Motor Trend gets all techy, picks their top 10 favorite driver's cars
In a truly heroic effort that's not only daunting in scope but utterly jealousy-inducing in execution, the hot shoes at Motor Trend have once again teamed up with pro-racer and 24 Hours of Daytona winner Randy Pobst to put ten of the hottest performance cars currently on sale up against each other at Laguna Seca to determine which is best. Last year, the winner was given the title of "Best Handling Car," though this year they are switching the name to "Best Driver's Car." That works.
Without getting too much into the metrics they used (it's an eighteen page article), MT went with a combination of outright speed, braking performance, lateral acceleration data and subjective seat of the pants driving impressions (plus Pobst's excellent feedback) to rank all ten cars in order. Without giving away the winner, we will say that we enthusiastically agree with their findings.
Cases in point: Chevy Camaro SS is dead last. The BMW 135i is second to dead last. The world-beating Corvette ZR1 ends up one place behind the truly superlative Shelby GT500 and the uber 'Stang isn't even the top American car. Meanwhile, the plucky little Mazda MX-5 Miata finishes higher up than all the cars we just mentioned -- including the mystery Yank tank. In fact, the only gripe we have is that last year's third place car -- the Mazda RX-8 R3 – wasn't brought back for a second go round. No one's perfect. That said, you should consider this article a must read. We have, twice.
[Source: Motor Trend]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
xspeedy 11:36AM (8/20/2009)
Where is the Camry? Oh wait, that is COTY.
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geo.stewart 11:55AM (8/20/2009)
Transportation Appliance of the year.
this is for cars that enthusiasts WANT.
List is well done. Wish the CTS-V was higher but really this is about straight driver's car and I would rate the CTS-V higher only because it seats 4 and does so well, so awesome time for those involved, I'm sure
akboss302 11:57AM (8/20/2009)
I get the tongue-in-cheek, but in fair defense, the Camry is a good car. Its just not an 'enthusiast' drivers car. Drive a Camry during the week and have a real car for weekends...
MajorGeek 11:39AM (8/20/2009)
I always heard the Mini-Cooper was a really fun car to drive? True\False?
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Wei Geng 11:45AM (8/20/2009)
my sister has the clubman and i'd say it handles quite good for a small FWD car like that ( although little underpowered for my taste. not quite as involving the the GTI but give the mini 250 horses things might change. the best small, fast sporty fwd i've ever driven was the civic type-R when i was in Asia though...its a shame they are not sold here, fabulous hot hatches
katatonics 2:19PM (8/20/2009)
Coopers always feel like they want to go 70 mph. Funny thing is, you get them there...they ain't that bad.
MajorGeek 3:34PM (8/20/2009)
Thought about getting one for a fun little daily beater toy, just price kept me away for such a small car... Thanks for the info.
Rocketboy 3:42PM (8/20/2009)
Double plus true.
But much more so for a Cooper S.
And even more so for a 3rd year Cooper S. Right after the revised gearing, but before the mucking around.
1st gear in an early Cooper S was just too darn tall.
Wei Geng 11:39AM (8/20/2009)
the 911 is missing from a driver's car camparo! which is cheaper than R8 and ZR1
but hell, if the cayman s can top this, that pretty much tell us where the 911 would be....
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homunculus 11:44AM (8/20/2009)
(cayman's better than 911)
Wei Geng 11:47AM (8/20/2009)
lewlz
too bad i have never driven a coxster or 911 so i can't say anything really
dal20402 11:50AM (8/20/2009)
Mid-engine will beat rear-engine every time from a driver's perspective. My intuition is that a 911 in their rough price range (probably a Carrera S) would have finished third, behind the Cayman and R8.
I don't understand why they bothered with the Camaro. It's not a track car like the Corvette. It's a boulevard and dragstrip showboat.
Wei Geng 11:59AM (8/20/2009)
but i mean seriously if a cayman drives better than a 911? whos gonna buy a 911 (beside s the snob value), plus the new cayman s is only 25HP short compared to the base 911, it runs faster around the 'ring than the last 911 w/out direct injection, so what are we paying for on the 911 really?
nastinupe 12:19PM (8/20/2009)
The 911 is a larger, more plush car, with more down low power. It's a better daily driver and has usable back seats.
I ended up purchasing a used 997 4S over a new Cayman last year and those were the reasons why.
You can really take a weekend trip in the 911. The Cayman isn't as comfortable.
Unless you're really rich, people usually buy a car for more than one reason. In my case, I wanted a performance car, that could also be a nice cruiser as well as a daily driver. Add the prestige that goes along with the name and there you have it.
If I was looking for a dedicated tearing up the road car for my mountain weekends, I would definately choose the Cayman, but in real life, I needed more than just a car for that. And the C4S almost just as good, but with the extra room and creature comforts.
Holden Miecranc 12:25PM (8/20/2009)
They probably included the Camaro SS because a 3900 lb, $31,000 car that can lap Nurburgring in 8:19 is a pretty good track car.
Dominant.Effect 2:01PM (8/20/2009)
I have to agree 100% with nastinupe on the assessment of the 911 versus the Cayman. I have driven both and I have to say that the Cayman is so ridiculously fun to tear around in that it borders on the obscene and the 911 is a true jack of all trades and master of all.
A friend of mine who has the good fortune of owning both a 2008 Cayman S and a 2006 Carrera S often explains it as the difference between going out for a night on the town with a hot young 21 year old co-ed and going for a long weekend with an equally gorgeous 30 year old professional woman. Both will provide an amazing time you won't soon forget and each in their own way, it just boils down to the amount of time you plan to spend with each and which best suits your idea of a dream girl and dream date.
hoyaCS08 2:02PM (8/20/2009)
I think the 911 has been heading more towards GT vs. sportscar over the last couple of generations. True the regular 997 and 997S are still more credible track/sportscars than any BMW or Benz (including M/AMG). And of course the GT3 is magical and the Turbo insane. But most of them sold nowadays are 4S Cabriolets for dentist's wives. They've gotten a little softer. I agree with the poster above that the 997S probably would have been 3rd or 4th.
2004m3driver 12:03PM (8/20/2009)
I like how they are implying that the GT-R is not a drivers car. You just sit in it and it takes you around the ring like a roller coaster right? Thats what I heard on the street.
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BigMcLargeHuge 12:30PM (8/20/2009)
"Why do so many journalists write off the GT-R as highly competent but ultimately soulless?
Besides not driving it hard enough, here's another explanation:
knee-jerk reactionary nostalgia."
-Jonny Lieberman
Ligor 12:07PM (8/20/2009)
I'm just not sure on the subjective part
cause i've driven the Miata and i presonally wouln't buy one as it has so little power I was always underwelmed by it
my list would put the miata in the botton 3 and the ZR1 would definitely take it's place and possibly even higher
My co-worked tested the ZR-1 in Arizona during hot weather testing and he coul not stop smiling for 3 weeks straigh after that 2 hour session. never seen him smile so much for so long after a 2 hour drive. I guess to me that make the ZR-1 a drivers car
His opinion was that he has never had that much fun driving a car, ever. He also drove the CTS-V during that same time, but the ZR-1 just blew him away
I guess it's preference
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