I was reading another thread  (Chuckle in your Day) just now, which had veered a little off into slagging-off BMW drivers, and it made me think about an experience (not BMW related) I had a few years ago.

Some fool had driven into the back of me, so my car was off for repair and I was allowed to get a hire car while my car was being repaired.

I don't know how it happened, but I found myself behind the wheel of a hired Peugeot 405 SRi.

(The 405 SRi was a bit like Peugeot's Octavia vRS at the time, but obviously a fair bit slower.)

However, for a young chap coming from a 1.4 Orion, the Peugeot was intoxicating.

Sharp, precise steering, thrilling acceleration and excellent brakes.

 

Well, for the couple of days I had it, it turned me into a bit of a hooligan.

However I realised it had turned me into a bit of a hooligan, and said as much to my wife: "That car is a bad influence!"

I often wonder if drivers of cars that are particularly good to drive get corrupted similarly, which might explain why they drive so aggressively.

Aggressive driving doesn't go unnoticed by other drivers, and humans are very good at noticing patterns.

 

I work with a guy who has a BMW 330D X-drive, which is quite a nippy car. (Even more so now he's had it remapped.)

But even before he had it remapped, he usually had a story about some idiot driver who somehow got in his way on the way to work.

I travel the same route as he does, (well did, before this COVID-19 malarkey) and TBH, it's a fairly uneventful drive.

 

I wonder if he's been corrupted by that sporty car and is a more aggressive driver as a result?

Remember a couple of instances when owning a BMW 325i Coupe between 1994-1997 when I only had 199bhp and 195lbft (no turbo of course) and a 6,500rpm redline with a 5 speed manual gearbox and maximum speed of 144mph I would encounter either a whale tail Sierra Cosworth or an Escort Cosworth and both Ford drivers would have to put me in my place with their superior 2.0 litre turbo cars but my modified BM had a lot of track day mods such as suspension and brakes so although it may have been relatively slow in acceleration (0-60mph was 7.2 seconds and 0-100mph took 19.2 seconds) it made up for it with later braking and higher cornering speeds so what you lost on the straights you gained on the twisty bits. My current Superb would destroy those old Ford's now such has been the improvement since 1987 (Sierra) and 1992 (Escort).

Edited 22 August, 20205 yr by shyVRS245
spelling mistake

35 minutes ago, shyVRS245 said:

Remember a couple of instances when owning a BMW 325i Coupe between 1994-1997 when I only had 199bhp and 195lbft (no turbo of course) and a 6,500rpm redline with a 5 speed manual gearbox and maximum speed of 144mph I would encounter either a whale tail Sierra Cosworth or an Escort Cosworth and both Ford drivers would have to put me in my place with their superior 2.0 litre turbo cars but my modified BM had a lot of track day mods such as suspension and brakes so although it may have been relatively slow in acceleration (0-60mph was 7.2 seconds and 0-100mph took 19.2 seconds) it made up for it with later braking and higher cornering speeds so what you lost on the straights you gained on the twisty bits. My current Superb would destroy those old Ford's now such has been the improvement since 1987 (Sierra) and 1992 (Escort).

One of the guys at work bought himself a mid-life crisis Jaguar XKR and declared if he was ever over taken he always overtook the overtaker to show them who had the more powerful car.

 

With great power comes great responsibility!  (Spiderman quote) So very true. 

I don’t know anyone who buys a performance car to drive it like Mrs Daisy is in it!?!

8 minutes ago, jars said:

I don’t know anyone who buys a performance car to drive it like Mrs Daisy is in it!?!

John's never been over 60mph in his Cupra Ateca honest officer.

20 hours ago, jars said:

I don’t know anyone who buys a performance car to drive it like Mrs Daisy is in it!?!

 

Diesel VRSs, sheep in wolf's clothing,  as one has no choice to drive like a very average car (unless one chips it)  but then it becomes an even worse polluter ! 

 

Pseudo exhaust and pseudo performance. 

 

 

“If a little is great, and a lot is better, then way too much is just about right!”

― Mae West

Edited 23 August, 20205 yr by lol-lol

335d, 313hp, 630Nm the cars do make you push on because it's so damn easy. It makes other people seem slow because you can power out of bends and limit changes so easily and overtaking options that would be silly in a less powerful car look quite reasonable all of a sudden. There is no skill involved, the car has 4x4 and an auto box so you can just floor it in a straight line and the car goes faster.

 

I used to have a Mini Countryman with 122hp as well. I would drive far more agressively in the BMW if I wasn't thinking about it; in the mini I was happy to tootle around.

 

In corners it does feel like the BMW would quite like to kill me. The TC does not go off, it will spin all 4 wheels in the wet if you're heavy footed.

 

Do I feel like the car is too powerful? Nope

And I would look for my next car to have considerably more if I can get it.

 

Edited 25 August, 20205 yr by Aspman

Anyone who chooses to buy a more specialised car does so for a specific reason I reckon. So a 335 driver wants performance (in it's many guises), economy, fun and decent build quality I would think. So a 335 driver on average probably will drive quicker than a base model 3 series owner and not just because of the power difference. Yes there will be aggressive drivers in base models, there always will be, but when I got a 330D equivalent from MB several years ago, I didn't want it to drive like Miss Daisy (I assume she didn't drive very fast, if at all?). 

 

I agree with Aspman and would love a car with more power than I already have. It's not looking so likely these days because of the virus effecting my work so expensive cars might be out in the near future and also I'm not getting any younger, but maybe one last hurrah would be nice (maybe a Dax Cobra  ). Power does corrupt, that's why I like RWD  

 

🏎️ (that emoji is ridiculously small!) 

Edited 26 August, 20205 yr by Lady Elanore
spulling

Driving an EV daily has never been such fun for me.

1,500 miles covered in 15 days and i have paid twice for charging because i was needing to get a move on and did it at proper Rapid charging. So that cost a total of £11.34.

 

136 ps / 260Nm might not sound much but when it can come on like the flick of a switch it does get you up the road and away from tailgaters without a puff or cloud of smoke and just a bit of a spraying of washer fluid.

It becomes quite addictive driving as though you are Karting or at the Dodgems.  Point and squirt.  Corners are fun but attention really needs paid to getting speed scrubbed off and just how heavy a wee car actually is when it wants to skip sideways or you are going over humps and yumps.

A 93 max speed is fine even though that proves to not be the fastest it will go when the road goes down hill. 

The biggest surprise to me is how quickly they can go up very steep uphills.

Edited 26 August, 20205 yr by e-Roottoot

How many miles would that rapid charge get you?

 

And what would be the cost of the KW/H of getting the same charge (slower) at home or do you have free charging somewhere?

@J.R.

A Rapid charge to 98% can take me 230 miles around and about the Cairngorms with about 30 miles range still available.

Or about 150 miles charger to charger on Dual Carriagways & Motorways when doing NSL's with 20 miles range left.

** This is ambient temps in the teens to low 20's o*C, a couple of cold nights and mornings have already shown me how important the temp can be.**

http://snowroads.com

 

55 Mins on a Rapid Charger is needed to get back to 98%. That is 50 kWh chargers.

*You can have the car interior heating while sitting charging.*

That would be much less time to charge if 100 kWh charging places were available.  

(There 4 up to 350kWh Ionity Chargers in Perth but that is twice 3 times more expensive than available more common 50kWh pay as you go chargers.

 

https://chargeplacescotland.org

Charging is available Free in Scotland at Public Charge Points, Slow, Fast, Rapid or more Rapid. (Also free at Tesco / Asda etc, but just slow charging.)

 

My home electric is £1.10 pence a day pretty much Summer or Winter and i have not yet gone onto a EV Charging Tariff to get 'Off Peak' charging rates for EV charging.

I do not have a Smart Meter fitted yet or a Charger at home, i have a 3 pin charger unit,  the few hours i have plugged in at home to top the 98% to 100% has cost me a few pence only.

That 2% to full is not worth waiting the 15 mins or so it takes at a Public Charger.

I will use the plug in at Home or when away on for maybe 30 minutes to have the Battery and Interior up to heat before journeys / use.

That will mean clear glass of snow / ice.

The 3 temp heated seats are very good and instant and the heated steering wheel is very hot very quick.

 

PS

I have met someone a few times now that lives in the Cairngorms and has an early Nissan Leaf and travels quite far, but goes around 45 miles only from charger to charger.

Trips to Glasgow and back are an epic, but he has driven it to London and Back.

A cyclist can probably do these jaunts quicker.

Edited 27 August, 20205 yr by e-Roottoot

It is tempting to use the power on tap. I graduated from a Nissan Micra to a Triumph Dolomite 1850HL. The increased torque and power output and 0-60 times around 10secs (good in the 70s) made me squirt the throttle to get the push in the back which I found intoxicating. In Australia I hired a Mitsibushi 380 auto and that had muscle. Today I have matured and quite content to poodle around with 86bhp. My glory days are over.

22 minutes ago, edbostan said:

It is tempting to use the power on tap. I graduated from a Nissan Micra to a Triumph Dolomite 1850HL. The increased torque and power output and 0-60 times around 10secs (good in the 70s) made me squirt the throttle to get the push in the back which I found intoxicating. In Australia I hired a Mitsibushi 380 auto and that had muscle. Today I have matured and quite content to poodle around with 86bhp. My glory days are over.

When I was an apprentice, one of the lads had a Dolly Sprint. That was a nice car. 😊

I think it depends on the car,

I find Beemers very easy to drive like a c-word, especially if you're not actually paying much attention, as they're just so disconnected from the actual drive... whereas some of the Mercs and Bentleys with far more power just feel like they have nothing to prove.

It's the same on my bike - I can do 0-60 in under 3 seconds, but there's just no need...