Meridian
03-02-2004, 04:14 PM
Drove a sc00b for the first time today. Never intended to buy this one, it was just to get a look and feel (oh-er missus). It was this one:
http://www.virtual-showroom.co.uk//Images/Vehicles/4670_253.JPG
A standard UK-spec turbo, 55k miles.
The biggest problem was that 'cos it's from an official garage the saleman gave me the route to drive, and it was all A-roads so I didn't get a chance to throw it about much. Amd for reasons I'll get to, it took a bit of getting used to. It normally takes me about 30 miles to get the hang of a different car, but this drive was less than that.
I'm afraid my main feeling was that I must have been expecting too much, because I came away a bit underwhelmed. Yes, the turbo kick is great - but only when it first comes in at about 2500rpm. Almost immediately after that performance becomes linear and there is far less appearance of power. I suspect that I'd probably need to stir the gearbox a bit more to really get the best out of it. My own car is certainly so supercar, but it is 145bhp so the leap is probably less than for many first-time sc00b owners. My car is slow at first, then starts to build up after you pass 4000rpm. By the time to you hit 6000rpm it is flying, and you are running a serious danger of hitting the rev-limitter by accident. With this sc00b I got the opposite: press the throttle and get a big push; keep pushing and all the fun sort of goes out of it and I was left worrying about whether I should go further (max I hit was 6000rpm).
I also had some problems with the clutch which was set at the highest possible point, compared to my car where the bite is about 25% up from the floor. I can see it would speed up gear changes, but I never really got used to it. Is the bite on sc00bs normally very high? The throttle spring was strong, but I guess that makes sense given what would happen if you accidentally blipped the throttle going over a speed bump! And it was quiter than I expected - actually quieter than my car.
This particular car was a definite no-deal though. The previous owner had clearly not looked after it, and the sales staff hadn't done much to disguise the fact. All the seats were grubby and there were massive stains inside the boot on the carpet. It looked like the previous owner was a builder and used it for work to ferry his mates to and from the site. Mileage was higher than I'd like and the previous owner had fitted a MiniDisc player - yuck. The rear tyres were barely legal (I had to get the saleman to officially tell me there WERE legal before I'd drive it) and the fronts little better. The alloys had also been curbed on a number of occasions, and one was quite badly corroded. Even if they knocked a grand off the price I wouldn't buy it.
And I see what people mean about the tacky insides - at least on this one. I'd not seen a classic before, only a bug-eye, and it was worse designed inside than my car, which is three years older and was cheaper when new. But it hasn't put me off sc00bs, and I'll keep looking. What it does seem to have done is taken the edge off the "must buy car now" thing I was going through.
M
http://www.virtual-showroom.co.uk//Images/Vehicles/4670_253.JPG
A standard UK-spec turbo, 55k miles.
The biggest problem was that 'cos it's from an official garage the saleman gave me the route to drive, and it was all A-roads so I didn't get a chance to throw it about much. Amd for reasons I'll get to, it took a bit of getting used to. It normally takes me about 30 miles to get the hang of a different car, but this drive was less than that.
I'm afraid my main feeling was that I must have been expecting too much, because I came away a bit underwhelmed. Yes, the turbo kick is great - but only when it first comes in at about 2500rpm. Almost immediately after that performance becomes linear and there is far less appearance of power. I suspect that I'd probably need to stir the gearbox a bit more to really get the best out of it. My own car is certainly so supercar, but it is 145bhp so the leap is probably less than for many first-time sc00b owners. My car is slow at first, then starts to build up after you pass 4000rpm. By the time to you hit 6000rpm it is flying, and you are running a serious danger of hitting the rev-limitter by accident. With this sc00b I got the opposite: press the throttle and get a big push; keep pushing and all the fun sort of goes out of it and I was left worrying about whether I should go further (max I hit was 6000rpm).
I also had some problems with the clutch which was set at the highest possible point, compared to my car where the bite is about 25% up from the floor. I can see it would speed up gear changes, but I never really got used to it. Is the bite on sc00bs normally very high? The throttle spring was strong, but I guess that makes sense given what would happen if you accidentally blipped the throttle going over a speed bump! And it was quiter than I expected - actually quieter than my car.
This particular car was a definite no-deal though. The previous owner had clearly not looked after it, and the sales staff hadn't done much to disguise the fact. All the seats were grubby and there were massive stains inside the boot on the carpet. It looked like the previous owner was a builder and used it for work to ferry his mates to and from the site. Mileage was higher than I'd like and the previous owner had fitted a MiniDisc player - yuck. The rear tyres were barely legal (I had to get the saleman to officially tell me there WERE legal before I'd drive it) and the fronts little better. The alloys had also been curbed on a number of occasions, and one was quite badly corroded. Even if they knocked a grand off the price I wouldn't buy it.
And I see what people mean about the tacky insides - at least on this one. I'd not seen a classic before, only a bug-eye, and it was worse designed inside than my car, which is three years older and was cheaper when new. But it hasn't put me off sc00bs, and I'll keep looking. What it does seem to have done is taken the edge off the "must buy car now" thing I was going through.
M