This blog will focus primarily on the happenings within the automotive and gaming industry, as those two industries are the ones I am most interested in.
So to get things started, I have a rather wordy entry with an article here from Motor Trend and their Sport Compact Shootout that was recently posted. Read it here.
Motor Trend tested eight cars and they ranked them as follows:
1. Volkswagen GTI
2. Chevy Cobalt SS
3. Mazdaspeed 3 Grand Touring
4. Subaru Impreza WRX
5. Honda Civic Si
6. Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart
7. Mini Clubman S
8. Dodge Caliber SRT-4
Note: All cars are model year 2009
It's obvious that not all of you may agree with these results. However, they do make some really good points.
For starters, the things that didn't quite surprise me:
-The Mazdaspeed 3 and Subaru Impreza WRX being ranked so high
-The Dodge Caliber SRT-4 being ranked so low.
-The Chevy Cobalt SS being ranked so high.
-The Honda Civic Si being ranked in the middle.
And here's what did surprise me:
-The Mini Clubman S didn't do too well.
-The Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart being ranked relatively low.
-The VW GTI being number one!
Mazdaspeed 3
Let's face it, for a front-wheel-drive car, the Mazdaspeed 3 (MS3) is one serious performance machine. It's legitimately fast, has a powerful turbocharged engine, and handles really well. You'd think that while making 263 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque the MS3 would just torque steer into a tree anytime you hit the throttle, but nope, some good tuning on the engine, transmission, suspension, chassis, etc. make this thing awesome, and it's no surprise it did so well in this comparison test. If I'm not mistaken, Mazda actually tuned the car such that the torque output is limited in first gear just to keep the thing under control. It's very practical with a hatchback body style as well. This car is absolutely amazing in just about every way, if you ask me.
Subaru Impreza WRX
For similar reasons as the MS3, the Subaru Impreza WRX also did really well. Unlike the MY 2008 rexes, the 2009 model doesn't exhibit Lexus-like luxury car body roll and makes more power. The 2008 was nothing but a huge disappointment for fans, but the 2009 has revived the Scooby's spirit and reputation. It handles really well and is almost as fast as a WRX STI in a straight line... dangerously close, if you ask me, especially considering how much cheaper the vanilla WRX is compared to the STI. I'd love this car in its hatchback form. The newest sedan's side profile looks too freakishly similar to the Toyota Corolla for me to ever take seriously.
Chevy Cobalt SS
Those of you who know me better will be surprised that I, well, wasn't surprised at the Chevy's strong performance. While I am not a particularly huge fan of domestic vehicles, credit must be given where it is due. In a world today with its not-so-good economic situation, finding a car which offers a whole lot of fun for not a lot of cash is increasingly important. The Chevy Cobalt SS understands this idea very well. While not the cheapest of the bunch, it certainly performed very impressively and considering the performance it offered, the money is well worth it. With a 0-60mph time (~5.5s) and grip on a skidpad (around 0.9g) that rivals the V8-powered Audi S4, this is a real surprise from Chevy, especially considering the fact that it's front-wheel-drive. This car is a good example of a FWD vehicle that can perform well if it's tuned correctly.
Dodge Caliber SRT-4
The Dodge SRT-4, well, have any of you seen how Chrysler is doing lately? Unfortunate, yes. I'd like to see Chrysler make it, but they really have to make better vehicles that will compete with their competitors' offerings. Let's hope Uncle Sam's bailout will help them. To its credit though, the Caliber SRT-4 sounds like a fun vehicle to haul stuff around in.
Honda Civic Si
As for the Honda Civic Si, given the bunch it was being compared with, it seemed fitting that it would land right in the middle. Better than the cars ranked below it, but not quite as good as the cars above it. Honda makes a really good, reliable car. This one happens to perform really well and that's why it is better than the cars that were ranked below it. However, what sets it apart from the vehicles ranked above it were primarily interior quality and performance. While close in performance to the VW GTI, the Vee Dub offers a much more sophisticated interior. Then the Cobalt SS, MS3, and WRX smoke it in terms of performance. I very nearly went for this car over the Volkswagen GTI, but I decided that I didn't like the idea of revving the nuts out of the engine to get anywhere quickly. The lofty redline on this car will certainly appeal to some, but not even Honda's famous V-Tec can save this car for me. It's a legitimate performance machine, but not the one for me. I like torque, thank you, and I like it when I don't need to have the engine screaming at 6000 RPM to access it. That's not saying much for the Civic Si though, because it makes a relatively weak 139 lb-ft of peak torque at 6100 RPM. That's screaming. If you want outright vocal-cord shattering screaming, the car makes its max horsepower (197 horsepower) at 7800 RPM!
This is characteristic of Honda engines though. It seems they refuse to make performance cars with forced induction engines. They stick firmly with naturally-aspirated setups. There's definitely nothing wrong with that. They just use small-displacement engines though and that requires a lot of revs to make a lot of power, but still not so much torque. This is an issue with the S2000 for me as well (aside from the fact that it looks like a duck's bill to me). Don't get me wrong, these engines and these cars are brilliant, but they don't suit my tastes too well.
Then moving on to the surprises:
Mini Clubman S
Given the benchmark the Mini Cooper S set for compact cars, I expected as much from the Clubman S. My expectations weren't too high though, as I know the Clubman is supposed to be bigger (and therefore heavier) than the Cooper. But with such a reputation from Mini, I would have expected the BMW-resurrected brand to fare better. Given its love it or hate it styling, awkward interior layout, and average performance (for this bunch), perhaps its ranking wasn't so surprising after all.
Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart
For starters, the Lancer and WRX have been locked in battle and are doomed to fight for eternity as they are direct competitors where Subaru and Mitsubishi constantly look to one-up each other. So in this case I am surprised to see that the WRX did better than the Mitsu since so many others have praised the new Lancer so much. After looking at the performance numbers though, it seems that the Lancer only has better styling when compared to the WRX. While the Subarus have never been complimented for their handsome looks, I've always been a fan of Subaru. So perhaps it may be my bias towards Subaru on this one, but it seems to be that the 'Rex' has won this one fair and square (Edmunds.com InsideLine seems to agree with this as well). The Lancer Evolution X, however, seems to be taking the cake when compared to the WRX STI. I still love that STI though, and the newest one in its hatchback body style is no exception, it looks brilliantly aggressive, especially in person.
Volkswagen GTI
Just to let you all know, I drive a 2008 VW GTI with the DSG transmission*. So it may surprise you that my bias towards the car still leaves me surprised that it has made it to the number one spot in this comparison. While not the quickest of the group, the GTI is still fast, and it certainly feels fast while driving it. Trust me on that one. It would seem though that according to Motor Trend, this car won because it does everything so well. It's not the fastest car, but it's no slug either. Then the interior of the car is just a nice place to be, it's sophisticated, constructed with high-quality materials, and it's comfortable. The car can be driven like it was stolen and do it well, and when you want to relax, the car will easily settle into a civilized cruiser. So it's no surprise that a car that is essentially a wolf in sheep's clothing has managed to do so well in this test.
Well, that's the end of this first blog entry. It's certainly quite wordy... I'll have to work on shortening it up, I suppose. But I guess that if you aren't interested, then you don't have to read it all. To each their own, right?
-Allen
Coming up soon:
-Comments on Edmunds.com InsideLine's comparison test between the BMW 135i and Nissan 370Z.
-Video games and cooperative play, why it's so good
-Is Honda going the way of Toyota?
-Fanboys and their belief that they all have the best thing since sliced bread. Who's right?
*DSG stands for Direct-Shift Gearbox. To describe it briefly, it is a manual transmission with two clutches that has an automatic mode. To describe it in detail: the DSG is a dual-clutch (wet-clutch type) transmission. One clutch handles the odd-numbered gears and the other handles the even-numbered gears. One of the two clutches also handles reverse, but I forget which. Anyway, when one clutch is engaged, the other clutch will pre-select the next gear. So when the gearchange happens, one clutch disengages while the other will almost instantaneously engage. The result is shifts which occur in 8 milliseconds that offer seamless power delivery. The weakness though is that since it runs on a wet-clutch design, it's still not quite as efficient as traditional (dry-clutch) manual transmissions in getting the power to the wheels. The wet-clutch setup still has the clutches in fluid, and since it requires more energy to rotate something in liquid, powertrain losses are still more noticeable when compared to dry-clutch systems. The DSG requires a wet-clutch setup in order to prevent it from overheating. Another weakness of the DSG is that it can't handle massive amounts of power, at least not the one found in the VW GTI. Dual-clutch gearboxes though can certainly be built to handle lots of power. For example, they can be found in the Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari California, and Nissan GT-R (although controversy surrounds this as the dual-clutch setup in the GT-R is infamous for sometimes failing after using the launch control, but seems to respond well to hard driving as long as the LC isn't used).
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