By Brian Sy
 Brian Sy/Special to the Town Crier Automotive journalists test-drive SUVs during a recent two-day media event in Monterey. |
Every March, all of us automotive scribes on the left coast get together for two days in Monterey - home of great roads, an even greater racetrack and a really neat aquarium.
We were more interested in the first two, especially since companies like Porsche, Lotus, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Acura, Infiniti, Lexus, Cadillac and Pontiac brought about 65 of their most performance-oriented wares armed with their most potent engines, manual transmissions and arresting paint. We took the very presence of these cars as a begging to drive the snot out of them. It would be rude not to.
Day one
The first day begun with each journalist choosing a car to drive up to the mountain roads, swapping cars along the way.
Jumping from a Nissan 350Z Track to a Mini Cooper to a Pontiac GTO to a Chevrolet Cobalt SS was an interesting up-down-up-down ride on the roller-coaster of driving pleasure.
The 350Z and Mini were balanced performers with good doses of power, handling and brakes. It’s a testament to the Mini’s greatness that it can feel almost as good as a car with a significant chassis advantage and so much more power.
With each straight line, the GTO took me back to the muscle car’s glory days. With 400 pound-feet of torque, even a first-time driver can use the clutch to smoke a layer or two off the rear tires. But the windier the road got, the more the sedan sensations took over. It’s a power-hitter, not quite a handler.
Almost everything about the Cobalt SS makes it a contender in the sport compact wars, and a big jump over the Cavalier.
Once at the main site, it was a free-for-all with 65 cars, keys hanging from the ignition, and everyone getting their pick for two hours of 10-minute runs. The surrounding forest was perfect for driving any car at 40-60 mph through a series of turns varying widely in radius and altitude.
When you drive so many cars, only the standouts remain in the brain the next day. The BMW M3 convertible felt so perfect, it was disgusting. Never before have I felt so connected to the road, with so much engine to spare and such a snick-snick shifter. If not for the stiff clutch, there would be nothing to complain about.
To be sure the wind in the hair wasn’t clouding my judgment, I tried out the Lexus SC430. It does what it’s asked, not much drama. The Acura has tightened up its RSX, and it shows; the VTEC engine screams as frenetically as ever. Just to see how sporty the “sportiest SUV” could be, I tried the Nissan Murano. There’s no escaping roots: this high-rider felt tippy and sloppy.
The rest of the day was spent behind the wheel but off the road. It apparently takes a group of car nuts to use SUVs for what they were designed for. The actual event quickly put to rest the images burned into my mind by Jeep and Isuzu commercials of bouncing through mud at 50 mph, mud flying. Real off-roading isn’t as intuitive as it looks. Casual all-wheel-drive systems that spread the power around after detecting slip are not suitable for these endeavors, so Subaru troopers can stay home.
Anyone else with the right equipment is welcome to stay, but to make use of this hardware, you’ll also need the right strategy. As I learned, off-roading isn’t just point and shoot, especially in cases where the ground disappears underneath your view and you can’t see where you’re pointing. Nope, crawling around without any pavement underneath your tires calls for deliberation. It’s also best to turn off your mental instincts. Get stuck in a slipping situation, and give it more gas? Wrong. Correct answer: Maintain a constant throttle and wait patiently for your tires to find grip. If that doesn’t pull you through, try turning the wheels one direction or the other. In some cases, slide it in to reverse and back up to where you know traction exists.
I discovered that the Nissan XTerra, Kia Sorento and Jeep Grand Cherokee can do it all. But if you’re rich enough, you can buy an SUV that will do it all for you - like the Porsche Cayenne. Let off the brakes and it’ll hold your place, go down a hill and the car will utilize the anti-lock brakes on whatever wheels necessary to maintain a steady, idle-speed descent. The Cayenne’s advanced off-road package throws in a locking rear differential and makes the stabilizer bars detachable for more freedom for each wheel to move. The Cayenne’s a great way to look good prancing around in the dirt while the other rookies spew rocks in the air in a ditch. This Porsche can do off-road what other Porsches can do on-road.
Day two
Day two was all business. We were shuttled off to the famous Laguna Seca racetrack to learn such things as how to drive. I don’t know what I’ve been doing since age 16, but after a day at the track, it became clear that driving wasn’t it. After a half-hour classroom session and a self-driven tour around the track in a Dodge Neon, it was all systems go. Same cars as yesterday, more open space. Our walls were lined with tires, not trees, and paramedics were standing by.
Experimentation was discouraged; we were simply urged to circle the track in the most correct way possible. Correct can be read as “direct,” since the basic guideline was to drive in a series of straight lines. Orange cones were placed along the track as targets to set in our sights. Connect the dots. It makes sense: wider angles going in means smaller angles going out. Turn in too soon and you’ll regret it at the apex where your angle will be too wide of the turn, leaving two undesirable choices of slowing down or spinning out. Heading into sharp turns, early braking is encouraged because slow-in, fast-out beats vice versa.
I couldn’t wait to repeat my high from yesterday, so I again took the M3, and it still felt best. There’s just something about that car, or should I say “everything.”
That doesn’t mean there weren’t a ton of other contenders, such as the Honda S2000. As long as you keep the shifter in third, its 240 horsepower is on call to go with its cat-quick reflexes. The Corvette’s brute force gave different sensations but the same satisfaction. The Lexus GS430 impressed me with its luxury, silky power delivery, and smoothness. Its disconnected feel and “grabby” brakes were off-putting, something to think about no matter how far you stay away from a racetrack. The Mazda RX-8 felt almost as good as the S2000, but a lack of headroom made it unbearable. Thanks to our mandatory helmets, every cornering maneuver had my head banging into either the window or roof. Maybe Mazda misunderstands the kind of pain sports cars should provide.
I saved the most exclusive for the end: the Porsche 911 and Lotus Elise, marking my first track stint in a rear- and mid-engined car. Both were a blast. The 911’s mass-filled back end made it a little rear-happy. The 1,950-pound Lotus was pure magic, feeling like an extension of your body. Heck, it seems like the message from the steering wheel reaches the rubber faster than the signals from your brain reach your arms.
