Porsche Outperforms 10 Others

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by Jaxonalden

This test was about drivers confidence, usable power and ergonomics. Gee, guess to please everyone they should have had a 50 car field.

The test was to determine what today's best "driver's car" is. Do you consider a Jag sedan, a 4500 pound Cadillac or a Mustang a driver's car? Maybe we have different definitions.

Conventional wisdom would say that when a company sets out to built it's best driver's car, it starts out with some kind of a light(ish at least) small car. No one asked for a 50 car field, although maybe that would be better, but at least include driver's cars. What's the Elise known for? Or the 430, or V8 Vantage? Heck, I bet a sporty version of the Mazda3 would have beat out most of this field.

[gRed04]

Originally Posted by blue2000s

The test was to determine what today's best "driver's car" is. Do you consider a Jag sedan, a 5000 pound Cadillac or a Mustang a driver's car? Maybe we have different definitions.

I think what R&T meant was what they considered the best "driver's car" of those cars in the test. Perhaps you or I may have a different opinion.

[mptoledo]

actually the Headline says it all "From Behind the Wheel of 10 of Today's Ultimate Performance Cars, We Pick America's Best Driver's Car"

Maybe they should have said top performance car under $xxx,xxx. or use top produced cars. You really need to throw in some other high end cars to make it real. But still a good article.

"Motor Trend is not looking for the quickest car over the quarter mile, the car that pulls the highest lateral g through a turn, or even the fastest lap time around a racetrack. The Best Driver's Car award process looks at expert qualitative feedback as well as quantitative data"

Winning characteristics/criteria
The winner will be a car that delivers a balance of useable performance, accessible handling, and driver-friendly design; a vehicle with a multidimensional personality that will delight and reward the enthusiast driver on any road at any time, regardless of weather and traffic conditions."

[Adam]

It would've been nice to see how these 2 cars would've placed. I consider these to be good handling cars.

[Jaxonalden]

[QUOTE=blue2000s]The test was to determine what today's best "driver's car" is. Do you consider a Jag sedan, a 4500 pound Cadillac or a Mustang a driver's car? Maybe we have different definitions.

If you read the article you would find that the Caddy had 556hp, the 'Stang 540hp and the Jag 510hp. My definition of a drivers car is just what MT defined is as.

Again;

Winning characteristics/criteria
"The winner will be a car that delivers a balance of usable performance, accessible handling, and driver-friendly design; a vehicle with a multidimensional personality that will delight and reward the enthusiast driver on any road at any time, regardless of weather and traffic conditions."

[blue2000s]

[QUOTE=Jaxonalden]

Originally Posted by blue2000s

The test was to determine what today's best "driver's car" is. Do you consider a Jag sedan, a 4500 pound Cadillac or a Mustang a driver's car? Maybe we have different definitions.

If you read the article you would find that the Caddy had 556hp, the 'Stang 540hp and the Jag 510hp. My definition of a drivers car is just what MT defined is as.

Again;

Winning characteristics/criteria
"The winner will be a car that delivers a balance of usable performance, accessible handling, and driver-friendly design; a vehicle with a multidimensional personality that will delight and reward the enthusiast driver on any road at any time, regardless of weather and traffic conditions."

So we do have different definitions then. A "driver's car" has nothing to do with a horsepower number to me. Clearly, horsepower has little to do with winning this competition either. Which is as it should be.

They could put 1000 horsepower into my sweet old grandma's Camry. It will never be a driver's car.

[litteng]

don't get me wrong; i like it when my side wins, but let car&driver and road&track rerun the same set of equations, would the get the same answer?

neverthelless i would agree that the Boxster/Cayman is one sweet ride...

[mptoledo]

My take on the article was that the Porsche just felt like an extension of the driver. It focused you on the task at hand without having to thinkg about anything else. The vette scared him because of its raw power.

I think the audi was about rightly placed, oc course owning two audis I am biaed. The mazda placing so high really suprised me as did the nissanplacing lower than I expected.

The show top geared in an older episode featured a 911 cs against a bmw M6 and an aston martin db9. The 911 impressed two of the guys so much, one went out and bought a boxster and the other bought a 911. the cars are just that great to drive

http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/man-fight
http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/man-fight-2
http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/man-fight-3
http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/man-fight-4

great episode. They really slam the BMW as the porsche blew all three away. Make sure to watch end of part 4 to see the 2 gang up on the host and profess their love for porsche!!

[Lil bastard]

ROAD & CRAP and MOTOR FLAVOR OF THE MONTH will NEVER be the definitive source for true evaluations of available motors PERIOD!

For one thing, they are dependent on advertisers and the Automakers goodwill to supply parts and steeds to be tested as well as operating revenue. This alone places their objectivity into question.

Secondly, what these rags don't know about cars would fill a football stadium!

Finally, there is really no real comparison to be had... totally apples to oranges!

Even within the Boxster lineup itself, there are vast differences between Base vs 'S', Manual vs Tiptronic and 986 vs 987 so how can one possibly compare it to a totally different car?

Oh, well they are all drop tops... or they're all within the same price point... or they all have four wheels... or they're all on planet Earth.

Truth is, a prospective buyer needs to actually touch, feel and drive any models they feel may have ownership potential and decide for themselves, which again, will be far from objective.

But, that's OK... there's a reason Baskin Robbins has 31 flavors...