Fast car slowly or slow car quickly?

My wife and I went on a trip to somewhere in Nevada with amazing driving roads and many people asked me if I was going to rent a Mustang, Challenger or some other "sporty" car. Even the rental place wanted to put me in a Mustang but I have a theory that it's more fun driving a slow car quickly than to drive a fast car slowly. I think a Vette or even a Mustang would have had to been driven at much higher (and illegal) speeds to achieve the level of thrills I did running a Nissan Sentra around twisty mountain roads until the tires started squealing. Am I the only one that does this?

I'd probably go with the lightest car on the lot.

I've had tons of fun in Ford Rangers and (not since I was a teen) a Kia sedancrapboxthing. Full throttle everywhere is so much more fun than quarter throttle and already speeding.

That said, speed is a hell of a drug.

Rental cars on the street? Give me the car that has the most competent chassis. Any car they will rent you is capable of way overdriving the speed limit anyway, it's not like you should be approaching the dynamic limits of even the crappiest car on the road.
I just had a Kia Sedona for a week in Peurto Rico. I drove on the best mountain roads of my life. Mind blowing stuff. I would have enjoyed it more in a better car.

In reply to Cactus:

I had untold amounts of fun in a 2wd Ranger 5spd on and off the road.

To me it's simple: Fast, competent track car on a track, Mazda 3 or 6 type car on the street.

I'm not a huge fan of breaking traffic laws with innocent people/families around me. The Corvette would need to add, what double the speed to feel the same as a less awesome car?

This is epecially so in a rental with a chassis I don't know intimately.

Both!

loosecannon wrote: My wife and I went on a trip to somewhere in Nevada with amazing driving roads and many people asked me if I was going to rent a Mustang, Challenger or some other "sporty" car. Even the rental place wanted to put me in a Mustang but I have a theory that it's more fun driving a slow car quickly than to drive a fast car slowly. I think a Vette or even a Mustang would have had to been driven at much higher (and illegal) speeds to achieve the level of thrills I did running a Nissan Sentra around twisty mountain roads until the tires started squealing. Am I the only one that does this?

I used to be with you, but then I realized I was just making excuses for myself no longer having a truly "fast" car.

Sorry, I just don't get a ton of enjoyment listening to a 1.8L 4cyl 115hp thrashing like mad, while the CVT keeps the horrid noises going and the "all season" tires cry their eyes out...all so I can go 35mph through a turn and maybe hit 45mph before the next turn. Sure, I can't use the full capabilities of a Mustang GT on the street, but that's OK. I'll enjoy taking the turn at 40mph and rocketing to 60mph in 2 seconds and braking for the next turn. Let's face it, in street driving, no matter what car I'm driving I'm not going to take the turn at 10/10ths in any car...it's simply stupid to do that. But give me a fast car and I'm going to enjoy its' capabilities within the confines of safe yet fun driving on a public twisty road far more than I would having to murder a cheap econobox. I could make a semi-exception for immaculately balanced chassis such as an NA Miata (or maybe AW11, though they got hairy at the limit) because they're just so graceful through corners. However, even with them, I have found myself denting the floorboard from hitting the gas so hard and wishing for more.

There's a perfect country twisty road that I use to get from my house to the kids school. Elevation changes and all. My current DD is a '13 Elantra coupe 6spd. Previous DD was a '13 FoST with a Ford Racing tune. Guess which one was more fun on that road??? My current weekend toy NC Miata is barely...and just barely...adequate in the power department for my tastes.

Give me a fast car every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Fast car driven fast is my preference

ebonyandivory wrote: I had untold amounts of fun in a 2wd Ranger 5spd on and off the road.

There's hardly an easier chassis to both get and keep sideways.

In reply to Cactus:

Funny you say that. There was an island where I had to drive past, hook a hard, hairpin-like left around it and then up over a railroad bridge. In the rain, I could make that entire 200' path sideways swapping to the left and right as smooth and predictable as anything I've ever driven.

And before houses were built there was a ~1/ mile development behind my house and in the snow, the entire lap could be done sideways. And don't get me started on frozen lakes!

On a track, I like a fast, competent car but on public roads, I think something that feels like I'm going faster than I am is better. I have had several Porsches and some really fast musclecars but the car that has been the most fun on a public road was a JCW MINI. I would have rented a MINI if they had one. Here's a short video of our drive https://www.youtube.com/embed/ppLOjmMv9pU

In reply to loosecannon:

Since the street is not really the place to test the limits of anything I like a better car that you are not pushing hard. Lets me enjoy the ride and the road at limits that are way under the cars capabilitys.

Now for the track I vastly prefer driving a slower car to its limits than a really fast car at its limits.

Go see the folks at eagle rider and rent something to ride those roads 2 up.

Otherwise a good convertible, cowboy hat and shades is fine for sight seeing IMO.

Over the last 30 years of travelling the planet and many rental cars tested, I have more fond memories of driving small bore cars on interesting roads than I have of driving powerful cars on any roads. Fortunately North America is the exception to having auto gearboxes as the norm in the rental fleet.

Small bore cars tend to be agile by default because they weight less, large bore cars all suffer the penalty of too much weight which precludes them from being fun on a tight twisty road.

I'm in the "slow car fast" camp, but there are competent slow cars, too. A MINI Cooper S is pretty close to ideal for me, and any 4 cylinder would have to be a stick shift for me to enjoy.

All cars are slow.

I had a rental Chevy Cruze that I drove Skyline Boulevard out to the PCH in when I was out there for a work trip. It was way more fun than that would have been in a properly fast car - though a stock 1.6 Miata would have been about perfect.

Give you another example. There's a road in Colorado that runs from Golden heading west, I believe it's Route 6. It's one of the...if not THE...most amazing roads I've ever driven. Twisty, open and incredibly scenic. I was driving a rented Mitsubishi Galant. I had fun, but the entire time I kept thinking "Man, this would be so much more fun with a true sports car". The Galant was begging for mercy at speeds barely over the posted limit...that sucked.

First priority is good handling - having power is a bonus.

I've run winding roads with cars with triple my power that couldn't pass me due to their handling foibles, and I guarantee I had more fun than they did. A long straight reverses the balance, of course.

Klayfish wrote: Give you another example. There's a road in Colorado that runs from Golden heading west, I believe it's Route 6. It's one of the...if not THE...most amazing roads I've ever driven. Twisty, open and incredibly scenic. I was driving a rented Mitsubishi Galant. I had fun, but the entire time I kept thinking "Man, this would be so much more fun with a true sports car". The Galant was begging for mercy at speeds barely over the posted limit...that sucked.

That sounds kinda fun to me, you were able to drive at 9/10ths without really breaking the law.

For a scenic drive I'd probably get a Mustang convertible. YMMV, but SWMBO usually doesn't appreciate a lot of "canyon carving" while on vacation with everybody in the car.

Agree with wspohn. Whether at Willow or in the local canyons, my X1/9 with a whole beastly 75 HP was giant killer in the handling and braking department. The barely just over 2000 lbs didn't hurt either.

Like has been at least hinted at, it's not all about speed or capability; some slow cars are slow and feel awful, others feel pretty good. We had a Mazda 3 rental on visit to CA a couple of years ago. We weren't going fast, but that car feels pretty good. The steering is reasonably nice. The tactile feedback makes driving it pleasant.

When you can't go fast, it's about the sensory input you get, and that's only distantly related if at all to absolute grip or peak power. That rental Mazda 3 actually had much nicer steering feel than our F55 Mini. I sure hope they work the suck out of electric assist if we're going to keep it.

In reply to Ransom:

Don't Minis have electric hydraulic pumps, and not real electric power steering?

GM really knocked the ball out of the park with their electric columns. Of course, nobody else will use that system because GM.

It feels really, REALLY weird to say that GM econoboxes have better steering feel than BMW or Mercedes, but here we are.

I miss manual steering.

Bald rear tires and sticky front ones make anything more fun than it is otherwise.