KingMarineM16A4
Ready to race!
- Location
- Arlington, Texas
"League of Extraordinary Pocket Rockets"-Road and Track
Within the last three days I have took it upon myself to test drive all five cars included in the Road and Track "League of Extraordinary Pocket Rockets" review and am write my own review of every car.
Here is how they placed in Road and Track
http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=31&article_id=5244
1-377.5 points-MazdaSpeed3
2-370.2 points-VW Golf GTi
3-358.6 points-Honda Civic Si
4-355.5 points-Mini Cooper S
5-323.8 points-Nissan Sentra Spec V
Now for those of you who don't intend on reading this article here is how they stacked up in my own personal opinion in overall rating. Then, I will give a review over every car in the order that I put them. I test drove these cars in one specific order and then retest drove them in a different specific order to configure handling and pulls equally.
1-MazdaSpeed3
2-Mini Cooper S
3-VW Golf GTi
4-Honda Civic Si
5-Nissan Sentra Spec V
Mazda MazdaSpeed3 Sport
MSRP-$22,340 263hp/280tq 3153lbs 20/28MPG 2.3Turbo
Best Interior. Most Power. Most Gadget Oriented. Best Clutch. This car was a definite surprise to me. My expectations were high based on other car reports and this car definitely met and exceeded all those expectations.
Exterior-The exterior of the car didn't "turn me on" it isn't the best looking or even a good looking car on the market. The rear bumper protruded out of the back by about 2.5-3 inches giving you a small bench to sit on which was quite unattractive, and the black marking around the fog lights are completely unnecessary; it would make the car much better if it just had bigger fogs.
Interior-The interior was very gadget oriented. Some gadgets can only be found on cars upwards of $40,000 such as the radio increases its volume when you accelerate hard to make up for the noise from the engine and exhaust. When you adjusted the volume L.E.D. lights in the radio would motion outward which ever way you were adjusting the volume, towards you for a decreased volume, towards the passenger if the volume was being increased. The seats were very comfortable, as would be expected in a sports car. The lighted gauges were far back into the dash so no one but you could see them, and well lite they were. The dash, seats, and head lining were all made of what looked like well constructed materials.
Performance-The fastest car out of the competing cars without a doubt. The spool was the second quickest out of the bunch but still fast enough to get the job done. Straight line performance was definitely close to the SRT-4's from a roll.
Handling-Handling wasn't as great as I would like it to be but still excellent. Third/Fourth tied best in the list.
Mini Cooper S
MSRP-$21,200 172hp/177tq 2668lbs 29/36MPG 1.6Turbo
Best Handling. Most Unique interior. Most Unique Exterior. This was a superb upgrade from the 2006 Mini Cooper S. Switching out the supercharger for a turbo, and upgrading the interior was a GREAT move on Mini's and Bmw's part.
Exterior-I really like the exterior although many may not agree. I like the fact of a small fun-filled car. Euro styling is becoming more and more popular with German as well as Japanese imports and of course domestics. And sitting very low... I love it.
Interior-The interior as expected is as much different from other cars as the exterior is. Different size and shaped buttons and switches in replace of buttons makes the interior extremely elegant.
Performance-Performance, was the thing I was most impressed about. I was really disappointed with the performance of the supercharged Mini and if you haven't driven the 2007's that are turbocharged I would definitely suggest you find a dealer and jump on it A.S.A.P.
Handling-There is not surprise that I rated this car as the greatest handling car on this comparison. We all know of the legendary bulldog handling and the 2007 suspension seemed like it was improved, however I have to documents to prove that.
VolksWagen Golf GTi
MSRP-22,220 200hp/207tq 3100MTlbs,3150DSGlbs 22/32MPG 2.0Turbo
Most Sleek Exterior. Smoothest Shifter. I drove both the DSG and manual versions of the GTi and they both would have came in third place. VW is known for their smooth gear boxes and this is no exception; however the I felt that this car was a bit underpowered.
Exterior-I felt that overall this car had the sleekest exterior amongst its competitors. A lot of people don't like the rear end of the GTi and say that it is too big, but in person it is really not so bad. I felt like the lines flowed smoothly over the entire car.
Interior- The interior is nice, really nice in leather or cloth. Not much to say... So uh... Down to performance.
Performance-The performance was ok, however the GTi did have the quickest turbo spool out of all the listed vehicles. Again, not much to say so down to handling...
Handling- This is the Third/Fourth place tier with the MazdaSpeed3, again not as great as I would like it to be but still excellent.
Honda Civic Si
MSRP-21,090 197hp,139tq 2877lbs 23/32MPG 2.0 N/A
Best Model Improvement. Best Exterior. Most Aftermarket Support.There's no doubt the Si is kind of weak in this competition since three out of the five cars use force induction to get their speed up however the Civic Si dominates the Naturally Aspirated front wheel drive world. If it weren't for it's second place handling and it's high rev making it a wonderful fun factor than this car simply wouldn't be worth driving.
Exterior-I personally like the exterior of this car better than any other cars and since three of them are hatches and the other being a sedan that made this choice even easier. Honda still needs to pick up the pace on the cheap paint but other than that the exterior wins in this competition.
Interior-The interior is nice but not as nice as the GTi's giving it a fourth place interior finish. Again, Honda needs to upgrade the cheap materials used to make the interior; It simply scratches too easy. Also, the speedometer being place farther in the dash was a very innovative design, thumbs up Honda.
Performance- Again the Civic got cheated out of this race for its low tq but when you are pushing 197hp out of a N/A 2.0 Inline 4 cylinder engine tq is very hard to come by. High revs still make this car a blast to drive.
Handling-Again a second place finish in handling gave this car a high score in the fun factor and part of that you can thank the L.S.D. for.
Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V
MSRP-$19,900 200hp,180tq 3078lbs 24/31MPH 2.5 N/A
Best... Nothing.It is the worst looking car inside and out. This car had the worst clutch and shift feel, and handled the worst. Was also the slowest.
This is the cheapest car in the comparison and it definitely showed it in the two test drives.
This review took me two hours to type, three days of notes and driving, an annoyed girlfriend, four pepsi's, and over half a gallon of gas. So show me some love.
If you have any questions I will answer them to the best of my ability.
Within the last three days I have took it upon myself to test drive all five cars included in the Road and Track "League of Extraordinary Pocket Rockets" review and am write my own review of every car.
Here is how they placed in Road and Track
http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=31&article_id=5244
1-377.5 points-MazdaSpeed3
2-370.2 points-VW Golf GTi
3-358.6 points-Honda Civic Si
4-355.5 points-Mini Cooper S
5-323.8 points-Nissan Sentra Spec V
Now for those of you who don't intend on reading this article here is how they stacked up in my own personal opinion in overall rating. Then, I will give a review over every car in the order that I put them. I test drove these cars in one specific order and then retest drove them in a different specific order to configure handling and pulls equally.
1-MazdaSpeed3
2-Mini Cooper S
3-VW Golf GTi
4-Honda Civic Si
5-Nissan Sentra Spec V
Mazda MazdaSpeed3 Sport
MSRP-$22,340 263hp/280tq 3153lbs 20/28MPG 2.3Turbo
Best Interior. Most Power. Most Gadget Oriented. Best Clutch. This car was a definite surprise to me. My expectations were high based on other car reports and this car definitely met and exceeded all those expectations.
Exterior-The exterior of the car didn't "turn me on" it isn't the best looking or even a good looking car on the market. The rear bumper protruded out of the back by about 2.5-3 inches giving you a small bench to sit on which was quite unattractive, and the black marking around the fog lights are completely unnecessary; it would make the car much better if it just had bigger fogs.
Interior-The interior was very gadget oriented. Some gadgets can only be found on cars upwards of $40,000 such as the radio increases its volume when you accelerate hard to make up for the noise from the engine and exhaust. When you adjusted the volume L.E.D. lights in the radio would motion outward which ever way you were adjusting the volume, towards you for a decreased volume, towards the passenger if the volume was being increased. The seats were very comfortable, as would be expected in a sports car. The lighted gauges were far back into the dash so no one but you could see them, and well lite they were. The dash, seats, and head lining were all made of what looked like well constructed materials.
Performance-The fastest car out of the competing cars without a doubt. The spool was the second quickest out of the bunch but still fast enough to get the job done. Straight line performance was definitely close to the SRT-4's from a roll.
Handling-Handling wasn't as great as I would like it to be but still excellent. Third/Fourth tied best in the list.
Mini Cooper S
MSRP-$21,200 172hp/177tq 2668lbs 29/36MPG 1.6Turbo
Best Handling. Most Unique interior. Most Unique Exterior. This was a superb upgrade from the 2006 Mini Cooper S. Switching out the supercharger for a turbo, and upgrading the interior was a GREAT move on Mini's and Bmw's part.
Exterior-I really like the exterior although many may not agree. I like the fact of a small fun-filled car. Euro styling is becoming more and more popular with German as well as Japanese imports and of course domestics. And sitting very low... I love it.
Interior-The interior as expected is as much different from other cars as the exterior is. Different size and shaped buttons and switches in replace of buttons makes the interior extremely elegant.
Performance-Performance, was the thing I was most impressed about. I was really disappointed with the performance of the supercharged Mini and if you haven't driven the 2007's that are turbocharged I would definitely suggest you find a dealer and jump on it A.S.A.P.
Handling-There is not surprise that I rated this car as the greatest handling car on this comparison. We all know of the legendary bulldog handling and the 2007 suspension seemed like it was improved, however I have to documents to prove that.
VolksWagen Golf GTi
MSRP-22,220 200hp/207tq 3100MTlbs,3150DSGlbs 22/32MPG 2.0Turbo
Most Sleek Exterior. Smoothest Shifter. I drove both the DSG and manual versions of the GTi and they both would have came in third place. VW is known for their smooth gear boxes and this is no exception; however the I felt that this car was a bit underpowered.
Exterior-I felt that overall this car had the sleekest exterior amongst its competitors. A lot of people don't like the rear end of the GTi and say that it is too big, but in person it is really not so bad. I felt like the lines flowed smoothly over the entire car.
Interior- The interior is nice, really nice in leather or cloth. Not much to say... So uh... Down to performance.
Performance-The performance was ok, however the GTi did have the quickest turbo spool out of all the listed vehicles. Again, not much to say so down to handling...
Handling- This is the Third/Fourth place tier with the MazdaSpeed3, again not as great as I would like it to be but still excellent.
Honda Civic Si
MSRP-21,090 197hp,139tq 2877lbs 23/32MPG 2.0 N/A
Best Model Improvement. Best Exterior. Most Aftermarket Support.There's no doubt the Si is kind of weak in this competition since three out of the five cars use force induction to get their speed up however the Civic Si dominates the Naturally Aspirated front wheel drive world. If it weren't for it's second place handling and it's high rev making it a wonderful fun factor than this car simply wouldn't be worth driving.
Exterior-I personally like the exterior of this car better than any other cars and since three of them are hatches and the other being a sedan that made this choice even easier. Honda still needs to pick up the pace on the cheap paint but other than that the exterior wins in this competition.
Interior-The interior is nice but not as nice as the GTi's giving it a fourth place interior finish. Again, Honda needs to upgrade the cheap materials used to make the interior; It simply scratches too easy. Also, the speedometer being place farther in the dash was a very innovative design, thumbs up Honda.
Performance- Again the Civic got cheated out of this race for its low tq but when you are pushing 197hp out of a N/A 2.0 Inline 4 cylinder engine tq is very hard to come by. High revs still make this car a blast to drive.
Handling-Again a second place finish in handling gave this car a high score in the fun factor and part of that you can thank the L.S.D. for.
Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V
MSRP-$19,900 200hp,180tq 3078lbs 24/31MPH 2.5 N/A
Best... Nothing.It is the worst looking car inside and out. This car had the worst clutch and shift feel, and handled the worst. Was also the slowest.
This is the cheapest car in the comparison and it definitely showed it in the two test drives.
This review took me two hours to type, three days of notes and driving, an annoyed girlfriend, four pepsi's, and over half a gallon of gas. So show me some love.
If you have any questions I will answer them to the best of my ability.
