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Review: 2013 BMW 335i Sport, Getting Caught in a Definition Sport Sedan

Billy “Snap” MacGillicuty — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:20:04 +0000

Billy “Snap” MacGillicuty is back to give us his first impressions of the new F30 BMW 335i

Betchyerass I’m waiting for the M3, but I prefer this one if my 3 Series is for every occasion

Can we judge how great a sports car is by the size of the fine the officer hands us? It depends, I guess, on the officer and how understanding he or she is, whether they like sports cars, whether they’re bowled over by my affable humility in accepting that I’ve been caught having too much fun on their beat.

Boy, did I get caught. California’s Highway 1 heading south out of Monterey was barren on a perfectly sunny day. Apparently the explanation was that there had been a landslide down south a ways and so people were avoiding the road out of fear of getting turned around due to the closure. It was a gorgeous day, a day absolutely made for the car I was driving, the latest BMW 335i sedan with 302 SAE horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque in Sport trim with standard six-speed manual. And in Melbourne Red Metallic.

BMW had a range of 328i and 335i sedans available, from the 328i in Modern trim with manual up to the car I was destined to pick, the turbocharged I6 on the Sport chassis with manual. They also had the 335i Sport with optional eight-speed automatic and the paddles of the sport steering wheel, but I was completely uninterested in that, or in any other trim 3 Series this day. I came to drive hard the car I would buy if I was in the market for a German sport sedan.

I’d been tear-assing southward through the famous curves and over the national landmark bridges built in the 1930s, loving every sight, feeling remarkable, not even really minding much the 19-inch Goodyear Potenza run-flats which tend to bother me with their deadness and weight as they meet the pavement. I came to just north of the remote village of Lucia and there opening before me was the last long-ish straight prior to the bunt-and-coffee stop. I laid into it in third gear coming out of the final well designed curve, hit 6,800 revs and pulled the stick down into fourth. I approached a little bridge with a large manzanita bush at the opposite end on the coast side. Right then, I said to myself, “Perfect spot for the CHP to perch.”

When I saw the black fender panel of the Ford Explorer peak out from behind that bush, I must have been doing – yes – many mph and about ready to toss it into fifth gear like a pro.

BAM!! instead on the brake pedal, all my belongings on the passenger seat chucked into the right foot well, and the guilty sound of a muted skid as the whole stationary CHP Explorer went past the passenger windows as if in slow motion. I was making an officer’s day, maybe their week. The ventilated compound brake discs bit really well – not too soft and not too hard – and the feel at the pedal was pretty firm and steady. Car didn’t deviate one inch from its intended line of travel.

The officer was nice about it, gotta say. He ticketed me for 85 mph and saluted me by saying, “Man, I wish I could be out here patrolling in this car instead of that Explorer.” He even joked and said what I had thought just before: “Heck, you made my day!”

The rest of my time on Highway 1 was less hair-brained, don’t worry. But it is not easy to leash the hounds in this car. I do desperately love a good day in an M3 or Mercedes C63 AMG, but my choice would be either this exact car I’m driving or an Audi S4 with manual. The choice would be tough, but I do enjoy much more the new design language on this F30 generation 3 Series, so it’d probably win out. At $43,295 MSRP plus destination when U.S. customers can take delivery on February 11th, too, it avoids the nose bleed section of this sporting segment of cars. Fully duded up in Sport line clothes and just the way I like it, it’d still be under $50k, and that number does make sense to me. If you want a Japanese car or Korean car or American car that somewhat competes with this 3 Series, go right ahead. As far as overall experience behind the wheel, none of these nations’ models reach quite this high in true owner satisfaction. Drive any of the others alongside this 335i Sport with manual shifter and, unless you’re a person who thinks a car is an appliance that wanders occasionally from home and only price per horse matters, you’ll get what I’m talking about here.

After heading back north along the coast highway with my tail tucked between my legs, BMW had a treat for me that would easily make up for the salty fine and the point on my driver’s license record. They insisted that I take unending laps around Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca in a car identical to that which I had driven on the road. What would have been a kick for me would have been to have the officer from that morning in the passenger seat with me as testament to the fact that this 335i set up this way is arguably impossible to drive within legal speed limits. I’m certain he would have torn up the citation right there in the pits. Dontchya think?

Laps on a track are the greatest way to see just what I might swap out on my 335i Sport in order to make my laps all the better. I would get a non-run-flat set of 19-inch tires that work perfectly with the car, maybe some Michelin Pilot Sports, and I would hunt around for a more robust brakeset. Basically, these are the items that are always on my list after thrashing around in any 3 Series-sized sport sedan. The run-flats are very predictable sliders in the bends, I must say, and they are fun in their way, but they slide simply too much of the time. I kept the car in Sport+ of the Driving Dynamics Control at all times and this made it easier to compensate for the lifeless tires by playing with the more responsive throttle and steering, and leaning on the more rigid suspension.

In Sport+, the Dynamic Traction Control is switched off while the Dynamic Stability Control stays on the job, albeit with a slightly higher threshold allowed by the ECU. The conditions were so ideal this day that I wanted to go further and switch off the DSC, too, but then I felt the loosey-goosey tires would work even more against me. Get the better tires for track day at least and, on a sunny day, poke off the DSC to let the real lap times begin. Nonetheless, the optional sport-tuned suspension on my car, which lowers the chassis by four tenths of an inch, was my greatest ally lap after lap. (Adaptive M Sport suspension is also available on the options list and lowers things to the same degree.) The grace and balance under the hardest lateral gs with the run-flats howling was exemplary. Definitely an M3 would nail all this like there’s no tomorrow, but then I don’t want to drive an M3 every day, not even in my dreams. This every day driver, however, I could see in my garage without a moment’s hesitation.

Which brings me to something that deserves to be in some hall of fame for sports cars: the Getrag six-speed manual “K” gearbox. The clutch and shift lever work like a vaudeville duo that’s been on the circuit for twenty years. The shifts are remarkably faithful, just notchy enough without being chunky style, and the exit and entrance into each gear is silky sweet. Not once did I find the wrong gear in the forward or rearward trio on the lever, and into and out of some of the eleven turns at Laguna Seca this is a regular occurrence in many other cars. Would I rather live with an essentially dead left foot and flicking fingers, or revel in the joys of well executed heel-and-toe shifts and blipped throttles? Need you ask?

The N55 TwinPower Turbo 3.0-liter inline six-cylinder that’s getting so much attention these past couple of years is sensational here. The sport exhaust with separated twin blackened tailpipes is a sweet singer for a not-quite-an-M3 car. Pulling power and pushing torque from the rear axle and twin-scroll Borg Warner turbocharger with 8.7 psi of boost pressure are both so damned smooth, and the even smoother Getrag six makes the powertrain and drivetrain even more tank-like in their smoothness, if you get my drift.

And zero to 60 mph acceleration in 5.4 seconds? My ass. This manual 335i Sport in Sport+ can do this dash – I’ll swear by it – in 5.0 seconds flat, maybe even having a 4.9 in it somewhere. Top speed, a figure I really don’t care about at all unless the straights are really long on this or that track, is a typical BMW top trim 155 mph, or way more than adequate.

I do like the exterior-matching red trim accents on the interior in this Sport, and the leatherette with red stitching of the standard power front seats with lumbar support is attractive and comfortable for many miles. Go ahead and whine about the sobering colors of my car’s interior, but I want black in there if the exterior is red. The support from the seats while under lateral duress especially could use just a scootch more upper body assistance, but the three-spoke sport steering wheel kind of makes up for this by being really good to grip and leverage. And four adults can have a hell of a good time in there while on the track, too, although at that point maybe it would be time to admit the need for an M3 to transfer all that weight side-to-side and up toward The Corkscrew.

When driving that everyday route and with traffic, the timid new Eco Pro mode of the DDC helps save fuel and recuperate energy for the battery via smart charging using natural engine braking. This recuperated energy allows the air conditioning and other ancillaries to run off the battery directly instead of off the alternator which saps a surprising amount of power from the engine.

I have to admit: I didn’t like much the Eco Pro way of doing things in the 335i Sport with the manual. The shift indicator is almost immediately urging me to get to sixth gear and I don’t want to do that until speed is sufficient. The DDC with Eco Pro is most at home in the 328i with eight-speed automatic, which is no surprise, but I can thankfully just choose to not indulge it in this 335i with six-speed.

After about 25 hot laps at Laguna Seca, the 335i Sport and I were one. I found it was smarter to leave the Getrag ‘box in third through a few of the turns where some less ambitious drivers might force it to second gear. The amount of torque available down fairly low is just right for third-gearing like this while carrying through a bunch of speed and enough revs. I was having a ball and, like with our diligent CHP officer, this Bimmer had made my day.

BMW 335i Sport

Price: $43,295 + Sport options

Motor: 2,979 cc, 4-valve

Power: 302 hp @ 5,800 rpm

Torque: 295 lb-ft @ 1,300 – 5,000 rpm

Transmission: standard six-speed Getrag “K” manual

Fuel capacity: 15.8 gallons

City/hwy combined mpg avg.: TBD by BMW

Performance (est.): 0-60 mph 5.4 seconds, top speed 155 mph

Length x width x height: 182.5 x 71.3 x 56.3 in (55.9-in height w/sport suspension or M adaptive suspension)

Wheelbase: 110.6 in

Curb weight: 3,571 lbs

Cargo space: 13.0 cu. ft.

[ Billy “Snap” MacGillicuty – text; BSM and Greg Jarem – pics]

RawAutos 2011 Cars of the Year

Josh Lewis — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:00:22 +0000

As we’ve said before, 2011 was a great year for RawAutos.com; and these are OUR 2011 Cars of the Year from the ones we reviewed.

Mid-Size/Econo-Luxury Car

2011 Kia Optima EX

Shocker here, I know. Even if there were any other cars in this category, I think the Optima would still have won, it’s that good. I’ve recommended this car to everyone I’ve come across looking for a great luxury car under 30,000 dollars. Our car was only $27,440, and in EX trim with heated steering wheel, front and rear seats, as well as cooled front seats, too. Oh, and it had navigation, panoramic sunroof, and a backup camera. It’s just so damn good, I swear.

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Sports Car

Runner-up:

2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster

Plain and simple, if we didn’t rank this as one of the best sports cars of our year, we’d be nuts. So here ya go.

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The Winner!

2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0

under $40,000 with 412 hp and 390 lb-ft of torque, 0-60 times in under 4.5 seconds, enough machismo to do crazy burnouts, and then punch a BMW M3 in the face on the race track, it’s our winner.

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Utility Vehicle/Truck

Runner-up:

2011 Ford F-150 King Ranch

Seriously one of the most luxurious, coolest, and biggest trucks on the road today. Drive this anywhere, and everyone’ll know you’re better than them, and can run them over.

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The Winner!

2011 Kia Sportage EX AWD

With style, substance, comfort, navigation, backup camera, heated and cooled front seats, all-wheel drive with a locking differential, the Kia Sportage is a great vehicle. I’d recommend the new turbocharged motor since the standard 2.4-liter 170-horse, 163 lb-ft of torque doesn’t quite have what it takes to get you out of the way.

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Gas Saver/Economy Car

Runner-up:

2011 Mazda2

So it’s a tad more expensive than the Toyota Yaris, less powerful, fewer miles to the gallon, but it’s much more fun to drive. The 2 is also a great little hatch to buy for anyone you love. Safe to drive, but more than that, the gearbox and clutch are perfect.

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The Winner!

2012 Ford Focus SE Sport

$20,580 with 32 mpg between city and highway, it’s an obvious winner. It’s the car I’m trying to convince my parents to buy my 16 year old niece as her first car. ‘Nuff said. Sporty, frugal, and great looking. It’s our winner, beating the Chevy Volt and the Toyota Prius.

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Premium Luxury Car

Runner-up:

2011 Porsche Panamera V6

Our test car was $82,190, which makes it better than pretty much any car in its class with the amount of luxury, interesting style, and amazing double-clutch gearbox. Also, 500+ miles to a tank of gas is fun, but filling up 26.4 gallons is not. With how much fun it was, even with a V6, it would have been the best luxury car to buy…

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The Winner!

2012 Audi A7

Except for the fact that the Audi A7 with more options was only $69,630. So, uh, yeah. Congratulations to Audi for getting another car of the year award for the A7.

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RawAutos 2011 Test Drives In Review

Josh Lewis — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:46:03 +0000

For the end of our year, we’d like to show you the finalists for our 2011 Test Drives In Review. All of the writers and contributors at RawAutos are picking the best of each segment for you to see.

What a hell of a year it’s been, right? Protests on Wall Street, riots and middle east uprisings, tsunamis, earthquakes, crazy tornado season, Osama bin Laden was killed, Steve Jobs died, and a U.S. Senator tweeted his wiener (no pun intended). There was so much more news, but not much of it would pertain to cars.

However, 2011 was the year of car reviews for RawAutos. We had 18 total car reviews, 17 of them being brand new cars (the other was my personal 2009 BMW M3 in the comparison test with the 2011 Ford Mustang GT). Think of this as a sort of RawAutos Cars of the Year Awards, the ones we’ve personally reviewed.

2012 can only prove to be better, but until then, we need your help picking the very best cars in each segment for our 2011 year in reviews. Below you’ll find the full list of categories for which the cars can win. Feel free to click on the name of each car to check out the review, or just scroll through the browser images for each one.

Premium Luxury Car

2011 Chevrolet Corvette

What we said:

While some may sit there and think, “Why is the only sports car coming in last?” Well, in short, because it’s not versatile enough. There’s no breakup between the hatch and the cab, and I know first hand of what it’s like to have something come flying forward at you when you make a panic stop in a Corvette. That’s not to say it isn’t a good every day car, because it certainly is. With great gas mileage, comfortable seating, and easy to use everything, the Chevrolet Corvette is no pile o’ junk. However, give me a 2012 with the new interior updates (better seats and steering wheel) and we’ll see how this test plays out then…

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2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster

What we said:

Yes, the SLS AMG coupe was and still is a thrilling space ship landed on Earth. But it’s clear that the real SLS AMG to lust after and loathe is this remarkably sexy roadster.

But it’s not only a Côte d’Azur fun show here; the SLS Roadster gets around the Nürburgring Nordschleife in just 7:43 according to director of engine development at AMG Friedrich Eichler. The coupe can do it in 7:36 officially, so the roadster doesn’t just fall apart into a wet noodle for want of a solid roof and adding 88 pounds of curb weight. Even though the actual structural weight added to the space frame aluminum chassis is only 4.5 lbs, the stiffness suffers only minimally when I start hammering it through the many famous curves of these coastal roads. I was definitely prepared for the infuriating waggle of the frame I always hated on the SLR McLaren Roadster. But it honestly doesn’t happen here. There is just a bit of give in the structure here and there, but nowhere near what happens on an SLR or Aston DBS Volante.

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2011 Mazda Miata SE

What we said:

All-in-all, I had a blast with the Mazda Miata Special Edition for a whole week. I had no issues with the people looking at me a little awkwardly as I had a creepy grin on my face, having just come from either a tight cornering exit-ramp, or a long b-road. My money’s on you having a great time, too, my friends. If you’re a man and are skeptical, just go drive one and see how much you love it. Ladies, uh, well we all know what you think already. So for $31,720, the Special Edition is worth the added 225 bucks for the shiny colors and beautiful interior color. I’m not sure if any are still available, so I’ll say that you should go out and buy A Mazda Miata. Thanks to Mazda for “Staying With the Stick” and continuing to give us these great sports cars the way we want them.

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2012 MINI Cooper S Coupe

What we said:

The Good: The Mini Coupe is just plain fun; 29.3 mpg average is quite good after a couple hours on the track, hard mountain, and speedy highway driving; Rear hatch has more room than you’d think.

The Bad: At $32,400 the Mini Coupe is a bit steep for just two seats with a harsher suspension and the same amount of power; Some really don’t like the styling; Could be a little more track focused.

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Utility Vehicle/Truck

2011 Ford F-150 King Ranch

What we said:

The Good: Big, manly and sturdy; Brakes that could stop the Earth’s rotation; Power that could get it spinning again; Comfortable cabin with limo rear seating; Optional 6.5-ft bed and side bed steps make this truck more usable every day.

The Bad: 16 mpg average; Isn’t what you’re always looking for these days, in terms of size; Is a truck that can drive over slower cars a bad thing?

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2011 Kia Sorento EX AWD

What we said:

So there you have it. The 2011 Kia Sorento is actually better than its competition from Honda. Sure the interior could be a little nicer without so many plastics, but for a price of $34,925, it’s very comfortable and well suited for almost any job. But while the Sorento beats out the Honda, it’s still second to the Mazda CX-9 who is the king of this market.

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2011 Kia Sportage EX AWD

What we said:

So while certain things of the car aren’t perfect, for the as-tested price of $29,990, it’s a pretty good deal for what you do get in terms of style, options and interesting features. Something that really is great at this price point is hill assist/descent, as well as a center-locking differential.

We take the new 2012 Mini Coupe around BMW’s Performance Center track, the NC mountains, and regular streets for a week.

If you read or listen to what most people say these days, a Mini isn’t really that mini any longer. Mini now build 4 different versions of the Cooper lineup, including the standard Hardtop model, Clubman, Countryman, and their latest venture, the Mini Coupe. That’s what I had for a week before Christmas in the mountains of North Carolina. I hate my job…

BMW and I had decided that since Greer, SC isn’t too far away from my house in North Carolina, I could come down and take the new 2012 Mini Coupe around their track at the Performance Center. I was giddy like a school kid about to meet a famous celebrity for the first time. I was so excited, I brought my own racing helmet along, only to find out upon arriving that I wouldn’t need it, because I wouldn’t be carrying those kinds of speed around the track. Sad face… They said I could wear my helmet if I really wanted to, simply for the cool factor. However, I refused to be that guy on this occasion.

I arrived on a Monday morning with one of my friends, Tom, in tow, signing release forms for the two of us in case anything bad happened. I knew I’d be fine, but Tom, I’m never really so sure about.

I talked to Matt Mullins, the head instructor at BMW’s Performance Center, and Greg, who’s last name will remain silent because he probably isn’t looking for the type of fame RawAutos can provide him -none. We mainly talked about the new 6 Gran Coupe that had just been released shortly before, but then we got down to brass tax: Checking out the new 2012 Mini Cooper S Coupe.

My particular car started out with a base MSRP of $24,600, excluding destination charges. The color and options are listed as: $500 for Eclipse Gray Metallic with black sport stripes; Polar Beige Gravity leather at $1,500; $1,750 for Mini Connected with navigation; $1,500 for the sport package, which gave me 17″ black bullet alloy wheels, xenon headlights, dynamic traction control and white turn signal lights; Sport suspension, oddly enough, is an extra $500 charge; $250 for the Chrome line exterior with $100 going for black headlight housings; $250 for a center armrest; and $700 Harmon Kardon sound system. Add on a $700 destination fee and you’re staring at a $32,400 Mini Cooper with just two seats. Honestly, I do believe that Mini charge a bit much for stuff that should be standard, such as a center armrest. Why isn’t that standard? Oh, and why not a sport suspension with the sport package? Isn’t that the reason why you buy the sport package for a Mini?

While I know this may sound like a lot of money, try and look at it as something else. After a week with the Mini Coupe I started to actually believe that Mini hadn’t created a car of their own. No, they just made a front-wheel drive version of the old Z3 coupe. A car that I dearly love, especially in M guise. But, I will agree that at over 30 grand, with very little competition, the Mini Coupe doesn’t look all that appealing from your checkbook’s point of view.

Let’s get started by telling you the track tale before getting into the ‘is it worth it’ conversation.

The Mini Coupe in Cooper S form comes with the same 181 hp, 192 lb-ft of torque TwinPower turbo 4-cylinder that the standard Mini hardtop comes with.

Matt and Greg led Tom and I out to go see the Mini Coupe, and upon first glance, I still believe it’s uniqueness is clever and cool looking. Then again, I’m a Mini fan, previously owning a 2005 Pepper White Cooper S with a 15% supercharge pulley, cold air intake, and an M7 carbon fiber shift knob. We chatted about our first impressions, with Matt soon turning to Tom and I and saying, “If there’s anything else you’d like to drive while you’re down here, please, feel free…” Tom just looks at me for slight approval. A face he usually has when he knows he’s about to use up my own personal favors for himself. I just give him a small grin allowing him to do what he wants. Matt then says, “I noticed you’ve been eying up that 1 M, Tom,” as he damn near jumps out of his Pumas for joy. Matt grabs the keys to his E92 M3 DCT instructor’s car, Tom gets the 1 M’s keys, and I jump into the Mini, excited to drive it on any road surface, much less a test track.

We head out, taking it easy the first couple of laps, just kind of feeling the cars out a bit. I allow Matt and Tom to get farther ahead of me before I proceed to my seven-tenths pace, getting a little more aggressive each short lap. I notice that the Mini Coupe is much more comfortable driving fast than my old Cooper S, and even though I felt a little bit of a weight difference, about 100 lbs heavier than the standard Cooper S -still less than 2800 total lbs- you feel a little extra rear-end happiness around a smaller track like BMW’s. You still feel that understeer at the higher limits, yet it’s less noticeable if you’re not driving very aggressively. I also noticed, to my delight, that the gearshifts are much smoother and more direct than my Cooper S, however on the track it translates to a slightly slower and lazier feel, almost as if it’s a little soft and light.

After my couple of hours trading cars on the track, Tom and I drove off in the Mini Coupe and had some lunch, revisiting the greatness of the morning. I was surprised when he said to me, “Ya know, I was expecting the Mini Coupe to be a slow dog after getting out of the 1 M and into it. But it wasn’t at all. It held its own and was a memorable drive because of how much fun it was.” Coming from Tom, that’s saying a lot. Typically, if it doesn’t have lots of horsepower and wild grunt, it isn’t really worth mentioning. However, he did enjoy my last Cooper S.

The Mini Coupe is very interestingly, if not boldly styled. The roof that you see is supposed to look like a backwards baseball cap, leading many to say that the car was ugly. I definitely disagree. While it’s not a pretty car, I would never say it’s ugly. If anything, it’s cool and positively drawn out.

Even though the Mini Coupe suffers from having only two seats and being slightly cramped inside, it’s not uncomfortable. I’ve read other reviews and talked to fellow journalists who believe it’s uncomfortable with a harsher ride. My 2005 Cooper S was a harsh ride. The 2012 coupe is refreshingly comfy, and takes the bumps and bad roads of the southeast a lot better, let me tell you. Although, I can say that you’ll never confuse the Mini Coupe with being a luxury car, that’s for sure. Driving through the mountains of North Carolina, the Coupe stacks up very well and always feels planted and ready to be pushed around public roads. Going too slow will cause the Cooper to not enjoy itself, and it’s a car you want to rev high and happily. On the boring highways back to Raleigh, NC, the Mini was fantastic, eating up miles with relative comfort and ease. When pushing the Mini Coupe to the 100 mph zone, you feel surprisingly planted and heavy on the road. Not tank heavy, so you certainly know you’re doing 100+ mph, yet it’s not scary.

Starting from BMW’s Performance Center track, going to the mountains, then back to my home -a roughly 4 hour drive from the mountains to my house- and then back to Greer, SC a week later, I was more impressed with the gas mileage than anything else. BMW rates the Mini Coupe at 27 city and 35 highway mpg, yet I returned it to BMW averaging 29.3 mpg between city and highway, with track time, high speed runs, and lots of mountain road fun. All in all, I think that’s great, and the first time I filled up after I drove it to empty, I was sitting at 410.5 total miles on the tank. Again, taking into account the hard driving I did, I think the Mini Coupe is excellent in that department. And don’t forget it can hit 60 mph in about 6-seconds flat.

There are a few faults that should be mentioned. The Mini Coupe doesn’t really have a lot of blind spots, it’s small enough to see around them with the mirrors pointed properly. But when the rear spoiler pops up at 51 mph -it goes back down at 37 mph- you can barely see much out the back window, which is already small enough as it is. So to say rearward visibility is limited would be putting it gently. Also, headroom was just fine for me at 5’9″, but I know anyone in the 6 foot range is going to struggle with comfort and will probably be tilting their head to drive the Mini Coupe.

Something that totally redeems the Mini Coupe of any issues with size or interior space is the rear hatch. Opening up the back shows a nice sized trunk for a good amount of stuff. I had my camera, laptop and clothing bags all with me, as well as my racing helmet snug under the elastic mesh area. Yet even better than that is how you can get to your stuff without ever getting out of the car. There’s a little cubby hole with a locking door that leads you straight to the hatch area. I had left something in the trunk while driving and didn’t feel like pulling over on the highway, as I was making great time. I opened the door, reached my right arm through without disrupting my driving, and pulled out what I was looking for. It was genius, and kinda felt like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. And speaking of the trunk, because I had the Mini Coupe shortly before Christmas, I drove some gifts from my parents’ house over to my sister’s for her to wrap (she loves wrapping everyone’s gifts. No really, she does), and it was quite a few large bags. I already had some stuff in the hatch, but surprisingly, everything fit without having to take anything out.

In the end, I felt as though the Mini Coupe was the perfect second car to put next to my BMW M3. However, I would enjoy more power, maybe about 215-220 hp? I think a car that costs 32,000 dollars should be a bit more powerful, regardless of all else. With that said, Mini have figured out how to make the perfect BMW Z3 Coupe all over again, which makes the Mini Coupe a great deal. To say I enjoyed my time with the Mini Coupe would be accurate, but to add that I loved its fun factor with great gas mileage would be spot on.

The Good: The Mini Coupe is just plain fun; 29.3 mpg average is quite good after a couple hours on the track, hard mountain, and speedy highway driving; Rear hatch has more room than you’d think.

The Bad: At $32,400 the Mini Coupe is a bit steep for just two seats with a harsher suspension and the same amount of power; Some really don’t like the styling; Could be a little more track focused.

The Ugly: It’s a smaller Mini with only two seats; It’s really ugly to some…

The Truth: The 2012 Mini Cooper S Coupe is a great car for anyone to be seen in, especially since it’s fun and light on its feet. Even though the BMW Z3 Coupe isn’t heralded by many, the Mini Coupe is a better, spiritual successor to it.

Review: 2012 Audi A7, A Supermodel With the Four Rings

Josh Lewis — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:59:25 +0000

The 2012 Audi A7 is a breath of fresh air for us here at RawAutos. Being fun to drive, comfy, and a hatchback, it’s like a car guy’s wet dream. Where’s the S7 already?!

Audi have put the A7 right in between their A6 and A8, which makes this somewhat of a Goldilocks-esque story for me. In my opinion, the Audi A6 is beautiful, very nice, but not quite my style. The A8? Well it isn’t beautiful, but it is very nice, also; yet again, just isn’t quite me. Now the A7, on the other hand, is 100% me. The right amount of interior space, a much sexier look than the other two, and more over, a hatchback.

Hatchbacks are tricky things to design into the modern premium cars. Porsche are still being crucified by some for the hatch Panamera -although sales wouldn’t suggest it being a bad idea. But for a car junky like me, a good ol’ fashion hatchback is like a girl in an Xbox Live game; lots of lust and weak knees. But Audi sure have done a pretty fantastic job with the A7.

The car arrived one chilly, early morning, and with no jacket, just jeans and a white undershirt, I stood outside studying the vehicle inside and out. No cold could penetrate the will I had to figure out what every little button and knob did. As a young man, directions are about as useless as a book filled with the answers to life. I don’t need any of that, I’ll find out for myself, thank you. This is the part of this job I love the most: Fiddling. Just standing there staring at the Audi A7 I came to a realization: this may be, quite possibly, the most beautiful thing with four doors in the world right now. Sure, Aston Martin’s Rapide is a gorgeous girl, as is the Mercedes-Benz CLS; the Maserati Quattroporte is a brutish looking gem that only Italy could create, and the Porsche Panamera is an excellent “why not?” to a question that wasn’t really pondered. But the Audi, the A7, it’s just breathtaking. When you look at it you’ll find that time flies by while you’re just trying to understand how it appears to be one continuous brush stroke of a design. You question how a car with so much can cost so little by comparison to its peers.

This leads us to the price. Audi will let you start with a base A7 at just $59,250. That’s $15,950 less than a base Porsche Panamera V6, and $12,050 less than a base Mercedes CLS (all prices exclude destination and handling charges). I won’t even try and measure the cost difference between the Audi and the Aston and Maserati sedans, as they’re really not going to be cross-shopped.

The 2012 Audi A7 that I drove had an as-tested price of $68,630. The options included $475 for Moonlight Blue Metallic paint; $6,330 for the Prestige package which includes: S-line exterior, 19″ wheels with all-season rubber, Audi navigation with MMI touch pad, Audi Connect with 6-months free (Audi’s in-car mobile hot spot), front/rear parking sensors with rearview camera, advanced key, 4-zone climate auto control, front seats ventilation, Bose surround sound, HD radio, power steering column adjustment, adaptive headlights, ambient driving lights, and a 7″ color driver information system (which pops up out of the center of the dash, but can be hidden away with the push of a button; Beautiful to look at and use, but sometimes annoying when driving). My car had optional 20″ sexy wheels with summer performance tires, instead of the 19s that come with the Prestige package, and also came with full LED headlights with the standard LED daytime lights. Tack on the $875 destination fee, and you’ve got yourself one beautifully optioned machine, I’d say.

The MMI touchpad navigation was one of the coolest and more useful pieces of tech I’ve used in a car. It takes a little getting used to, but you’ll like it. It allows you to write letters and numbers with your fingers when entering an address in the nav screen.

A couple of days after getting the Audi I left for the mountains with two of my best friends, a brother-sister combo, in tow. We headed southwest to the beautiful mountains of North Carolina, hoping to find some great adventures along the way in the new 2012 Audi A7. Sounds like a dumb brochure, right? Honestly, the highways around here are pretty boring, so finding things to do in a car for nearly 4 hours becomes difficult when you’re over 21. I would have enjoyed playing I-Spy, but my friends would have shouted, “MUTINY!” as they threw me out of the car. So instead I remembered that the Audi had a built-in mobile hot spot for Internet use. Armed with a laptop and a camera, I opted to sit in the passenger seat for a little while snapping some photos and uploading them to the social media ‘verse that RawAutos belongs to.

When packing the car for the mountains, especially with the hatchback, there were many jokes regarding how many dead hookers, illegal aliens, etc. the rear hatch could fit. In the end, the Audi A7 can hold a ton of gear. With one girl in the car, and two guys, the A7 held all of our cares and woes. Again, a woman was on board… That should tell you enough right there. Too be fair, though, I carry more stuff because of laptops, cameras, clothes, and the like. More than the others, I’m guilty of carrying the most crap.

Riding along at 80 mph, it was really interesting being able to watch a YouTube video, or posting status updates to Facebook and Twitter. But now it was time for lunch and a pit stop to find a power inverter, as I had forgotten mine. After a full meal at Sticky Fingers, we set off and found a local Walmart, bought our inverter, and as we were getting back in the car, a girl no older than me (25) was loading her 1999-’02 Infiniti G20 and asked how much the Audi A7 cost. I told her, and we struck up a quick conversation about her seeing one at a local Audi dealer and just being in absolute love with its style. She wasn’t the only one, though. There were many affluent people taking notice and asking about the A7 for the week we had it.

This all brings me to the actual driving portion of the Audi A7. I, like most of the passengers who road in the Audi, had no issues getting in or out. However, my brother noticed, to my slight disagreement (I say slight, because I personally think he was being a bit nit-picky), that the Audi A7 had a decent amount of wind noise. We both agreed that it was most likely due to the pillar-less doors -when you open the doors, there’s no body/molding that covers the glass. My brother also said he wasn’t too fond of the harder ride for a near-70,000 dollar car, a point that no one else riding in the car at any point said they shared. I understand what he felt, but I had no issues with the car being in either Comfort or Dynamic mode -Dynamic being the sportier of the settings. What I believe he was noticing was the slightly rougher ride of the 20″ wheels with summer tires. My personal feelings, as well as the other riders, are that the ride is soft when it needs to be, a bit sportier when you want it to be, but always compliant, with not a lot of jarring road issues noticed in other cars of this caliber with a sporty suspension setup. Everyone agreed that the overall interior quality, particularly the wood, were all up to snuff. Everything felt just right when touching it.

When reaching the triple digits speeds and above, the Audi A7 feels well planted and without any real fault. The Quattro all-wheel drive system keeping everything in check, while the not-so-sporty four spoke steering wheel keeps your hands at ease knowing you have control, but it was lacking a bit of driving feel. I think the A7 has to be the most comfortable riding car I’ve driven at any higher rate of speed. And while you’d never confuse the Audi for a mountain road carver, you will always appreciate its willingness to pivot properly and drive sensibly into each corner. On some of the twistier mountain roads, it would be highly plausible to make a blindfolded passenger believe they were in something from BMW or Porsche.

Speaking of mountain roads, this drives me to my next love of the Audi A7: The 3.0-liter supercharged V6 motor that has to produce more than the 310 hp and 325 lb-ft of torque that Audi claim. The reason I say that is because the amount of thrust the A7 has, even while weighing 4210 lbs, is pretty damn good. For instance, the Porsche Panamera V6 that we tested in April of 2011 had a 300 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque naturally aspirated V6 motor; it also weighed just shy of 3900 lbs. Yet it could only hit 60 mph in about 5.8-seconds with the Sport Chrono package. The Audi A7? Well my buddy, Jonny Lieberman over at Motor Trend, recently tested an A7 against a Jaguar XJ and Benz CLS. The result of their 0-60 testing was 4.7-seconds… So what explains the 1.1-second difference in straight line speed? Don’t look at me, I just drive the suckers.

Driving at night on mountainous roads can be a treacherous thing, yet the Audi A7 does just fine with its full LED headlights. These bad boys are just nuts. Not once when driving at night did I feel uncomfortable, because the headlights make everything, literally, as clear as day. Then you hit the brights and everything becomes even clearer. The LEDs are also the only lights I’ve ever used that don’t add a different color to anything. No blues, purples, yellows, just a pure white light.

One thing I didn’t like about our test car was the four spoke steering wheel. Some that drove the car said they enjoyed the feel and size of it, but I didn’t get what I wanted out of it in terms of feel for the road. I much prefer the three spoke sport steering wheel Audi offer. Also, the 8-speed tiptronic autobox is great for gas mileage (more on that in a second), but lacks the fun you’d want from a car this good to drive. I’d much rather see a dual-clutch gearbox and torque vectoring rear-diff. Oh wait, I can see that car… in Europe. C’mon, Audi. If you build it, they will buy it, I promise. I guess we’ll just have to wait for the S7 to get all those goodies. No idea when we’ll officially see that car, though.

Even though I’m not fond of the 8-speed automatic gearbox, I was a fan of the gas mileage it could achieve. Audi claim 18 city and 28 highway for the A7, and I was getting about 21-22 mpg in the city and right at 28 on the highway. I remember one of the times I filled the car up I had about 30 miles left on a 430+ mile tank of gas. That was with some city driving, but mostly 80-85 mph highway driving. So the Audi A7 is quite good on a tank of 93 octane.

At the end of the week, I was sad to give the 2012 Audi A7 up. The price point, luxury features, ease of driving, all of it make the A7 just a really nice package. So it has a few faults: The Google Earth navigation couldn’t find a few points of interest, even though Google Maps on my iPhone could; the ride can be a tad firm at times, and the wind noise can get annoying. However, at just shy of 69 grand, I don’t think you can beat the amount of rear leg room, hatch space, and overall ability with a stick. An equivalent Mercedes-Benz CLS550 will run you about $84,843, or just over 16,000 dollars more, with a good bit more performance, maybe a bit more luxury, sure. But in this writer’s opinion, the CLS is no where near as sexy. If the A7 were a woman, I’d totally try and date her. However, she’d probably be too classy for me.

The Good: Sexy styling coupled with a fun character; Similarly optioned cars from Porsche and Mercedes-Benz can be a teacher’s salary more; iPhone levels of technology and ability.

The Bad: Somewhat stiff ride with the bigger wheels and tires; A decent amount of road noise; Google Earth nav showed fewer points of interest than Google Maps on my iPhone; The 3.0 T badge is annoying when there’s a supercharged badge on the sides.

The Ugly: Uh, I honestly have nothing to put here…

The Truth: The 2012 Audi A7 is quite possibly the best car for any young executive, or the family man who can’t give up his artistic loves and dreams.

Battery Range Review: 2012 Chevrolet Volt

Josh Lewis — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 05:04:01 +0000

For four days I took a 2012 Chevy Volt as my around town car to see if it’s really worth it. What I found out even shocked the hell out of me…

Today’s EV culture has gone berserk. It used to be that the only way you could get a true electric vehicle was to purchase a standard Scion, Toyota, Honda, etc. and send it off to California or a few other states to have it turned into a fully electric car by a handful of companies. Now, though, Tesla, BMW, BMW, Mini, Fisker, Chevrolet, Ford, and a few other companies, are producing factory created electric cars with driving ranges anywhere from 30-100+ miles.

Let me be honest, this will not be a very technical review of the Chevy Volt, if that’s what you’re looking for, then Motor Trend should have you covered. Instead, this is my driving experience and feelings on the car after I was done with it.

Now we can get all petty and talk about the bailouts, whether they were right or wrong, who created the Volt, the controversy that surrounded it during its birth, the concept to reality differences, the amount of time it took, the supposed Liberals who love it and the potential Conservatives who hate it, and so on and so forth. But that’s not what this is. It’s a review of how the car performs as a day-to-day machine.

One thing that makes the 2012 Chevy Volt a rather interesting car is its technology, obviously. Officially known as a PHEV, or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, the Volt isn’t too difficult to wrap your head around. There’s a 16-kWh lithium ion battery with a 149-hp, 273 lb-ft of torque electric drive unit all attached to a 84-hp 1.4-liter Ecotec 4-cylinder gas motor. Basically, the battery -Voltec, as GM likes to call it- drives the car from anywhere between 25-50 miles, depending on conditions and whatnot. When the battery runs out, boom, the 4-banger kicks in to charge the battery that runs the car. According to General Motors, the gas powered motor never at any time actually drives the car, it just charges the Voltec system so that it may continue to turn the front wheels. Think of it like charging your phone. While it’s plugged in to the wall or your computer, you can still talk and text on it without any issues. Same with the Volt when the gas motor is charging the battery to drive the car.

Chevrolet says with this system that the front wheels -the Volt is a front-wheel drive car- are never directly powered by the actual 1.4-liter gas motor.

The navigation screen neatly shows you where the power is coming from, as well as where it’s going. So when you start to apply the brakes, it’ll show brake energy being applied to the battery power (the Chevy Volt utilizes brake regeneration to recharge the battery as you drive in traffic and any other conditions you use the brakes).

My test vehicle was loaded with $5,685 worth of options, including the navigation system with 30GB hard drive ($1,995); premium trim package with perforated leather, heated front seats and a leather wrapped steering wheel ($1,395); rear camera and park distance assist ($695); polished aluminum wheels ($595); Crystal Red Tintcoat paint ($495); and Bose premium sound ($495). All of this added up takes it from the base MSRP of $39,145 to a whopping $45,680. This is all before the $7,500 tax incentive/rebate.

Charging the Chevy Volt is a very easy process for anyone with a garage and an outlet in it. GM recommends that you attach the supplied 120 V charger to the wall to prevent any pulling on the actual plug. For me, I charged the Volt every night, taking roughly 10 hours each night to fully charge. I was home each night around 10 PM, and the car was charged up fully around 8 AM, which is, I should add, way before I usually wake up. If you’d like, you can buy and have a 240 V charger installed that only takes about 4 hours to fully charge any Volt.

I found myself being curious as to how much battery range I could squeeze out of the Volt on a given drive, so I set out on early one Sunday evening around 7 o’clock taking nothing but back roads and city roads to drive from my little town of Wendell, NC to Raleigh, our capital, and on through to Cary. Wendell and Cary are both suburbs of Raleigh. Now a normal drive on the highway or most back roads would have me to Raleigh from my house in about 30 minutes, and to Cary in about 45. So this was obviously going to be a little tricky, since Google Maps showed me the whole trip from Wendell to NC State’s campus in downtown Raleigh, and there to Cary would be right at 37 miles. My range, with a full charge was showing me 36 miles of battery power. This meant that I’d run out of battery power as soon as I hit the city limits of Cary. Ugh.

If I’m honest, I was truly hoping to use very little to no gas power, instead praying that I’d drive so well that I could get 50 or more miles, or halfway back to my house, without the motor kicking in.

But let’s make believe that we’re waiting for the Volt to charge up for a bit so we can talk about the exterior and interior.

The exterior styling of the Chevy Volt isn’t ugly, but it’s not attractive. It’s just unique to itself, I guess you could say. The lines and simple design all point to an aerodynamic styling to aid the range of vehicle without adding too much undue wind stress. With the big ol’ Volt sticker printed on each side of the vehicle, everyone saw me coming before they even heard me. Yes, that was a joke. The doors can be locked and unlocked by way of silver buttons on any of the four door handles. Most car companies only do that on the front two doors, so Chevy makes it a bit easier to lock and unlock from anywhere around the Volt.

But the one area of styling I tend to like is the front. It’s creative and smooth, leaving no area for wind to get stuck and push against the car. The headlights I find cool looking, too. Although, the side and rear of the car certainly leave something to be desired, the taillights in particular drive me crazy. The overall style that they don’t have actually annoys me, because there’s the big butt on the car with the squinty looking lights. They do work, though, because I didn’t have anyone hit me for the lack of seeing their bright LED bulbs burning at a full stop. Another thing that I think has to go in the growing EV culture/design is the use of see-through materials for car doors, roofs, rear hatches, etc. The Chevy Volt has this black hatch door that is partly see-through between the taillights. Why? Is there an overall reason that only one small piece of real estate is partially invisible?

Moving on to the interior, which is a refreshingly interesting design. GM’s cars and trucks have been plagued with ugly, dull and just yikes-worthy interiors for many years. I point to the Corvette, nearly-$100,000 Escalades, and the like. The Volt, however, adds a nice single piece of touch sensitive plastic to the center stack. It’s not the greatest thing out there, but it’s a creative way for the General to go, I think. It’s certainly different for them, and all the buttons are easy to see, touch and cool to look at. I will warn you that if you are OCD, or enjoy cleaning excessively, don’t look inside the Volt. The finger print marks build up very quickly and easily, and while easy to clean off, it’s just annoying having to do so each day; or else it looks like it hasn’t been cleaned in weeks, sometimes months. But that’s really kind of nitpicky.

The parts of the interior that really matter are the seats, nav screen and gauge cluster.

The gauges in the Chevy Volt are 100% computerized. Turn the car on, and you’re welcomed with the sound of what you think may be mission control, and the cluster lights up showing you the battery life, gas motor range, speedo, acceleration and deceleration readout -the green ball in the center moves up or down as if inside a water tank just floating around, showing you how much of either accelerating or braking you’re doing at that moment- as well as the other information we’ve come to expect, such as odometer, average this and that and miles traveled.

I was able to fit three other people in the car at various times with pretty decent comfort, although one that was almost 6-feet was rather uncomfortable. So anyone under the 6 foot range should be alright in the back seats, making road trips an easy process with tons of hatch space, too.

Since we’ve reviewed the other stuff, now it’s time we talk about my short journey to the other end of town, so to speak.

With a fully charged battery reading 36 miles of range, I set off, expecting the 25-35 mph downtown Raleigh roads to help create some extra range. Just a few miles into the drive I started getting a little scared, because I was hitting speeds of 60 mph on part of the back road drive. You see, my house is a tad rural, so driving to a city means taking 60-70 mph highways, or 45-55 mph old roads. I opted for the slightly slower back roads, for obvious reasons. However, neither were working in the favor of the Volt. I decided to not let this bother me, and instead plug my iPhone in and listen to some good music while I had the air conditioning running on an eco setting.

Once I reached the downtown drive I noticed a lot more people walking around and checking out the car as I was driving by. A few, in some of the harsher parts of town, appeared to be wondering what I was doing in said area; others were genuinely checking out the Chevy Volt, quite proud at what they were seeing, it seemed.

Mileage also started to look on the up and up as I was driving in a lot of stop and go areas with traffic lights. I decided while I was driving to call up a friend of mine, Mr. Jack Baruth, the man behind many the properly scathing automotive editorials over at The Truth About Cars. We chatted it up a bit, about how one another was doing, and then we got down to business: “Jack, what’s the point of the Chevy Volt?” I asked. His answer was simple, there’s no point for some, but a good point for others. He drives roughly 108 miles round-trip each work day, so a Volt is utterly useless to him, even if he charges it up twice a day. Doing that, though, will severely hurt the battery. Jack told me his theories on why the Volt is only half as good as it could be now, because later it’ll be better technology used for the Cruze, or another GM car or truck, because the Volt’s body is disposable. Underneath is all you need. With that, you can fit most types of small-medium sized car bodies on the Volt’s undercarriage.

After we talked I remembered reading another friend’s reviews of the Chevy Volt: Jonny Lieberman loves this thing, I thought. He’s driven it around Los Angeles and has given it rave reviews for the comfort, range abilities, among other things.

While driving the Chevy Volt, I’m enjoying the fact that I don’t at all have to worry about anything. The computer says I have about 15 miles left on the range, and while that annoys me, it doesn’t scare me. Why? Well because I have a gas powered generator, of sorts, attached to the battery pack. The electric range may only read 15 miles, but my gas range is reading over 100 miles. And with the gas motor only needing 9.3 gallons of 93 octane fuel, it’s not necessarily too costly per fill-up, especially since the EPA rates the gas mileage per tank at about 379.

Finally, I’m on the phone with my buddy Tom talking about the Volt and there it goes, you hear the gas motor kick in, and feel it, too. The transmission feels much more like a crappy CVT, also, which is a little disconcerting. Now the whole time I was driving I had the shifter in L position, under D. When in this mode, the Chevy Volt acts a lot more like an electric car, even having more brake regeneration. My one complaint the first day I had it was that it felt too much like a regular car for GM to be calling it an EV… However once I learned about putting it in L, I was far more pleased to feel it drive like a normal car, but still have the electric tendencies, such as the sudden loss of power when taking your foot off the accelerator.

After everything was said and done, I headed home, this time via the highway system, which took about 30 minutes less. All the way home I was being charged/driven by the 1.4-liter Ecotec motor, which isn’t really a great engine, if I must say so; it gets the job done, but not in a fun way. The sound is similar to that of an old lawn mower that just wants to spend its final days in the shed. Once I got the car back to my garage, I checked out my energy usage and saw that I went 41.9 miles on the battery and 37.0 miles on the gas motor, only using 1.09 gallons of gas and 12.3 kWh of electricity. I had also achieved 73.4 mpg average using both battery and gas power. At almost 42 miles, I had exceeded my 36 mile charge driving in downtown areas, as I had hoped.

We must give General Motors a proper golf clap, though, for making the Chevy Volt a proper PHEV that can still move and act like a normal car. I mean, you have purely electric capabilities, but a gas motor to keep you off the phone with AAA. Eat that, Toyota Prius! But we need to get more people looking at the Volt, because it’s well known that most of the people purchasing this car actually have 2-4 other vehicles, making it somewhat of a pointless buy at $45,680, before the government $7,500 tax rebate incentive.

I’d like to thank Universal Chevrolet of Wendell, NC for supplying me with their 2012 Chevy Volt for a few days. You can go to their website, or call them at (919) 374-2175.

[Pictures of Chevy Volt driving taken from GM's media site]

Review: 2011 Ford F-150 King Ranch

Josh Lewis — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:25:09 +0000

RawAutos becomes RawTrucks for a week with the 2011 Ford F-150 King Ranch while we see what life is like a few extra inches above the ground. Just in time for winter, too!

Coming from an all GM family I’m kind of the outcast at family functions being a Ford guy these days. I tend to speak more highly of this brand than the other two American companies. Also, coming from a GM family, I’m very much used to the Chevy, GMC and Cadillac pickup and SUV line. So this, I feel, gives me a better understanding of living with GM and Ford trucks.

When looking at the King Ranch I’m reminded of -and sometimes hummed- “King of the Road” by the late, great Roger Miller. And driving it does the same thing to me. If I’m honest, I love Ford trucks. I was on the Ford press launch for the 2009 F-150 back in the day, and testing it against everything from GM, Dodge -not yet Ram at the time- and Toyota just made me see the amount of extra quality of workmanship Ford puts into their vehicles, especially the F-150.

So since I had nothing to tow, haul or really do with the King Ranch -it was sunny and hot each day I had it- most of this review will draw from the experiences I had with the F-150 on its product launch for the new 2009 model, which is the same one today. However, I will add in bits about driving this actual King Ranch and what its comfort levels and ease of use are like.

To start off with what the F-150 is like against its competition, we put in some pretty hard work with it at Ford’s proving grounds in Michigan, otherwise known as the MPG, or Michigan Proving Grounds.

Towing/Hauling

We towed 7,500 lb closed trailers around Ford’s truck testing area of the Michigan Proving Grounds, which starts at a stop sign that forces you to turn left and floor it up a very steep hill. This is to test the speed from a stop while towing, but as I learned, much more about the gearing of the truck. The Ford F-150 pulled and pulled and pulled with gusto. Then came time for the other trucks. The Chevy Silverado was easily the second best, but just not nearly as good. The Dodge Ram was so quick off the line, with ridiculous pulling power. Then came the shift to 2nd gear, and that’s when the Ram started hurtin’. It built up speed nice and quickly, but once that shift came in, you felt as if it were going to started rolling backwards, because it had lost so much of its power and torque. The Toyota Tundra wasn’t too bad off the stop sign, but not great.

After the uphill battle came a long sweeping left-handed bend. They told us to make sure we tried to carry the same speed with each truck, to give ourselves an accurate test of which was actually better. Fair enough. Except for the fact that the Ford F-150 inspired so much confidence that I was rolling at 110 mph in the middle of the bend when suddenly I saw a turkey and was forced to make a complete stop at that speed, while towing 7,500 pounds… Not much could have felt easier. The brakes grabbed and pulled me down and, well, saved the front of the F-150 from thousands worth of potential damage. The other trucks couldn’t keep the same pace, some barely being able to handle 70 mph without a decent amount of trailer sway.

That’s the thing, the Ford F-150 was the only one of the trucks that could do everything with ease. We even had 750 lbs of hay thrown in the bed and had to handle a slalom course and coned off track. The Ford was brilliant, feeling confident and proud; you could almost have figured it to be a sports car. Not kidding, either. The thing that makes the F-150 confident in these situations is its chassis and suspension setup. Ford goes through a lot to ensure that each truck rides and handles well on the road, whether you have cargo or not. It rides a little rougher than most trucks, but once everything breaks in, you’ll notice a softer ride, not in a bad way, though. The Ford F-150 never loses its trucking ways, just becomes a little easier to live with, which is always nice.

The 2011 Ford F-150 King Ranch I had was a beautiful Dark Blue Pearl Metallic with a gold-like two-tone finish. And because it was a King Ranch, it came with the signature Adobe leather and King Ranch sewn into about 500 different areas of the interior. The standard 18-inch wheels are nice, but I’d opt for the nicer looking 20s, myself.

Engine

Our test truck had the 5.0-liter V8 making 360-horsepower at 5500 RPM, and developing 380 lb-ft of torque at 4250 RPM. A pretty substantial amount, even though the truck’s weight is around 5,700 lbs, give or take. That’s a lot, obviously. However, with that weight, and typically the McDonald’s loving driver, the King Ranch’s 5.0-liter had no problems getting going, or providing the right amount of power on highway passes.

Gas mileage is rated for about 14 city and 19 highway, I was averaging around 16 mpg driving around town and on the highway. Which leads me to believe that the King Ranch, and any Ford F-150 with a 5-liter V8 in general, isn’t the worst thing on the road, seeing as which I had a heavy foot, but there’s no doubt I could have done at least 2 mpg better with the EcoBoost V6. Still, the amount of thrust this motor produced in all driving situations, coupled with its 36-gallon fuel tank, you’re guaranteed to always be the one moving the traffic along.

Also, with a little over 9,000 lbs of towing capacity, the 5.0-liter King Ranch is more than up to the task of any wintery weather around the world. I remember when I was 8 years old, the great ice storm of 1994 hit North Carolina pretty bad. It wouldn’t have been much of an issue, except the I had pneumonia, and my parents had to call 911 because I felt like my chest was caving in. So here comes the ambulance… only to realize the ice wouldn’t allow it to move out of our driveway to get me to the hospital. Out of nowhere comes a neighbor in his F-150 to tow us out and through the neighborhood. This is the mid-’90s, mind you, when four-wheel drive had very little technology attached to it. The F-150 now has sensors for traction and stability galore. So imagine this truck in the north east or mid-west during the recent freak snow storms. It’ll be your new best friend, even if you are a tree hugger.

Styling

Uh, let’s see here. Whenever you think of “style”, a pickup truck doesn’t exactly come to mind, now does it? Except, in my humble -and by humble, I mean always correct- opinion, the Ford F-150 is a proper looking truck. It’s not trying any gimmicks by lookin’ all tough, only to find out it can’t take a punch or even hit back. No, it’s a classy, but rather rough style. It looks as if it hunts wild animals while you’re sleeping in your bed at night. Remember, the F-150 doesn’t drive on the road, the road constantly moves around it…

Options

The Ford F-150 is one of the few trucks on the market with a fully integrated, factory brake controller, as well as special countermeasures to trailer sway. Toyota does not offer one -only the wiring to add one yourself, Ram comes standard with a brake controller on all but base models (same with Ford), and GM only offers with this feature on its Heavy Duty line of trucks. Ever tow something and feel it push or pull against you when try to come to a stop? Well the F-150′s system allows you to accurately program the brakes of the trailer on the fly. The trailer sway is what happens when anything drives past you and forces wind to move the trailer. The truck measures this and automatically brakes certain wheels a tiny bit to keep the trailer in check and make sure it doesn’t sway too much, making your drive that much safer.

Some of the options that came equipped on the Ford F-150 King Ranch that I had were moonroof, 700-watt Sony sound system with navigation and backup camera, Ford Sync, heated and cooled front seats with heated rears, 12-volt and DC power adapter plug-in for rear passengers, the box side steps shown above (one on each side), 6.5-foot bed (base bed is 5.5-feet), and an off-road package which adds a 3.73 electronically locking rear axle and skid plates. All of this for a total price of $49,620 with a $1,000 Lariat Premium Discount. Don’t ask me what that means, because I don’t know… One of those things car companies are always doing to entice you to buy the vehicle, I’d guess.

Driving/Ride

I know from first hand experience what more than 25 and 30,000 miles can do to a General Motors pickup or SUV. They become so soft that the suspension just crashes over any rough surface. The ride is so soft and cushy for the first year or so of ownership, and then it just all rides like a boat on rough seas. It settles in way too much. The F-150 can be rougher at first, but settles into a nice relaxed ride over time.

With cargo in the truck, as I said before, you’ll feel a rough ride, but it’s tolerable and feels taught and firm like a good sports car. So it’s not horrible, just firmer than some other trucks in this class.

Driving the Ford F-150 King Ranch is a different story. As I’ve said before, the F-150 feels like a proper sports car made into a truck. The steering wheel feels right, the steering in general allows such a big truck to be pretty nimble, and the braking is top notch. I think you could actually stop the world from turning with the brake power of an F-150.

I do have a complaint; not with the riding or driving so much, but the getting in and out of. The King Ranch comes with a choice of hard plastic or metal tube side steps to aid you getting into the truck. However, on the F-150 Platinum, you only get automatic fold-out aids, which are so much better. The standard choices on the King Ranch force you to have to bend down to get in the truck once you’ve stepped on them. The auto fold-outs come down lower and really help older people getting in and out, as you are at the perfect height to just slide in. So Ford, the Platinum costs around the same amount as the King Ranch. Can’t we have the good side steps? Do it for the oldies, guys.

Interior

One of my favorite features of the Ford F-150 is the rear seat space; it’s like a 750Li back there. More so, there’s no transmission tunnel hump in the rear passenger area, so you can now fit a T.V. box of up to 50-inches or so in the back part of the cab. Way to go Ford.

When looking around at the interior fit and finish you’ll notice some nicer aluminum looking plates, along with some interesting wood pieces, which aren’t my favorite. Although the interior still looks nicer than what GM offers on their pickup trucks, and much cleaner and more efficient than the gigantic interior pieces of the Toyota Tundra. The leather is soft and supple, leading to a great driving position and overall comfort no matter how long the ride. The buttons on the steering wheel, along with Ford’s Sync and Bluetooth audio streaming, keep you always working with some good tunes. For most of my trips I stuck to Howard Stern on SiriusXM, of which I have to listen daily.

Which leads me to the Sony 700-watt sound system: Strong in its ultimate delivery, I could use a little more oomph at higher volumes. Because the cabin is so large, the sound tends to get lost at times. I want to feel like I’m at the concert when I’m driving down the highway, feeding off the energy of the music I’m listening to. At normal volumes for less odd people, the system is powerful enough and provides good clarity.

I also love the new LCD display in the gauge cluster; featuring all of the information you’ll need throughout your drives. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much use for the navigation system, but having used Ford’s nav before, I can tell you it’s easy to use, gets you where you need to go, and rarely has any hiccups.

My biggest complaint, though, has to do with the actual Sony subwoofer. It sits directly under the right rear passenger seat and can get in the way when loading cargo. I’d recommend Ford move it, but I honestly don’t know where else it could go. So, uh, let’s forget about that one for now.

In The End

More than anything I’ve said, the Ford F-150 is just one great truck to drive and/or ride in. Having finally convinced my GM obsessed father to get rid of his GMC Denali pickup and get an F-150, he’s more than happy with it. He loves it so much that he’s trading in his used ’09 Platinum for a brand new 2012 Platinum with a 36 gallon fuel tank, which is the same size tank our Ford F-150 King Ranch tester had. It’s a great everyday vehicle for any person, being easy to drive around small towns, great on long highway runs, or just loading up some cargo and towing a double wide. It’s always up for the job, which stands up to Ford’s saying, “Built Ford Tough.” It works, and I like it.

The 2012 Ford F-150 King Ranch is, without a doubt,my favorite truck on the road today. It’s good looking, has a very unique interior color combination, mixed with the pedigree of being a real man’s truck, having a 6.5-ft bed to haul pretty much your whole life, the towing capacity to pull an ambulance out of snow and ice, and the interior space to have Christmas dinner.

And hey, anything that makes me look more manly is obviously one hell of a vehicle.

The Good: Big, manly and sturdy; Brakes that could stop the Earth’s rotation; Power that could get it spinning again; Comfortable cabin with limo rear seating; Optional 6.5-ft bed and side bed steps make this truck more usable every day.

The Bad: 16 mpg average; Isn’t what you’re always looking for these days, in terms of size; Is a truck that can drive over slower cars a bad thing?

The Ugly: Most will give you dirty looks for buying a $50,000 truck; You’re destroying the environment, ass.

The Truth: You’ve just spent 50 grand on a truck that’ll never return more than 20 mpg, so who gives a damn what others think?; Go for the 36 gallon fuel tank, it makes life easier; The Ford F-150 is the perfect truck for anyone who wants usability, space, and doesn’t need an SUV; Much, much better than the competition from Chevy, GMC, Ram and Toyota.

The 2011 Ford Mustang 5.0 GT Takes on the 2011 Chevrolet Corvette and A 2009 BMW M3

Josh Lewis — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:06:52 +0000

I recently received a 2011 Ford Mustang GT to review and play around with, but it got me thinking; at $30-45,000, how does the GT stack up against a new Chevrolet Corvette and a used BMW M3 at similar prices? Let’s find out, shall we?

Depending on the options you tick a 2011 Ford Mustang GT can cost you anywhere from $29,310 base, all the way to just shy of 44-grand with all options and a few accessories. Our as-tested price was 36,565 dollars, according to the Monroney sticker. A 1-2LT model Chevrolet Corvette, like the one used for this test, can cost you just over $49,000. And for the sake of this test, that’s what we have, a 2LT Corvette that is priced at $49,995, according to Chevrolet.com. Next we have a 2009 M3 that cost me $47,800 out the door, with 33,300 miles, 16,700 miles left on the factory free maintenance warranty. It came fully loaded with iDrive navigation. None of the other cars in this comparison come with navigation, but they’d cost more.

Now, the Corvette on loan is my brother’s personal 2011 2LT Corvette. The BMW M3 is my personal car that is fully loaded. The Ford Mustang GT was delivered to me by Ford to test and review. My brother paid a little over $45,000 for his car after tax, tag and documentation fees, while my M3 was $47,800 after all was said and done. The Mustang GT can be equipped at a similar price to the other two.

So what do we get? Well each car has a similar level of performance with 0-60 times all pegged right between 4.1-4.3 seconds, depending on the driver and conditions. Quarter mile times will undoubtedly be close in the mid-high 12s. Driving each against one another is quite easy, because you come to realize that the 2011 Mustang GT is easily on par with both other machines, but surprisingly has some very German ways of driving with a very American appeal. It’s almost like Albert Einstein; a German scientific perfectionist by day, but an American wit always ready for a good time each night.

But let’s start this out in alphabetical order.

2009 BMW E90 M3

When I think of a proper modern sports car I pretty much immediately think of the BMW M3. Now I get flack for this, especially since I’m a Bimmer nut. However, I’ll be honest in saying that a new M3 costs too much money, the interior isn’t quite up to snuff with how it should/could look, and the creaks and rattles from inside a used M3 interior remind you of an older Corvette. But none of that is a strike against how amazing the M3 is to drive. On a highway, a mountain road, or a race track, the BMW M3 will always please its driver and passengers with comfort, luxury and the sweet tones of its V8, but more than that, the steering and transmission are at home in any hands.

Now my M3 is the only car in this comparison test that has more than 2 doors. While some will complain that it’s unfair to test the E90 against two coupes, I’m treating this as if it were a 3 coupe comparo. I’ve driven the E92 M3 enough times to know its subtle differences in driving habits as well as the rest of its two door ways.

Let’s get straight to it: The M3 is a performance brute. It’s the Ted Nugent of sports cars, however from the exterior and interior you’d never guess it. It’ll turn any Mustang or Corvette faithful into a BMW respecter. You can’t get out of it and not say it was one hell of a ride, otherwise you’re nuts. At around twice what the Ford Mustang GT costs, though, you’d be nuts to argue that an M3 is a better brand new buy, that’s why at just over $45,000 it seems like the right fit for this title fight. A spoiler, if you will. Mine is a loaded 2009 model, and you can get 2008 M3s for much less than what I paid. There is a set back, because it’s obviously not new and has some mileage. BMW offers a 4 year/50,000 mile free service warranty that covers pretty much everything but the joker behind the wheel. If there’s an issue, BMW will fix it, pretty much no questions asked. GM nor Ford can really say they offer such a crazy good warranty.

My car had just shy of 17,000 miles left on its warranty when I bought her, so she’s already at a disadvantage. For that, though, BMW offers a certified pre-owned warranty for M cars that’ll run you roughly $3,000.

Enough of that crap. Let’s ask the real questions: What’s this car like to drive, and how is it against the other two? Hey, good question. The M3 rewards its driver with pleasureful sounds emanating from both its motor and exhaust that I could only relate to the best time you’ve ever had in bed. The stimulation from the actual sounds help to provide just as much excitement and enjoyment as the assurance that you’re actually good at what you’re doing, too. Drive an M3 and it makes you feel like a good driver, but allow yourself to work with the M3 and you’ll be a great driver. That’s as simply as I can put it to those who’ve never had the chance to drive this truly ultimate driving machine.

What happens when you put the M3 up against both a Chevrolet Corvette and a Ford Mustang GT? They stick close together. Depending on the driver of each car, the M3′s 3,600+ lb weight doesn’t hurt it too much against the 3,200 lb Corvette or the 3,600 lb Mustang, surprisingly, especially since it has such low torque by comparison -295 lb-ft, compared with the 390 lb-ft Mustang GT and 428 lb-ft for the Corvette. But one place where the BMW M3 clearly wins is interior space. The Mustang has more space in the front, but the M3 has more places to put things, and the rear leg room is far superior. Trunk space in both are rather similar, so there’s no clear winner there. And the Corvette, well it unfortunately doesn’t stack up since it has very little room to put things in compartments and no real trunk. The M3 also wows all with its ability to change the throttle, suspension and steering sharpness with the push of a button. The extra-thick steering wheel sports a small button with an M inside of a circle. This allows for predetermined settings the driver’s made in the iDrive for Power, EDC (electronic damping control), DSC and Servotronic to be changed with the push of that button. Even without pushing the M button, you can still set your normal driving pleasures with three key buttons located to the left of your shifter.

2011 Chevrolet Corvette 2LT

You can’t say America without thinking of the Corvette. Since 1953 the Chevrolet Corvette has been the dream of every young American; My father, both my older brothers, and myself included, have all lusted after this sole surviving ‘Murican sports car. My father has had a wild collection, and I remember when he bought a 1967 427/400 Elkhart Blue over teal blue interior. She had factory side pipes, AM/FM radio, heating and air conditioning, and was a stupid fast car to drive. I, unfortunately, never had the pleasure; I was 10 when he bought it, and 15 when he sold it. Just one year from my permit… Thanks, dad.

I’d go into all of the Corvettes that my father and brothers have had, but that’ll take up most of this review, and we must be moving on. I’ll just say that my father’s had 11 Corvettes, and currently owns a 1967 327/350 (2 previous ’67s -427/400 coupe and 327/300 convertible) and a 1973 convertible, both of which will be restomodeded. My brother Jason, who so graciously loaned us his car to play with and photograph, is on his 4th ‘Vette in his 33 years of life. My oldest brother is only on his first, but not his last.

So as you can see, I know Corvettes better than almost anyone around. I’ve studied them and wanted one since I was a kid. I grew out of that phase, though, because I wanted to see something different in the driveway. However, my youngest older brother never did. Now, his 2011 Corvette is a 2LT, which means that he has electric seats, Bluetooth, Bose sound, an auxiliary jack, and dual-mode exhaust. His car, since he’s not big on the rough ride, doesn’t have the Z51 suspension package that ups the brakes to cross-drilled rotors and stiffens the suspension. But in the name of science, we must keep going!

You see, the Corvette is an interesting and rare bird, for sure. Over 23 mpg average is what my brother achieves while still driving his ‘Vette pretty hard every day. And that’s just how he uses it, every damn day. He loves the comfort, and while I agree it certainly is comfortable, the seats, as well as the interior bits, were unfortunately made for sad, old fat men who lost touch with their skinny teenage years while still telling everyone how they were the best athlete in town… and walked 39 miles to and from school each day in sub-Antarctic temperatures… uphill, both ways. Oddly enough, my brother is neither sad, old or fat. No matter.

The Chevrolet Corvette, regardless of how you judge it, is an absolute animal, spinning its tires and flicking through its six manual gears without much effort from the driver. Hold on to the steering wheel, though, because you’re going for a ride. And there’s another thing the Corvette lacks; a proper steering wheel. Thin, plasticy and somewhat poor in communicating what’s all happening. The Corvette is the truest form of sports car here, however. It’s kind of pointless, not ergonomic, nor does it have any class. Yet it’s shouty, gets very good gas mileage, and actually has a good driving comfort for you and the person next to you. And it’s still pretty sexy, too, isn’t it? The curves, lines, and general shape of it just make it proper. The Ferrari-esque headlamps do provide great lighting at night.

With all of the teenage spunk, the Chevrolet Corvette is getting old. The C6 is seen in more places than a 3-Series BMW, and you can pick them up rather cheaply. GM shot itself in the foot offering employee pricing and other various discounts to make sure anyone could have a Corvette. Now, everyone does, and you’ll just be that guy who never stopped thinking that getting to 60 mph the fastest you could from each stop light was the pinnacle of a joy ride. One interesting and redeeming factor is the fact that this is the only car in this test with a factory standard launch control system. Just put the traction management system (the traction control button) into Competitive Mode, put the car in first, hold the throttle -the car’s computer, at this point, registers different things about the car, holds the revs at a certain point- drop the clutch, and HOLY HELL you’ve just preformed a proper 0-60 test.

I can’t tell you that the $1,195 dual-mode exhaust is worth the extra 6 horsepower and 4 lb-ft of torque, but the sound above 4,000 RPM tickles every part of your body, which is worth the cost in my book.

2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0

Since 1964 the Ford Mustang has been an all-American, not always of the best performers, but a classic nonetheless. When the S197 Mustang debuted in 2005, it was heralded as the return of Mustang glory. No more Fox body leftovers, some were saying, but where was there a Mustang GT that could actually handle some corners? That came in 2007 with the introduction of an optional limited-slip differential. In 2010 came the S197.2, the tweaked chassis and all new body for the Mustang, while in 2011 came the resurrection, so to speak. A 5.0 Mustang GT was back and ready to bully the Camaro and Challenger on the playground again. But not only did the new 5.0 GT bully them, it just walked away afterward.

Now not too long ago I had a 2008 Bullitt Mustang, or Jacqi, as I liked to call her. Unfortunately, I was looking at getting a new dog, and my sister’s kids are growing up. I was hanging out a lot more with my three oldest niece and nephews, taking them to movies, school, the mall, etc. The back seat of my Mustang just wasn’t big enough. But before I realized that I needed four doors, the 3 cars I went and looked at were the 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0, the 2012 Boss 302, and the BMW M3. Now even though we know how that ended, you don’t know that I had a hard time not buying the new Mustang… and here’s why.

Some have been worried that the new Mustang would try and become the American equivalent to the BMW M3. In fact, a Mustang friend of mine summed it up perfectly when he said to me the week before I was to get the car, “If it’s refined, it ain’t worth a damn and Ford failed…” Well, Mustang faithful, the new Mustang GT is a monster. The motor is rev happy; snarls with pride; and has no problem being whatever you want it to be. Let’s say this, though, it is far more refined than any Mustang motor before it, but Ford did it right when they made it react to your right foot more than anything.

Bluetooth; 500-watt sound system; satellite radio; iPod connectivity; wireless music streaming via Bluetooth; backup camera; 26 mpg highway. These are just a few of my favorite Mustang GT things. You have no idea how great it is to push the talk button on the steering wheel and say, “Stream Bluetooth,” and it does it. I do have some complaints, though. One of which being that my iPod has about 10,500 songs on it, and Sync takes a really, really, really, really, really long time to recognize my music once I’ve plugged it into the car, and even then it doesn’t actually allow me to play all of my music. It will tell me that there was a problem syncing everything, and will only have, maybe, half of my music. It’s a bit nerve-racking, to say the least.

One of the more wonderful things about the new Ford Mustang GT 5.0 is the actual ability to drive it how you want it. And what I mean by this is finally being able to steer the car through almost any corner with the throttle, properly. I took my sister’s oldest three kids out in the Mustang the first day I got it, and they were in awe of how cool it looked, how awesome it sounded, and how funny it was when I took a corner hard and got sideways for them. In my Bullitt there would have been quite a bit more input needed from both the throttle and the steering wheel, but the 2011 Mustang just needed a light flick, add in a bit more throttle, counter-steer, and you have yourself the perfect recipe for fun.

While I love the throttle driving pleasures, I strongly dislike the actual size and lack of feedback that the Mustang GT’s steering wheel offers, as well as its chincy silver plastic. One lesson Ford could have learned from the S197 Bullitt was the size of its steering wheel. Now in the Bullitt the steering wheel came from the 2007-09 SVT-GT500 parts bin, however it wasn’t as useless as it was in the GT500 -not SVT’s fault, mind you. No, it had a good solid feel with the right weight in corners, but it was also a very manageable size. It wasn’t too wide, and the thickness was similar to the current Mustang’s, but with a better overall feel. That’s not to say the Mustang GT has an uncomfortable steering wheel, quite the contrary. The buttons on the wheel work perfectly and are well placed on either side to help keep your music, voice commands and phone calls in check. I’d rather sacrifice buttons for size and road feel in a steering wheel any day, though.

As I said before, the as-tested price of this Mustang GT was just over 36,000 dollars, which may seem like a lot to some, but it’s hardly a sum worth mentioning. The 5.0 is almost worth every penny. What’s not worth every penny are the headlights and lack of bolstered front seats. Comfort is the main concern here, and that annoyed me. When taking corners in the Mustang, the body, chassis, tires, suspension, everything is up to that challenge and good hooning time. The seats, well they’re not. You slide around the seats mid corner like Mario Kart on a banana peel. Comfortable as a Ford Taurus, yes, and about the same bolstering, too. Interestingly enough, my father made a quip that shocked me, “I think the Corvette offers more side bolsters than the new Mustang.” At least they look cool as hell.

Xenons, xenons, xenons. If your Mustang doesn’t have them then I’m sorry. Tell me you don’t need them all you want, and I’ll still call you a liar. The high beam visibility of the Mustang GT on a dark back road is about as good as trying to look around the corner of your television to see what bad guys are behind the wall in Modern Warfare 2. Almost as important, they truly enhance the sexy looks of the new Mustang GT, too. Almost as hard to use is the speedometer. Because Ford has opted to make the needle so wide and the actual mile per hour posts so thin and small, you’re not sure if you’re really going 50, 53, maybe 51, no wait, 55? I have no idea. The whole time I drove around just waiting to get pulled over, because I honestly didn’t know whether I was going 5 mph over or 9 over. Oh well, this probably won’t matter to most, though.

One area where the Mustang GT makes up points on the Corvette, and puts itself on par with the M3 is its trunk space. I took my mom shopping, and I bought a new pair of Pumas. She bought about 5 pairs of shoes. I also got a new 27-inch iMac (my first Apple computer), while she got a new iPad. You really have no idea how big 27 inches is until you try and jam it into the trunk of any car. My M3 would have fit it fine; the Corvette, yes, but not then you need to think about all the other shopping bags I had. The Mustang swallowed everything up with but a small burp. The only real trouble was the smaller opening, which was really only a small annoyance since the computer was somewhat heavy. The only other complaint I had is the small rise in the floor going back towards the rear seats. It was the same in my Bullitt, but I was still able to fit 7 guitar cases between the trunk and the folded down rear seats, as well as the trunk taking my Reissue ’57 Fender Twin Amp Custom Shop. So you should know the Mustang GT will literally hold just about anything.

So in the end, the Chevrolet Corvette is the most exotic looking; the BMW M3 is the most exotic driving; and the Ford Mustang GT 5.0 is just plain awesome. The fact that anything 30 grand can be just as fun as a German sports car and an American classic really makes the Camaro look bad… It costs just as much with less performance. You can drive a Corvette fantastically at any time once you’ve worked with it and learned its oddities. The M3 makes a genius out of almost any ham-fisted driver out there. But the real hero is the 2011 Mustang GT 5.0. It’ll make you feel like you’re back in the ’60s, but know you won’t slam into a tree and die with the lack of driveability. While Ford has a few things to work out, I can’t tell you enough how much I enjoyed having, what I called, the 007 GT in my driveway (named for the license plate that had 007 as its identifying plate). I drove it everywhere, and what I was most impressed with was the ability to drive any back road like I would my own M3. The high speeds I could reach on different straights and corners were as close as you can get between two cars. And the Mustang GT is far, far less. I don’t mean to bring that in to this equation, but for the price of a new or used BMW M3, you can have a fully loaded Mustang GT 5.0 that’ll do damn near the same thing.

While it may seem I hated on the Mustang GT and its faults, I leave with you this quote from Albert Einstein, the odd image that I draw upon with this car: “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” In this case, Ford tried some new things, not all worked, but they’ll fix what I didn’t like with time.

So without further ado, let’s see what the end results are.

Last: 2011 Chevrolet Corvette

Almost Last: 2009 BMW M3

It’s great, it’s the car I purchased, but it’s just not as good for the money. I spent almost 50 grand on a car with 33,xxx miles, but got a car that could easily out carve the other two on any road with me behind the wheel. The iDrive is superb, seats are the best out there, and the driving style is perfect for any guy or girl. However, bad gas mileage and lack of options Ford’s Sync include is a bummer for a car that was $69,000 when brand new. The most redeeming factor for the M3 is its easy livability. If the Mustang had been pricier, the M3 may have won. I’ll tell ya, whether it’s a 2008 or a 2011, the Corvette nor the Mustang will get you as much respect at any classy joint like the M3 will.

Not Last: 2011 Ford Mustang GT 5.0

Review: 2011 Toyota Prius – A Gas Lover With A Heart, or Killer of Automotive Fun?

Bill @ YAWYD — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:37:25 +0000

Please welcome Bill from You Are What You Drive, contributing to RawAutos from time to time, his first review is of the 2011 Toyota Prius. While it’s a car we wouldn’t normally feature, we found ourselves wondering what it’s actually like to own. Take it away, Bill.

The Toyota Prius is the world’s best-selling hybrid and one of Toyota’s best selling cars…and all for good reason. It offers awesome fuel economy, a high-quality interior, and tons of trunk space. Having recently driven and reviewed the comparatively downmarket Honda Insight through Zipcar on my blog a couple weeks ago, I can conclude that while the Insight is good yet slightly underrated, the Prius is rather deservedly highly rated. While I didn’t intend to make this article a battle royale between Honda and Toyota’s similar-looking 5-door hybrids, one can’t help but draw comparisons. Bottom line – the Prius is more pricey, but the driving experience is also more satisfying.

Performance: Today’s hybrids are inherently not fast cars, but their buyers are not expecting high performance, so it would not be fair of me to knock the Prius for its sluggish acceleration and annoying lawnmower-like engine whine. And for those who want to play devil’s advocate: the hybrid versions of high-end cars such as the Lexus GS/LS, Porsche Panamera, and Cadillac Escalade may be fast AND sound decent, but I would not consider these vehicles hybrids in the truest sense given their paltry improvement in fuel economy. Simply put, the Prius is slow; its power feels similar to compact cars such as the Corolla, Civic, and Sentra, despite offering midsize-like space. While the Prius feels no faster than the Insight, it somehow manages to corner better and drive livelier. Engine-shutoff is a smoother process in the Prius, as I experienced much less “jolting” than the Insight at stop lights. Regenerative braking in the Prius, as in all hybrid cars, takes getting used to as it is much more responsive than in regular cars.

Exterior Design: Despite having nerdy hybrid-like characteristics, I still think the Prius is a fresh, unique, respectable looking design. The overall exterior design, especially the side profile and rear end of the Prius, is marginally sleeker than the Insight. I also prefer the Prius’ design to just about every other Toyota model, especially the bland and ubiquitous Camry, Corolla, and Highlander. I must admit that the Toyota Prius’ front end is too blobby for my taste, and I prefer the more futuristic fascia of the Insight. The bump in the center of the Prius’ hood near the Toyota logo reminds me too much of the Yaris, and the headlights look like the nonsensical shape of the Nissan Z and Maxima’s headlights. The Prius’ LED taillights, blue halo effect around the Toyota logo, kinked D-pillar, and glass inserts between the A-pillar and side mirrors are thoughtfully designed features that make the Prius stand out. The Zipcar logos all over the trunk and right side made my Prius even more of a head-turner!

Interior Design: The interior is really where the Prius leapfrogs over the Insight, as its design is considerably more ergonomic and thoughtful. The Prius’ marketing strategy is quite paradoxical: buyers are generally eco-friendly, so the car couldn’t be too luxurious, but at the same time, the Prius needed enough creature comforts to appease the wealthy buyers and celebrities who, truthfully, are likely more attracted to the Toyota Prius for the mere appearance of eco-friendliness. I believe Toyota has struck this balance perfectly, which is why the Prius has been a hit, and the more basic Insight has faltered.

The Prius’ dashboard is pleasingly laid out; it almost feels like it is curled around the driver, waiting for his or her next command. I love the design of the center air vents – the chrome accent in the middle and the downwardly curled edge on the left side are tastefully executed. The center radio / air conditioning console is covered in an appealing ridged plastic that gives a convincing appearance of metal. Overall, the layout and materials used on the dash are considerably higher quality than the Insight. The thinness of the console reminds me of Volvo’s beautiful interiors, maximizing storage space behind the console. Its dashboard buttons are simple to operate (I was driving a fairly base model, but navigation is an available option). I usually don’t like cloth seats, but the fabric on the Prius’ seats was very soft and tastefully crafted. The Prius’ high-quality dashboard plastics are imprinted by a mix of soothing wave-like patterns – a small touch that actually put a smile on my face.

There are a number of features that make driving the Toyota Prius an “experience” and reminded me that I was driving a hybrid-electric car. The start button is a much-welcomed feature that is not found on many cars at this price point. The shifter is an interesting Star Trek-like joystick that glides to Drive and Reverse with a flick of the wrist, and it is much more pleasing to operate than a standard shifter. When you’re ready to park, you press a button rather than shifting the joystick. There are also buttons to change the source of power from pure electric to a fuel sipping “Eco” mode to a more gas-hungry “Pwr” mode for those late for work. However, I think these buttons are somewhat unnecessary given how efficient the car is in its normal setting. The Prius’ steering wheel is intelligently designed with convenient buttons to operate the radio. When you press a button, an identical image of the button simultaneously appears next to the speedometer – an upmarket feature that reminds me of the heads-up displays found in Cadillacs and BMWs.

A couple gripes with the interior: while the little image of the Prius showing the car’s source of power is nifty – and I could see it being important to fuel-conscious buyers – I do prefer the Insight’s blue / green color-coding that indicates when the driver is using gas vs. electric power. Toyota should implement this feature in the next redesign. I also despise the central location of the speedometer. I never like centrally mounted speedos. Ever. It is extremely distracting to continually look away from the road to see how fast I’m going. I didn’t like this design concept on the Saturn Ion, Mini Cooper, or Scions, and I don’t like it here. Lastly, the color of the interior is an overwhelming gray color – the two-tone option looks better, but regardless, the interior could be spruced up with some wood accents carefully placed on the dash and door handle areas.

While the design of the Toyota Prius is quite unique and screams “HYBRID” to the world, it is also very practical. There is plenty of room for large cargo, especially when the seats are folded down. The first-gen Prius was a relatively dorky-looking compact sedan with a traditional amount of cargo space. The latest body style solves this issue and is much more relevant for families and small business owners who frequently haul large objects.

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[Photo credit: Toyota]

Ed: Thanks to Bill for being a bigger man than me in his review of the Toyota Prius, because I don’t think I could have stomached it.

First Drive: 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster

Billy “Snap” MacGillicuty — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 03:15:46 +0000

Please welcome Billy “Snap” MacGillicuty, a guest contributor who recently drove the 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster and then wrote about it.

“First, I’ll Win the Power Ball Lottery. After I Buy that Dream Double-Wide then I’m Gonna’ Buy Me a…”

Yes, the SLS AMG coupe was and still is a thrilling space ship landed on Earth. But it’s clear that the real SLS AMG to lust after and loathe is this remarkably sexy roadster.

This is a weird experience, for me at least. To begin with, a car is first introduced in 2009 with a fixed roof and the overall shape of that car I find a bit off in its proportions, particularly when viewed in profile. Then in 2011 this essentially very same car is shown to me with its roof chopped off and it is suddenly one of the most proportionately beautiful creations of all modern times. And especially when seen in profile.

Is it a matter of Jekyll and Hyde? Good twin, evil twin?

The Mercedes SLS AMG Roadster is a revelation of a car. For my left and right brain halves both, it is the sexiest thing exploding down any road right now. Sexy in a slight Rubenesque way, yes, not sexy like the one-night stand dangerous Italian girl I might meet at the discotheque outside of Rome. This sexy is classy sexy with layers and layers of pleasing aspects that reveal themselves only over the span of a long and famous relationship. And, no, I am not all bent out of shape about the car just because the weather was perfect all along the suddenly traffic-free southern French coast during the after-lunch hours on a Friday. Well, not totally at least.

If the SLS Roadster just needed to look right, it would already be one of the top ten cars of the last fifty years on my list. But it also has to perform like an impeccably well mannered pitbull. It’s a muscle car and super car and socialite leisure car all wrapped into one with the right portions of each in the recipe. I can cite the Mercedes SL 65 AMG with its raging old school three-valve V12 as most likely competitor, or the SL 63 AMG as well, but the Aston Martin DBS Volante can also be tossed in to this elite fray of burly yet elegant long-legged rabble rousers.

Everything about the powertrain is the same in the roadster as on the coupe. I get 563 horsepower peaking at 6,800 rpm as well as 479 pound feet of torque stretching out wide and finding its max in the upper mid-range meaty part of the band at 4,750 rpm. The governed top speed is still 197 mph and the SLS Roadster accelerates to 60 mph in a “declared” 3.6 seconds. If this roofless beast can’t get to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds or less, I’ll eat my motorcycle helmet.

Ah, yes, and perhaps most important of all, the twin gaping exhaust barrels in back and the system from which they bloom are still supplied by the company Proto Technik in Germany. Just as with the coupe, I found myself deliberately searching through the gearbox and the rev range in coastal tunnels around Nice and elsewhere for the sweet full-open exhaust roar – made all the sweeter here all day long by the absence of the fixed roof. What a damned voice the M159 6.2-liter V8 gives off with even just the slightest throttle play through my right foot.

Up to around 130 mph, I am comfortable with the noise and wind movements with both the roof and windows fully down. This is not so common an experience in these cars and it is superb to be able to have it. Besides, thus wide open, it makes tunnel hunting that much more fun a sport. At fullest highway speeds with everything sealed tight, the wind noise is roughly half of what I recall on all other competitors in this pricey league.

And, yes, we need to talk about the standard doors versus the spectacle gullwing doors on the coupe. To be honest, I really do not miss the bird doors one bit. Everything is better here with the very lightweight aluminum doors measuring exactly 47 inches long. The shoulder line established by the front and rear ends finally looks complete and beautiful with these less C.O.A. doors. I noticed while driving that I did need to sit up higher in the cockpit, since lurking down low makes visibility in congested areas of town a bit difficult, even for my nearly six-foot tall body.

Two new features introduced with the roadster are: the AMG Ride Control adaptive damping with Comfort, Sport, and Sport+ modes and AMG Performance Media for high performance data monitoring via the onboard Comand system. The former makes a load of difference versus the SLS coupes I’ve driven up until now with their one-setting default strut suspension. Everything is feeling more sophisticated now, dialed in to the mood I’m in as I cruise along the winding coast line or push the car hard over the Grande Corniche to hear the car’s exhaust sing off the immense sheer rock walls.

The interface for the Media software feature couldn’t be any easier to use, even during a four or five hour first encounter like this. After numerous drives in Sport Chrono equipped Porsche 911s, I still cannot really use it much, but Mercedes’ AMG Performance Media could be the model for all performance car builders. My favorite feature is the g-force matrix that is accessed through the Race tab on the APM interface; too much fun and very enlightening. Both of these better options will be made available for the coupe as well once the roadster starts customer deliveries worldwide at the end of October. U.S. roadsters should start landing early-mid November.

The roof is a fairly straightforward triple-layer fabric number that folds up in a three-section Z manner into a dedicated cradle welded above the trunk space area, so cargo room suffers only a 0.1 cubic foot loss of space versus the coupe. Total time for the simple system to open or close is eleven seconds and the lever at my right hand on the console makes it even simpler. When closed, too, the roadster still looks better than the hardtop coupe to my eyes. Wind noise is low, visibility is equal to that with the fixed roof, and insulation from the cold is reportedly just fine for skiing trips and worse. You can also open or close the roof at speeds up to 31 mph while cruising around town and with minimal multitasking distraction.

The primary challenge of driving any SLS AMG model really hard as though shooting for the best lap time is the ready tendency of the car’s rear tires (Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT 295/30 ZR20 101Y) to slide while exiting turns as I apply the throttle. After a few long and exciting drives on demanding circuits and roads now, I believe I’m getting close to the best way to work on throttle. You cannot punch the throttle here unless you’re on a long straight, or else the SLS AMG Roadster will get squirrelly too easily. But the throttle is so sensitive that it doesn’t take much, and this is particularly so in my favorite setting for the AMG Speedshift dial on the console of Sport+. The Manual mode is bunches of fun, too, though I tend to stick with S+ for about two-thirds of the time since it actually is the faster way to go and, let’s face it, these new age “manual” modes with the flappy paddles are not really that manual.

In a similar way to how many of us seasoned folk got pretty good at modulating our braking moments on cars without ABS back in the days before penicillin, it takes time to find the right throttle technique on any SLS, especially if the ESP is all switched off on a track. On the road, I stick with the ESP Sport middle setting. But then the challenge is avoiding the throttle intervention of the Mercedes ESP system which can really suck the life out of some great driving moments. It’s a fine balance of picking the right line for the car, feeding in throttle, and keeping the tires as hooked up as possible, but one that’s worth finding. My day in the roadster proved it.

The price of admission for one of these is still not defined for the U.S. but the MB USA chiefs are telling me “right around $200,000”. And this strikes me as a small price to pay when I think of all of the alternatives out there available now that can cost a bunch more. My car this day had everything on it when it comes to options, including a special Designo leather two-tone interior. The must-have ceramic brake discs cost roughly $12,750 and I am of the philosophy now that any car that can do what this SLS Roadster can do is a dangerous weapon without ceramic discs to significantly rein in all these horses and momentum.

Once the SLS AMG coupe and roadster are selling side by side, the prediction is that nearly two-thirds of sales will be roadsters with the other third having fixed roofs. This is sensational since, according to Mercedes-AMG board member for vehicle development Tobias Moers, in the initial plans for all this SLS fun there was no talk of even building a roadster version. Crazy.

Mercedes SLS AMG Roadster

Price: ±$200,000 + all taxes and fees

Motor: 6,208 cc, 4-valve

Power: 563 hp @ 6,800 rpm

Torque: 479 lb-ft @ 4,750 rpm

Transmission: seven-speed AMG Speedshift MCT dual-clutch sport automatic w/paddles

Fuel capacity: 22.5 gallons (+ 3.7 gal reserve)

City/hwy combined mpg avg. (mfr. est.): 17.8 mpg (LOL)

Performance: 0-60 mph 3.6 seconds, top speed 197 mph

Length x width x height: 182.6 x 76.3 x 49.6 in

Wheelbase: 105.5 in

Curb weight: 3,660 lbs

Cargo space: 6.1 cu. ft.

[Words by: Billy "Snap" MacGillity; Photos Source: "Snap" & Mercedes-Benz AMG]