What defines a fast car in 2020?

[Pyscho_Si]

That’s good. What car is it?

Lexus GS 450H ... getting on a bit now but just about to pay for another 2 year warranty as I'm starting to think this might be my last ICE car.

 

[Frozennova]

Justified if it’s been bought for use on the autobahn. (I’m going to resist getting into the ‘is it environmentally ethical to be driving at 120mph argument). Seeing that we are all being forced into electric vehicles anyway.
For the moment though the speed limit in the UK is 70mph
I could have more fun in a 100hp MK1 or MK2 escort on a twisty lane than I could in a super car - at legal speeds that is.

You're forgetting that there a multiple venues and events held in the UK where it entirely legal and justifiable to well into triple digit speeds if you wish to

 

[glenimp617]

Proper fast cars show themselves 100 onwards not 0-100

The mrs electric smart car is one of the fastest cars to 30

 

[SkodaMart]

I’ve never owned what I would class as a fast car, certainly not by today’s standards

 

[[TW]Fox]

Think about what is being suggested?
Why do you need a 3.0 litre turbo diesel when the speed limit is 70mph?
My 45bhp Fiesta 950 would do 70 quite happily.
Honestly? Cracking a wallnut with a sledge hammer isn’t it?

unless of course people break the laws?

None of these seem to have anything to do with what you initially said, which was:

The problem is so many boring looking saloon cars are so powerful and fast.

You need an outrageous sports car to smoke’em.

Is there not some sort of area between nobody needing more than 45bhp and your claims?

For clarity, I don't understand why the performance of other cars has any bearing on the car you choose yourself and the enjoyment you derive from it - does it matter whether the latest Audi RS6 does 0-60 in 2 seconds and 400mph if you enjoy the performance your own car offers and you find it enjoyable to drive?

 

[jpaul]

I don't drive any quicker now than I did when I was 17, but the ability to get up to speed quickly and effortlessly is a joy for driving.

I'm sure even Lewis's driving sklls hadn't peaked at that age, and, same car, same trip, he wouldn't be faster.

 

[SkodaMart]

None of these seem to have anything to do with what you initially said, which was:





Is there not some sort of area between nobody needing more than 45bhp and your claims?

For clarity, I don't understand why the performance of other cars has any bearing on the car you choose yourself and the enjoyment you derive from it - does it matter whether the latest Audi RS6 does 0-60 in 2 seconds and 400mph if you enjoy the performance your own car offers and you find it enjoyable to drive?

We are never going to see eye to eye, I like simple basic cars I can fix myself.
I don’t pay for servicing, warranty’s and the like. I also don’t care what type of tyres I fit to my BMW. I have no interest in luxury vehicles at all, I never have had, never will.
Have performance saloons made sports cars obsolete, the RS6 is the ideal example. The answer is probably yes as you see very few sports cars on the roads these days.

 

[[TW]Fox]

We are never going to see eye to eye, I like simple basic cars I can fix myself.
I don’t pay for servicing, warranty’s and the like. I also don’t care what type of tyres I fit to my BMW

Which is fine, but I still don't see how that is at all related to what you said, which is: 'The problem is so many boring looking saloon cars are so powerful and fast.'

If you don't like boring looking saloon cars simply ignore them. It doesn't matter how fast they are to you as you don't like them and wouldn't buy them anyway.

Nobody who appreciates a true sports car would buy an RS6 instead - they exist in two different markets.

 

[SkodaMart]

Which is fine, but I still don't see how that is at all related to what you said, which is: 'The problem is so many boring looking saloon cars are so powerful and fast.'

If you don't like boring looking saloon cars simply ignore them. It doesn't matter how fast they are to you as you don't like them and wouldn't buy them anyway.

Nobody who appreciates a true sports car would buy an RS6 instead - they exist in two different markets.

I respect where you are coming from, all I’m saying is that at one time sports cars where the performance car on the roads.
It’s not so cut and dried these days as many performance saloons can outperform so called sports car.
The likes of the RS3, 4 6 etc are mind bogglingly fast. A few years ago I saw a Golf R accelerate from a standstill down a slip road. I had never seen one before, had to google it.
I honestly didn’t realise a golf could move so quick, it looked like a scalectric car.

 

[Pyscho_Si]

Have performance saloons made sports cars obsolete, the RS6 is the ideal example. The answer is probably yes as you see very few sports cars on the roads these days.

I totally disagree. Sport cars bring a sense of occasion which saloons and hot hatches can’t. I really love the Lexus LC500h and if I fit (headroom is the usual issue) and the itch gets to a point I might look at getting one. However, I’m actually only going to gain about half a second performance as the engine is basically the one I already have in the GS... however the LC (in my eyes) looks special and turns heads in a way a saloon never could.

 

[[TW]Fox]

I respect where you are coming from, all I’m saying is that at one time sports cars where the performance car on the roads.

I think you are being a bit nostalgic. History is full of examples where there was a boring looking saloon offering sports car performance - the Sierra Cosworth or BMW M5 of the 1980's, the Lotus Carlton, V8 M5 and E55 AMG of the 1990s (1992 even brought us the boring looking performance estate car - the Audi RS2) and then the V10/V8 BiTurbo Mercedes and BMW saloons of the mid 2000's onwards.

I think you need to go back 40 years or more before what you say is true.

 

[Nasher]

We are never going to see eye to eye, I like simple basic cars I can fix myself.
I don’t pay for servicing, warranty’s and the like. I also don’t care what type of tyres I fit to my BMW. I have no interest in luxury vehicles at all, I never have had, never will.
Have performance saloons made sports cars obsolete, the RS6 is the ideal example. The answer is probably yes as you see very few sports cars on the roads these days.

The RS6 isn't sporty in the slightest though. It's a totally different experience.

 

[SkodaMart]

Showing my age I guess

 

[[TW]Fox]

Infact surely the king of the boring looking saloon cars offering sports car performance was the original Subaru Impreza Turbo - a car from 27 years ago!

 

[SkodaMart]

Infact surely the king of the boring looking saloon cars offering sports car performance was the original Subaru Impreza Turbo - a car from 27 years ago!

Sapphire cosworth I would say.

 

[Nasher]

The Americans were doing it long before them. Though they weren't interested in corners much.

 

[SkodaMart]

The Impreza was a road going rally car.
More my cup of tea than a performance saloon tbh.
I think they sound amazing for a 4 pot.

 

[Housey]

Sapphire cosworth I would say.

SD1 Vitesse I would suggest in the era before. My dad has one and coming from a 2.8i Capri it felt different league. Slow by today's performance standards but back then 7.1 0-60 and 149mph was proper as was 190bhp and 220lbs of torque.

 

[Nasher]

Don't forget the #1 favorate of 90s bank robbers, the Lotus Carlton

 

[Kenai]

If anything is making the sports car obselete, it's that people increasingly need a car to do more and perhaps everything as an only car. Having a second car or needing no practicality is presumably a luxury less people find themselves able to take advantage of.

The prevelance of the performance hatch/saloon/estate is the answer to this situation though, rather than the cause of it.