Looking through today's headlines, and man is there a lot of doom and gloom. Gas up. Strike here. Jobs cut there. Mexican Fords even further over there. One comment in particular stuck in my mind. Talking about the Dacia Logan review Salokj said, "Renault has done a great job at marketing this car and even some car guys I know tell me 'What's the point of buying anything more, you can't go over 130km/h anymore.'" And 130km/h is bang on about 80 mph. Fast, but really more freeway cruising speed. Or if you live in Britain, the speed at which cops shoot. Anyhow, it all got me thinking — is driving fun anymore? Traffic, tickets, the price of gas, modern cars are too numb, too fat and much too safe. But still, and maybe I'm just wired different, but despite everything I just listed, every time I climb behind a wheel I simply love it. Doesn't matter the car, doesn't matter the location nor the weather. Strap me in and I love it — on some level at least. Even last night, stuck in traffic with a heavy clutch, was completely enjoyable. To me. What about you?
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Same here….every trip is an adventure on some level…I either enjoy the driving dynamics, or in the in car entertainment system. Be it sports car or SUV….I still enjoy every mile.
Yeah, today. Drove a couple of miles in a ’93 Accord wagon with the back window stuck halfway down. But we have this kinda hairpin turn from my neighborhood street onto the main road–I hit the apex just right and just poured the power to ‘er :)
I like it on sunny days like today here in Denver when I have the top down on the Jeep.
Every time I commute I can find at least one turn or section of road to enjoy. Doing a great turn with the proper throttle/brake/clutch control seems to stimulate the pleasure centres in my brain like little else, even if it is at a rather sedate speed. Smoothness and a clean exit of the turn, feels great.
I find you can still get a lot of fun even driving well within the legal boundaries.. Thankfully there are no speed limits on how quickly you can take a corner.. yet!
While my love doesn’t go as deep as enjoying traffic, I definitely do enjoy driving every day. I love the drive to work (short, traffic-less commute) and heading out for errands.
Also, I have a road right near me that is amazing. It drops into a little valley and back up the other side, with banked turns that give so much grip that I reach my limit far before my car does. And this is on all-seasons that I have no problem throwing around on flat roads. I can only imagine what it’d be like in a real sports car (only a Mazda3 for me). No cops or other traffic, either.
Had a ton of fun yesturday in my Nissan NX1600/2000. Beautiful weather, took the T-Tops off, had the windows down, the music up. The car is really light compared to today’s vehicles and is fairly quick. The mileage in the 30’s helps take my mind of gas prices and having the wind rushing with the tops of makes you feel like you’re going crazy fast even when you’re not. I wish they’d bring this car back.
This morning’s commute! California Highway 17 driving to work in my GTI. To me driving fun isnt about going fast, its cornering/handling at a decent clip. I had about as much fun in my Golf with aftermarket suspension as my new GTI just slower and at almost 30MPG. You dont need gas guzzling engines to have fun suspension and tires (and the right chassis/steering) are where its at.
It is hilarious that this question was asked the night after I went to Chicago indoor racing with some coworkers. If you don’t enjoy driving modern cars, Kart racing will definitely get the adrenaline going, even if they do max out at 35mph and have single digit HP numbers.
I have off the 5th-8th and will probably take the sportbike or sportscar up to Road America to see the superbike doubleheader.
I try to enjoy driving at least once per week….
I even enjoyed driving back from the indy 500 with the wife at sub 60mph. Great sun, clean, good road, not much traffic. What is not to like???
Traffic is so bad here that the last time I really enjoyed a drive was last year through the mountains from N Carolina through Tennessee and into Georgia. It was a weekday with very little traffic and the roads were twisted to perfection. Equipped with a 330ci with open sunroof and open throttle, it reminded me why I love cars.
I enjoyed my trek in the Volvo last night, jamming to Howard Jones.
Just yesterday. I took our 1967 Jaguar 420G on a short errand run to the post office and enjoyed every minute. I like driving and I like driving almost anything. The old Jag, my modern TSX, the daughter’s 240 wagon and even the ’89 F150 work truck I keep around. Driving is fun! Each vehicle has it’s own quirks and attractions.
The only kind of driving I don’t like is being stuck in stop ‘n go. Yuck.
What’s the point of buying anything more, you can’t go over 130km/h anymore.\'” And 130km/h is bang on about 80 mph. Fast, but really more freeway cruising speed.
The Fast and the Fun? Nah. Speed does not equal fun.
I have fun most days, when I drive in the “shortcut” back home, avoiding a section of highway to use the winding road instead.
Why most and not all? Well, because there often is a car in front of me sticking with the 35 mph speed limit, or generally going much lower.
I’ve found that in my relatively light, relatively fun to drive Golf, I can take those at 45mph without getting scared.
Last time I enjoyed driving was when I was in the United States.
I was driving along route 66, with the air conditioning on and the radio blaring. Admittedly, it was just a Kia Spectra, but I truly enjoyed that drive. In fact, I enjoyed driving around Pasadena. I’d go back in a heartbeat and go to the Nappa Valley.
Oh yeah, this morning on the way to work. My POS commuter is a Saturn SL2 with the stick, and way more power than tire. I see redline and squeal a tire at least once EVERY time I drive. And since it’s an almost invisible car I don’t even get second glances while doing it. It truly is more fun flogging that tiny thing than if I was coasting along in a Vette.
I so enjoy every minute I spend in my car and always have. Traffic becomes a challange to pick the ‘right lane’ and make the ‘best time’, even at 20-30. The perfect winding road. The breathless scenery on just a casual drive. The thrill/challenge of beating my best time at track days. I remember the trips with my parents and the wonderment of new sights every mile and the determination to be the ‘driver’ as soon possible. I just plain enjoy the joy of driving. Umm. so the answer is the last time I drove. :)
Jayperry:
I was driven across CH17 and back every day for school for a year or two a long while back. The first time we made the trip there was a car overturned on the shoulder near the summit. Delays due to accidents were not uncommon. One time a fireman had to drive our Dodge Caravan around a jacknifed big-rig that was blocking the entire two southbound lanes. He took it over the embankment, with the whole carpool “high siding” like we were whitewater rafting.
The last time I had fun driving? Blasting from Portland to the coast on the Sunset highway a few weekends ago. Left on a Sunday morning at 7 a.m. in the girlfriends 2008 Impreza 2.5 with three passengers. Barely dropped below 80mph all the way through the sweeping curves of the coast range on a perfect spring morning. Didn’t see more than a handful of cars until we ran smack into a Ferrari club parading their Italian hotness along the coast. Good times.
A couple days ago, on a cool but sunny day, loafing around town in the Mustang with the top down. Or the day before that, when I found a tight and twisty road I’d never seen before. I had the top up that morning, but the road was so much fun that when I got to the end I dropped the top, turned around, and did it again the other direction.
Every time I go on one of the mountain twisties around here (at least once a week), it is a fun drive.
Last weekend I had a blast driving up to Burlington, Vermont. Until I got popped by the Fuzz, that is. A pox on their forest green state trooper cars.
The car matters to me. Joyrides are not fun in cushy rides that insulate me from the road, the surrounding environment, and everything else.
Only recently have I begun to enjoy driving again. Perhaps it’s because the car I drive now is tossable and more enjoyable, even though it lacks air conditioning, power windows, power locks, and whatever other creature comforts people feel they must have.
It also could be from changing jobs where I no longer have to slog through bad traffic, bad drivers, and bad radio stations.
But I think it’s the car more than anything else. I’m sure if I still had to drive an SUV in my new job I’d be mired in misery. Likewise, if I had my personal car on my old job, driving would be a wee bit more enjoyable.
Every day. And I agree with most commentors here, Fun does not equal fast, although fast almost always equals fun.
A winding country road on a Sunny day, windows down and the burble of a V8 under my foot. Thats what really gets to me.
It’s like that “Perfect Moment” Lexus commercial, except I’m not driving a beige, isolated appliance.
I usually enjoy driving, unless I’m either stuck in traffic or the car I’m driving is simply too dull. I once drove an ES300 that was so incredibly boring that I would rather walk. GT4 on the Playstation has more feedback than that car.
http://www.lateralg.org/
I think Mr. Lieberman, whom I presume to be a fellow DRIVING enthusiast, meant driving like this.
I’m good as long as I’m not on the interstate. My car doesn’t travel on boring highways that well.
scrubnick- those small Nissan coupes were great cars NX, Pulsar, 200 and 240SX. It’s too bad that Nissan (and everyone else) gave up on that market.
I have always loved driving, but the last time I really enjoyed it was back in the 90s with my ’93 Mazda RX7 5-speed in Southern California. Blasting through the twisties of Coldwater Canyon was the most fun I ever had (sitting down, anyway). Being well-known to the Beverly Hills cops not so much.
Alas, now I’m older, much more cautious, and have lower insurance rates.
I go into withdrawal if I don’t drive my car at least once a day.
On Monday I’m driving down to Charleston to help my brother move, mostly cause I want to do the driving. But a little bit cause he needs me to drive the van with his stuff so he can drive his Jeep. Should be fun. Then I’m driving right back on Tuesday. Should be about 8 hours each day.
SOCAL canyon roads with 99 special edition Miata is great fun and not very expensive. Took her out a couple of weeks ago and will probably find some time again on this one.
Any time I hit an apex just right and mash on the go fast pedal. The whoosh of theturbo. The boost gauge jumping forward, etc. I try to do that at least once a day.
Every time it’s just me in the car. I think me and my 19 day old boy are the only ones in the family that like G-forces, until I convert my daughter. I love driving or riding my motorcycle, gas prices be damned, I would rather not eat then give up driving for fun. Give me a car with good dynamics and some 80’s hair band music and I am home, twisty roads and no traffic are just icing on the cake.
this afternoon
got my 1989 SHO back from shop!
$1000.00 poorer but..
What a SWEET RIDE HOME!!!
Today for me as well. Modulating the braking going into a corner, overtaking cars on the highway (at legal speeds), switching lanes, down shifting. I have some fun. Not Hayabusa at full throttle fun, but I’m grateful for the time I spend having fun and learning new things about cars. Like today I realized how the slow steering and big steering wheel is limiting my car. Discovering how to drive is a great adventure. Still the bumps are punishing a little in the e30 325is. Need more comfort.
Every day I go through winding one lane roads in the Georgia countryside.
Today I drove about 45 miles… averaged 28.6 miles on a Saab 9-5 with plenty of stop signs to lower the fuel economy. On drives with little to no stops I usually average in the low to mid-30’s.
Between hairpin turns, accelerating at the right points to maximize fuel economy, and enjoying the nearly untouch surroundings, I’d say it’s a pretty good bang for the buck. Even at today’s prices.
I’m with Jonny. Almost whenever I get in the car (’99 Accord, stick, clutch). I love the response of the engine (2.3L), and I love cornering. Most of my driving outside of road trips is from suburban Lexington into Cambridge, near or in Harvard Square. My general route includes two rotaries with hard cornering, traffic permitting (which it often does), then a hard left after the hard right around the second rotary, then hard left, hard right, and hard left all within about a quarter mile. But even without that, I’d love the drive.
Having said that, the car makes a difference. My best friend had a ’94 Geo Prizm (you can see him and his old Prizm on my website, motorlegends.com, click on “People & Cars). I drove the thing once, and that was it. If that was as good as cars got, I’d probably go back to being a bicycle nut.
This morning. Top-down, Mulholland Highway to and through Malibu Canyon, down Pacific Coast Highway on a flawless, crystal spring day.
I haven’t yet seen the day in my driving lifetime devoid of pleasure behind the wheel.
Phil
I love driving, and it’s a pleasure all the time. A pleasure with many facets.
There’s the kick from the power — no human experienced anything like it a few hundred years ago.
There’s the thrill I get from the speed, the danger, combined with control.
Then there’s that feeling of flow in the spirit of Czikszentmihalyi: you forget who you are, what your problems may be, because you are engrossed with what you are doing.
I love the Human Machine Interface: how a good car interacts with you, and gives you a glimpse into its soul.
A good car is musical too, with sounds that sometimes make me want to sing with joy (even though I have a lousy voice). It contributes to that feeling of senses working overtime — all those intense optical and tactile and movement stimuli lighting up my brain.
Driving can be a collective joy too. For instance, I love driving in France or Italy because there you communicate with the other drivers, in the best case in a manly and civilized game of cut and thrust, making your way in a crowd of kindred souls. Just driving around the Arc de Triompfe is a pleasure to remember.
So many beautiful things about driving, so many great opportunities to enjoy it. Life is great.
Going 80 in a 40 zone! Along the Seal Beach Naval Base in sunny SoCal. Really, really gorgeous. Don’t worry, it’s a road no one uses and everyone was going was fast as I was.
Saw a dark green Clubman and a Euro-spec C-Class wagon with weird ass plates, too.
I enjoyed my commute to and from work today, as I do most days when the weather is decent. My preferred route, Edward Hines Drive, is a winding road through a park that’s especially beautiful on a spring day. I find that using this route for my commute is a great stress-buster.
Today.
A day when I don’t drive is a day I feel deprived.
Tonight I went swing dancing at a great venue in Somerville, MA that I frequent almost weekly. I enjoy the drive in and out more than the dancing. Frequently on my usual drives, the thought pops into my head, “I love this car.” The Honda 2.3 may not be Mozart, but it’s certainly Salieri.
Only recently have I begun to enjoy driving again. Perhaps it’s because the car I drive now is tossable and more enjoyable,
Quasimondo, would you please tell us what car this is???! Don’ t leave us in suspense like this!
Three weeks ago, driving to Nevada on I-40 in my Grand Marquis. The panthers are fine highway cruisers. Otherwise, commuting and city driving are boring.
I’m in college right now, deep in the heart of Seattle. To be honest, I only drive twice a week: once to get home Saturday morning, and once to get to the dormitory Sunday night. It’s a fun drive if the traffic is light, but this being Seattle and my car being constantly on the verge of breaking another very much Italian component, my chances to have fun whilst driving have been very slim as of late.
Last weekend , I met a bunch of E 28ers in Winston Salem NC A guy in a 2002 took us for a cruise up to Tuggle’s Gap VA. Mega twisties. Saturday, was a show in a vineyard. 200 old BMWs of various types. Great time Over the the 4th, I’ll be driving to Toronto for a similar event. Then it will be Lime Rock for Labor Day.
For me and this father’s 9-5 world, a quick run to Weigels to pick up a gallon of skim with the a/c on and all 4 Focus windows down is the best, really.
I absolutely dropping the top on one of my Miatas (I sell them used, have sold 132 of them), on a nice sunny day. Who needs to drive fast? The Miata does everything well, never fails to put a smile on your face while driving it, gets 30 mpg, and is absolutely “bulletproof”. One of the best made cars in the world. Forget gas prices, buy a Miata and have fun!
miatasportscar,
are you located anywhere near Boston? Got anything for
I enjoyed driving earlier today when I was merging onto the highway in our Odyssey. I could tell the driver of the pickup didn’t think I could (or would) get in front of him in time, so he changed lanes. When I blew by him onto the highway, I could actually see the look of utter surprise on his face.
I love doing that. The Odyssey is quicker and handles better than most think. Of course, it’s still no BMW 3-Series…
I agree with Johnny. Give me four wheels and an internal combustion engine and I will have a good time. I enjoy my morning commute, even though it is ten miles of mostly traffic. After a long day, my evening ride home recharges my batteries. Sports cars, sedans, whatever, I simply enjoy the act of driving. I will especially enjoy driving this week, as I am making the annual pilgrimage to Montreal for the Canadian GP. The drive through NY State in the night is a highlight.
I only drive 2-3 times a week, because I walk to work, which avoids the hassle of parking in the city. But on weekends I head out of town, and pretty much always enjoy the drive, even though I have driven it hundreds of times. The best part is getting close, opening the window, smelling the ocean, and knowing I am done with work for the week.
My ’93 Nissan Sentra SE-R is light, quick, tossable and efficient (but not too at 30 mph highway).
I just gave it a wash today, and was just noticing how small the wheels are (at 14 inches).
I’d probably be safer in something newer with five airbags (mine has just one, for the driver) but I’d probably be having less fun on what feels like the first day of summer in Montana.
I think it’s just how some of us car crazies are. I love every minute behind the wheel, despite that said wheel is attached to an ES00, whose driving dynamics could be easily replaced by Novocaine.
I enjoy every trip I take in the MINI, but alas… I miss my old Impreza Rally Sport! It was old and rusty, but i kept it mechanically tuned and It was still running strong when It was stolen! I had 189,900 miles on it, and it drove like it could have gone to half a million!
The most memorable drive in my little “subey” was when My best friend and I took “her” out in the middle of a blinding snow storm and drifted the side streets of little Bedford, New Hampshire.
I remember 1 corner specifically! It was the corner Of Beals Road and Federation Drive, We came screaming around the corner at 25 mph (remember in 6 inches of snow and ice… thats flying) and a lady was walking her dog. She saw Us coming around the corner facing her.
I was heckling like a crazy person!
The lady’s eyes bugged out and her mouth dropped open!
After we screamed down the street I stopped the car and my friend and I looked each other in the face… and we burst into laughter, we were both laughing so hard we were crying!
I will never forget that day.
I try to go for a night time blast at least once a week. Speeds don’t have to be to high, as long as the g loads are. That is the problem with modern cars/tires. The limits are so high that you need to pump up the speeds…sometimes higher than you’d rather….
A701 Edinburgh to Moffat last week. Fun road, straight parts with twisties, easy overtaking and everyone goes down the the 702 instead.
Bad news though, after my remap it looks like I’m going to have to invest in an uprated clutch as it slips 2K-3.5 in any gear over 3rd.
And then after that fun part, 2 hours of 75 mph on cruise control to relax.
I just like to drive, always have. I doesn’t really matter what I’m driving either, I get enjoyment from the act of driving. I don’t get to spend as much time behind the wheel now, but I always try to find some way to have fun.
Yesterday, on the way back from the store when the local station played “Sweet Child ‘O Mine” by Guns and Roses…
Last weekend. Went from middle TN to Chattanooga to drop off the kids, and then to Knoxville for a wedding. Reverse route the next day. Long side trip to leave the kids with my parents.
Anyhow 10PM Saturday night, rolling down I-75 at 65 mph in our 160K mile 9 yr old CR-V and it was driving bliss. Hardly any trucks. What few there were we passed (slower than 65 mph). Passed several vehicles (~60 mph)and got passed by several vehicles (~70 mph). The fast cars were only going about 70 mph. Roads were nearly empty.
There is a benefit to living in a small TN town – lack of crowding. The downside is that a dozen states cross TN to go anywhere so the interstates are often crowded with commercial and private traffic alike rushing along trying to get to their destination.
With high fuel prices we generally stay close to home. When we have gotten out driving seems a little less rushed.
Forgot to mention that despite having the a/c on, running at 75 mph from Chattanooga to Knoxville, 65 mph despite the speed limit from mid-TN to Chattanooga – the old CR-V still got a solid 26-27 mpg! Not amazing for other cars but the old window sticker said to expect 25 mpg tops. We consistently see 26 under most conditions and have seen 29 once or twice.
Te trip up was to the tunes of John Mayer and the Dixie Chicks, and the trip back from K-town to ‘nooga was with the stereo off at 10PM+. Just enjoying the sounds of the vehicle, road, wind and the conversation with my 11 yr bride. Conversation not interrupted by those short people that follow us around and always appear at dinner time… VBG!