Best Handling (MotorTrend)

[Bruce]

From the June issue of MotorTrend.

Original Link

10 Contenders, 1 Winner: America's Best-Handling Car Elimination Rounds

The Contest: Crown the best-handling production car in America


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The Contestants: Cars built and certified to Yankeeland standards, and available for sale to regular and/or working-rich folks at dealerships in 2007.


The Criteria: The supreme grand champion handler may be a car that generates big hairy test numbers on the skidpad-or not. It may snake through a slalom course in record time-or not. It may go around a racetrack faster than any other-or not. It will do all of the above with exceptional finesse while eliciting broad smiles on its driver's face. And our selection will likely provoke feverish haranguing in the blogosphere.

The Results

1) Porsche 911 GT3
2) Porsche Cayman S
3) Lotus Exige
4) Mitsubishi EVO IXMR
5) Mini Cooper S JCWGP
6) BMW 335i
7) Honda S2000
8) MazdaSpeed 3
9) Corvette Z06
10) Honda Civic Si

 

[NarutoRamen]

WT-F...How did the Z06 Rank below all those cars???

 

[Bruce]

WT-F...How did the Z06 Rank below all those cars???

No clue man. Nonetheless, I can understand the placing of certain vehicles ahead of it (Porsche, Lotus, etc).

However the MazdaSpeed 3.. (it's FWD btw)

 

[Imhotep Evil]

WT-F...How did the Z06 Rank below all those cars???

- it's wide
- crappy tyres
- not really fancy suspensions
- I really don't now
- (north) american magazines are crap at doing tests

 

[NarutoRamen]

Imhotep...I still can't beleive that the car that is beating cars like the F430 and Turbo around race tracks can't beat a Mini cooper, s2k or the mazda 3...seriously.

Bruce...I thought all the Mazda "Speed" series cars are AWD?

 

[Zafiro]

its nice to see a non BMW M high on a list but ahead of Z06

 

[Bruce]

Bruce...I thought all the Mazda "Speed" series cars are AWD?

Nope. I just doubled checked, it is indeed FWD. Although apparently it features a special LSD system to contain it's power (I hope it works with 280lb-ft running through the front wheels..)

 

[Imhotep Evil]

Imhotep...I still can't beleive that the car that is beating cars like the F430 and Turbo around race tracks can't beat a Mini cooper, s2k or the mazda 3...seriously.

Bruce...I thought all the Mazda "Speed" series cars are AWD?

The Z06 doesn't beat them (Turbo, F430) on the corners (because of the tyres, suspension and posibly brakes) but on straights.

The Mini a giant killer on slalom and the GP is better. A limited special
it's lighter, more rigid, has better suspensions and is more aerodynamic too.

Porsche, Lotus and MINI GP are no surprise, the rest are tough.

Read:

- I really don't now
- (north) american magazines are crap at doing tests

 

[Bruce]

Porsche, Lotus and MINI GP are no surprise, the rest are tough.

In my opinion nor the Mitsubishi EVO or Honda S2000 should be a surprise.

Both of them have been praised for exceptional handling ability/feeling in the past.

 

[NarutoRamen]

I mean I understand but it's just weird. I guess this was more of a autocross type of test than an all out. I've driven the c6 around GM's mini track and that car was and still is the best car i've driven even more so than my previous M3. But what I do know is that in very tight corners it's a little twitchy because of the torque which will immediately spin your wheels...but on more bigger and more flowing high speed corners that car was absolutely sublime.

Oh well...I'd still take that car over all the cars on that list except for the GT3 and the 335.

 

[Centurion]

The Z06 is a fantastic car but difficult to handle, i.e the heavy engine in the front, lots of tire slipping at heavy acceleration. Some people know how to handle it, while others don't.

 

[bum-man]

The Z06 is a fantastic car but difficult to handle, i.e the heavy engine in the front, lots of tire slipping at heavy acceleration. Some people know how to handle it, while others don't.

Luw, I think the Z06 weighs more in the rear. The transmission is located in the back and the LS7 is a lightweight despite its displacement. There's other things at work here, and perhaps Imhotep is right about the rigidity...

 

[Merc1]

The Z06 is a fantastic car but difficult to handle, i.e the heavy engine in the front, lots of tire slipping at heavy acceleration. Some people know how to handle it, while others don't.

Bingo! I was looking for a post that gave the real explanation as to why the Z06 placed so low. Sure it has the power to compete with nearly anything you can name, but its handling is still a far less precise affair than a Porsche. Porsche = scapel, Z06 = small fiberglass hammer, no longer a sledgehammer mind you, but a hammer still the same compared to the Porsche. It isn't the time around the track that killed the Z06, obviously it is the way it has to be driven and how it does its laps, lots of effort and kinda sloppy, relative to some of the more precise handling cars.

M

 

[cawimmer430]

Two Porsches at the top.

 

[PanterroR]

MINI above 3er? Interesting...

 

[cawimmer430]

MINI above 3er? Interesting...

FWD above RWD!

 

[Merc1]

I'm not really surprised by that. The Mini handles (and rides) like a go-cart and its show wheelbase make it a real road thrower. The 335i is akin to a 5-Series compared to the Mini.

M

 

[PanterroR]

What Christian said...

 

[Zafiro]

Mini is short and compact with a wheel in every corner, thats why it handles so good. I remember when Mini were introduced and a carmag did a slalom test between a Mini and a Porsche, guess which car had the highest speed i the slaom?

 

[Merc1]

Yep I remember that. Road and Track tested the Mini when it first arrived and it got the faster slalom time they'd recorded up to that point.

M