Question about Vehicles

I got some free cars from a freebie warehouse, but they don't ride very well. The animation is very clunky and doesn't really look like I am driving a car.

I also got some free air vehicles (airplanes) but the animations on those are also pretty lousy. Doesn't really look like I'm flying a plane.

If I pay for vehicles, can I expect them to perform better and more realistically? Or do they all work the same way?

I got a wooden car from a freebie place once.

Pep (It had a wooden engine, wooden chassis, wooden wheels and it wooden start)

Animations are completely separate and will vary from maker to maker. Nissan made a good free car and it handled very well. Are they still around?

Driving in SL isn't a precise art. That's why they haven't decided which side of the road we should drive on yet - because we drive all over the road!

Lots of places have demos you can try before buying. See, for example, Abbott's Aerodrome.

Like weapons, SL vehicles are a rather iffy proposition. Even the ones that handle well can have problems at sim border crossings. Ban lines and security systems and sims with no spare prims can be navigation hazards.

My personal favorite vehicles are my Trudeau sailboats (both the big yawl and the Beach Cat), my Cubey Terra helicopter from Abbotts, and my hot air balloon.

I own tons of cars, motorcycles, boats and pretty much have my own Airforce of combat aircraft. My opinions ...

Cars, motorcycles and boats ... as a general rule you get what you pay for. I'm sure there are some good inexpensive versions of these out there ... I'm sure I own a few, but my two favorite cars (one car and one jeep) are the two most expensive ones I own. I have a boat that is twice as good as any of the others I own or have tried, and it cost twice as much.

Aircraft are a completely different story. Some of my favorite aircraft are ones that were moderately priced, and a few of the very high dollar ones I own are very pretty, but un-flyable. Another bit of advice on aircraft, especially combat aricraft. Don't get all caught up on "realistic" flight dynamics, especially turn radius. Some combat aircraft turn very quickly ... too quickly to be realistic ... but you see there are these things we have on Second Life called "Sim Crossings," and if you hit one at 400mph in a banking turn, you are going to end up three sims over when you recover. A plane that turns wicked tight allows you to stay on a sim, or at least get yourself straightened out when you hit a crossing. Kind of the bottom line ... when the Lindens make crossing that are more realistic, I'll start flying planes that are more realistic.

There is something to be said for "you get what you pay for."

There's the ability to demo planes at Terra in Abbotts. I suspect some others have that ability too. Might be worth trying.

Only if it's no-mod/no-transfer to boot. Otherwise, it's "Many eyeballs make bugs shallow" because you can fix it and redistribute the fixed version.