“It is more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow” is a popular automotive adage. It’s more exciting to see a car overachieve (a slow car going fast) than it is to see one underachieve (a fast car going slowly).
 
“In a recent issue of Car and Driver magazine, one of the writers put it well when he said, ‘It’s more fun to drive a slow car fast, then to drive a fast car slow’” was cited in print in August 1998. It’s not known who first used the saying.
 
 
Google Groups: alt.autos.bmw
Matt Graham
8/25/98
(...)
In a recent issue of Car and Driver magazine, one of the writers put it well when he said, “It’s more fun to drive a slow car fast, then to drive a fast car slow.” I have to agree with that. I have a 12-year old 325i that is more fun to drive than my new 323is, because it is raw
 
11 December 1998, Rockford (IL) Register Star, “New Beetle improves on the Old Bug’s handling” (Crain News Service), Wheel,s pg. 7B, col. 5:
“It’s more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow,” one owner reminded us. And yes, the New Beetle, like the old, is slow.
 
Google NewsArchive
14 May 1999, The Robesonian (Lumberton, NC), “Mazda’s Miata: A classic roadster” by Carey Russ, Autos, pg. 1C, col. 6:
There’s an old saying (pardon the grammar): “It’s more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.” If you really want to go fast in a straight line, buy an airplane ticket.
   
Google Books
Edmunds.com New Cars & Trucks Buyer’s Guide 2003
The Editors at Edmunds.com
Edmunds Publications
2003
Pg. 407:
It is more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.
 
The Truth About Cars
Question of the Day: Slow Car Fast or Fast Car Fast?
By Robert Farago on October 5, 2008
I remember wheeling into a parking lot and slotting next to a Porsche Carrera 4 in my Porsche Carrera 4. “What do you think of the car?” I asked. “It makes me a hero,” the owner replied. True dat. A driver of no particular skill can corner a C4 (or Turbo) at speeds normally reserved for people for whom the words “it seems a bit skittish on the edge” are not synonmous with “Holy shit, I am NEVER doing THAT again!” And then I bought a Boxster S. While the Boxster is not as fast as a Carrera (by any real world metric), it’s more fun at the kind of speeds that still endanger your license, but don’t require an actual jail stay. But I didn’t buy a Boxster for many years– until Porsche finally put the 3.4 amidships. It may be more fun driving a slow car fast than a fast car slow, but if you can drive a fast car that’s fun to drive slowly, well, isn’t that the ideal?
 
Car and Driver—backfires
Fast car fast or slow car fast??
posted by Andrew Shortill on 01/03/2011 at 11:10 PM
I go back and forth on this. Is it better to drive a fast car somewhere in the middle of its limits or a slow car at the edge of its limits? While I had an amazing time driving a ‘67 Corvette 427/435 roadster with a 4 speed and off-road exhaust, I also get the blood pumping driving my ‘01 Chevy Cavalier like its a Z06.
 
With a performance car, driving it hard it doing what it was made to do. When you flog a regular car and make it do things it was never designed to do holds a certain appeal.
 
The Oregonian (Portland, OR)
Microcar Meet will draw quirky, tiny vehicles to Forest Grove this weekend
By Emily Fuggetta, The Oregonian
on June 11, 2013 at 11:13 AM, updated June 11, 2013 at 11:30 AM
(...)
“There’s an old saying that it’s a lot more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow,” Hatten said. “With these little cars, you’re flooring it with every go. You feel like a formula one driver just to move. It’s a hoot.”