A couple of Sundays ago I was in the right place at the right time. The sun was out, the temperature was up and the MX-5 was outside, flicking its pop-up headlights (metaphorically) at me. There was only one thing to do. Go for a drive.
There was no need to go anywhere. No errands to be run. No need to get anywhere. But there was the combination of British countryside, sunshine, relatively quiet but entertaining rural roads and a red sports car that just prefers those roads to any other.
So, into the Vale of the White Horse, a craving on a chalk hillside made perhaps 3000 years ago and now maintained as a publicly accessible open space. A car park and an ice cream van, at a discreet distance.
Out of the village, across the watercress beds and through the next village, before rising up onto the downs. Drop down, turn left and follow along the foot the flow of the downs as the road rises, falls, twists and turns.
The White Horse appears on the hill. Sharp left, down to second and across the cattle grid (a sheep grid here, actually), up the hill towards the White Horse itself. Up to the top, pause to take in the view (count the multiple F1 constructors’ sites you can almost spot) and take it in.
Back over the hill, pause for some photos with the horse and the view. England, sunshine, sports car – what else?
So, the QOTD, when, how often, where, in what, with who do you drive purely for pleasure?
Very timely question – I just got back from such a drive about thirty minutes ago.
Having lived in Cole County for nearly nine years, I realized recently I’ve seen very little of it. So for the last three Saturdays I’ve taken a few hours in the morning to explore various county maintained roads. I’ve seen an abundance of old houses, barns, livestock, and various types of motorized transport. Plus, rounding a curve this morning, I had about two dozen wild turkeys looking at me from the middle of the road.
It’s been a blast. Pick a direction and go. My ride? Still as yet undisclosed but rather the opposite of your Mazda. 🙂
Taking long drives is the only thing that has kept me sane during the Covid Quarantines. My Miata is an NB, but otherwise, we are sharing a very similar driving experience.
Good choice, and great Web ID name!
Every year I do my Rocky Mountain Romp. I just love caning my Golf on mountain roads.
Not as much as I used to. Back in high school my buddies and I would pile into my old Subaru wagon put $5 in the tank and drive around all night. Lately I have been taking my eurovan westfalia out once a week to keep all the fluids moving and keeping the charge up on the batteries. I have discovered a few interesting back roads here on southern Vancouver Island.
In New York City I haven’t had much opportunity for pleasure driving since February (although I used an occasion to drop off papers with the accountant in April as an opportunity to drive through lockdown NYC metro at…highish speeds, and that was fun. Van Dam street and Queens Boulevard to Fort Lee across the 59th Street bridge and the Manhattan street grid through Central Park over the GWB in thirteen minutes, with zombie movie theme music at 930am.)
I live in a bedroom community in Northern California. The countryside beckons only a couple of miles away and the Pacific shore about 30 miles; so, YES! Even the long way home from work is a pleasure drive, though in fire/smoke season I would often just as soon be indoors, and run the cars’ air conditioning on recirculate. Even when going to the larger nearby towns for shopping or appointments, there are back roads that can be taken as alternates; allow a few minutes extra time to get there. Generally there is no hurry coming back, so although such drives are not for PURE pleasure, they can be enjoyable, and there are also attractive detours.
Looks like a great place for a drive and a great car for it.
Yes I do get out and take a drive just for the fun of it. The car of choice varies depending on my mood. The Marauder when I want to drive “fast” and the MKZ with the roof open when I just want to relax (and the weather is cooperative).
No. Houston provides little opportunity for pleasure driving as it is flat with straight roads with a ton of traffic.
Attended college in the rolling hills of north Louisiana with a buddy who was an aspiring photographer. Lots of old derelict farms equipments, railroad boxcars, run down saw mills, etc. All he could afford was two rolls of B&W film each month. Coming from an urban upbringing, I learned to appreciate a less hectic life style.
Not very often in a car.
On a motorcycle, definitely!
never in my car or truck but frequently and year round on my motorcycles!
Like Doug, most of my pleasure travel these days occurs on the motorcycle. I sometimes find myself knocking off 100+ miles going nowhere.
Roger, your part of the British countryside reminds me of southwestern Wisconsin, my favorite part of the state. Green hills, endless farms, twisty 2 lanes.
…are you implying that there’s people out there who don’t just go for a drive? I don’t understand.
Me neither, though I believe they are known as “pedestrians”
That was my first thought as well until it occurred to me I sold my car before I moved to Chicago…
Used to be the Sunday afternoon drive was a national institution, often combined with a picnic. Best done in a Morgan or Miata, but nowadays we put the dog in the back of the Focus and head out across the South Downs and find somewhere for a romp. Ancient beech woods and close cropped downs, stood atop dark age burial mounds, staring out to sea. All this and the telly and the internet, what a wonderful world.
Used to hear the term “Sunday Driver” often from my parents/grandparents. Always in reference to someone ambling along at a slow pace, just enjoying the drive…
I used to live to drive; now I drive to live. Beyond that, one of the reasons I dislike my present car—an Accord—is that it’s stultifyingly, I would say dangerously boring. The only stimulation it offers is annoyance at its thoughtless and clumsy controls, displays, and transmission. Perhaps when I will replace it with something less disagreeable, driving will be fun again.
I have found my 2012 Accord to be plenty entertaining on the Idaho 2-lane roads. An engine that loves to rev, an intuitive automatic, a good stereo, and a well sorted suspension. It’s been a great family car for us, and an Accord is number 3 on the replacement list when I had it down to the kiddos.
Yes, I like to go for drives. But not so much when it’s hot and smokey – and not on weekends when the highways are clogged with campers, trailers, and motor homes. I’ll head to McCall or Stanley on Tuesday for a quick lunch while I work from home.
I can certainly believe that your ’12 Accord is a whole lot less boneheadedly designed and executed than my ’07.
I guess that’s surprising, I thought they were pretty similar and the 8th gen (2008-2012) was often panned as being “worse”.
Rarely these days, since my cars are always rentals. But bike rides, yes! Sunny, late-summer days are the best time of the year.
In my younger years I drove for fun all the time, every day, exploring every new road like it was a treasure hunt. With my first son was little, we explored every park, nature preserve and wide open spaces we could find. These days, my sons are 24 and 17 and every couple of weekends we take a nighttime cruise. Sometimes up Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, sometimes to drive the hilly neighborhoods by the Indiana Dunes. It is our way to stay close and enjoy each others’ company.
Night is the best time around here to drive because its too crowded with traffic in the daytime. The Avalon is a very pleasant car to do it in as well, because of my back problems.
I don’t know if I could claim to be a car enthusiast if I didn’t. Yes! Just about Every weekend in the summertime, I’ve driven all over the Chicago area, even through downtown by way of lake shore drive on a complete whim without ever getting out of the car to stop somewhere, lately I’ll head out west into the more rural outskirts of the Chicago area and just wander aimlessly for hours, through farm areas, small towns wherever the road takes me. All I have is a compass in my rear view mirror, so no planning or guidance, just the freedom of exploration and the thrill of rowing through the gears in my home made muscle car. Beats going to the movies(when those existed), it’s a pandemic friendly activity and costs about the same (in gas) in the end.
I’ve gone on aimless drives in other locales too, on vacation if I had a car, even when I house sat in Denver I took the Prius around the area and part way into the mountains to “get accustomed to the region”. Not a fun car to do it with but still, it’s not that hard to keep me entertained.
Rarely, in my case, but I would often take “the road less traveled/scenic route/long way” when making runs into town or to the landfill, which, for me, served a similar purpose.
The answer is no, but actually I take even the most whimsical reason, e.g. “Sure I’ll look over that old Mercedes Transporter, my buddy from the other side of the country found on the classifieds and is mildly interested in!”, “Picking up free garden chairs/a bicycle/a tiny cupboard/some stuff the seller isn’t willing to ship/is not worth shipping, in the middle of Eifel? I’m so in!” “The fries are nothing to write home about, but the sauce that comes along is said to be the best in the Ardennes, lets check it out!” always resulting in at least 3h on the road. That, I guessed, is how it works with most enthusiasts.
The great majority of our driving is to get to trailhead, remote camping location, and other recreation, so to just drive and not get somewhere or get out and hike or such would seem rather odd.
I have always driven for pleasure — starting right when I got my driver’s license as a teenager.
Usually, I would just go out aimlessly for a drive, typically staying rather close to home. Maybe 30 or 45 minutes. I love driving, and am never more relaxed then when I’m behind the wheel, so at some point in my life I started going on aimless drives just to relax or to clear my head.
That had tailed off in recent years, as the demands of family, work, etc., made pleasure driving somewhat impractical. But in the last few months, during all of the pandemic weirdness, I’ve picked it up again. The reason I’ve started it again is because my two kids (ages 11 and 13) love riding around, and these days, riding in a car is just about the only thing that feels “normal” to them. So several times a week, I’ll take each kid, and sometimes both, on a drive — just like I used to do decades ago. They love it, and so do I.
I grew up within a cycle ride of the Uffington white horse, and whenever I go back to England I make a point of going there. The view across the downs has changed since it was an Iron Age fort, but you do get a sense of connection to the people who have lived here for so many thousands of years. And I always walk along the Ridgeway to Waylands Smithy, and have a quiet moment or two there, feeling the centuries. When the pyramids were being built, Waylands Smithy was already ancient.
Good roads around there for a small, light car. I used to love riding my little BSA C15 around that area, it always just seemed the perfect size and weight for those bendy, narrow undulating roads.
Wow, I’m surprised that a lot of folks here have offered a “no” as response to the QQTD; I would have figured there would be a higher correlation between those who appreciate (or own) Curbside Classics and those who drive for pleasure. And I don’t mean for that to be a judgment and hope it doesn’t come off as one. Where you are in life might have a lot to do with how willing and able you are to cruise aimlessly.
The old Westy in my avatar is driven pretty much strictly for pleasure. Rowing the old battleship around town is a little scary in modern-day traffic, but it’s also thrilling. I mostly drive it to the beach or to go hiking on the outskirts of town, but I’ll frequently look for an excuse to drive it locally, like taking the dog on a walk in a new part of town.
I get it, I mean there’s no shortage of people into cars who drive a regular old commuter A-B for work and have a toy they take to the car show or track (it’s a hobby, but it’s still a destination). I actually expected to be in a odd minority in saying yes until I read through the rest of the comments.
All the time with my old cars. In fact I did a cruise this morning with my dad and my son.
My daily driver is a Honda Element that I’ve modified into a spartan camper. Every summer, I carve out a couple of weeks to travel solo and sleep out of the back of the E. When I do this, I usually head up the CA coast without an itinerary. These are the times I look forward to most each year. When traveling this way, I’m always on the lookout for new roads or blue highways that I can wander to discover something new. This year, I spent a couple of days wandering the Mendonoma coast slowly. What a magical place!
I think my fondest “fun” drives were ones I took when living in Northern California right after college in the early ’90’s with my 1986 VW GTI. I would regularly cruise over the hill to Half Moon Bay via Hwy 92 and then head either north or south on Highway One depending on the mood and just drive for miles and miles. I especially enjoyed doing it in the rain for some reason with the sunroof open, good 80’s and early 90’s music playing on the Sony pullout CD player and the car just wanting to go.
Nowadays I still do sometimes, lately of course in test cars but while fun, that’s not always necessarily “for” fun, usually I’m always partially in search of picture spots or taking notes re the car itself etc. Today I did drive up to Laramie in the latest one which was a blast but the car was so capable that mostly it was loafing along as compared to its abilities, however at one point I just let it rip and sure enough towards the middle of an empty uphill straightaway I noticed a car parked way off in the distance on the oncoming shoulder. I was at about the speed that Paul got his big ticket at a few years ago and still accelerating strongly but decided to slow and then realized it was likely a state trooper as most tourist cars wouldn’t have any reason to stop where he was (this all happened faster than you read this sentence). I had it hauled well down to the limit before getting too close but for whatever reason he didn’t have his radar on me or who knows what. That was close to not being fun at all…
The other way of having a fun drive is just to drive a fun car. My daughter’s Wrangler provides that, even when just driving to the store it’s just fun to drive it and makes me smile, quick, bouncy, soft seat, it’s always a blast, no need to go fast in it. Perhaps I’ll pick up something kind of old and fun and probably relatively slowish soon, where just the experience of being in it is half of the fun.
Given the audience, is this a trick question? 😉
So of course! But usually it includes a hike component as well…
Back when I was in high school I used to go for a drive all the time. I had my new motorcycle permit that allowed me to drive by myself as long as I stayed off of freeways. My Honda 160 was powerful enough to climb the east hills that surrounded Oakland, Berkeley, Hayward and Castro Valley. Lots of two lane winding wooded backroads. As I got older and bought bigger motorcycles I ventured much further. I just got back from a trip to Lake Tahoe, and the week before a trip to the Oregon coast. In July it was Pismo Beach. I took the Mustang to Pismo and Tahoe and rented a new Dodge Caravan for the Oregon trip. I enjoyed each of these trips. I find that I now need an excuse to take a trip. It doesn’t take much, look for a new bookstore, car lot, Craig’s List find, car show, or just having a cup of coffee and a piece of pie. My Wife has directed me to antique faires all over the state. I find that I can enjoy the drive no matter what vehicle I’m driving. I’d better take advantage of whatever time that I have left to drive, I imagine that I’ve only got ten to fifteen good road trip years left.
A couple of times a year, I just go for a drive where there is no real destination, and I’m just out for a quiet drive in the country enjoying the twist and turns and the verdant scenery. Unfortunately, I don’t have a convertible, but rolling the side windows down and then sliding open the rear window of my truck allows a lot of fresh air to move through. I enjoy the smell of freshly mowed hay, or the way the woods smell in the summer.
One time in college a friend and I went for an aimless drive heading east from Nacogdoches, Texas. We stopped periodically at interesting points along the way such as old churches, graveyards and the occasional town square and antique shops. Eventually we found ourselves in Natchitoches Louisiana. It felt good to just drive without having any particular place to be and seeing the sights along the way.
Nearly every day since I got my license 44 years ago!!!
Well, ok, during the week it’s my commute, but I still take pleasure in it, especially now with less cars on the road due to our current situation with the pandemic.
Driving just for pleasure is the best! You do not need a destination if you genuinely like to drive. Just today, I went for some carryout, 1 mile away. I left early in the Civic, taking the dog with me, and we took the long way there… say 5 miles or so out of my way.
When my wife and I get into the Mustang… my former DD, now specifically for pleasure driving, it’s referred to as “following the front of the car”. Just aim it down a curvy, hilly, and scenic two lane and enjoy.
When I was younger, and had the ‘83 T-Bird, I lived 1.5 miles from work. This car was my DD. In 4 years I put over 100K on the clock. Obviously the majority of that was for pleasure!
Commuting….I remember that…..haven’t done it since March but i used to enjoy it…giving CC commentary to any one listening (ie no one really)!
Living in the Bay Area the answer is rarely. Can’t go west as it is all crowded freeways and roads before the ocean. Can’t go south because south is San Jose which is traffic hell. If you want to go to Monterey you have to go through San Jose twice. No thanks. Can’t go east because of Sacramento and at that point everyone is on the road towards Tahoe. Can’t go north because that either puts you on 101 or the back roads of 12 heading towards wine country.
Now in 1985 I could go to wine country and there was no one there. I could head down Skyline Blvd. along the San Mateo coast and the road was empty. The same could be done to Monterey and Point Lobos but not anymore. I could go into the Marin Headlands but it is also swamped. Today the only road I can actually go on, especially in the older cars, is 505 north after driving 80 to Sacramento a little ways. Once on 505, and those back country roads, you see little traffic and can actually enjoy yourself by not having to watch every damn car around you since the roads are two lane only with a tractor now and then. I actually did lots of pleasure driving in the 70s but those days are over.
‘When’ is whenever the mood takes me – but the weather needs to be good and the roads dry.
‘How often?’ is never often enough! (In fact, only once in the last 4 weeks!)
Although our Peugeot 508 RXH is a lovely place to drive for pleasure, 99% of my pleasure drives are in my 1989 Ford Sierra Ghia 4×4 Estate, usually immediately after taking it off the battery charger because it’s been too long since I last pleasure-drove it.
Most pleasure drives are just me because my husband, bless him, doesn’t like driving for pleasure and hates the Sierra (“It’s so old and it’s dirty and it smells funny”). So until the stereo died, I’d drive with Queen or the king (Elvis).
My most recent pleasure drive was Friday just gone. I hadn’t driven the Sierra since May, so the battery and one tyre were flat, but after inflating the tyre and a night on the battery charger, it started right up and I headed out to take it to the end of our road and back ( a 4km return drive on a dead-end twisting gravel road, always fun!). Within about a minute of driving, the thoughts of the rust and other maladies faded, and were replaced by the joy of attempting to execute perfect gear-changes and listening to the delicious Cologne V6 engine note bouncing off the hills. So the 4km check-everything-important-is-still-working drive turned into a 20km I-forget-how-much-fun-this-is-to-drive pleasure drive!
Not allowed to for now (3.1 mile limit from home, no, not parole, COVID. This time).
But this very Sunday morning at about 7am, I heard someone doing it, namely, an unsilenced superbike of some sort that I clearly heard redlining in five gears, along the 1 mile stretch of 35 mph road near here that is normally tram-ridden and clogged. He must have hit 125mph, surely. Could hear him doing the same down even smaller streets in the distance for some time afterwards.
Actually, though I do (just quietly) understand the temptation, that’s less driving for pleasure than it is driving for suicide – or murder. I very much doubt he was caught, but if he had been, it’d be quite a few years before before he would be eligible to ever try it again….
I live on the edge of the Montgomery County MD agricultural reserve. In one direction, my commute awaits toward DC; 1/2hr to the office, pre-COVID. In the other direction into the ag reserve, 3 spread out lights and then all the roads with twisties that the DC area car clubs use are at my disposal. I take advantage, on dry days, about once every other month for a “pure” drive, currently in my ‘95M Miata, like you. Some particularly stressful days I’d come home, switch cars, and drive one of 2 ten mile loops on former farm roads, now mostly suburbanized, that I like.
Me and Mr. Smooth (known to his mother Mopar as Chrysler Saratoga) do often driving for pleasure. I enjoy cruisin through the city or countryside when the weather is good, listening to the sound of the cyklon V6 or good music.
But as some others wrote here, traffic has rising rapidly. And everyone is in a hurry,even on sundays. Very unrelaxing sometimes
I don’t drive for fun as much as I did at one time. My years in Atlanta ruined my love of driving for no apparent reason. Western Michigan, where I live now, has some very nice scenery once you get out of the larger towns, but it’s nothing like my Northeast Ohio/Western Pennsylvania stomping grounds. Those roads were twisty, hilly, lumpy and bumpy all at the same time. Never the same drive twice, going from fun to occasionally frightening (when the deer are on the move in the Fall).
Before my first daughter was born, I would take my 5.0L Mercury Capri out on the back roads and just aim in a general direction. I knew most of the country roads in that part of the country like the back of my hand. It wasn’t unusual for my wife and I to find ourselves driving an hour to eat at some of the small German restaurants that were once popular in the greater Cleveland area.
Last year, my brother’s wife passed and our branch of the family went back to Western PA to pay our respects. The day of the funeral was a gorgeous October day and on our way back to the motel, and we were driving my younger daughter’s mint Pontiac G6 GT. I showed her some of those back roads at speed, mostly just to hear her giggle when we crested the small hills that are a characteristic of those roads. It was the best part of that otherwise somber trip home.
But now, in Covid-time, my fun rides are when I take my mountain bike to the local trails. If I run across deer, they’re likely to get out of my way. Plus, I get a nice ride in the woods and burn off a little extra body fat.
Once upon a time the answer would have been a simple yes. I’ve lived my entire life in coastal California, rarely more than a few miles from endless twisting mountain roads. Fun in many cars, and on any motorcycle I’d care to own. But at some point that began to seem selfish and frivolous. Nevertheless, we do take long road trips, to visit new places, camp, hike, bike, etc. This morning, I’m sitting in a campground almost 2000 road miles from home and we still have a week to go before my wife has to be back at work. So I guess I do drive for pleasure, but it no longer involves throttle-blipping downshifts, hitting the perfect apex or even a top down cruise on the coast. The pleasure comes from discovering new places and activities the way only a car – in the US at least – can.
Absolutely. My 72 Volvo only really goes out for pleasure and the odd take away run. Not as much as I’d have liked over lockdown but she’s my Cornish beach cruiser and I do like to make the most of my locality….
Ah, that all put me in mind of a book I haven’t thought about, let alone seen, for decades.
Do I ever drive for pleasure? In a Volvo estate in south-west London. Not a lot, sadly.
With all my kids needing to be somewhere at sometime, my wife and I don’t get to pleasure drive much. My last pleasure drive was last month, between Potozi and Sullivan Missouri, through the Ozarks over Pea Ridge. An empty, but well paved modern two lane.
Problem was, we had to take the kids. They complained about the lack of cell coverage, no movies were in the van, and “there was nothing to see”, which is of course, completely incorrect.
Got to Potozi a hour later and drove into a group of 12 noisy protesters holding signs in support of BLM – no Black people, by the way. Across the street from them were 35 rowdy Trump supporters yelling USA! USA! USA! There were two sheriff cars parked nearby and a few officers.
After an hour long drive through the most beautiful scenery, we could have had a wonderful visit to the picturesque town we arrived in, but thanks to politics, it wasn’t going to happen. The kids thought the protesters were hilarious and enjoyed the scene, but naturally there wasn’t any pleasure to be found as long as protesters were ensuring no one could have fun. God forbid someone enjoy the beautiful day!
Your pictures remind me of my favorite drive in Hawaii, highway 250 from Kamuela to Hawi at the north end of Hawaii (Big) Island.
Closer to home, the dawn patrol Sunday drive to see the sunrise over Los Angeles harbor is a regular for me, about once a month. . Returning to Redondo Beach around the Palos Verdes peninsula is one scenic vista after another with many places to stop and hike. The manual trans Fit makes this drive particularly enjoyable Pictured is the landslide area. Note the above ground utility pipes.
Somewhat less frequently now than had been the case. I used to be able to drive five minutes from my house in a northerly direction (north-west) and be in the countryside. Now it takes more effort due to urban sprawl with no end in sight. So I drive west instead, and head to the Niagara Escarpment with its beautiful views and roads. But getting to the Forks of the Credit is more difficult.
Yes. While my Buick is no corner carver, I enjoy it. Get into the secondarues, break the rear tyres loose, enjoy the four barrel dual exhaust V8 noise. When it stops being fun it’s time to move the car on.
Livin in the Ozarks…. Lovin to drive…
I love to drive ever since my father gave me my first car in 1962..
a 1950 Buick Special. Just 2 days ago my wife and I drove 53 miles from our home to go for lunch in a quaint scenic town. After lunch I said lets continue on, she is always willing. We ended up traveling 230 miles thru the twisty, hilly, and scenic Ozark mountains before returning home. Very few straight and flat roads here in northern AR.
Very little traffic was seen on our trip, our vehicles of choice now are 4cyl SUVs
2019 and 2020 models. Over the years I have owned a few Motorcycles, Street Rods and Custom cars. 7 years ago we traveled the mountain tops of the Blue Ridge Pkw.
Almost 500 miles from end to end {fantastic scenery] hope to do that again in the near future.
Thoughtful question. I miss driving my TSX wagon up to PEI a few times a year or so (covid border closing since March) which was a bit rote after 15 years but enough adventure at legal speeds for me. Pleasure driving is currently confined to my electric bicycle which has a weird feeling of accomplishment especially going off road.