I still think describing a coaster as consistent is not a good thing. If a train went round a track continuously at 30mph it would be consistent, but it would not be exciting.
Of course a coaster with no change in speed would not be overly thrilling, but I find Inferno changes speed enough to make it exciting, but also maintains a consistent enough pace to feel thrilling and maintain a nice level of g-force throughout without being too intense.
Nemesis, on the other hand, while there are many bits of it that feel very fast and thrilling, I find that it doesn’t maintain that pace in the same way that Inferno does. The main dead spot on the ride for me is the turnaround directly after the loop; I’ve had some rides on it where it really loses speed quite dramatically trying to lurch its way up into that, and I do also find that the turnaround just before the loop is sometimes taken a little slowly. I do think the limitations of the coaster’s location do begin to show themselves at these 1 or 2 points in the layout. I think Nemesis is somewhat inconsistent in that I have had vastly variable rides on it over the years compared to some of the other coasters I’ve been on.
Another thing that I think takes away from Nemesis a little these days is that on my more recent rides, I have experienced definite head banging at a few points in the layout (most notably the zero-g roll and the corkscrews). While it’s not rough by any means, Nemesis is not exactly a glass smooth coaster, and it has left me with somewhat sore ears after my recent rides, which does take away from it a bit for me. As I say, it’s not unbearably rough by any means, but it does take away from the ride a bit for me, and I’d probably say it’s one of the rougher B&Ms I’ve ridden (although that’s more a testament to B&M’s overall smoothness than any slight against Nemesis). I personally found rides like Inferno and Montu a lot smoother; the two sides of Dragon Challenge at IOA seemed to suffer from a similar problem, but to a slightly greater extent, and those two rides had much weaker layouts than Nemesis, in my opinion, so they rank noticeably lower than the other 3 inverts I’ve been on for that reason.
I’m not trying to say that Nemesis is a bad coaster at all, far from it! There are many very fast, thrilling sections of Nemesis, and for the most part, it definitely packs a punch! Wardley and B&M did a brilliant job of defying everything working against them, and the ride was and still is truly unlike anything else in the world! I do still very much enjoy the ride; I think it’s a good coaster (a solid 7/10 for me), and it still holds a very special place in my heart for being one of my first big coasters.
However, I can’t seem to get on board the hype train for it as much as everyone else can these days. It’s a really good coaster, but it’s probably my least favourite UK B&M (controversial opinion, I know!), and as much as it has a lot going for it, it’s been leaving me feeling a little disillusioned after my recent rides, and not giving me that overall buzz and desire to reride that some of my very favourite coasters do.