Lets Just Come Out and Say It...

[Boffin]

YEAH! Just room for you and a few of your closest friends.

Cheeaaaa boiiiiii!

In all seriousness I've dropped a large wad of money pennies on a Holden SV6. Has ~255hp, a real nice 5spd auto with paddleshift, sports suspention and, mainly, lots and lots of room. For a first car, seeing as I forked out for all of it, I think its a pretty damn nifty thing.

I was looking at Porsche 944s, MX5s, E30 coupes, 205 GTIs and they were all well in my price range, but seeing as I live on campus 6 hrs away, I wised up and decided against a manwell, and I wanted something big. I'll say what I told my friend who is going to on campus uni this year and was thinking of buying an FTO - girls wont find it cool, especially when you are being the designated driver, rock up to the club and expect them to drunkardly fit in the back somehow.
The SV6 - its the bog standard Commodore that most people drive - it has the space and practicailty. But I couldnt ignore my petrolheadism, so I got one with a bit more poke, a much better slush box and its rather a weapon by my standards when it wants to be.

 

[homeforsummer]

I was looking at Porsche 944s, MX5s, E30 coupes, 205 GTIs and they were all well in my price range, but seeing as I live on campus 6 hrs away, I wised up and decided against a manwell, and I wanted something big. I'll say what I told my friend who is going to on campus uni this year and was thinking of buying an FTO - girls wont find it cool, especially when you are being the designated driver, rock up to the club and expect them to drunkardly fit in the back somehow.

Heh. Don't know if you remember but I was considering an FTO myself for a while before I got the MX5. Got as far as having a test drive in one of the 170bhp V6s. Would have been nice but for my budget at the time it was risking it. Not cheap cars to fix. Great engine though.

Two reasons really why I'm happy to choose something impractical. The first is that in the UK there isn't really much need to have something too big and luxurious as no journey is really too big! 6 hours can pretty much take you all the way from north to south. And I've done that sort of drive in a Smart before without too much trouble

The other is that when I was at uni I didn't have much money and my Fiesta was enough to get me by. By the time I got the Mazda I had pretty much no passenger or luggage commitments and only a girlfriend to please (and now I don't even have that )!.

So I guess in the spirit of the thread, it depends what you need for your life requirements - I'd rather get things like sports cars out of my system while I have no family to carry...

 

[Boffin]

It does indeed depend. We should be thankful that the range of cars on offer is far beyond that of GT5.

Besides, if every car on the road was an MX5, things would be rather boring.

If I lived in Sydney at home, I would be right up the sports car alley, but my friends are like family and you feel like a pillock when they can't all pile into your car to go on a maccas run at 4 in the morning.

 

[Keef]

Let's just come out an say it...

That a Miata is an even less practical road trip car than an RX7. At least I have a pretty good helping of cargo space, and can actually get to all of it without having to exit the car at 4am, somewhere in the hills of Pennsylvania when it's 5 degree outside.

 

[homeforsummer]

Let's just come out an say it...

That a Miata is an even less practical road trip car than an RX7. At least I have a pretty good helping of cargo space, and can actually get to all of it without having to exit the car at 4am, somewhere in the hills of Pennsylvania when it's 5 degree outside.

Meh. Would happily have toured Europe in mine. I've a travel bag that I can fairly easily fit three weeks' worth of clothes in and you can get another one that size on the shelf behind the seats. It wouldn't be the most comfortable thing to do that sort of distance in but then it's not really a road trip if you don't stop every so often and explore your surroundings, it's just a journey.

If I want to get somewhere with the minimum of fuss, I'd choose something big, comfy and dull. If I want to experience a journey, give me something small and fun every time.

In just over a month I'll be driving to Geneva in my Panda to cover the motor show. Just under 900 miles in a car with 100bhp. Bit of French countryside and some alpine roads. I'd rather experience the trip than insulate myself from it.

Obviously a 2008 hatchback is a little more accommodating than a 1991 sports car but you get my point.

 

[Duke]

Been looking for a wrx hatch with an auto for a little while.

Having driven several of them, believe me, you DON'T want a WRX with the automatic transmission. It's a terrible combination. If you absolutely must have an automatic, get a 2.5 TS/RS wagon. If you absolutely must have a WRX, learn to drive a stick.

Saab makes nice automatic turbos. Subaru, not so much - at least not in the WRX format, anyway.

 

[niky]

Having driven several of them, believe me, you DON'T want a WRX with the automatic transmission. It's a terrible combination. If you absolutely must have an automatic, get a 2.5 TS/RS wagon. If you absolutely must have a WRX, learn to drive a stick.

Saab makes nice automatic turbos. Subaru, not so much - at least not in the WRX format, anyway.

Hear, hear! When we test-drove the new WRX STi with the five-speed automatic, it sucked hijjus. That 300 pony car was much slower off the line than an automatic 235 horsepower Ralliart. Bog, bog, bog, bog, bog....

Hell... it was almost as slow as my two-liter naturally aspirated front wheel drive sedan.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Only way a turbo works well with an automatic is when you have either a ridiculously high stall-speed converter (bye-bye efficiency for the most part) or a turbo setup that will actually hit boost before the average 2000rpm stall speed.

Otherwise? Yup. Bog, bog, bog, aaaaaaand now it's getting somewhere. Except you've got the greater losses of an autobox now. So you need more power.

 

[Azuremen]

Subaru's automatics are terrible in general. Just saying.

 

[niky]

Only way a turbo works well with an automatic is when you have either a ridiculously high stall-speed converter (bye-bye efficiency for the most part) or a turbo setup that will actually hit boost before the average 2000rpm stall speed.

Otherwise? Yup. Bog, bog, bog, aaaaaaand now it's getting somewhere. Except you've got the greater losses of an autobox now. So you need more power.

Depends on the box and the turbo. The Mitsubishi and Ford DCT boxes work well with turbos... minimal lag, and with six speeds, not much wait for action.

The Volvo S60 T6 is just as fast in practice as a manual tranny Subie or Evo. Shockingly. I would so rock that car...

The Forester is decent... but then, it's tuned for more down-low torque than the WRX or WRX STi... so it works with a four-speed or a five-speed. The Impreza trannies are just plain shocking. Be glad you don't get the four-speed naturally aspirated 2.0s... those are slower than Yarii.

And don't get me started on the four-speed in the older Legacies... absolute garbage.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Depends on the box and the turbo. The Mitsubishi and Ford DCT boxes work well with turbos... minimal lag, and with six speeds, not much wait for action.

DCT trannies don't have the losses of a normal automatic so that's not surprising. They're related but not quite the same.

The Volvo S60 T6 is just as fast in practice as a manual tranny Subie or Evo. Shockingly. I would so rock that car...

Not surprising; when you build it for the slushbox, it works with the slushbox.

I would as well though.

The Forester is decent... but then, it's tuned for more down-low torque than the WRX or WRX STi... so it works with a four-speed or a five-speed. The Impreza trannies are just plain shocking. Be glad you don't get the four-speed naturally aspirated 2.0s... those are slower than Yarii.

And don't get me started on the four-speed in the older Legacies... absolute garbage.

Gear count isn't so much an issue with an autobox and a turbo as the converter used; if you can get full boost at 2000rpm and you're running a 2000rpm stall speed converter... You'll be able to have full boost the entire time your foot's down. Wider gearing will hurt a bit on each shift but not as much as a boggy launch due to too little stall speed/too much RPM needed for boost to come online.

 

[niky]

DCT trannies don't have the losses of a normal automatic so that's not surprising. They're related but not quite the same.

Some DCTs actually have torque converters. Mitsu's is a wet-plate box, which allows it to be smooth... but that leaves open the possibility of overheating the fluid in hard driving (have actually seen this).

Not surprising; when you build it for the slushbox, it works with the slushbox.

I would as well though.

In orange, no less.

Gear count isn't so much an issue with an autobox and a turbo as the converter used; if you can get full boost at 2000rpm and you're running a 2000rpm stall speed converter... You'll be able to have full boost the entire time your foot's down. Wider gearing will hurt a bit on each shift but not as much as a boggy launch due to too little stall speed/too much RPM needed for boost to come online.

Yeah. I think the issues with the WRX STI are the low stall speed. Not something you expect for a supposedly sporty car.

But in some applications, the boxes are horrendous... indecisive, slow-to-shift, unwilling. I've had four-speed Subies that downshifted while cruising on steady throttle, yet refused to downshift when pinned to the floor for an overtake. Not very ideal on turbocharged cars, where the former causes surge and the latter causes bog...

 

[Keef]

YSSMAN, I cave. Miatas are the greatest cars ever. They really are.

 

[Omnis]

I would drive a miata if I were 5 feet tall.

 

[Duke]

I would drive a miata if I were 5 feet tall.

I'm 5'-10" / 250 lbs and I fit in mine with no problem. It's no Town Car, and I'm not 6 feet tall, either, but I fit just fine.

 

[Feral Pigeon]

Driver Skill>Drivetrain.QUOTE]

there's a video of a Williams-BMW F1 driving on snow. 'Nuff said. (also, just youtube that crap, I'm not posting it. My computer blocks YouTube because my boss says we get distracted from work by it, when he has WORSE A.D.D. than I do.)

on-topic, though, replace all of the Miata pics with F150 pics and there ya go.

 

[astrosdude91]

on-topic, though, replace all of the Miata pics with F150 pics and there ya go.

Fun to drive? Affordable? Good on gas?

 

[homeforsummer]

I'm 5'-10" / 250 lbs and I fit in mine with no problem. It's no Town Car, and I'm not 6 feet tall, either, but I fit just fine.

Yup. 5'9" and ten stone here and it fit me like a noisy glove.

 

[Jim Prower]

Still, no roof insulation, and the closest you can practically get to a steel roof (without somehow finding the ultra-rare, JDM Coupe) is either the NC FHTC, or throwing a removable hardtop. and i doubt that has any insulation...

waking up in -10 wind chill, I doubt, would be much fun going to work. Even if the car actually handles well. I'd be too cold to care about clipping apexes.

and then there's nasties stabbing the canvas and stealing your stuff...

 

[nobuffalo]

Does a steel roof on a typical car really provide/have that much "insulation", temp wise. If it's cold outside and you don't have the heater on, the car is gonna be cold on the inside, regardless of the top.

The heater is a beast, and with very little room to actually heat, yeah dude, it's gets pretty freaking toasty, pretty freaking quick.

 

[Boz Mon]

Still, no roof insulation, and the closest you can practically get to a steel roof (without somehow finding the ultra-rare, JDM Coupe) is either the NC FHTC, or throwing a removable hardtop. and i doubt that has any insulation...

waking up in -10 wind chill, I doubt, would be much fun going to work. Even if the car actually handles well. I'd be too cold to care about clipping apexes.

and then there's nasties stabbing the canvas and stealing your stuff...

It actually is very warm in the winter time. IMO, just as warm as my Prelude was and the heater in my Miata works really really good. Not to mention, you only have half of the space to heat. Other than minor wind noise, I really dont notice that I'm driving a rear wheel drive convertible in the winter.

 

[Keef]

In my experience, Miata heaters work pretty darn well. They are convertibles after all, and I'm sure the engineers figured people would drive them top-down on cool days. And like Boz Mon already said, they only have a tiny little space to heat. My RX7 warms up quicker than my mom's new Corolla and even it has the huge hatch area to heat also.

 

[nobuffalo]

Oh, today I spotted two very good looking chicks in an awesome 93 LE, stainless steel twin hoop style bar, top down of course. I (my car) got a smile from them. Shwing!!! I fell in love with all three.

 

[Boz Mon]

In my experience, Miata heaters work pretty darn well. They are convertibles after all, and I'm sure the engineers figured people would drive them top-down on cool days. And like Boz Mon already said, they only have a tiny little space to heat. My RX7 warms up quicker than my mom's new Corolla and even it has the huge hatch area to heat also.

Yea, regardless of the outside temp, the car has heat within like 2 minutes of driving.

 

[BrutherSuperior]

In just over a month I'll be driving to Geneva in my Panda to cover the motor show. Just under 900 miles in a car with 100bhp. Bit of French countryside and some alpine roads. I'd rather experience the trip than insulate myself from it.

Can a car like that get up mountain roads without losing speed? Honest question as I've rented some forgettable Korean things in the past and southern California's hills/mountains nearly killed the damn things. Flat-out, motor screaming for mercy, and the speedometer was moving backwards. If I was driving up real mountains, I probably could have been overtaken by a lost dog.

Man those were bad cars...

 

[niky]

Just need the right gears. I've driven stuff with just 45 hp that did okay going up steep slopes.

Not very quickly... but we made it.

 

[Eric.]

Plus to have a cool car in uni is to have a car that can drive you, the girl you are interested in AND all her friends to the mall/Maccas/etc...

Forget her friends. I just want her.

 

[homeforsummer]

and then there's nasties stabbing the canvas and stealing your stuff...

Going purely on experience, they should never have to rip the roof. The scumbags who took mine presumably just pried the window away from the roof.

In my experience, Miata heaters work pretty darn well.

This. The heater is good enough to make the car interior warm with the roof down, let alone up.

Can a car like that get up mountain roads without losing speed? Honest question as I've rented some forgettable Korean things in the past and southern California's hills/mountains nearly killed the damn things. Flat-out, motor screaming for mercy, and the speedometer was moving backwards. If I was driving up real mountains, I probably could have been overtaken by a lost dog

It depends how you drive it. As Niky said, gearing is important and mine has 6 speeds all of which are nice and short. 70mph in 6th is about 3500rpm so it's not the most relaxing motorway car (though it's by no means bad either). And it does 60 in about 9 seconds, which is similar to the MX5.

If you expected to get everywhere without revving it then you'd be disappointed but it's a small Fiat, so it was born to be revved. Big wallops of torque would make it a bit characterless.

Not to mention that a twin-cam Fiat engine is always going to be nicer to use than a generic Korean four-pot. It even sounds fairly nice.

Bottom line is, it's more than capable of doing long distances without me dying from discomfort (hell, I've done 600 miles in a day in a diesel Smart ForTwo with 54bhp before, and that was a piece of cake) and it's got enough power to have lots of fun with once I get to the Alps. I won't be beating any Porsches in a straight line but then that's not the point.

 

[Omnis]

I'm 5'-10" / 250 lbs and I fit in mine with no problem. It's no Town Car, and I'm not 6 feet tall, either, but I fit just fine.

The last one I sat in, I saw over the windshield, not through it.

 

[DKLion3s]

The last one I sat in, I saw over the windshield, not through it.

Man! You just reminded me of "Hermon Munster" and his track coffin.