Originally posted by: Marshallj
Originally posted by: NFS4
I'm with ZV on this one. A well-balanced mid-engined car will dance a jig on the grave of front-engined or rear-engined sports cars. The Boxster, NSX, and 360 Modena may not be the fastest cars in their respective fields, but they will turn on a dime and provide livlier handling than anything else out there.
Also in agreeance with ZV, while the 914 is an ugly slow beast
P
), it can rip many cars a new one when it comes to the twisties. I was taken on a romp through some twisties in a 360 Modena a few months back. That car was SO planted. It seems as though there was almost no weight transfer and the car just STUCK!!! Can't say the same for the 996 911 Carrera or 996 911 Cabriolet that I got a chance to ride in. You could definitely feel it's handling limits building up. With the Modena, it was just :Q:Q:Q:Q:Q
I'm afraid that I'm going to have to say that you're talking out of your ass here. ZV is wrong. You seem to follow the "riceboy" mentality when it comes to comparing cars. You don't want to follow any type of logical guidlines when doing your comparison. This is not the thought process to have when you're trying to perform an objective benchmark.
You seem to be following the belief that cars have some "abstract, unmeasurable" quality. This is simply not true. Accurate comparisons can be and are conducted. You make it sound like a car can outhandle another car, yet somehow its performance cannot be measured. This is false.
If a car IS able able to "rip a new one" in the twisties, that cornering ability can be measured and compared to the cornering ability of other cars. There is nothing abstract here, it's just cold, hard numbers. Handling and tuning is not an art form, it is a science. This is why race teams invest so much money into Research and Development. If these attributes could not be measured, compared, studied, and manipulated, they would not bother with R&D.
The reason that people don't want to believe the numbers is because they cannot let logic override their bias or seat of the pants feeling. But the numbers are correct, seat of the pants feelings are misleading. (That's why when you learn how to fly a plane, they say "always trust the gauges")
You sound young. How old are you and what kind of performance car do you drive?