GazChap wrote:
Cavey wrote:
it was more the duff gearbox
I'll give you that one, that gearbox sounds proper shite.
Heh. No need to 'give' me anything mate, it's Topgear's review, not mine. (If you feel their assessment re. fake noise and redline, gloopy steering, bouncy suspension and no charisma etc. is unfair, perhaps you should send 'em a strongly worded letter in defence of Kia
I'm unlikely to ever drive one of these for real, I'd have thought, unless Enterprise Car Hire really go off piste for some future work car hire)
Quote:
Quote:
floaty suspension, gloopy steering and fake noise, fake redline etc.
These are all pretty much par for the course these days though, and there's no getting away from that.
But that's clearly not true though - not yet at least - in the specific case of the RS Focus that Hearthly was considering. Yes, it's ultimately a four-banger shopping hatch, and yes it probably does have fake noise at least (no-one is going to make a four cylinder engine sound much kop anytime soon), but the gearbox is snappy and quick, the redline is real, the handling is sublime and the whole car is a raw-edged, ragged hoot, with no torque steer thanks to the AWD. It still wears the hallowed RS badge.
Quote:
I keep thinking about getting back into a car from that lovely triple-striped M division, but even they've gone down this road now (in fact, they were probably one of the first to add fake exhaust noise) - I think the E9x M3 is probably the last "proper" M-car, but it's lacking some of the creature comforts that draw me to its newer brothers.
If Hearthly is all about the visceral thrill-seeking, perhaps he should just drop the sponds on an E46 M3 CSL
BMW aren't a great example; the latest M4 is pretty crap, just another bloated, turbocharged Autobahn blaster GT car, too big/too heavy. I agree the last M car worthy of the badge was indeed the E46.... what an engine, what a car. "Slow" by today's standards but sublime, raw handling, fabulous naturally aspirated noise and the feeling you were driving something really special - which you were.
EDIT: Also, the awful SMG 'box that you've no choice but to have on the CSL can GTFF too. That's a dealbreaker.
_________________
Beware of gavia articulata oculos...
Dr Lave wrote:
Of course, he's normally wrong but
interestingly wrong