Sorry not quite finished…..
…..so after Friday, I went out in the car again Saturday, twice….got up early this morning to update this thread but went for another drive instead…..the car has now travelled over 850 kilometres (KPH speedo) since completion, over 800 with me behind the wheel and what do I think?….
…well, the car is far more 'period' than I expected it to be, which is a good thing…I love the lightness of steering and how direct the car responds to your input, it makes you want to hold the thin steering wheel gently between your finger tips rather than gripping it with two sweaty palms, feedback is incredible….the old adage of keeping on the gas whilst powering through the bends is so true with this car although it's nice to be able to lift a little to help the car turn in sharper when required…..the 915 gearbox is a delight and don't understand the criticism; quite a long throw from second to third and you have to positively engage each gear but a nice period solid feel with well spaced ratios…..the 2.4E block has bags of grunt and mid range torque, this unit is just begging to be driven hard and guttural note from the exhaust heightens your senses, I can't wait until its run-in…there's nothing boring about these cars, they dance and sing and keep you wide awake...
…in summary I don't think this is a car you can jump straight into and drive well, it'll take a little time to explore the cars limits and how best to get it to respond….I'd forgotten how over engineered and wooden modern cars have become, they deal with everything for you and offer nothing back in response….the E has a light vibrancy that promises untold driving pleasure when you've learnt how to make it respond….as much as I love the car now I suspect the passion will grow ever deeper the more I drive it.
And yes Mark…it's a keeper!
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