What’s the problem with modern performance cars?

So much has changed in the world of performance cars since evo first launched as a magazine in 1998 at the inception of what was to become a golden age for the genre. The late nineties and early noughties were a simpler time when engineers had freedom to build cars for enthusiasts without dancing around the regulations that burden their counterparts today. 

Founding members of the evo team, Harry Metcalfe, Dickie Meaden, John Barker and Stuart Gallagher, got to grips with the problems facing the performance car in the modern world during episode one of the evo podcast. They very nearly avoided being negative about the rise of electric cars, too… 

> New evo podcast: episode 3 available now

Harry Metcalfe: ‘The thing that hasn’t changed is the people, because when you do talk to people within the manufacturers, the enthusiasm is all there. It's almost like the Formula One boys, the Adrian Neweys, trying to work around the rules. 

‘They realise the legislation is hurting them in the type of car they have to produce. They are restricted in what they can do but the enthusiasm is still there and that's what keeps me interested in the industry at the sharp end. I just want to see what these engineers can do, how they're going to get around it, and it's still as fascinating as ever.’

Stuart Gallagher: ‘There does seem to be a swing towards, as you said, the engineers having to find a solution because the path they've been pushed down hasn't worked, isn't working, and there's a huge consumer base out there that wants something different to what’s being forced on them at the moment.

‘They want something engaging, fun, something that they can be proud of as well. I think some within the OEMs forget […] a lot of the enthusiast market - which is still sizable, considerable and shouldn't be ignored - buy something because it makes them feel proud, and warm, and fuzzy, something that they cherish. You can't throw that away and ignore them.’ 

Harry Metcalfe: ‘I think also from the launch of evo to where we are now, people actually did buy the cars in those early days. Now they're renting them and therefore they're on a churn and that changes how you use a car. You know you're just going to replace it.’

Stuart Gallagher: ‘It's a bigger financial commitment that you're signed up for but for a shorter period of time and then you can just walk away.

‘Manufacturers who’ve spent generations building up brand loyalty seem to be happy to throw that away because you've got someone who buys an M4 and then Mercedes will try and tempt them with an AMG and if the finance works out, they give it a go because they know it's only for two or three years. 

‘That brand loyalty is what the cars we had over the first 10 to 15 years of evo were building up to. You were a Mitubishi Evo or you were an Impreza driver, weren't you? You were a 911 or a TVR owner.’

Dickie Meaden: ‘Maybe it's just me being old and cynical but you try to remain true to what the magazine set out to be and it's harder to find those qualities in the cars that we drive now. If we hadn't driven anything before the stuff we're driving now, you'd be more impressed by it, but you know there's a better way to do this and it's more fun to drive, and more efficient, and more exciting, and more modest. 

‘All the great things are still there in some form or other in the cars but […] it's much more unusual to come back from a launch and be truly impressed. You know, deeply impressed by a car. You can be superficially in admiration of a certain attribute of it but as a whole, it doesn't seem to come together like the cars used to do. 

‘I think the restomod stuff and the one-offs, they can make cars that are much truer to that because they're not subject to the same rules and regs, which I think is why we always bang on about Porsches don't we? I'm yet to drive the new hybrid 911 but I suspect that [...] is still very true to the Porsches we've always raved about compared to some of the other stuff. So some things don't change, do they? 

‘Although, looking at Lotus, quite a lot has changed with Lotus!’

Harry Metcalfe: I'm going to be very interested looking at Porsche because their sales are down at the moment, they're about to launch an electric Cayman and Boxster, and you just think, wuuurgh.

‘I think things are changing dramatically at the moment. There is an ‘oh flip’ moment happening at an awful lot of car manufacturers because things haven't actually happened as fast as they hoped [in terms of electric car adoption].

‘What I find with friends is that they've tried electric and electric does suit certain situations. I think it's a bit like diesel in that it’s just not a panacea for everything but it is really good at certain things. 

‘I still like the silence and what they offer but I just think the rush has been overdone and friends who have done it have actually come back and gone into hybrids. Unfortunately, the industry pushed them [into EVs] too early and it's put people off. We adopt new technology when it's even better, it makes our lives better, and I think that moment will come but we’re a few years off it yet.’  

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