What Makes A Car (Your Car) Fun

I had been thinking of starting this thread about three days ago then I read the Donk thread. Located Here and realized that what was being discussed in that thread is completely relivant to this thread.

So what makes a car fun for you? I have a wide range of cars in my fleet at the moment. I like my H2 just because the lumbering giant way of life is .. . well.. . . FUN!!!! (and I can pretend I am driving an autobot )

I have my 924s that has all but a race car suspension in it (dating form the early 90's) that is so hard you can tell the sex of earthworms when you run them over. It is underpowered by todays standards but there is just that feeling it has of being a bit dated and a bit slow and still looks good and that "German ness" ( is that a word ) and.. . . . YES IT IS FUN!!!!!

My expedition. While not a F150 it is as close as you can get with an SUV so I can get my inner redneck on and pretend. Life is simple in this vehicle. It is not particularly great at anything but it is REALLY good at many things. Want to go play in the snow or dirt. NO PROBLEM. Need to tow something NO PROBLEM. Need a place to camp out in when the tent is leaking? NO PROBMEM. It is a FUN CAR.

My Mustang. While it is for sale is a fun car to. It is a bit of a poser and gets the young kids to stair while those that know anything about cars know that it is a early V6 that is much more like a tractor engine than anything you would find on the road and yet it to is fun to cruse around in.

Another thing about cars and fun. We are always talking about rebuilding this and I broke that. I think secretly there is a ranking system of some sort. You can be a 4 connecting rod general. Or a three lifter major.. . . These "battle scars" we ware with pride on our shoulders when thinking of our cars and the fun they bring. Part of the fun is getting to the point of actually having fun with a car. With many cars the journey of ownership is as much fun as the fun you have with your car once you reach the final destination.

So I put it to you. What makes a car fun to you? Why is your Miata fun? Why is your 1976 98 Regency (one of my most fun cars ever) fun? (Re the 98 Regency: Think teenager and a car with a back seat bigger than most living rooms) A party on wheels and it was the 70's mannnnn.

I firmly believe that all cars can be fun and that is why there is such a diversity in the car hobby and that is what makes it great!!!!

So I ask you. What makes your car (or any car) fun to you? It can be a 4x4 with 40" tires or a track rat Miata or that land barge you cruse around in or?

They are different. You won't see one every time you turn a corner.

The Abomination. A Spitfire stuffed full of Mazda parts. What's not to love.

The Green Giant. A mile long, 1994 F350, that's full of vintage camper at the moment.

The Japanese Swordsman. A tin top Samurai.

And a vintage BMW. Because you always see old BMWs on the road. Yeah, right.

What makes my car fun is the fact that it's a motorcycle.

Is my truck a car?

If so then the fact that I don't lock it or roll up the windows or care where I park it makes it fun.

Yes trucks absolutely count as do 2 and 3 wheeled vehicles.

The car that SWMBO won't take a ride in

I like my underpowered beaters. The current daily driver is a '92 318i. So, it's a decent chassis with a smooth but powerless engine. Fun to wring out on the way to work without danger to other road users or fear of breaking laws.

+1 for underpowered beaters, big power is fun for a while, but a 55hp Yugo on 145R13s can be operated at 8/10ths in city traffic all day long and you're hardly doing more than keeping up. Most fun I've ever had in a car, second was probably breaking in new brakes in a 2.5 5 speed 2wd XJ, on E36 M3 tires in the rain.

Torque.

Supercharge all the things!

If you love cars and love driving, you can find something fun about almost anything. The most fun cars I've ever had generally have:

1. No payment book.
2. Enough power to move, but not so much that they're annoying to commute with the general population.
3. Change direction or momentum quickly.

The Murdercycle. A Honda CM200T. 11.34 ci monster. I ride that bitch like its the Isle of Mann every day.

A car that i enjoy working on and can be made quick cheaply is fun to me. If i lived in an area with more interesting roads, i would probably value handling more, but i care more about the way suspension 'feels' then how it actually gets around a corner.

So if it is already fast but i dont want to work on it it'll be hit or miss whether or not i actually like it.

9000 rpm, the best transmission on the planet, good noises, stellar brakes, superb handling and the thrill this car gives on the edge of traction. It's a hard car to keep right at the limit as it is hard to catch when you go too far, but get it right and it is thrilling!

No berkeleys given. 10/10ths all the time. It's a beater.

6 speed and turbo... A warranty for once is a nice touch too!

1. good noise and the ability to blow the tires off when I feel like it.

2. Beaters that I can beat the piss out of every day.

3. Dragging someone from a dig, in a slower car.

4. Underdogs (probably why I loved the LT1 so much, plus it met all the others to)

Because v8. I own nothing with less than 5.3 liters of v8, and that makes almost anything fun. My 2007 express has 422k and it sounds great due to a hole in the muffler.

its a fox chassis wich i love and its also a wagon. Its a huge hit with elderly folks who all feel the need to share a story about back when they had one and the tractor motor is proving tough to kill! i do miss the v8 so eventually that will get done but for now its just a blast to drive and other then the 2 in my driveway i have yet to see another one locally!

Spoolpigeon wrote: 9000 rpm, the best transmission on the planet, good noises, stellar brakes, superb handling and the thrill this car gives on the edge of traction. It's a hard car to keep right at the limit as it is hard to catch when you go too far, but get it right and it is thrilling!

Spool there are so many places I want to take this but I am resisting the urge to derail my own thread.

Focus SVT: 9 + year relationship, ugly but mechanically sound, no car payment, summer tires, depreciated out, fresh suspension, and all of the curves in Southern California.

My E36 is fun because it can deliver a good ride (with better tires), good handling, good fuel efficiency (that counts, too), and good balance with RWD and 50:50 weight distribution. It's fun drifting it a little on dirt roads and I can't wait for it to be running when it snows so I can drift it in the snow. I like fixing it (I better after 2 years of repairs) so any new knocking or groaning it does I can diagnose it on the fly and be fairly accurate; most people would just groan at the cost of the repair.

With my Saturn, zero berkeleys are given.. Most of the time the car is filled with garbage that needs to be hauled to the dumpster. My sadistic side enjoys watching the car decay, yet still run and drive flawlessly.

On the other hand, my B3 Miata is the single most challenging project I have ever taken on. With regards to fuel cost, its like driving for free!

Gees...My cars are so different.

The mid engine sports car

The classic Cruiser

The touring convertible

The 4 door family sedan.

They are all fun in their own ways. They all handle pretty well and can be tossed around. The big thing that I find as fun is the ability to feel a little engagement with having to go 100 MPH to get there. Some of the modern cars are too good.

Let's see: with the beater miata it's paid for, it's a convertible, it's slow but it's on it's way to CSP prep which means not really slow.

With the VR6 passat it's the best sound ever when I romp on the loud pedal. Taking muscle cars from a light in a wagon is just icing on the cake.

The old ranger was my dads so it's a bit like I'm in a country song whenever I get behind the wheel.

And finally the suburban. I guess the fact it's still running when I paid a whopping $1600 for it. It does whatever I need it to do. Anywhere anytime any conditions. It's my zombie apocalypse bugout beast.

99 Golf - It's a great "around town" car. It's the DD, it gets good gas mileage. I got it cheap and I get a kick out of picking up other people's cast offs and driving them for a while!

02/05 WRX Wagons - I like projects. Eventually the 05 will see the road as my rally pig and the 02 will head to the big scrapyard in the sky. Looking forward to having a car I can beat the E36 M3 out of doing rally-X, that I don't have to drive to work.

12 Ford Exploder - good looking family/tow rig that we can get the in-laws in to go out of town - 7 seats are nice.

90 VW Golf - the wife's fun car. For a car that barely makes the 100 Hp plateau and has all of the torsional rigidity of cooked spaghetti, they sure are fun!