Haha, that Dax looks mental! Three wheelers are hilarious - I did briefly entertain a Morgan.

I have ridden motorbikes. Slower ones, admittedly. I'm a mountain biker too, so thought it would make sense. But got the S2000 around the same time and just much prefer the car experience on a road so didn't go through with getting a licence. As mentioned, I'm not after outright speed/acceleration, but I do enjoy the twisties. On a bike, I personally can't see myself pushing as hard as I can in a car (not to mention there's less grip), because the consequences are so much greater. I get enough poopy pants moments on the mountain bike, I want fun on the road without a weekly subscription for new undies.

 

Bikes are the extreme end of the scale. It really depends on you, you need a certain level of adrenaline junkie imo. My uncles raced (not that uncle). As they got older one chilled out, the other kept crashing lol. I'm like the crasher alas.

I had a 600RR years ago, truly ****ing mental. Supercar slayer, it would do 0-100 faster than a veyron I believe and 0-100-0. The brakes could throw you off . But it could not be ridden at anything less than 90% really which made it lethal. I binned it, insurance gave me a new one and I sold that when I bought the M3. Should not have done that, it's a regret.

So the answer is elsewhere for most, for me a naked twin, all the grunt all the time and you can ring it's neck without hitting 3 figures. I would be faster through Twisties in the SC S2 though I think, due to talent missing . It's NA so instant response like no car because no mass

In a straight line that bike will demolish everything bar supercar. It has 70hp

So festers beast will accelerate like nothing this side of £100k and the sensations on a bike are ramped up like convertible Vs tin top squared. You don't listen to music, you listen and feel what is happening through your hands, feet, the g forces

It's bike > lightweight kit > lotus > s2000 in terms of involvement

But I can appreciate not for everyone. As I lug my dog almost everywhere I go now the bike is purely for fun. Nina knows this and so is resistant. If you don't have a commute, like me, have kids or a dog or both, like me, it is hard to find moments.. but no car touches a bike in that regard

I expect a Boxster or Cayman to be less involving than the S, they are heavier, more refined.. the enemies of fun ime but each to their own. OP is doing the right thing, trying everything out.

 

It depends what you mean by 'involving'. If you mean 'frantic, assault on senses, requires more attention more of the time', then you're probably right. But that doesn't necessarily mean 'feedback from the car regarding what it's doing'. I was pleasantly surprised by the Cayman, which definitely had less of the former, but arguably similar of the latter (more in terms of steering feedback). So I think your generalisations are reasonable, but not totally clearcut.

 

Definitely, you can have an involving light car and a really involving heavier one. Just trends

It makes sense if you think about it.. that dude from Lotus was right.. a 4l motor for example is usually heavier, therefore you need bigger brakes, bigger wheels, harder suspension which can mean less grip on our shitty potholes

It's all perspective which is why you are doing the right thing driving them. I find some cars very underwhelming that the press love

 

Not a Porker expert, but there's lots of changes for the better, supposedly. The Porker forum will confirm. But if it's off your list,
it's high on mine at some point

 

The challenge is that the S2000 was / is relatively simple and with the exception of an engine letting go, maintenance is easy / relatively cheap. if you are handy with spanners, you can fix pretty much all of it on the drive.

Porsche - not so much and the more modern you go, the worse this challenge gets. Definitely a case of buying with your eyes open and also shopping around / waiting for the right car to come along. I saw what was needed to rebuild the rear of a 911 that needed new suspension arms, bushes and stuff and the bill was well into 4 figures, most of the several thousand was not labour.

A garage queen with low miles, full history, in pristine condition that has been someones cherished toy will absolutely be worth paying the extra for. I remember when Composite Guru sold his S2k on here, everyone scoffed that his price was way OTT but it sold for it and quickly as the thing was showroom condition throughout, you could have eaten dinner off the underside of it. Same goes for the elderly chap around here who had / has a LBB - that was also in mint condition.

Or you buy at the other end of the scale and take on a project. I would not want anything in between.

 

How about this. ...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-deta...?atmobcid=soc3

Awesome car, rare too, and delivers the goods for you
In case the link disappears... It's a Lotus Elise 217bhp 1.8S Club Racer. 2014 with 14000 miles, £37k... Supercharged fun.

Or the obvious 111S.. cheaper and flipping excellent

 

Had a lovely morning at Castle Combe yesterday, where there was a Lotus meet and track day. I was expecting 20 Elises and Exiges, maybe the odd Evora. It was. Faaaaar bigger and more interesting than that. Really friendly club atmosphere and a mix of types of people. Didn't get a ride in any, but spoke to a couple of people about Elises and a modern (00s) Europa.







​​​​​​My wife particularly liked the turquoise S3 Elise and was quite taken by Elises in general (mainly the looks), and we sat in a 111R too (S2). I think the S2 111R would be where my money went (I thought this before yesterday, I ut this confirmed it). An Elise is too impractical to replace the S2000, but I could afford a decent 111R though.

 

Nice, but expensive! This would be an additional car, so £37k is too expensive. Under £30k needed! From what I saw yesterday, the extra £10k for a S3 isn't really worth it over the S2 (assuming I got a 111R with touring pack and air con).

 

I've owned a few Porsches in my time, now settled on a 997 Turbo and Boxter 981 Spyder, and all Porsche brakes are like this by design. The more leg travel there is, the more ability you have to modulate pressure, which is what we want on the limit. Yes, we have ABS these days, but it's still sloppy driving to lock up and have ABS kick in. Everyone who drives my Porsches says the same thing, "the brakes aren't very good", but this is because most cars - my beloved S2000 included - have too much servo assistance, which leads to lack of precise driver input as you can lock those cars with a mere dab of pedal force. Many people are 'mentally calibrated' by the ubiquitous nature of over-assistance, so it's a bit of a culture shock at first!

The limit of braking force in a modern car, with discs all round, is tyre adhesion, and you can absolutely meet that limit on any Porsche, regardless of disc and pad wear, but once you've recalibrated mentally, you will enjoy having more control over modulation, and then start to find most other cars way too grabby on the brakes.

Hope you find what you're looking for!