What is the Scariest Car You’ve Ever Driven?

320whp/360wtq Subaru Forester with stock brakes and suspension. It was like driving it on a lake.

Renault Clio V6. Nothing makes you feel more alive than courting death by revving that thing

The Ariel Atom Supercharged … no doubt it is one of the scariest car on the road ever.

Porsche 911 Turbo 3.3
Scary but also great fun

BMW 525, but only because my girlfriend was driving …

1973 Carrera 2.7 RS. When Porsches still required skill to drive them. From an age when “traction control”, and, “stability control” were determined by your hands, feet, and, how big a pair you had! Driving that on a track was equal parts terrifying, and, exhilarating. Get it right, and, you feel like Fangio reincarnated.

I was 21 years old and just handed the keys to a brand new 427 Shelby Cobra… in the middle of the winter… on wet roads … complete with bias ply Goodyear 670/15 Blue Dot tires!
Let me tell you boys and girls THAT is one scary car to drive, especially when you’re a kid, even if you were driving a Corvette!!!

East German Trabant (plastic Jaguar) from the eastern block 🙂

I owned a C5 Corvette with full Lingenfelter set up. Magnuson supercharger, cold air intake, Corsa exhaust. The engine internals were stock, but the supercharger bumped it up to 480HP. While it was a great car for everyday driving, tame around town, comfortable, predictable, it could also be utterly insane. I could be cruising along at 60mph and drop it into third and stomp on it and break the back tires loose. It would light them up in first, and keep going into second. The sound was full batmobile as the supercharger whine added to the V8 burble. Every time… Read more »

My car that scared me the most was my 1973 2.7RS that was converted to 2.8RSR spec by Ruf. I had put a set of Avon racing tires on it for track days, and those things must have been ancient because it was like driving on ice!

A 2001 or so GMC Safari with pretty much no brakes and no power steering. I only had to drive it out of a parking lot and onto a lift, so I guess I’ve had it easy.

My fiat 1283p when the brake pump jumped ship when everybody was braking on a 4 lane motorway. And my Ford Taunus, bald tires and spent dampers, that decided to do a drift on a busy motorway at 70mph+ without telling me.

Test drove a Fiat Dino in the early eighties. Undoubtely the fastest car I have ever driven. The roof line was barely above my belt, and with the V6 Ferrari engine with three two barrel Webers, that car flew. Wish I had it now, but I probably wouldn’t be alive now, had I bought it at that young age.

My 1999 SAAB 9-3 usually felt pretty safe but it became really scary when both of the top strut mounts failed due to poor quality parts. I was on an entrance ramp with a curve going the suggested speed and all of a sudden I lost all feeling in the wheel and the whole front started to shake in a freaky way.

A 1999 Subaru built at Prodrive to WRX specs. No aids, apart from a diff you could adjust with a button.

Very exciting and not for the fainthearted. And that’s an understatement.

Scariest was the first time riding my brothers Old Honda 600 motorcycle at 16. Having never ridden any motorcycle he sends me off around town on this beast, every time I accelerated the front end came up, I spent half the trip on only the back wheel.

Probably a last-generation Bronco. The combination of a short wheelbase and wide track meant it would swap ends on a whim and the high center of gravity meant it would roll if your tires found an obstruction while swapping ends. I loved that beast.
I would dearly love to drive a Lancia Stratos.

My first car. A 1980 Buick Skylark Sorts Coup Limited. It had been damaged in an accident before I owned it & the rear suspension was not what it should have been. If I hit a bump in the middle of a corner, the back end would try to come around. Since it was front wheel drive, I would have to over slow for a corner and make sure I was on the power going around the corner to the front end in front. Local dirt road that would get little stutter bumps in the breaking zones were almost impossible.… Read more »

My first car my parents bought for me to drive was an ’89 toyota pickup. It had rusted out engine mounts, was horrifically out of alignment, had no brakes, bald tires, was lifted, and neither of the seatbelts worked. Once I got it on the freeway over 50 mph the whole thing would start rattling and trying to drive off the road. I was so happy when they got rid of that thing.

My 69 baja bug beetle. Comming down a long downhill straight into a 90 degree right hander, taught me all abpout lifttoff oversteer as the back went into serious positive canber. The speeds in a bettle were rleatively low and it was easy to catch but the real danger was from the car rolling which these easily did. It was my only driving a 4 weel vehicle on two wheel experience. The next most scary was my BBI circa 1995 or so, still runiing its 13 you factory trx tires, by then rock hard. It took 4 lanes of a… Read more »

2013 BMW 760LI, this may sound like a strange choice but I will explain. I have driven many powerful cars and been drifting etc. But I chose this one because I underestimated it and it proved me wrong. I pulled up to a traffic light and was persuaded into a little drag race. I turned off the esp and traction and though it was damp it went fast for the first 200 meters, but then the full power of both turbo s kicked in which resulted in 750nm of torque. Drifting is fun but drifting in a drag race with… Read more »

My ’94 BMW E36 320i Coupe, with stripped out interior, sport springs, not very good tires and limited slip diff driving down the very narrow and twisty mountain road in the wet…downshifting from 4th to 3rd just before a right corner, letting the clutch a tad too quick and the rear end breaking away with incredible force, decided to try to turn it into a 360 spin, the only way not to crash terribly, managed to do it and pulled over in a few hundred meters….my legs were shaking for quite a long time. I’ve driven hundreds of times up… Read more »

1971 Corvette Stingray. When I punched the throttle in a straight line, the car had virtually no steering, almost as if the front wheels were off the grand.

Honda S2000 on any wet road.

1962 Corvair Spyder convertible; 17 years old, halfway around a ninety degree corner and the supercharger kicks in spinning me down the road like a top. It stayed on the road so there I sat trying to regain composure and check my shorts when 15 seconds later my parents drove by in the opposite direction, but didn’t see what just happened. I never said a word.

1965 Corvair Corsa. 4 carbs. 4 speed. Beautiful car, quick, not fast, but four wheel drums, a wet road, crappy tires, a need to get to my afternoon college classes and going too fast pulling off Rt 46 to get on the NJ Turnpike. Spun it twice, hit nothing, and almost soiled my trousers. If I had more control I would have remembered to hit the clutch but while watching the world spin by I forgot, and it stalled. I restarted it and drove like grandma while waiting for my heart rate to come back to normal, which took quite… Read more »

4 wheeled terror for me could be found in a bone-stock Porsche 911SC sporting its tippy-toe USA spec ride height. I have never experienced a car so eager to swap ends. Most of these cars seem to gotten lowered early on, but this one didnt. Terrible. 2 wheeled terror was an ancient Suzuki 2 valve GS1000 allegedly tuned by Yoshimura. Full-throttle roll-ons on the freeway were something to behold. Everything was ok until you got “on the cam,” then the entire frame would twist just as the front end would get light and then the bars would literally slap the… Read more »

1994 Lotus Esprit V8 Turbo… I drove one, [b]once[/b]. Not knowing anything about it’s driveablity and taking off like a bat of hell, the turbos spooled about halfway through a sweeping left hander. Being pressed into the seat and holding on for dear life, I was thoroughly impressed at it’s then almost 20 year-old power….and scared.

That would be my father’s 1954 Austin A40 – 1,200cc and 42bhp – the first car I ever drove. The feeling of getting behind the wheel and really not having a clue what I was doing will live with me forever. Everything since has been pretty straightforward.

Toyota Camry Wagon. I used to nearly fall asleep at the wheel every time I drove it :p

A 1925 Trojan truck, solid tires, no diff, no doors, one drum brake on the whole car, super dim lights, and a hand operated wiper. It wasn’t so scary when it was parked, but driving it in the rain while semi trailers roar past was.