What Makes A Car (Your Car) Fun

I've only got one car at the moment, but the Mazda 2 wears many hats.

It's definitely a momentum car, so it's fun to thrash around in. It gets decent fuel economy and is easy on consumables, so the fun lasts longer. It's well equipped (for me anyway) and reliable and very easy for anyone to jump in and drive. (My father basically needs a page of notes to use my brother's Focus ST. )

I'd love something more powerful, but I certainly don't NEED it. Life in slow car country is pretty darn fun.

For me, my 1997 Triumph Speed Triple is fun, not because it is fast by todays standards, but because it is a true Triumph, in "Lucifer Orange" , it is said they made and imported approx. 80 into the US and that less than 46 are known to still exist. I love it, people always ask me about it, Harley guys, street bike guys, everyone and their mother.

my 2009 GTI is fun to me because it handles very well for what it is, on ramps are a blast with the dsg, and when traffic hits, I just go into lazy mode and don't have to shift

The E-150 isn't really fun to drive, but it makes the fun possible -- load it with camping gear and the family, pull the RallyX car behind it, pull out the middle seats and have almost-an-RV.

The RX-7's fun comes from its size. Small car, your butt is almost resting on the rear axle, and I keep wonder what new pick-em-up truck has a headlight configuration like that until I realize that tall, towering vehicle behind me is actually just a new Corolla. I love being able to kick the back end out any time I want, but that's more to do with the marble-like tires than the whopping 136 horses that the rotary was theoretically able to apply to the crankshaft thirty years ago when it left Nagasaki. With the three cats removed, it can be made to backfire on demand and that's always a good time.

The Mazda 5 is fun because it's a freaking minivan with three pedals! When it's deep in a corner with the tires starting to chirp, you can feel the body roll but the chassis just whispers a grin to you and begs you to give it just a little more.

The Neon is fun in the way an atomic bomb is fun. It's loud, it's messy, it's raw. There is never a moment when you're not totally aware of the car you're driving. Pulling in to work in that car is like showing up at the country club with a 18 year old mistress that you picked up in a strip club -- Everybody says they can't understand why you'd be seen with that dirty piece of E36 M3, but they'd all like to take it for a ride just once to see what it's like. The way the turbo sounds when you build and release boost pressure can't be mistaken for anything else, and at lower rpms it just burbles and pops delightfully. When it's out on the RallyX course, the front will dig in and the rear will step out just enough. At the end of each run you're equal parts ecstatic and terrified, but all grins. Definitely the most fun car I've ever driven -- not as much fun as a motorcycle, but it's surprisingly close.

Zed: an old and slightly beat up 280zx. Loud as hell, super stiff suspension and bucket seats. Whats not to love?

The war rig: isuzu rodeo that I learned to drive in. Beat the ever loving crap out of it and it still keeps going. Learned to powerslide in it!

Not much. My DD is an auto Saturn. The only things that make it remotely fun are A) you don't sit up crazy high B) good visibility C) its light

But I'm not delusional. Its an appliance.

dean1484 wrote:

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.

Oh yeah, my hair looks FABULOUS in it

All of my cars are fun - I modify them until they get that way. Except my wife's Mazda 3, it is just a car.

MGA race car - obvious

MGC - 175 bhp tri carb with 130 mph top end and improved handling

MGA coupe - stockish MGB engine, improved handling

Jamaican-MGA - 3.4 GM and different body

Solstice GXP - killer handling, 375 bhp 2 litre 4 blown at 25 psi

Lamborghini Islero S - enough said

Jensen Interceptor - improved engine output and chassis - great cruising car

Enough for now.

99 4Runner with 2.5" Donahoe coilovers in the front and 2.5" RadFlo shocks in the rear. 33" tires and 10" of well-damped travel makes speedbumps and steep driveways fun (and fast).

~14-15 mpg and no power makes everything else less fun...

It's a long longroof. For me, wagons just represent fun. Growing up, I wanted to be in a family with a wagon; the kids just seemed so happy, and I wanted nothing more than to be able to sit in the way way back. That never happened, but now I get to live vicariously through... myself? Regardless, it makes me happy. Other people, too, who love to wax nostalgic on their own childhood wagon memories.

The Rx7, what's not to like. 9k rpm, idles like a big block dragster, spits flames and 2,100 pounds wearing 10" wide slicks.

The MX-5, daily driver giggles. Picks apart traffic and of course top down action.

F350. 860lb feet of torque. Nuff said.

A lot has been said about why the Fiesta ST is so fun, but to me, it's because it wants to play. It's like a puppy that just always wants to play hard and fetch sticks and run around. When you get it and start it up, you just get a sense that it was made to play. The sound, the suspension, the 6-speed the pull of the turbo engine...it's impossible to commute sensibly in the thing. You rev it, you match shift it, you trail brake it, you lean it into every corner, you're hard on the brakes, bang a downshift, then pull out of the corner on a swell or torque. And that's just to get some milk from the corner store.

Oddly enough, it is the same reason my old 1988 Civic DX Sedan was so fun. It was born to be cheap, basic transportation. But my previous cars were a string on 1970's land barges, so to me the Civic was so light and so nimble. And had a 5-speed! It was simple, pure, and punched well above it's weight. I eventually upgraded most of it and it was really a back-road weapon. I never got out of that thing without the catalytic ticking and my heart racing.

I'm an 8 year old stuck in a 26 year old's body. So for me, fun is basically a 1:1 scale Hot Wheels car. Ludicrous rake, wide-ass tires, wild paint job. It even makes Hot Wheels-appropriate noises. Keeps me young.

My '03 G35 coupe. It sounds great, it's comfy, it's reliable, I love the shifter/trans (this is a point of contention with some on these cars), it handles at least as well as anything else I've owned, and it has just enough power to be entertaining. It's as close to a do-everything car as I've had.

I can roll the windows down and open the roof and just listen to the VQ wail, or I can seal it up, turn on the AC and just cruise without getting beaten up.

I look forward to driving it every day. I'm not sick of it after several months even though it's still mostly stock. I can't say that about very many cars I've had.

I think the E30 is one of those cars that goes without saying. Turbo makes happy noises and enough power to be a good time, supremely balanced, comfortable, quiet, easy to work on, great steering, and always tells you what it's doing. I haven't driven many other cars that come close - I think an S2000 was the closest I've felt.

The wagon is fun as a great cruiser, gets lots of interest from a very diverse group of people, handles surprisingly well, and that V8 torque is fantastic. Still working out the idiosyncrasies with this one, but it's getting there.

The dirt bike is a dirt bike, nuff said.

The 950 will take you anywhere, on (or off) any road, as fast as you dare to try it. It's the best vehicle for cross country travel that I've ever had, especially since you can choose from dirt or pavement and still get there almost as fast. Stunningly capable in every situation I've put it through, and 9500 rpm from that V twin is pretty darn fantastic. It never gets old.

Driving like a nut for four years--and selling for a profit. Fun!

The sheer barge-ness of my car. Also, pillow-style seats and Brougham trim.