Since everybody and their brother are picking:
- Car of the Year (Motor Trend picked the CTS - are they as out of it as current CTS owners?)
- Product of the Year (hands-down winner this past year and next is the large flat-screen TV)
- Person of the Year (The liberals at Time magazine picked that bum Vladimir Putin, and undoubtedly had Hugo Chavez as runner-up)...
... here is my choice for Driving Enthusiast Car of the Year.
The choice is entirely obvious: the new Nissan GT-R. Fabulous performance, fantastic driving dynamics, incredible technology. And it all works- it's lap time at the Nurburgring demonstrates that without a doubt.
And a price that can't be beat: US$69k. The performance bargain of the century. Except, of course, you can't touch these for under 100k (for the first year, or two, or ever?), but it's the intent of Nissan that counts. And while there is an even faster track-specific version coming, the base model right out of the box has absolutely everything you need to clean up on your local tracks. This is truly a track car where you wouldn't need to change a single thing.
And, kudos to Nissan for announcing that this great new platform will underpin the upcoming all-new 2009 Z. A 350-HP 3.7 liter DOHC V-6, a 50%-50% weight balance, a new rear-mount transaxle, and fully adjustable camber (finally!) will make for a great new Z!
And now, without a doubt controversially for many of my readers, my choices for Disappointments of the Year.
1st: the Mitsubishi Evo X MR. As much as I like this car, and as much as I appreciate it's sophisticated AWD system, and as much as I see the logic behind the automated manuals (it's the wave of the future), the sum total appears to have too many issues for track use. Going thru a pile of newly-arrived Japanese car magazines and Best Motoring videos over the last month (all available for easy purchase via my JDM Best Motoring store), I noticed during a track battle that the car over-heated the longer it stayed out on the track. It started out as arguably the fastest car, then it got slower, then it went to the back of the pack. That, to me, here in nuclear heat of Texas, is the kiss of death for track cars. I may be wrong, and we haven't seen a true North American production-edition car yet (not counting the pre-production and sickly-engined MR that the idiots at Motor Trend rushed to the track), so I am willing to keep the door open. But, I have reversed my direction to get one for the track for the time being (as an instructor at track events, I should be able to drive what my students show up in, so the theory was to drive an AWD car for the next year). I do still think it would make a fabulous street car.
2nd: the new STI. Initial reports looked promising (assuming you can get past the wagon body and it's styling oddities), but the latest track reports have it understeering as bad as ever. The latest report's author even says it is "clearly NOT a track car". Yes, it has a "plain" non-automated 6-speed manual transmission... but note that it also has an automated manual coming in 2 years. Nonetheless, after attempting to drive one too many understeering pigs around the track, this one is off my list.
Too bad about this one, one advantage is that it could carry it's own race tires to the track!
3rd: the new BMW M3. Any car that cooks it's brakes after only 3 laps around a track is NO DAMNED GOOD. And not only on the track, but the street as well (I don't care to find the limits of braking in a 4000-pound car while enjoying driving quickly on isolated back roads). Forget about this big pig for track use, unless you plan to immediately spend $5k on Brembos and another 5K for wheels to clear them. No thanks. And, while a miracle has apparently occurred that caused BMW to FINALLY start using Brembo brakes on it's products (1 product at this point), we don't get them on the flagship M3. Unbelievable! Only - oddly - on the 135i.
As to the 135i, well, track evaluation tests have it understeering too (although not as bad as the STI), and like it's 335i kin the engine needs an oil cooler the size of it's own hood to run cool in the heat of summer on the track. And, incredibly, neither have a mechanical limited slip diff - oh, that would offend prior-gen M3 owners! Oh yes, BMW will tell you it has a "CSL" version of the M3 coming that is more appropriate for track use, but it'll cost probably 40k more and will be impossible to get - just like the last one. Typical BMW: while all the pieces are available, they won't put them all together and tune them properly or the M3 and it's owners would be mad.
So those are my "awards" for 2007. One absolutely fabulous no-compromise car, and three with just too many damned compromises. Use "Comments" to discuss.
