Helping to pick the top cars to drive in 2012, per Motor Trend’s team of testers, was none other than Randy Probst and the results are amazing. A quick note, only cars that are available for sale in the United States were included. These cars were chosen out of twenty that were set through their paces at the Raceway Laguna Seca and only two of them clock at under 500 horsepower. The slowest went from – to 60 at 6.4 seconds and the next slowest was clocked at 4.2 seconds. Three of them went from 0 to 60 in under 3 seconds, which as you can imagine, is an adrenalin rushing face melt experience. Here is what was chosen.
9th Place Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4
This is the most expensive of all the cars in this particular lineup. And also, even though it is the most powerful and fastest, it came in last because of the way it drives. It’s heavy and just didn’t handle well according to the drivers. One driver said, “Feels like the car is doing something different in every corner.”
8th Place: Jaguar XKR-S
The Jaguar XKR-S got special mention for the plush leather interior and the “fantastic engine noise”, but only got to eighth place because of how it didn’t seem to fully connect to the road. “There’s a very numb, very disconnected feel,” says Mortara, driver. Another driver, Kiino adds, “The steering is nice, but too light. And it always feels the same no matter how hard you’re pushing the car. Kind of artificial, really.”
7th Place: Ford Shelby GT500
Every one of the drivers had a great time driving this Ford, but they also thought it was overpowered to the point of being ridiculous. Driver Lago commented, “This is the performance-car bargain of the decade if all you’re concerned about is horsepower, top speed, and quarter-mile acceleration. Driver confidence and braking? Who cares when you’ve got this much horsepower!?” Apparently it got seventh place because as fun as it was to drive, it’s still a Mustang, whatever that means.
6th Place: Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
The Chevy Camaro is being hailed as “The Thinking Man’s Ponycar”. Even though the Ford Shelby was faster, the Camaro outranked it and one driver summed up the reason the Camaro won out over the Shelby by saying, “The Camaro feels more mature and sophisticated, more measured in its demeanor. Especially on the road, where it’s deceptively quick because it doesn’t sound or feel like World War III has broken out in the cockpit.”
5th Place: McLaren MP4-12C
Everyone was surprised about this ranking because most critics, other than these particular hard driving testers would have ranked the McClaren higher. But one of the deciding comments helps to shed some light on why it did end up ranking fifth, “It’s like paying for sex”. However it did get fifth place because as another driver stated, “When driven fast, the McLaren forces you to completely recalibrate your brain because the relationship between driver input and machine output is never quite linear. It’s almost as if the car figures out what you’re trying to do and just goes ahead and does it, leaving you slightly surprised and amazed at the result but also slightly guilty because you know you’re not that good behind the wheel.”
4th Place: Subaru BRZ
While this was one of the most underpowered cars, the overall price of $28,000 seemed to endear it to drivers a little more readily than some of the higher priced models in the competition. They also all seemed to like the brakes. One driver’s comment, “If price were a factor, the BRZ would win this competition hands-down. This car, like the Miata, proves you don’t need a monster engine to be a great driving car. The clutch and shifter are perfect. I really can’t find any faults with this car. Everything about it works great. After the driving loop, I had to laugh about the BRZ going out last because it was deemed the ‘slowest.’ Maybe out of the gate, but once you’re in the turns, this Subaru feels just as fast as the rest.”
3rd Place: 2013 Nissan GT-R Black Edition
All the drivers were excited about driving the Nissan GT-R. Randy Probst wasn’t quite sure of the third place title when he remarked, ” Speaking of push, there’s an aspect to Godzilla’s on-track behavior that Pobst doesn’t like. “The downside that I felt was pretty prominent was mid-corner understeer. This car does not like power and steering. I don’t remember it being that bad last year, but it is now, so the driver needs a lot of patience when entering the corner. Apex very late because you’ve got to be able to take steering out and drive it straight off the corner, just like a powerful front-drive car. It’s predictable, it’s never scary, but it’s costing time in corners for sure.”
2nd Place: Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Black Series Coupe
For this car to end up in second place was a big surprise for everyone involved because no one was expecting for it to come out the gate the way it did with the overall driving experience. Apparently Mercedes-Benz is stepping it up a notch from “staid and stable” to “outrageous and awesome”. Driver Mortara says, “This thing feels like no other Mercedes-Benz on the road. It’s the best driving production Mercedes ever. Crisp turn-in, immediate response, great power, and directly connected to the road. I absolutely love this car.”
And the First Place Winner is …. The Porsche 911 Carrera S
While some of the other cars placements weren’t agreed upon by all drivers, putting the Porsche 911 in first place was a unanimous choice by all the drivers and Randy Probst sums it up himself by saying, “That’s what I’m talking about! Right there! Holy cow, it makes all these other cars seem stupid! This 911 is so good, it just blows my mind! What a great driving car!”
Source Motor Trend