Driving My Not Hot Hatch As If It Was

Yes, my car is a hatchback. It's not a hot hatch though. It still has a good amount of power, but not the upwards-of-160bhp that they seem to be all going towards. Or the scary 6 second 0-60 dash for the Mazda 3 series for instance.

Anyway, there's a few ways in which I try to maximise the fun I have in my car:

• There's a corner I can take to deliberately get a bit of wheelspin. I have used the car in a few different ways so I'm pretty good at controlling it now.
• I know the power ratios so I can get maximum torque or power.

One thing I noticed about my Vauxhall Astra SXI 1.8 today was how well balanced it is. I came out of a corner and pressed on the loud pedal. rather than giving me grief for making the turn-in it was reasonably responsive and held the line. Quite good for such a big car. I was impressed.

I am still quite looking forward to getting my car onto the track and testing the absolute limits of it. I feel that only here can you know your motor completely. Well, it's either that or driving it through some muddy valleys. As it's not an SUV then I think the former is the most appropriate!

My Current Car

There is my current car - a Vauxhall Astra SXI 1.8 16V. It is sadly missing a mud guard from one side, but never mind. Not a bad amount of BHP for a hatchback (about 125) but not a huge amount of torque as it's quite smooth unless you rev it. No idea of the 0-60 time but I doubt it's spectacular. On the other hand, it is very nice to drive and handles pretty sharply. Not quite the Nissan 350Z that I want though:


Like most cars that look and perfom like this, I have a special place in my heart for the Nissan 350Z - particularly the coupe version. The stats are a bit special:

• 3.5 litre V6
• 155mph (limited)
• 16.9mpg urban fuel consumption (now that I don't like so much ha ha)
• Available with GT pack and with leather seating

Anyway, the next task is to save up enough to afford the insurance for one of these before even contemplating looking at one in 'real life' (too late...).