Test drive experiences today

dP3NGU1N

Spent the whole day test driving cars. Here are the verdicts.

Evo X: Dealer didn't let me drive so.... screw them.

Mustang 5.0: I was SOO surprised by how much I liked this car. Everything felt well put together. Of all the muscle cars I tested today this one beat them all from its smooth transmission to the power output through a 5.0L v8. Also one of the best and friendliest sales person I met today at Cerritos Auto. If I was ever going to buy a Ford, I would go with him first. Still not as grounded as I would have liked but it was much better than I thought it would be.

Camaro: Stuck with an automatic because they didn't have a v8 manual around. Interior felt huge, not exactly what I was looking for with a sports coupe. That being said all the American cars were rather huge for my tastes. Final thoughts on the Camaro was that it felt a bit like a boat. Suspension wasn't exactly soft but there was definitely disconnect with the road.

Challenger: Interesting shifter on this one. That's about it, everything else was pretty standard. What I couldn't get over was how terrible the ergonomics of this car was. This is the first manual car I've driven without a hand brake (It has the kick brake with the handle release on the bottom left from the steering wheel). The door handle position is also awkward (next to your left knee in the driving position). There were a couple of other small things that bothered me like why a 5.7L v8 was pushing out 300+ horsepower and change (This was according to the sales person and I haven't done any research on this car prior - I might look it up in a bit and find that I was completely wrong). I really wanted to like this car more than I did but just walked away with a bad taste in my mouth.

370Z: Still planning on getting this car. After spending the day with huge muscle cars I found the nimble Z to be incredibly refreshing. What I couldn't get over since my first test drive was that I've driven manual cars before and my test drive all day up to this point had been incredibly smooth, however, getting into the Z made me feel like a complete first timer again. The transmission in the 370 apparently doesn't work like a standard transmission. To transition smoothly from 1st to 2nd requires you to NOT gas in on clutch out (N to 1st is traditional clutch - gas in - feather clutch out) so essentially both feet are off the pedals. After this revelation from the salesrep I took the car out a second time and shifts were butter smooth. Maybe I just didn't know how to properly drive a standard transmission until now!

Still don't have any dealers with an FR-S and I don't know if it was just that Mitsu dealer that was stuck up or if they're all like that but I don't think I'll ever consider a Mitsu again.