Good Car Bad Car

3 April 2007

Normally I don’t do requests, but today is an exception.

It’s a simple request and, as I’m always stuck for blog post topics (what? You mean you hadn’t noticed?), I thought I’d indulge. It’s a 2 part question: what is my all time favourite car, followed by the opposite: my least favourite car?

My All Time Favourite Car

This is really not as easy as it first seems. For a very long time the Ferrari F40 was my favourite car; the performance, handling and looks were all simply perfect. It’s still pretty darn high up the list, but I think the progress of time has been a bit unkind on its lines – it just looks a bit old now, and not in a good way.

I have similar issues with the great McLaren F1; a huge triumph of engineering – it had a gold leaf lined engine bay for gods sake! – and embodies a lot of very noble principles in its lightweight design and packaging but suffers aesthetically. Lets just say I’m not a fan of early nineties car design..

It may be becoming abundantly clear that the design and “look” of a car is of up-most importance to me; quite frankly engineering just doesn’t impress me that much. Given enough time and budget any solvable engineering problem can be solved, whereas the design – a design good enough to warrant being the best car of all time, at least – has to be created by someone with a gift. No matter how much money and time you throw at it, you still need someone with skill.

Under that banner then, out goes the Bugatti Veyron – yes, again it’s a staggering bit of technology, and it does go jolly fast, but really that’s about it. It’s got no passion. At the other end of the price scale, but working under similar principles are the Subaru Impreza and Mitsubishi Evo; both great cars but woefully lacking in the looks department. While we’re on Japenese super-saloons it would be remiss to ignore the Nissan Skyline GT-R; it’s the only one of the breed that I’d be willing to overlook its body shape as it’s such a formidable beast – they can be quite easily tuned to over 1000 bhp, which is a lot of power by anybody’s reckoning.

The Porsche 911 comes very, very close and only falls at the final hurdle thanks to it’s ubiquity. It’s hard to ignore the wealth of history the 911 has behind it, though, and it truly is a fantastic car despite the slightly amusing position of the engine (right at the back of the car). I also count the Boxster and Caymen under this banner as well – while they’re not called 911s, I see 911 as more of a “genre”, or which they are both a part of.

The Ferrari Enzo comes so close; almost perfect, but I don’t think the design will age well. It still has a chance though. The Lamborghini Gallardo is practically perfect as well – combining the best bits of the passion of Lamborghini with the precision and design of Audi (their owners). In fact, I think the Gallardo would be top, if it wasn’t for one man, and one car.

The man is Horacio Pagani and the car is called Zonda.

I almost don’t know what to say; from the outrageous looks – including the signature 4 exhaust pipes – to the performance, handling and everything else. It’s just perfect. Created with a huge amount of passion, spearheaded by one man with a simple goal, the Pagani Zonda celebrates all that is great about automotives and design in general.

My All Time Least Favourite Car

Again, so many to choose from. Both the Vauxhall Vectra and Ford Mondeo spring to mind, although the Vectra is easily the worst out of the pair; both are essentially the automotive equivalent of grey. The 2003 Subaru Impreza is amazing ugly too – so at odds with the quality of the mechanical bits.

All in all though, I think it has to be the Reliant Robin. It’s just rubbish, really, isn’t it?

From: Articles

3 April 2007