Fun Car. Talk to me!

[Tazio]

I've always like the idea of a Fiat Coupe, but I guess the looks are a bit love/hate.

 

[highlandsflyer]

yeah, IS200... they are kind of the epitome of...slow. They may pull like a train above 4500...but trains aren't really fast. I remember my mates mum got one in 99 and I thought my mums 318i was slow, made the beemer look like a quick thing (which it wasn't).

This just tie in with my experience. I used one for a couple of years for occasional London to Highlands trips. It was a 3.0L and point to point it was a very fast car.

Why people are obsessed with 0-60 times I have no idea, they mean little in real terms.

The problem with your big thirsty Holdens is, until recently, they needed a half mile notice of a corner, preferably by letter.

The IS200 is a fantastic car to drive, I would consider one all day if it fit my needs.

All but one or two of the MX5 variants are no faster than the 2.0L model, but I know which I would rather be in on hedge lined roads and motorways..

 

[highlandsflyer]

I've always like the idea of a Fiat Coupe, but I guess the looks are a bit love/hate.

Came to my mind too, absolutely beautiful motors. Barchettas in the price range too. Miaow!!!

 

[Neil]

The IS200 is a fantastic car to drive, I would consider one all day if it fit my needs.

Agreed - not sure about going all Partridge and "Japanese Mercedes" on them, but I think they're well put together, and the engine isn't so much gutless, as pretty even through the range, but perhaps shows it's best higher up in the range than some would prefer (I guess it's the 2l 6 pot being discussed).

 

[T'boo Ted]

This just tie in with my experience. I used one for a couple of years for occasional London to Highlands trips. It was a 3.0L and point to point it was a very fast car.

...and that would be an IS300? With like the power that the IS200 should have had.

I really like the idea of them, good looking, front/rear layout with 6 speed and a very nice place to be in, I just am underwhelmed by their speed, and I don't know why they are so slow.

As to Holdens, I owned one once, it wasn't very nice. I also had to endure a new one for a bit last year, it also wasn't very nice.

 

[highlandsflyer]

They are just IS to us, the 3.0L is not a huge difference, the most relevant thing on a long stretch is the handling and there is no way, in the hands of a capable driver, that the IS is a slow car over distance. Unless you are on flat straight roads with lights every half mile, which by definition would not be driver's roads.

 

[T'boo Ted]

50kw isn't exactly nothing. I'll agree that being able to corner well makes for rapid progress over straight line speed if your not trying to be a complete idiot, but at the same time if your out on a spirited fun drive, having no go down the straights out out of the slow corners would be a real downer for me.
To me a fun car should be fun, so good handling and a bit of power. Not too much power as its suppoed to be fun, not hedge time. An IS with 160 odd Kw would be a cracking drive.
Unfortunately I am currently driving a 250kw SUV, it great on long drives comfy and plenty of power, and you can throw it down a B road, the opposite of what where talking about, ease it around the corners and storm down the straights... but fun, it is not.

 

[shogun]

Look I'm not saying the bones of an IS200 are a bad car, just that they have an absolutely rubbish motor, 118kw and 200nm are wheezy figures for a 1980s 6 cylinder car of the same size and weight, lively chassis regardless.
An early IS300 on the other hand...only slightly more expensive but massively more fun...can you get a manual IS300 though? Auto would suck somewhat.

What about an M5, E34/E39? They must be cheap in the UK? Or any M or 'IS' BMW? 318IS would be good and cheap (no more power than an IS200 but a bit lighter and the motor a bit more willing), as would a 540IS, E36 328i would be a sleeper.

NA MX5 FTW though.

 

[Barneyballbags]

OK.

If you want an argument about the merits/drawbacks of IS200s, can you start one on another thread please - I will add this though. My grandad has one. He's 86.

I want something smaller, lighter, and more fun.

- Sylvia
- Alfa GTV
- Pug 205
- Mitsi FTO
- Celica VVTi 190
- Celica GT4
- MR2 (not the modern one)
- Pulsar GTI-R (expensive though )
- Mini Cooper (not one of the ruined BMW monstrosities)

I don't want a BMW - I hate them with a passion. (Sorry!).

That sort of thing.

Ta

 

[T'boo Ted]

how about a series 1 legacy turbo, had one and it was great fun, or galant vr4? (only for seeing the gt4 and gtir on the list)