What makes a car fun to drive? While everyone is a little different, some prefer “hold on for dear life” acceleration (see Porsche Turbo), while others enjoy railing through the twistys in a grown up go-cart (see Lotus Elise). Sometimes, the experience is just listening to the soothing sounds of a thundering V8 while cruising through town. Personally, all I have to say on the matter is… Baby I like it raw! And because of this I am going to chastise two legendary automobiles… The BMW M3 and the Mitsubishi Evolution.
Both of these cars have strayed away from their racing roots which made them legends in the first place. I have been fortunate to drive every generation of the M3 with the exception of the new E92. Of the three cars I have driven the E46 (2001-2006) was my least favorite to drive (however, I think it is one of the best looking cars BMW has designed in quite some time). Although much faster than the previous two generations, the car just felt tame. The acceleration was smooth… too smooth! It felt more like a high performance sedan than a sports coupe. The handling felt predictable but lacked something… perhaps driver involvement. In one article I read, the journalist wondered why BMW chose to spend their money on adding a fancy carbon fiber roof rather than upgrading the weak brakes the car is equipped with. I share the journalist’s confusion in the matter. Where did the passion for performance go?
The Evo is suffering a similar fate. While I have never driven an Evo I have read a substantial amount about the 8, 9 and 10. Same story, Mitsubishi has built a bigger, heavier car than previous generations. And how does Mitsubishi decide to deal with the extra baggage? By adding a whopping 5 more HP! At least BMW dropped a V8 in and drastically upped the HP. Every article I have read about the Evo X says the same thing… The driver feels like they are turning in faster lap times in the Evo 9 but somehow due to advanced suspension and electronics the 10 narrowly edges out the 9… but who really cares? The time differential is nominal and the driver had more fun driving the 9. Isn’t that what driving is all about in these two iconic cars? An amazing performance driving experience?
Bottom line, the M3 and the Evo forgot where they came from, kind of like Metallica in the late 90’s. However, if you need a good car to drive to Starbucks in look no further.
For those of you who have not heard of www.buzzillions.com, I highly encourage you to check out this remarkable shopping site. In a world filled with countless price-comparison shopping portals, Buzzillions provides an innovative approach to finding products online. Instead of using the same tired navigation categories (price, brand, color, etc.), Buzzillions uses customer reviews to drive the search. By using a tag based approach, people are able to search for products bought and reviewed by people “like them”. Here is an example of how it works with digital cameras: http://www.buzzillions.com/digital-cameras-reviews/n/4294967010/
Happy shopping! Hope this helps with the holiday season!
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Why I love Santana Row Saturday Mornings
“This is the one yes (pointing at a Ferrari 355)… I saw 3 of these parked outside the local Starbucks this morning which tells me only one thing… There’s too many self-indulgent wieners in this city with too much bloody money. Now if I was driving a 1967 275 GTB4 Cam…”
-Memphis
“You wouldn’t be a self indulgent wiener… you would be a connoisseur”
-Ferrari Salesman
I love this dialogue from the movie Gone in 60 Seconds. There really are too many self indulgent wieners out there. More often than not you can find them driving a Mercedes SL, BMW 6 Series or a Bentley Continental GT. I encourage you to find someone with a Continental GT and ask him or her about the car’s engine… Ask them if there is any noticeable turbo lag, or something along those lines. Chances are you may need to point to the engine so they know what you are talking about. However, if they respond by saying: "It has a monster 6.0L W12 Twin Turbo engine pumping out just over 550hp making it pretty damn fast for such a heavy car"... then I appologize for the blanket statement.
Now if you happen to be cruising by one of the southwest parking lots in Santana Row between the hours of 9:30am to 11:00am on a Saturday morning you may notice an obscene amount of “Self Indulgent Wieners”… or so you think they are… This word of mouth meeting has been going on for years and while the occasional wiener may show up, the meet is more or less all hardcore auto enthusiasts. These people probably know more about your car than you do. There is very little pretentiousness in this crowd… there can’t be. Someone will always show up with something more expensive, more exotic, rarer or just plain different. The parking lot can be full of Ferrari F430’s and Gallardo’s but the moment a race ready frog green Porsche GT3RS shows up the crowd flocks to it. When my buddy showed up for the first time in his new ’07 Roush 427R Mustang it garnered a ton of attention (more so than the 7 F430’s that showed up) albeit being one of the cheapest cars in the lot. This is simply because it was different. People wanted to know if it really had a 427 in it (it doesn’t… it stands for the HP) and what other parts had been installed.
Bottom line… I love going to Santana Row Saturday mornings, because I get to be around people who share my passion for automobiles. Not too mention, the cars that show up are spectacular. The selection week in and week out is amazing. You will see cars like Ruf GT2’s w/700 hp, Ferrari 330’s (both GTC and GTS), Twin Turbo Testarossa’s, Supercharged Vipers & Vettes, Carerra GT’s… I even saw a Mercedes S65 that had 800lb ft of Torque! Where else can you see that?