I can't say anything about the performance of the NSX because I only drove it maybe 20' through our parking lot, but the interior felt like an Integra. I thought it would be fancy and expensive feeling but it just felt normal.

To me Leather in a sports car is a bad idea. The damn car needed about 100-150 more Ft/Lbs of torque. The brakes and handling are the tits.

I believe the one i drove was early 90's before they increased the displacment.

to clearify, i like the manual tranny RX-8, just not the auto...

'02 Miata SE. T U R D

deleted and added a few

'77 Porsche 911 Targa

nsx, every mustang,

WRX, talk about boring

S2000, really wanted to love it, but damn it just felt... wrong and isolated like most Hondas I've driven

G35/350Z, felt a lot slower than it should be and felt heavy as hell, makes my MS3 feel nimble and lightweight

Maserati Spyder Cambiocorsa - Felt really vauge, might have been the 3 piece wheels. Lots of power, fun to drive around.. but looked too much like a Jaguar and cost 3 times as much to maintain... All the maintenance costs of a Ferrari without the nameplate and style to go with it.

Corvette would have been a better choice.

Subaru XT Coupe....Turbo. Maybe it was the cutting-edge style that stood out from the Isuzu Impulses and Aries Ks of mid 80's, or maybe it was the mis-directed, mal-informed hormones of a 15 year old. Either way, I liked it alot and thought it looked manly. So one of my favorite past times my dad used to do was take me out to dealerships and test drive cars, just for fun. I would never drive because I was too young, but would sit in the back seat and giggle like a japanese school girl. We would never actually buy a car, of course. So when I got my license at 16, I begged my dad to take me to the Subaru dealership so i can test drive my then-dream car, a Subaru XT. What a fucking turd. I remember flooring it WOT and looking over at the salesman, "When does the boost kick in?". "It IS in boost", he replied. Talk about dissappointed. Don't even get me started on the Subaru SVX......

A lot more recently though, I beat the shit out of a friend's 350Z around Buttonwillow raceway last year and that is a FUN car to drive, despite it's weight. Excellent steering and handling for it's weight. The only thing that sucked was he was on OEM tires and brake pads, and we quickly smoked them both.

WRX
04 NSX
S2000

I like the NSX and S2000 with boost. Especially with 772rwhp (NSX) on street tires. Very scary. I loved driving my FD rx7, perhaps more than any car ever, but I didn't like owning it, cause its a pita.

NC miata. boat

Great thread...

Better:

MS3 - Never thought I would love it as much as I did. Awesome car.
350Z - I have to disagree with everybody else. It was certainly heavier than my miata but it still felt very muscular and tactile.
GTO - Yes it's a pig, but it really behaved well at the limit and had a ton of power.

Worse:

S2000
Mini Cooper S
B5 S4 - I'm sure a modified example would be wonderful, but it was too soft and had a ton of understeer.
WRX - Same as above. I very seriously considered buying one based off of mag. reviews until the salesman learned I had significant club racing experience. One session on a nearby twisty road and I nearly ran out of the dealership.

Question for those that didn't like the S2000. Was this a street or track experience?

I can understand that in city driving, the power is anemic at low speeds......


But on a track, when you're heel-n-toe'ing at high rpms and pushing the car to it's limit, it's nothing a miata can hold up against. I was giddy after driving a stock S2k on the track!

I guess thats just me....

+1
I drove the a 07 that had the auto that could be shifted through the gears and it was badass, i was scared to floor it at all and sounded like a beast, the driver seat was a bit narrow though

BAD:
For some reason my girlfriend's 300zx just feels slow, i mean the suspension is stiff, but it feels like my 240 has more speed and stopping power. Maybe its because her's is N/A and auto? :dunno:

drove a wrx with high expectations,,
car felt slugish, the tranny felt,
well, scary to slam gears , (must be that goofy awd crap)

one of the better surprises came from an srt-4
i thought to my self,, oh boy, so now dodge thinks its making the new evo
after slammin through some gears and listening to that popping sound upon decel
i was hooked,
car was a barrel of monkeys to drive
beware though, car handles like a barrel of monkeys too.......

I drove my friend's SVT focus, feels really nice and direct in corners, but not very powerful at all.

I drove a WRX and they can seriously be hustled and held at the limit with heroic awd, but the transmission felt long and wierd, there was a lot of body roll even with sway bars, and the steering is probably that car's weakest point as it felt very indirect and the rack was too slow.

Reading this thread has made me curious about a few cars that I now want to try for myself, but I am surprised so many people have the cooper s on their disappointing list, I guess I have to try for myself.

mr2 turbo why so much lag?

The 2001 Mustang convertible I drove when I just came to the US (company car), while looking around for a car. It felt just sooo heavy, the interior was junk, the handling was like a wallmart trolly and I didn't like the looks of it. I ended up buying my Miata after that.

Audi A6 -2002 with 2.0L turbo (I think) and auto. My company car for a while here in Germany: Felt nervous in a negative way and had no bottom end tourqe at all. It shifted all the time, also at the least little throttle adjustment and the shifts where jumpy and hard. Drove it in manual mode and it shifted like my grandmother.

S2000: Felt like a bathtub full of led.

Opel Astra coupe 2.2L Turbo 2002. Very fast. Looks great! Even not half bad on the inside. A death trap in every damn corner. Opel, Please stop making cars with too much HP for the chassi to handle!!!

Extreemly pleased with: Volvo V50 2005 Turbo Diesel, 6 speed manual. Also company car. Drove it for about 4 weeks. Also a long trip from Germany to Sweden, 14hours straight, most of them with the foot to the floor. It was great! Comfortable, quiet, steady, nice interior and fast! Made 250km/h on autobahn. One early morning I was staying over 220km/h for 30min straight. Never missed a beat. Miss it.

I owned a WRX wagon for about a year... as my first turbo car, i thought it was awesome... but looking back, if I had never driven one today, and took a test drive, i would have been disappointed..

Actually, the very first time I drove one, I was disappointed.. The turbo lag seemed bad, but it was my fault, I pulled out on to the road, shifted to 2nd at about 15-20 and then tried to floor it.. Yeah, there's lag like that.. live and learn.

As for the gear box, yeah, it's not the kind of car you bang gears in. The box is weak and has been known to shear gears.

Never had any problems out of it, and would/have considered owning another. Great fun in the snow, good dd, etc.