Ever been so excited to drive a car...

In reply to Snrub :

I have to second the frisbee twins.  I was super excited about the FRS/BRZ when they came out.  Love the styling.  Loved the interior/seating position, etc.  Was absolutely stunned at how bad the engine was when I went on a test drive.  Complete tractor motor.  Actually left the Subaru dealer and went to the Scion dealer to drive another one because I honestly thought something might be wrong with the first one.

After that, went to carmax and test drove an S2000 and an NC Miata.  So, over the course of 3 hours, I drove an NB Miata (mine), the frisbee twins, an S2000 and an NC Miata.  My overall, takeaway was mostly related to engine character: was surprised how well the NB held up to the modern hardware, the S2000 was a letdown, expected more from VTEC (yo!).  The frisbee twins were the worst, and the NC was the surprise - liked it better than the S2000 - felt like an NB with nice midrange torque.

Ford Focus ZX3, 2000 I think. They were supposed to be fun, good handling cars, and I suppose they are, but it just felt numb and tall. I liked my Neon and RX-7 more, and my RX-7 didn't even work at the time.

In fact, sitting in the broken RX-7 and making brap-brap noises was more entertaining than driving the Focus.

2002 WRX- I lusted after them when they were new, but meeting my hero was a bit of a let down. I drove a very high mileage one of these after having had my Forester XT for a long time and having driven an STi or two, so the letdown is completely my fault. I wound up buying the car anyhow, because I knew a bit of suspension refreshing and sticky tires would solve most of the problems.

In reply to CyberEric :

I don't know what was done to the Cayman S you drove but something was up. Did it have stock tires? Stock alignment? After sampling a Gallardo and an F430 on a track, I felt my Boxster had better steering feel than either of them so I'm mystified about your experience in a Cayman. I did manage to ruin the handling with a poor alignment, though. Yes, I have driven numerous Cayman and Cayman S and they were all amazing.

Keith Tanner said:

Antihero said:

Not exactly the same but i was looking at an older jetta, a 95 i think, for a commuter car with a bit of fun. I thought hey, lots of people mod these and theres a decent after market for this, how bad can it be?

 

Bad, really bad. The one i drove wasnt obviously new but it had zero redeeming features. Horrible handling, steering, braking, no power and i could see getting annoyed with having to push down to get into reverse. Really hated the gear box too. Whole thing felt numb with a thin sheen of crap on it

I would recommend you never drive another manual VW if their reverse lockout design is a problem.

For me, it was an NSX. Granted, I only got to drive it on our local roads and certainly didn't get to cane it, but it was not an event or even very interesting. Supercars should be an event.

I bet it was more that car than anything, the reverse lockout was a huge drop and felt like sandpaper. I genuinely hope a new one isnt like that

02 Mustang GT, poorly modified. The exhaust was loud, clutch heavy, and ride rough. Power was within 10 HP of a V6 Accord.  Shakespear said it best “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”  It didn’t have the power to backup to sensory beating it delivered. 

C3 and c4 corvettes. I was a corvette fanboy when I was a kid. When I finally got the chance to drive them I was super excited. The ergonomics and visibility was so bad I couldn't enjoy either one of them. You know how you always see corvettes at the back of parking lots where no other cars are, it's not because they don't want you parking by them. It's because you have no idea where the front corners of the car are. 

When I drove a c5z later I wasn't expecting much. It didn't take me long at all to say "oh wow this is a race car." I wouldn't choose it for a 14 hour road trip, but holy moly talk about a fast car that handles.