What is it about certain marques...

[JohnT]

21 minutes ago, blackmme said:

 

Could I enquire if Mrs T's F Type was on the factory fitted Pirelli P-Zero's by 

 

Regards Mike

 

Yes indeed Mike. Interestingly it was the second set and the problem really manifested itself with them. I asked the useless local dealership to change but I was told no. They were the only tires for that car. 
Thanks for letting me know your experience. The Jaguar went away five months ago now and based on my experience I wasn’t sorry to wave it bye bye 

[Tyas]

1 hour ago, johnlambert said:

I wouldn't say no to a Ferrari 365 GTC4, I've even heard a Daytona owner say that the GTC is actually the better car!  I certainly think it is quite handsome.

 

However I'd say that some of the very early Ferraris, where bodywork was very much done to the tastes and specifications of the original owner, can look very odd indeed.

 

I must admit that after the 360 I struggle to tell one "baby" Ferrari from another.

Seen the 365 GTC/4 in real-life (I even got a photo of it), I have to say it is one hell of a looker. I can see where Ferrari got their inspiration for both the Roma and 812 Superfast. Well, probably Roma since 812 is a strict 2-seater.

[dnl42]

My father owned DB4/106/L in the 70s and 80s, so that's my #1. It was the New York show car.

I drove it a fair bit, but the best time was an AMOC rally at Lime Rock. What a complete rush coming out of the downhill and heading down the straight to the big bend, with those woods ready for a failed turn! I can still feel it. To be clear, I didn't dare press too hard. Somebody had pushed their V8 Vantage a little too hard through the esses...

[Vesa Jussila]

I have mixed feeling about new Ferraris. I can see that Roma and 812 Superfast are following Daytona design. But for me 812 just don't catch the point. I must say that McLaren builds technically real good cars, but again design leaves me cold. For me Ferrari have done good design job in 458 there is god part of history and also new lines. But who I am to judge. And good thing is that we have different opinions.

[johnlambert]

3 hours ago, dnl42 said:

My father owned DB4/106/L in the 70s and 80s, so that's my #1. It was the New York show car.

I drove it a fair bit, but the best time as an AMOC rally at Lime Rock. What a complete rush coming out of the downhill and heading down the straight to the bid bend, with those woods ready for a failed turn.! I can still feel it. To be clear, I didn't dare press too hard. Somebody had pushed their V8 Vantage a little too hard through the esses...

That's gorgeous, not sure about the whitewall tyres but I wouldn't say no.  The DB4 is definitely a dream drive for me.

[Alan R]

16 hours ago, johnlambert said:

That's gorgeous, not sure about the whitewall tyres but I wouldn't say no

Very 60s!

My Dad's 1966 Vauxhall Victor 101 had whitewalls...

 

Cheers,

Alan.

[Admiral Puff]

My dad's 1959 Austin Westminster had whitewalls.  Sort of suited the old barge!

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

On 12/7/2021 at 12:27 AM, JohnT said:

Mrs T got A Jaguar F type instead and it was the poorest road car I’ve ever driven bar none. Totally schizophrenic and while great on a track with run offs not what you want on a busy motorway. I got very lucky one day when it decided on its little own to go completely sideways at 80 mph from a straight line. And I mean sideways. I was looking out the front at the barrier until it flipped at through 180 to show me the verge. A bit of judicious playing with the steering got it fishtailed back into a straight line. You had to drive it with 110% concentration or it would bite.  Bags of power but you can’t get it down on the road quickly and safely and that’s not good enough in a car of that type

 

The Jaguar 5.0 litre V8 in supercharged guise does produce rather more torque than most are accustomed to and if especially lead-footed it can catch drivers out.

 

I was a Cerbera 4.5 (the fastest one) owner and we decided we needed a family car. After admitting that child seats wouldn't fit in an XKR or XKR-S we went back to saloons again but bought what was at the time Jaguar's fastest saloon car with the 542bhp version of the 5.0 V8 in the XFR-S which took the steering rack and more aggressive gearbox from the F-Type and replaced the front uprights with those from the XKR-S. It was a much more taught and dynamically sorted car than the XFR, but perhaps a touch on the firm side for a family saloon. As the XF is just an S-Type in a new shell, it felt like a faster, tighter version of my S-Type so I was very comfortable with it even during my test drive which is rare for me - I usually spend a year or so getting a feel for a car.

 

 

 

 

I was getting some paint abrasion from bits of plastic trim on the rear doors so it went back to Jaguar to be fixed under warranty and they gave me the V8S F-Type which had the same engine detuned to something around 485bhp if memory serves.

 

I put around 900 miles on the F-Type over a week and found it pretty tame to be honest with you. Perhaps that's because I'd read so many journalists compare it to TVRs for its "lairiness" but as someone who concurrently owned a supposedly "lairy" TVR and found it a pussycat unless driven with absolutely no awareness of what the car was telling me, I really didn't find lairiness in the F-Type at all. Sure, if you just boot the loud pedal the obvious will happen. The Active Diff locks up very quickly so one can spin both rear wheels quite easily. The XFR-S was the one more likely to break traction unexpectedly. I did have a moment in that one once when overtaking some Volkswagen hatchback of some sort creeping along at 40mph on a cold but dry road. It goes with the territory of cars with rear wheel drive and high power-to-weight ratios. I had intended to buy an F-Type to go with the XF which is why they gave me that as a courtesy car, but it offered nothing I didn't already have something better at. The XF was the better fast distance muncher and the Cerbera was the better sportscar.

 

The F-Type's biggest problem, shared with virtually everything on the market nowadays, is that it's just too heavy. You add power to counter the mass, and you increase tyre width for the same reasons. Wider tyres give more sudden breakaway characteristics and cause heavier steering, so the steering and brakes get more power assistance making them poorer in feel for the driver. Since the driver of this heavy car has much less idea what's actually going on under them now due to less feedback and more sudden departure characteristics which are much harder to read, suspension geometry is made more "safe" making the car feel pretty dull and inert the vast majority of the time driving on real roads.

 

I've since sold all the above. Income isn't what it once was. Actually it's about 55% of what it once was. Nowadays I have an XJ-S to keep me amused. I still have the Midget too, which is getting nearer to returning to the road. I predict the Midget will be far too slow to amuse me though.

 

  

 

[Tyas]

On 12/15/2021 at 11:06 PM, Vesa Jussila said:

I have mixed feeling about new Ferraris. I can see that Roma and 812 Superfast are following Daytona design. But for me 812 just don't catch the point. I must say that McLaren builds technically real good cars, but again design leaves me cold. For me Ferrari have done good design job in 458 there is god part of history and also new lines. But who I am to judge. And good thing is that we have different opinions.

812 is nice but to me it's not quite as nice as the F12. That was peak Ferrari V12 design. 458 is something that we both can agree with. Still looks gorgeous even after 12 years. Hard to argue with this design.

Edited April 7, 2022 by Tyas
Setting a (BEAUTIFUL) example

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

1 hour ago, Tyas said:

812 is nice but to me it's not quite as nice as the F12. That was peak Ferrari V12 design. 458 is something that we both can agree with. Still looks gorgeous even after 12 years. Hard to argue with this design.

 

I've always preferred the look and sound of the front engine V12 Ferraris and my favourite relatively modern ones are the F12, 550 and 575 in that order. The only Ferrari I've actually driven though is a California, so my views on my favourite Ferrari are a bit theoretical rather than experience based. My friend who used to own the California now has a beautiful 308 GTB recently restored from an absolute basket-case, which I hope to at least have a passenger ride in this summer.

[veg]

Weight and driver aids the killer of performance and connection with the car. I’ve driven a few modern performance cars and been left feeling under whelmed. Nothing visceral yes they’re quick and handle well but absolutely no feeling. I’m sure on the ring they’d knock a second of the times but they leave me cold. 

loved this but it was more a decent fast road car.

this is just fun, no aids, not to much power a glorious sound track and fun yes your M/S/Amg is faster but you won’t be grinning like I am.

[Neddy]

I almost hesitate to state which marque does it for me as it is so different to most other posters but what the heck, you can always use a good laugh...

 

What really grabs me are American Fords from late 1950s to mid-1960s.  From the wonderfully OTT barge-like presence of the '59 Thunderbird to the gorgeously simple styling of the Mk 1 Mustang, via the sheer beauty of the original GT40, they still get my blood pumping even after all this time.  Sadly by 1967 they started to become over-blown and bloated but that small window of time seemed to include some of (in my opinion) the most beautifully sculpted cars I've ever seen.

 

Early Lamborghinis (Miura, Espada etc.) also had this simple elegance but never seemed to recapture it with their later offerings.

[Bozothenutter]

Can I post some of my pride'n'joy too?

 

 

Needed a small car, wanted fun.

Has quite a few mods  like a Quaife  Megane brakes etc.

A smile a minute  for 10 years now!

[keefr22]

Very nice! Been considering one of those, trouble is finding a good one now.

 

Keith