Going fast slowly ...

peasant

... or, the smaller the car the more of the road is yours.

It's two years now, and I'm still not getting tired of my little elephant roller skate. Actually I'm enjoying it more and more.

90 Ps, < 1000 kg, 175 mm narrow tyres and a size that lets you squeeze through gaps that simply don't exist for other cars.

If I want to (and sometimes I just want to ) I can shift down two gears, bring it into the optimal rev range and just ragg it through corners on the edge of adhesion (4WD helps hugely here) and have immense fun while still within the speed limit.

Let the engine sing, enjoy the immediate throttle response (no turbo = no turbo lag), feel like a racing driver ...all at < 100 km/h (or only ever so slightly above). It just feels so much faster.

Enjoy the full power of the car (what little power there is) and be wholly legal.

Long live small cars !

Who else enjoys driving wheezy little small cars * ?

*for those who don't know ...mine's a Suzuki Ignis

Andrewf20

peasant wrote: »

... or, the smaller the car the more of the road is yours.

It's two years now, and I'm still not getting tired of my little elephant roller skate. Actually I'm enjoying it more and more.

90 Ps, < 1000 kg, 175 mm narrow tyres and a size that lets you squeeze through gaps that simply don't exist for other cars.

If I want to (and sometimes I just want to ) I can shift down two gears, bring it into the optimal rev range and just ragg it through corners on the edge of adhesion (4WD helps hugely here) and have immense fun while still within the speed limit.

Let the engine sing, enjoy the immediate throttle response (no turbo = no turbo lag), feel like a racing driver ...all at < 100 km/h (or only ever so slightly above). It just feels so much faster.

Enjoy the full power of the car (what little power there is) and be wholly legal.

Long live small cars !

Who else enjoys driving wheezy little small cars * ?

*for those who don't know ...mine's a Suzuki Ignis

Me for one. Can't beat the light weight feel of small cars. I see big 1600kg cars and don't envy them at all. As mentioned before in other threads an early 2000s fiesta 1.25 with 175 tyres is the best fun in a car I've ever had.

It's almost never that you see a performance car getting driven hard. There's a few straight line Kings on the roads but hard cornering is rarely seen in other drivers IMHO. Alot of modern sports cars have so much grip that you are into silly speeds to test their limits.

antodeco

As an owner of 2 classic minis I totally get this!

One is 650KG and the other is about 520KG

I also have a 2.8L BMW Z3 which is super light!

Ciano35

Agreed! My little ~925kg 106 gti is being restored at the moment and I cannot wait to drive it again despite my daily being an Impreza sti.

Grolschevik

Used to love driving my old 850cc 1983 Fiesta. Light as a feather.

krissovo

My two favourite cars in my history are the Citroen AX GT and the Renault GT turbo. The Citroen weighed nothing and was really great fun for a young 20 something year old. The Renault had insane turbo lag that had a habit of giving full boost halfway around a roundabout but gave it character. Looking back it was great living through the hot hatch heyday.

As a grown up we have a BMW I3 which is similar fun and a bit of a guilty pleasure, me and wife fight over keys some mornings. Not many cars can keep up on the backroads and will out accelerate a M3 to 50mph.

TrailerBob

Completely agree with this. My daily weighs in just over 2 tons, and isn't what you'd call nimble... But playing about with the little Cinquecento Sporting has reminded me of the fun of a small car. I also took this line the last time I was at the nurburgring, and hired a track ready suzuki swift.. could have gotten something much bigger for not much more money, but the real fun was driving the little zuk on the absolute limit, as opposed to feathering a powerhouse around in case it tries to kill you. My lifestyle necessitates a larger vehicle, but I'll be hopping in the little Fiat when I can next summer

Jude13

I drive a 2.0 L MX-5 to work today which is quite fun. It has a brand new set of tyres on it also which gives confidence.

ianobrien

krissovo wrote: »

My two favourite cars in my history are the Citroen AX GT and the Renault GT turbo. The Citroen weighed nothing and was really great fun for a young 20 something year old. The Renault had insane turbo lag that had a habit of giving full boost halfway around a roundabout but gave it character. Looking back it was great living through the hot hatch heyday.

As a grown up we have a BMW I3 which is similar fun and a bit of a guilty pleasure, me and wife fight over keys some mornings. Not many cars can keep up on the backroads and will out accelerate a M3 to 50mph.

I'm another that enjoyed the pleasures of hustling a Citroen AX GT. You REALLY learned how to drive, and how NOT to drive (Lift off oversteer or terminal understeer). The ol' AX weighed less than a packet of crisps but mine weighed even less thanks to dodgy seal leaving water in, rotting the carpets and seat.

***Runs over to check the classic car section of Dungdeal to see if any are for sale***

Mad_Mike

TrailerBob wrote: »

... But playing about with the little Cinquecento Sporting has reminded me of the fun of a small car. I also took this line the last time I was at the nurburgring, and hired a track ready suzuki swift..

Still sorry i got rid of my Cinquecento Sporting a few years ago
They are so thin on the ground now, and a proper little go-kart it was

French Toast

I will always swear the best car I've driven on the twistys is a Corolla 1.4D4D van :P underpowered as the day is long but rifled it in to plenty of bends and never met the walls.

Gwynston

My first "fast" car back in the early 90s was a Citroen AX GT too! Like a road-going go-cart! :cool:

Actually, I think they might have been a bit too light! An old mate of mine who crashed his, said it crumpled like a coke can and everyone was lucky to get out alive... :eek:

Weren't they like 50% plastic?

2011abc

Gwynston wrote: »

My first "fast" car back in the early 90s was a Citroen AX GT too! Like a road-going go-cart! :cool:

Actually, I think they might have been a bit too light! An old mate of mine who crashed his, said it crumpled like a coke can and everyone was lucky to get out alive... :eek:

Weren't they like 50% plastic?

Tail.gate was ALL plastic -apart from locks and hinges-and glass!Yeah a great yoke but dented very easily (smart AX users knew to drop bonnet rather than shove it down with heel of hand as a dent was almost certain and apparently even some new ones were delivered thus !Seats rocked like heck too(needed serious anchoring through the floor with big bolts).AX GTs were Celica speed for Micra mpg but dont forget they were from the manual choke era!I had a cheap and nasty one and then a stunner bought from a very well known Citroen specialist in Dublin West/Meath with a racing connection .Was surprised to see a C2 GT for sale recently which claimed to have been fettled by them /him.But Im fairly sure theyve been subsumed in the great urbanisation of the formerly lovely Lucan to Clonee road .
Was a big Cinq/Sei (sporting) fan too but the clutch cables are a CURSE!

Suzuki Cappuccino another great micro hot car ,liked it FAR more than MX5

Original Ford Ka had staggering grip from new but like many Fords of the era didnt age well beyond 30/40k .I got a Puma as I thought my wifes Ka is so good this yoke will be even better!It wasnt ....!!!

106GTi has to be the king of them all though if you could live with narrow pedal box .Low 7s 0-60 which was advertised as higher to keep insurance down and fab handling .I got a LOVELY one and sold it a week or two later as I knew my licence wouldnt have survived it a few months !


OP suggests his bundle of joy is 4wd !Is it some Jap Kei special?

peasant

2011abc wrote: »

OP suggests his bundle of joy is 4wd !Is it some Jap Kei special?

Nope, you can spec it as such from your local dealer:
https://cars.suzuki.ie/new-cars/ignis/sz5/?grade=9c41872b-20c4-4344-95e1-035c230521e4&InteriorColour=Silver&price=20700&ExteriorColour=Fervent+Red+%E2%80%93+2+tone&FuelType=Petrol+Hybrid&Transmission=Manual&Drivetrain=+4WD&DoorType=5&ModelSelector=
This being Ireland very few people do though

mickdw

2011abc wrote: »

Original Ford Ka had staggering grip from new but like many Fords of the era didnt age well beyond 30/40k .I got a Puma as I thought my wifes Ka is so good this yoke will be even better!It wasnt ....!!!

I did a trackday in a 1.7 puma. Looked like sh1t but was very decent around mondello.
Was standard apart from being stripped out and being fitted with track tyres.

ianobrien

Ah ya I remember the choke on the pre-facelift AX. You had to know where it was. I remember giving someone a lift on it one day and he asked why did I pull out that part of the dash (and no, he didn't know what a manual choke was either).

He wasn't too impressed with the AX, so to annoy him, I pushed in the choke early. It started to run rough (as usual) but I knew it wouldn't die. Just as he was saying that the car was a right heap, it cleared it's throat and took off fair lively.

I proceeded to pedal on nicely, just to remind him that ya, it was a piece of cap that couldn't go. He got out fair white.....