Sports cars

Boys and their toys Stansgran !!!

What to do with them !!

My sister in law recently turned up to a family meal with a new sports car, very nice I was envious. I asked her husband during the meal if it was a present to herself , he said yes it was but she'd only driven it a couple of times as she felt too near the ground when driving and unsafe.. so he had to take it out for a spin now and then to keep the engine ticking over and he had no idea if she'd even try to get used to driving it or more likely sell it.

So its not only boys Nonu!!

Yes that is true. People of both sexes buy these pointless, gas guzzling status symbols. There is nowhere on public roads where they can be driven to spec.
I might be envious of those who have enough money to squander on one - but what are they for other than showing off?

I had a sports car for years. I used it daily until I sold it for a 'grown-up' car last year. It was economical to run, didn''t guzzle gas and was cheap, eventually, to insure. Not all sports cars are status symbols and I certainly didn''t feel show-offy when driving it

Oh dear! I have had a Mazda MX5 for the last 10 years.
It's now 17 years old and I'm resisting all efforts to make me swap it for something more sensible until it falls apart, or I do, whichever happens first.
I love the feel of driving it - and it's just a beautiful, classically designed car

Too true Tanith .

Anyway , off for a nice swim at club .

Don't get me on this one!! Cars are for getting from A to B safely and if possible comfortably. They are not penis extensions.

I think it should be illegal to manufacture a car that has the potential to exceed the speed limit - if it is illegal to go a speed X, then what is the point of a car that can do speed X+?

We pay a huge price for this vanity - bereavement and disability; wrecked lives.

I have never understood what it is all about. Whatever gene it is that makes people enjoy moving at speed was obviously not one that I inherited - all I can see is the misery that it all causes.

I should rejoice in the flat battery stansgran and let the darned thing stay in the garage!

It's all go, isn't it Nonu?

DH still drives a T reg 3ltr Ford Capri and is now spending a fortune on having it refurbished (not for the first time...). It eats petrol and is a devil to park, but he loves it and tinkering with it keeps him happy. As long as I never have to drive it...

No offence meant folks - I was thinking of a brand new super high powered thing - like Clarkson acolytes drool over. I know someone who is getting one so it was on my mind...

Well yes, but DH's old Capri can easily get up to 120mph (so he tells me!). For a lot of men I think it's the engine power that really does it for them, as well as the looks of course.

Is it definately the battery? I'm only asking cause I had that sort of trouble with a car and it was the alternator and, one day it just died on me as I was going round a corner. I do think some cars are a thing of beauty [like aircraft]. And men so define themselves with their cars. I always think one of the worst things for a man as he gets older and his health fails is giving up his car; I've seen it happen to friends and relatives [I'm not referring to your DH when I say that Stangran]. Although I have a sensible old ladies car I do sometimes long for something like an old Citroen 2CV; we once travelled oop north just as they were having a Citroen Rally somewhere and every other car looked like a little dustbin [some with trailers]. It was like being in a Noddy book.

I used to have a car (Morris 1100) - totally unsuitable for the terrain in Kenya - which kept on dying on me. I discovered that the battery terminal was coming detached from its connection. I leapt out of the car on a roundabout in the middle of Nairobi (risky!), shoved a bit of silver foil from a bar of chocolate onto the terminal and reconnected it. That improvised repair lasted for months. The Elastoplast I used to fix a petrol pump lead lasted a year and was still on when I swapped the car for a much more suitable VW 1300 Beetle. If I hadn't got married when my contract in Kenya ended, I had plans to buy a MG midget. Did I make the right choice?

I just like having a car that is a bit unexpected. I have run three sports cars in my time, none of them gas guzzlers, and I never drove them at excessive speeds. By the time I bought them they were all elderly and run down but fun to own and could be guaranteed to catch people by surprise because the image of middle aged professional woman with spouse and two kids didnt match the car, or vice versa.

My most 'successful' car was a Saab, not a sports car, that was 15 years old when I bought it, and which I owned when DS was at secondary school, a private school, where quite a number of fathers had fairly upmarket company cars. The novelty of the car, its dilapidated condition and elderly registration number, did, so my DS told me, give him considerable street cred and status among his peers.

Well I am sorry to say that I have a beautiful MX5, 2 litre, and it is a total joy. Unlike my DH's very sensible car, it is a delight to drive and makes me feel twenty years younger. Top down on a sunny day and life feels really good. I know I will have to give it up eventually but just seeing it glowing in the car park gives me a thrill. I will now get my coat, bend my head, and shuffle off Gransnet before I get too many rotten tomatoes thrown at me!!!


PS : please let me know when it is safe to come back in............

Sue162

I have an MX5 too Sue, have owned one for years now, had an older one which I was very fond of, then it gradually got to the stage when it was costing quite a bit to keep going so three years ago I changed it for a newer model. I love it, the roof comes down whenever the weather is reasonable, even through the winter! But I do have to borrow OH car if I take the dog anywhere!

jane sue yoga mine was an MX5 too! I do miss it but see it every day as the local paper shop owner bought it. I had a Triumph Spitfire until DD1 arrived - sadly I couldn't fit her carrycot onto the back shelf so it had to go!

We're beginning to create an MX5 appreciation club!

Engines that were only made to go up to the speed limit would be very inefficient – going uphill, for instance, they would probably need to burn an excessive amount of fuel to shift the tonnage. Engine 'strength' isn't just about speed.

crimson my first car was a Citroen Dyane. My best car was a Peugeot 505, known as the aircraft carrier, which was an eight seater and, mostly, started first time over the 11 years I had it!

I think that DH was feeling the loss of his youth when child number 4 came along as he went shopping for a suit and came back a with 10 year old MGBGT - really useful

When the petrol rationing happened under Heath and a 50mph limit was set, acidents, injuries and deaths shot down. I would be quite happy to see a return of a 50 limit.

The incentive to create efficient cars that could climb hills but still not go over the speed limit would be there if legislation to outlaw cars that could exceed the limit were forthcoming.

We have been brainwashed into thinking that we need to get up and go and do everything at speed - slowing down is good, both in the car and in life.

I had a MR2 until 5 years ago, until I started childminding my DGS and my DD said that it was time I grew up and got a grown up car

I know so much about cars, I don't even know what an MR2 is. <Heads Wikiwards>

bags here
mine was racing green goes away weeping!!!!!