I’m regularly asked to name my perfect car. Simple answer – it doesn’t exist. I wish it did as I’d buy one immediately.
So, what does it look like? What makes up my idea of a perfect car? And I’m talking about an everyday, practical vehicle, not a dream car that almost never gets driven. Have a think about what would constitute your own perfect, useable, car rather than the motor industry’s idea of what we should all be driving.
For me, the starting point is something relatively small. I don’t need some behemoth of an SUV for everyday use. The template I’d use is the footprint of a Porsche 911, but not with the latest 992 with overly wide arches. The 991 version with the narrow body is as big a car as is necessary, especially when it comes to width. No car needs to wider than about 1.8m.
Then, two doors is my preference as the longer opening is easier for older, larger folks to get in and out of. But not doors that are too long – that just means they’re a hassle in car parks.
Plus I want my car to be a little higher off the ground than a sports car. Something akin to what a normal saloon or wagon used to be before they largely disappeared as manufacturers drove everyone into so-called SUVs. Don’t underestimate the importance of easy entry and egress from your vehicle. Many of those fake SUVs, let alone the real ones, are just too high off the ground for ease of entry for us ageing baby boomers.
I don’t need rear seats, but reasonable luggage/shopping room is a requirement, whether that’s through a hatchback configuration or a boot.
I would demand great visibility, and that means relatively small A pillars. These days, that area of cars seems to have got bigger and bigger unfortunately. The worst example ever, for me, was the 2019 Chevy Camaro that I owned a few years ago. The pillars were big enough to make food delivery cyclists all but invisible too often, especially at night. Over the shoulder visibility is normally best on a two-door car as the B pillar is further back in relation to the driver’s seat.
A convertible is a no-no. A fixed roof is essential for security, practicality and overall body integrity. Every convertible sacrifices something in terms of rigidity.
Now, the mechanical side! Whilst I do have a massive weakness for a good V8, I also believe in efficiency. Moreover, I’m talking about an everyday car where high levels of performance are simply unnecessary. Plus, my ideal car would be light. And that automatically precludes anything electric, hybrid or otherwise.
The car should weigh no more than a tonne. Then, the power unit doesn’t need to produce more than 150hp. Even that much isn’t really needed, but would be nice to have. I’d like that power unit to be normally aspirated with reasonable torque. So this probably points to a 2.0-litre four-cylinder. Something like a re-tuned Honda FC22C1 (from the S2000) that would be ideally suited to my stipulation that the car must be front-engine, rear-wheel drive. That unit would need to have the focus taken from ultimate power to maximum useable torque.
The other advantage of that Honda engine is that it could be mated to one of the sweetest manual gearboxes imaginable.
Next, the size of the wheels/tyres is non-negotiable. They cannot have a greater diameter than 18 inches, and I’d be happy with 17s. That’s for several reasons. Firstly, ride quality. I cannot stand a poor ride and Brisbane roads aren’t the best, so low profile tyres are out. And secondly, there’s less chance of buggering the wheels up with kerb strikes with higher profiles!
Moving to the interior, the car needs knobs! Good, old fashioned knobs and switches that I can operate by feel and without having to use a touchscreen. At the same time, whilst I don’t need to be able to adjust every aspect of the car (it should come set up properly in the first place!) through endless pages on a screen, I do want a decent sized display for the navigation system and telephone. Plus Apple CarPlay shouldn’t need to be plugged in, it should operate through Bluetooth. Why, oh why, does my Cupra Born need a bloody plug for that?
Manual seats are fine. Hell, we managed for years without electric ones! Air conditioning, power windows and remote locking. Those are the creature comforts of the last three decades that are needed, everything else isn’t.
So, here we have it. A two door coupe, dimensionally compact, front engined, rear wheel drive, manual, that rides beautifully.
In terms of something that actually exists out there on the market today, the closest is probably the BMW 2-Series Coupe. But it’s too heavy, and doesn’t tick enough of the other boxes really. I might be tempted by a manual M2, but I also think that my ideal car should be well under $100k. In fact, a maximum of $75k as a new car is reasonable.
I have hung onto my MK7 Golf GTI Original that I bought new in 2017 purely because of that two door, manual box, configuration. It’s not my perfect car by any means, if only because it’s front wheel drive, but it’s pretty good.
I reckon I’ll have to keep a look out for a Porsche 911 991 2WD manual and just make sure my back stays flexible enough to get in and out of the damn thing!
In the meantime, it would be good to hear readers’ views on their perfect cars. Have fun thinking about what’s important and what’s not and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
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