 350z (dare i say an old design/spec) and its lifespan, what else has really come out of Japan of interest?

 

What sort of years was classed as old in the article Grundy?

[Grundy]

Also interesting to note the 90's era of whack a turbo on it, 300zx, gto, skyline, rx7, evos/scoobs, cosworths, celica....the list goes on and now it seems we are heading back that way, with better tech of course and as discussed in another thread, since the release of the 350z (dare i say an old design/spec) and its lifespan, what else has really come out of Japan of interest?

 

What sort of years was classed as old in the article Grundy?

I think Steve was referring to anything pre 98? Like with his Corolla.

 

For me, I read the article basically talking about how these days you get all the luxury's for every days drivers such as TC, Heated seats, Power steering, Elec Windows etc. For example, back in the day, I'd imagine a snowy, ice cold day would be a nightmare to start with. You walk out your door and have to scrape the ice off your car, sit in the freezing cold waiting for the windows to demist, ice to melt etc. But now a days, you can literally press two buttons and with in a couple of minutes your sitting in a sauna

[Jetpilot]

You should be glad you missed the beetle and campers days, you had to scrape ice of the inside, haha, anything that hasnt got a heat exchanger which are about effective as a slightly hot asthmatic sat behind the dash seems high tech

[coldel]

Also interesting to note the 90's era of whack a turbo on it, 300zx, gto, skyline, rx7, evos/scoobs, cosworths, celica....the list goes on and now it seems we are heading back that way, with better tech of course and as discussed in another thread, since the release of the 350z (dare i say an old design/spec) and its lifespan, what else has really come out of Japan of interest?

 

What sort of years was classed as old in the article Grundy?

I think Steve was referring to anything pre 98? Like with his Corolla.

 

For me, I read the article basically talking about how these days you get all the luxury's for every days drivers such as TC, Heated seats, Power steering, Elec Windows etc. For example, back in the day, I'd imagine a snowy, ice cold day would be a nightmare to start with. You walk out your door and have to scrape the ice off your car, sit in the freezing cold waiting for the windows to demist, ice to melt etc. But now a days, you can literally press two buttons and with in a couple of minutes your sitting in a sauna

 

My old 1995 car has TC, electric windows, power steering and electric folding mirrors even