[AJ18]

In a country where most of us have learned to drive in traffic-congested, pothole laden, uneven and bumpy roads - which probably don't even qualify as roads elsewhere, low-slung powerful cars are of absolutely no use. IMHO the 530d is probably the upper limit of a fast powerful car that even remotely makes sense in India.

Cars are cars, be it a 35 year old 800 with 30 bhp or a tuned octavia pushing 300+ bhp. Driving absolutely anything is fun for me. A memorable experience was driving a i20 in goa, which almost felt like a warm hatch on the narrow, wet, twisty roads. Another was driving the Eeco like a RWD sports car and praying for grip at every corner!

[MadAbtCars]

I think it is little unfair to have this poll divided in two options. It's not that I enjoy driving only fast cars or good handlers neither do I enjoy driving any kind of car. There are few other finer aspects of enjoying your drive as well. Having owned and driven Santro, Getz, Etios Liva and presently Skoda Rapid DSG (in that order) the Getz by far remains my favorite drive. Too many memories with it. The Santro was also very special even though it was neither fast, nor a very great handler.

However I could never really connect with the Liva. Even though it was a practical car, every single day I got in the car I used to say to myself this isn't for me. Drove it for ~45KMS in close to two years and sold it a huge depreciation loss. The NVH levels was my single biggest grouse among other things. It used to literally give me headaches. The Rapid with over 1Lakh KMS over last 5 years (it will turn 5 in a weeks time) still brings in a smile every time i get into it. I looking to upgrade from Rapid, but unfortunately due to this BS6 saga all worthy cars (read Octavia) that I would have upgraded too are discontinued.

[COMMUTER]

There must be a third category of folks who are raring to drive what impresses the onlooker (Not judging). They are satisfied with others being left breathless when they roll in!

I voted for FAST cars.
I am sure that when people hear of fast cars they assume expensive cars. This need not be the case. I purchased my Ford Figo BASE 1.5D for 6.17L on-road in January 2016. I got the fastest diesel under 25L at the time. We still don't have a much faster diesel in it price range. It was just 25k over the enty-model petrol swift Lxi!

[aravind.anand]

Whoever has driven the Ford Ikon 1.6, the jellybean Maruti Zen, first gen Swift will know that speed is not everything. Ikon has truckloads of body roll, the Zen was not not the fastest in the straight line. But then these cars had a beautiful connect when driven in their rhythm. When this connect is missing, I cannot enjoy the car.

I hate driving my grandmother's 1.3L Ikon - the engine is pathetic, and when revved it just makes lot of noise that makes me feel like I am flogging it to death I have almost dozed off while driving a friend's 2012 Verna on the highway - just couldn't connect with that car despite its powerful diesel motor.

When we find an emotional bonding with the car, then no matter how fast or slow it is, we will still enjoy that drive

[Kosfactor]

No, Tall + loose vehicles can also be fun. Sometimes its fun only for the driver, when Thar CRDe joined our group of friends, that was the most fun they all had at the driver`s seat of any vehicle since a long time. They drove it like mad men with a wide grin on their face. Those who were sitting along side and out in the back were wondering where they had kept their insurance documents.

When we dusted off an abandoned Mk1 Omni from a friend`s garage, cleaned its carb and started driving it - that was fun, even the vehicle was playing along nicely.

While I enjoy driving all kinds of vehicles , fact is that there are some boring cars. The number of boring cars are increasing by the day as manufacturers are trying be as 'good' as their competitors.

A vehicle that comes factory fitted with a dull engine + gearbox has no redeeming features - absolutely none. The only way to improve it is by hiring a driver or ask your friend nicely.

[Sabrish]

Agree with many here and Very True! I love driving and that's pretty much it...

Its like asking a foodie if he/she would like to eat

The very experience of rolling on the road alone / with family / friends and the excitement to chug along to a destination with the company of them or some good music is something else....

While we thoroughly enjoy cars with brilliant engines, Great Driving dynamics its more of an icing on the cake.

Forums like these add to the pleasure of knowing things better and experiencing them in your drives and sharing stuff that encourages you to have a different perspective each time you go for a spin....

Happy new year to all!! Hoping for a peaceful 2021

[GhostRider28]

I really like driving any car, but recently the new Škoda Rapid 1.0 TSI got my heart racing. It will never be as reliable as a Toyota, doesn’t have the latest gadgets - but it does bring that smile back which even panoramic sunroofs and latest gadgets cannot. Every single time.

[buntee90]

Voted for Driving any kind of car!

I learnt driving on a Cousin's Alto 800 and then a Swift Vdi, i loved driving both cars, never missed an opportunity to get behind the wheel of any of them. My cousins didn't want to drive because they found it tedious and I was always there to pick up the keys.

I also love driving my friends Hyundai Accent Executive. It has a complaint Engine and UNBELIEVABLE ride quality even after almost a decade. It just glides over potholes, flyover joints and small speed breakers.

More recently i enjoying taking a Altroz petrol to the hills, even though many say its under powered! But i enjoyed taking it into tight turns . It has adequate power its handling was spot on its suspension was doing its job very well. Overall it was one of my most memorable drives!

[AutoConsultant]

I enjoy driving ANY type of vehicle. The experience each time is different and I cherish that. I would like to highlight the two extreme cases I have experienced :-

Iceland - Camper Van
- We covered around 1600 km on the single lane 2-way Ring Road, width of which was almost equal to the size of the camper van!
- At times we had winds of more than 25 km/hr trying to topple the vehicle
- But the experience of spending 5 days in a vehicle, cooking inside the van, having a barbecue etc while enjoying the Northern Lights was just amazing




Spain/Portugal - Audi A3
Here we were 3 college students on a student exchange trip, shelling out a premium to get a convertible
Covered around 2000 km on the smooth Spanish highways, touching speeds of 200 km/hr and enjoyed the coastal drive with the roof down



To add to that, Alto and Baleno have been my daily drivers and have loved chucking them around in the busy Delhi traffic. Especially the Alto, I covered more than 80k km and it is such a practical car for a metro city.





Looking forward to many more experiences with my latest acquisition - Honda City

[Herschey]

I can drive any car if need be; like driving certain cars; and then there are cars that I simply love.

CARS I CAN DRIVE: Alto 800, Eeco, Wagon-R, S-Presso, Celerio, Baleno, Dzire, Santro, Kwid, Triber, Redigo, Go, Go Plus, Amaze, WRV, Glanza, Yaris, Aspire, Hector, Hector Plus, ZS, Tigor, Kicks, KUV100, Bolero, Marazzo, Scorpio.

CARS I LIKE: Ignis, Vitara Brezza, Ertiga, Ciaz, S-Cross, XL6, Grand i10, Aura, Creta, Elantra, Tucson, Kona, Jazz, Urban Cruiser, Figo, Freestyle, Ecosport, Sonet, Carnival, Gloster, Tiago, Altroz, Nexon, Polo, Polo GT, Vento, Duster, Magnite, XUV300, Compass, A3, A4, Q3, Q5, X1, Gran Turismo, GLA, GLC, .

CARS I LOVE: Swift, Grand i10 NIOS, i20, Venue, Verna, City, Innova Crysta, Fortuner, Camry, Endeavour, Mustang, Seltos, Harrier, T-Roc, Tiguan All Space, Thar, XUV500, Rapid, Karoq, Superb, A6, Q7, 3 series, X3, 5 series, X5, C Class, E Class, GLE, GLS, Jaguar XE, Jaguar XF, LR Range Rover Evoque, LR Range Rover Velar, LR Range Rover, LR Defender, LR Range Rover Sport, LR Range Rover Discovery, LR Range Rover Discovery Sport.

Now there are cars that I love but would never buy (the new i20, Verna, Mustang, and JLR cars) and there are cars that I can drive and would only buy if a serious need arises (Dzire, Scorpio, and Wagon-R).

[krishsreedharan]

I love driving/riding - period!

As my signature says - I drive fast trucks - one is a Stage 1 remapped 3.2 Ford Endeavour - which pampers you while getting the job done. The other is a Stage 1 remapped Mahindra Scorpio S10 Automatic - with a god-awful 6 speed TC with a thoroughly confused brain. However, its a different feeling when you finally understand the operating characteristics of the TC. One you are able to get it to lock up in a lower gear, the brick accelerates like a bat out of hell. Its all down to how well the driver understand the car and is able to get the best out of it.

On the other end of the spectrum is a Stage 1 remapped Ameo 1.5 TDI which is a scorcher who brakes unfortunately, are nowhere near capable of slowing the car down in a pinch - I need do do something about it. For the relaxed cruising, is the Superb with its superb 2 litre TDI - smooth, fuss free and a mileage monster !!

[manishk123]

On any given Sunday I usually drive at least 3 classics from different eras and also my 2017 530D or 2007 E280CDI. Each car gives a different kind of a pleasure and satisfaction and I enjoy them thoroughly.

The only car that comes to mind which I absolutely hate driving is my 2010 Honda City with CVT transmission. I have never come across a more boring and whiny car to drive.

[BackstraightBoy]

Thank you, Aditya, for this thread! I totally agree that a blinkered purism is just silly, and practised to one's own disadvantage. As with any avenue of life, fostering a stubborn dogma about what constitutes an enjoyable car is a self-defeating exercise that leaves the incumbent wallowing in their own ignorance.

Also, when the focus is more on the journey than the vehicle in which it is being undertaken, when the car is merely a medium of discovery, a facilitator of convergence, togetherness and the brewing of memories, of course virtually any extant car can be enjoyed, each in its own way, especially with a small timely reminder that having access to a private car is itself a luxury, a mobiliser of possibilities.

However, when it comes to driving pleasure, my answer is somewhere in the wilderness between the two presented options. While I don't need the car to go like a mad boar or conduct itself like a gazelle, I seek it to be engaging in some way. Two examples come to mind:

I had once the misfortune of driving a Hyundai Getz for a few hours, and I suffered every minute of it! An uncomfortable driving position, an insipid engine, a foamy shift, and a steering as vague as a tail-ender's wild swing outside off-stump are the attributes I recall from that soporific experience. But the only thing worse than driving such a car is driving it at night, when you're trying your best to stay awake, which is exactly what I was doing! I could just as well have been drinking from a poisoned chalice filled with antitussives.

Cut to several years later, and when my uncle parked his Alto (800cc) at my home for his six-month trip to the US, I was obliged to drive it once a week to keep it in decent nick. I remember taking it out grudgingly one morning to work, deflated by the prospect of ditching my revvy hound, the Swift Vxi, for this malnourished mongrel-pup. Minutes later, although my geospatial progress was steady linear officewards, my outlook at the Alto had made a clean Volte-face, as rickshaws were dribbled out of position, poles claimed at signals, and even motorcycles leapfrogged in narrow 'shortcut' lanes. The compact proportions, the lightness and the agility that come with both, combined with the simplicity of the WYSIWYG ('what you see is what you get', for the comrades unfamiliar with web-design jargon) motor made it an absolute blast to drive in a crowded city like Bengaluru, never mind that I was sitting far closer to the foetal position than I had ever done post birth, or that it smelled like oil and metal inside, or that the plastics felt like they were recycled from the twist-ties of a grocery bag! Make no mistake, not for one moment did it feel like I'd ever prefer it to my Swift as a daily-driver, but that I'd never regret having to potter it to work once in a while was indubitable.

So, if I may take the liberty to speak on behalf of all us enthusiasts, I suppose what we so seemingly pedantically pine for, beyond bhp figures, torque curves, roll angles, braking times, steering slack and turbo lags, is to feel engaged and included in the process of forward motion – not with minimal resistance, but with maximal involvement. And any car that offers this in its own way, whether with a highly peppy engine, a teutonic shift, or silly chuck-ability, even if deeply flawed, ludicrously impractical and patently uncharismatic, becomes a car in which fun can be found.

[TAHR]

For me, 'fun-to-drive' is the very act of driving. I'm happiest when driving, love to drive anything with wheels, and firmly believe that travel by road is not worth it if I'm not in the driver's seat.

Speed has never been a consideration (as I'm intrinsically laid-back and non-competitive) so I don't think fun is something one can find only in a powerful, fast, expensive car. In fact, the fun part of driving is as much the solitude, the exhilaration, the harmony with the vehicle and even the ease that one feels when driving, and I've discovered in the last few years, that sedate cruising can be so much more fun and almost therapeutic, especially with our roads and traffic.

Of the cars that I have owned, I have genuinely enjoyed driving every one of them. I have corner-carved in a Daewoo Matiz, done all-nighters in a 1.3 Maruti Swift, weaved in and out of city traffic in the delightful Tata Nano AMT, looked-forward to broken roads in a Nissan Terrano and currently, enjoying the effortless highway runs in a 2015 Mahindra Thar, apart from the invincibility of going off-road when there's a good reason to.

Of the many others I've driven (those that I can remember off the cuff), whether a Hindustan Ambassador, Premier Padmini, Maruti 800, Omni, Zen, Celerio, Hyundai Santro, Getz, Verna, Creta, Mahindra MM540, Marshal, Commander, Scorpio, Bolero Camper, Tata Safari, Xenon, Sumo, Ace, Skoda Rapid, Ford Ikon, EcoSport, Endeavour or even a Piaggio Porter, each has provided its own unique and memorable experience, and the fun element, when knowing and exploring what that vehicle is capable of.

The only time I do not find a vehicle 'fun-to-drive' is when it has a mechanical problem, of which I've been made aware of before the drive itself like bad clutch or brakes or discovered while driving like faulty gear slotting, jiggly steering or wheezy engine. Glitches like these rob you of all the fun of driving. But other than that, I'm game to drive anything and usually have ample fun doing it.

[das_ren_auto]

" I also don't think so"

I am happy as long as it has got 4 wheels and I am having the steering wheel. I am thrilled while driving vehicles like Nano/S-presso and in fact I always prefer them if the road is not free. Given our traffic/road conditions most of the time I am "privileged" to be happy and thrilled.