Repair-It

A friend of mine got a 2001 C5 (automatic) around the same time I got my 91 NSX (5-speed), and my car, with 75 hp less, felt significantly faster. I have driven two automatic C5's now, and would say that is probably the most disappointing car I’ve driven. 345 hp and 350 lb-ft, but didn’t feel any faster than my (admittedly lighter) Fiero with 3.4 DOHC V6 which I never dynoed, but probably put out something in the low 200hp range and ran a 13.9 in the quarter mile.

kevm14 wrote:I could see this. I mean a base C5 auto is what, a high 13 second car?
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A Miata (2008, True Red, Soft Top, GT) came up for sale at a local used car lot, and a really good price. I’ve heard all the hype from you guys on how great it is. I expected it to be a harsh ride, cramped inside, and great handling. I took it on a test drive on some local “twisty” roads (as good as it gets where I live). It did not live up to the claimed hype. My handme-down mini van in highschool had less body roll, the gearing felt too short for my preference, for a high trim model the interior felt too cheap for it, way too much wind noise (I expected some with the soft top), it just did not feel right.

I got to drive an exige around a parking lot once, and never looked at the Miata the same way again. They don’t even come close until you weld a full cage in.

“Bigger” and “heavier” are relative terms. The NC Miata is still a tiny, lightweight car.

You absolutely do not buy a brand new Miata because you want something like an Elise. That’s just a good way to be disappointed. If you want an Elise, you don’t buy a new Miata for $30k, you buy a used Elise.

But you’re not getting a used Elise for $10k or less, at least not one you could drive. In fact, you’re not getting anything that even comes sort of close to driving an Elise for $10k or less, at least not anything that resembles a stock vehicle that you could have purchased off of a major automaker’s car lot.

Again, expectation management. Like, if you walk into the theater to see a Michael Bay movie expecting to see a Quentin Tarantino film... you're going to have a bad time. But with the right expectations it works. You still may not like it, but you won't feel the the crushing weight of all the internet hype falling down on you at once. You'll simply say "meh" and go about your day.

Dodge Caliber rental car. I knew it was garbage going into this ordeal, and even then was massively disappointed by that sled after two days of use.

The steering had zero feel (which was horrifying when driving around the Hollywood Hills), the transmission felt like it was ready to explode on each downshift when you came to a stoplight, the brakes had no grab unless you smashed the pedal quickly, and the body roll was worse than a moving truck.

How could you forget the part about the engine sounding like marbles in a blender? I was overjoyed when it was time to return mine to Budget Rent-a-Car.

Had the same experience with a PT Cruiser rental once.

That was my experience with the Dodge Avenger. I didn’t go in expecting it to be awesome, but was just floored with how unimpressive it was at every angle.
Far and away, the best part of that car is knowing how lame it was and seeing people that bought them and wondering what happened to that person to result in that choice. Like they just went to a dealer and went “I need a car. I don’t care about... anything.”

The Lotus Elise.

Hands down my dream car since I first laid eyes on a S1 Elise online. All the variants and variations were positively drool worthy to me. “The finest handling car ever built” - pretty much everyone agreed with that.

So, I was at a MINI club gathering one day, and one of the guys brought his S2 Elise, and let me sit in it. It took a good 2 minutes just to get from standing next to it, to sitting in the driver’s seat. For those that don’t know, it’s not just that the car is low - there’s this huge buffer between you and the outside, and you have to find a way to climb over it, through the tiny door aperture, and still end up in a seated position on the driver’s seat. I’m over 6 feet tall. It was not fun.

Then, you look down at your feet. I wear a US size 12 shoe. It would be physically impossible for me to actuate all 3 pedals without my feet hitting each other, and there’s so little room down there, that I’d have to do all sorts of gymnastics just to get my foot on the dead pedal.

Such a shame. I couldn’t have managed to drive it, even if I wanted to. I guess the British are all just tiny...

I had a chance to buy a slightly used 2013 6 speed Challenger 5.7. Drove it around for about 40 miles, parked it in my garage overnight and then politely returned it to it’s owner and said “no thank you”.

Herky Jerky Transmissions, 0% chance of getting even decent gas mileage. Didn’t ride particularly sporty or comfortable. There were a few fitment/wear issues that i wouldn’t have expected for a car of this vintage. I wanted one for 5 years and when given the chance to drive it ended up being the biggest letdown.

2012 Camaro SS. Got one as a rental. Hated every second I was in it. The low end torque and tire spinning was impressive, but everything else was a bad. I am dead serious when I say I have driven better handling 7 passenger SUVs. I get it that it’s a muscle car and its not about handling but this was embarassingly awful, taking any turn at above 7 mph was a frightening experience. The engine was incredibly weezy and lost any real umph over about 4500 rpms. I know people say that the visibility is bad, but it really has to be seen to believed, saying it has the worst visibility this side of an Abrams tank isnt an exaceration. Steering wheel placement is awful. I don’t know how they could have made this car worse