Appreciating Slow Car Fast

"Jonathon Klein" (jonathon-klein) 04/08/2014 at 12:35 • Filed to: The Smoking Tire, Slow Car Fast

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We all know the old adage slow car fast is better than fast car slow, but many still don't know why this is. We need to understand this in order for car enthusiasts to continue for generations to come.

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themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Jonathon Klein 04/08/2014 at 15:56

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The one beef I have with a lot of "slow car fast" articles is that they approach it from the mantra of the miata or FR-S or hot hatch. You want to know what slow car fast really means? Malibu, accord sedan, fusion, crossovers, and basically anything meant as utensils or appliances. Driving one of those fast? THAT is "Slow car fast" and THAT is what teaches you how to appreciate actual performance. My theory behind it is the following - those performance cars still give you some tools you can use to save yourself. Yes you need to know how to use them, but plenty of well designed cars can be driven fast simply by being competent. But try getting a seriously flawed automobile around an autocross course quickly. When the car hands you nothing at all to use and leaves it all up to you to figure out how to drive it fast? That is where you improve your skills and that is how you get young drivers interested in driving something more fun than a beige camry.

It's a decent article for sure, but keep in mind you're still under the assumption that those cars are affordable by the majority of people under the age of 30 or so and that is NOT the case. Instead, talk up the sheer joy of flogging a 1998 nissan altima into a tight hairpin at an autocross or the bliss of getting that perfect turn in at a track day in an old prelude. Sing the praises of taming the understeer of a GM W-body or scrambling down an off-road trail in a Geo Tracker or jeep liberty. That is what the youths are driving and that is why they think driving is no fun. They need to be shown it isn't *what* you drive, but *how* you drive.

At the end of the day, the car community as a whole needs to stop being elitist with what cars we enjoy and start preaching that ALL cars can be enjoyed. I've said it before on here and I'll bring it up again - I guarantee you I learned more pushing my absolute POS 1997 monte carlo around than anyone ever did driving a miata. I couldn't just aim the car kinda sorta near the apex, apply some throttle, and be confident that the car would sort itself out. One wayward wheel, a bit too much throttle, or a bad tire pressure setup and that was it - I was understeering off the course and into cones or a wall. I had to time my inputs damn near perfectly, make as few corrections as possible and in general work 10x harder than anyone else to get it to move like their could.......But when it happened........Wow. Nothing quite like tripoding a W-body coupe with a four/three wheel slide as I scrambled to bleed speed and rotate the boat to make the next turn and giving it a full bootful of gas to make the V6 sing and get me through the straight. I was a reborn petrolhead that afternoon. Nothing like seeing your 800$ chevy up there in standings with BMW 3-series and various hot compacts. That is proper "slow car fast" and that is what will save the car industry.

Jonathon Klein > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 04/08/2014 at 16:17

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I did something like that a while ago, but I felt like it needed to be broken down a bit considering two weeks ago I stated that the life blood of the car enthusiast is the Supercar. I think pretty much any slow car fast is a lot of fun. I drove a diesel manual wagon up a volcano and then back down a forest rally stage. No power, no steering, and eco tires, one of the best driving experiences of my life!

pascal123 > Jonathon Klein 04/08/2014 at 22:01

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I see it this way:

On the roads, a 911 will pretty much go where you point it.

Soupy old jag? Not so much. You better bring all your skills...