Cars that I thought would not be shit but were

[Bavarianretro]

E30 M3. There, I said it.

Fabulous for 45 minutes on A or B roads, or on track. Otherwise, shite. Awful gearbox, no torque, not terribly quick, harsh ride. Amazing handling and steering control certainly, but that doesn't make up for its compromises.

325i is an infinitely better car.

Those who say that the E30 M3 is the holy grail, best car ever etc. etc. have almost certainly never driven one.

E28 M5 however? Unbelievably good. Everything the E30 M3 isn't.

[quietside]

X306 and X308 XJR.

Basically fancy motorway cars with wood trim. Immense in a straight line (and from 50-100) back in the day but a decently powerful turbodiesel would hang on to one now. Tramline to death, poor on B-roads (which I thought was the whole point of a three box Jag, they're supposed to be large cars that are nimble on crap British roads).
An E39 M5 makes mincemeat of them in every aspect apart from straight line performance (and can corner properly).

I had a deep hatred of tragedy 'proper car' Jags for years, but began warming to them after every two bit gobshite thinking they were clever for buying a fucked X300 for £500 (and running it on a shoestring) disappeared out of my life.
I also left the job where the MD and ads team were obsessed with Jaguars of that age and wanted every fucking feature, article and piece to be about Jags so they could guarantee a sell off the back of it.

They were making about three times what I did at the time for basically dialling the same number over and over and asking for money; all the Jags of that age we had were hateful cramped pieces of crap (complete with glued on leaper) that looked like they should have been doing the cash and carry run at Booker.

Then the one work had tried to run me over while left in park. I made that 300 fucking suffer that day, and cooked the rear diff hammering it as hard as I could.

When I could actually process them on their own merits (and realised you could get 300s, 308s and 350s with an interior in a shade other than 'Caramac vomit') I saw them for what they were: comfortable barges which looked like nothing else on the road, with a surprising amount of mechanical longevity.

I still don't think much of XJRs as sports saloons, mind.

[Hooli]

I might disagree with that slightly*

[quietside]

Hooli man if you love yours pay no mind to what I'm saying. I'm just another internet bastard.

[Junkman]

E28 M5 however? Unbelievably good. Everything the E30 M3 isn't.

But only the ones with the M88. The ones with the S38 are for those modern sods who are scared of everything.

[panhard65]

I never had a problem with my Biturbo Spyder. It handled really well on a dry road with the short wheelbase and ranger diff. I used to drive it very hard and never worried about its sure footedness even at 140 on French motorways. It would of been different in the wet but I just drove more carefully. The Spyder and Karif were a lot better than the saloon or coupe and I found the 2.5 saloon I had at the same time as the 2.8 Spyder slow and boring. The Spyder is probably the most fun car I have had. The Porsche Boxster was faster and stuck to the road far better but you just don't feel part of it like I did with the Maser. Back on topic the one car I thought was going to be good was an Alfa 156. It looked good but was nowt special and didn't stay long.

[Hooli]

Hooli man if you love yours pay no mind to what I'm saying. I'm just another internet bastard.

I can understand where you're coming from tbh & 90% of the time the Sov I had previous was a better car (proper Jag ride quality etc). But once you're used to the XJR it can be hussled surprisingly quickly down a twisty road.

[Bavarianretro]

E28 M5 however? Unbelievably good. Everything the E30 M3 isn't.

But only the ones with the M88. The ones with the S38 are for those modern sods who are scared of everything.

E34 before the S38 appeared in the UK. There was a sort of hybrid M88/S38 in the US.

[John F]

I was really expecting to like a mate's 1st generation (2002) Subaru Forester turbo, but I didn't.

It was certainly fast, but the interior felt low-budget & the car wasn't all that nice to drive. It's possible it was just a bad one, though.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

E28 M5 however? Unbelievably good. Everything the E30 M3 isn't.

But only the ones with the M88. The ones with the S38 are for those modern sods who are scared of everything.

A good 540i Auto (V8) is better again for everyday stuff. Close to 300 bhp, plenty of torque and a five speed automatic. The difference in straight line go between these and a 3.6 M5 isn't that great and nothing that the apparent 30 bhp deficit would suggest.