haha, naw, your reply topped it. its funny how much praise our cars receive for their handling. perhaps a bit too much??

 

I had always thought of BMWs as having the best handling...Or is that just an urban myth.

Or maybe not best handling, but a different type. Very rock solid and firm. Never driven BMWs except for a 7-series (not exactly performance material...) Any BMW drivers here with input?

 

Comparing an 86 GXL with an 89 325i, I find that the BMW was quieter in the body roll and wanted to spring out of corners faster. It was not as graceful as my GXL.

It had a lot more torque, and that made a difference in the low speed romping, but it's road hugging ability ended just above seventy. When you got to ninety-100mph, it didn't "hug" anymore, but was still responsive.

My GXL is glued to the roads at all operational speeds (I've done 1-134 in conditions that warranted steering control ie: not straight lines.)

It's a personal preference thing like I said earlier in the thread. I drive my GXL better than I drive my buddy's 325i. They're both fantastic machines, but I feel my GXL is better, because it responds the way I 'feel' it should.

By the numbers, I think that Jay and I are on a level playing field (325 v. GXL)

~Brave Blue Mice
86 GXL - Home Depot Speed Shop

 

i think our cars can out handle most cars of today, including alot of sports cars,

maybe they dont seem like they are as good as new cars simply because the parts on our cars have 15 odd years of wear and tear on them, so most of us dont ever get to see how well they handled when they were new.

i drove a 1st gen with 90 K and one with 190K and boy was there a difference handling wise, the highmilage was all over the place...

 

But then again, because they're older cars, parts can be replaced, so the money we spend on the car overall might me be the same as a new car, but much much nicer parts. If I poured 25,000 into my rx-7...

 

Hey those are the same specs as the Neon SRT-4 and Saturn Ion Redline, thats cute, and all for $21,000, luckily specs don't mean much


Neon/Ion
2920/2960lb
0-60 5.9/6.2sec
1/4 14.5/14.8sec
Skidpad .85/.85g moderate understeer
Slalom 67.3/67.6mph moderate understeer
60-0 118/117ft

Of course differs a bit in weight distribution though 63/37 and 60/40, and that whole front wheel drive dilemma... and being ugly as hell

 

VTEC :p

 

the N/A 5/6 ports come pretty close to accomplishing what vtec does for a honduh.

 

Comparing to my daily beater '87 325e, any of my FC's handled better and had higher limits. I don't think BMW's have best handling. Just a good balance of handling, power, quality, and luxury which is what makes them popular. Although an E30 M3 would probably be pretty fun to drive.

 

meh,