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2014 Motor Trend Best Driver's Car

4K views 24 replies 9 participants last post by  Gabor K. 
#1 ·
#2 ·
I just received my November (paper) copy of MT. 4C tested against 9 others for the "Best Driver's Car". A 2nd place finish!! Tested on the road, and at Laguna Seca, the 4C bested the P 911 Turbo S, the Nissan GT-R Nismo, BMW M4... They were all faster around the track, but still, the editors chose the 4C above them. Can hardly wait to test drive one and decide for myself!
 
#4 ·
There are lots of cars that weren't there, that will beat the 4C in various ways.
Strangely, I don't really WANT any of those the way I pine for a 4C though.

Funny however, that they call the 918 a "car of the future", while it's been available to order for a while already (the first one in Canada has already burned to the ground last weekend!), whereas the i8 and 4C were "cars of today", I guess.
Maybe their calendar runs backwards at MT?

Still, very fun video. An hour well wasted. :)
 
#5 ·
The 918 is the car of the future because few people understand exactly how he driveline works and think they lack the tools to fix it in their own garage. That the design department went overboard with the styling (like BMW did with the i8) also helps.

Then again, I know people who think fuel injected engines belong in the category "modern newfangled ideas we don't actually need".

Anyhow, funny how MT put the 4C in second place as a driver's car while Evo magazine considered it a complete failure in the same role.
 
#6 ·
Ha, ha, I dont mind the second place of the Alfa, that is a car for the future. However the Camaro is completely a car for the past and should not be on the list at all, completely out of modern times! Well its an US test so that should explain their preference.

Here I think the BMW M4 and Porsche Turbo S would have better chance of being winners of such a test based on their abilities! German cars win german test, US car wins US test etc.etc.

GK.
 
#12 ·
Perhaps I'm a little sensitive being from motown but it is tiresome to hear the uninformed comment on an American car that they've never seen let alone driven let alone studied the technology involved. Nobody has been tougher on the American car manufacturers than the American press. Thirty years ago they had every reason to be critical... But that was thirty years ago...
 
#14 · (Edited)
The American automotive press is usually pretty hard on American cars. They tend to favor German cars.

The Camaro Z28 is a very modern car. The LS engine series dates back to 1997, but the Z28's LS7 engine is a different animal, and only dates back to 2006. It's a very modern engine with a lot of titanium parts and a 7100rpm redline.

Take a look at the transmission, brakes, and everything else, it's all very up to date.
 
#17 ·
What difference does that make? Really? If you have two engines making the same amount of power, and the one with more displacement is lighter, physically smaller, has fewer moving parts, and gets the same fuel economy, what difference does it make how much displacement it has?
 
#19 ·
Putting emotions aside big vs. small engine, its clearly demonstrated here that a small efficient engine with light body can give just as much fun and temperament as a big engine not nearly as efficient. So then its a choice of what you like, here we choose small and efficient engines for the time beeing!

GK.
 
#20 ·
I love the 4C and wouldn't take a Z28 or for that matter any Camaro or Corvette over it. I just don't agree that the Z28 is somehow an old and outdated car, it isn't.

I also don't agree that displacement itself is bad, it isn't. In fact often when comparing two engines of similar power, the larger displacement version is often lighter, physically smaller, and more fuel efficient. Remember all those small block Chevy conversions into Jags? They went from 4.2 to 5.7 liters and in most cases gained power, reliability, fuel economy, and saved weight. I suspect the same is true with the newest LS7 when compared to other engines of similar power.
 
#24 ·
interesting article about the new turbo engines I read in a uk auto mag about german sportscars, like all manufacturers including alfa romeo switching from normally aspirated to turbo engines mainly for emissions reasons. I agree with it that these turbo engines, alfa 4c included will always have some lag, no matter how new the turbo and how quickly it spools up and for me personally for pure driving involvement this is a detriment.
The article says for all the added torque of the new turbo engines there is still no instant response as you get from normally aspirated.
The article said that the only way to cut this lag completely is to fill this lag in with an electric motor...something Alfa Romeo has an ability to do I am guessing.
 
#25 ·
Yes a lot of articles about these new engines from maufacturers like Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari. All of these have smaller engines with turbo. The engine power rises compared to the bigger N/A predecessor, acceleration is better and consumption goes down around 15%(Ferrari). Turbo lag is lessened with twin scroll turbos and the turbo exhaust sound is improved to N/A level by a special injection and ignition system. So the new 4L AMG V8 twin turbo sounds like a N/A V8 engine!
About the Euro 6 emission norm which is in effect now, I cannot see any more demands than in the Euro 5 which was in effect until now, for passenger cars. Seems rather that new technology has made it possible to save fuel and emissions and gaining power. With this new technology also the engine compartment temperature has rised, so under the Mercedes V8 testing they melted 2 bonnets/hoods. This was countered with new materials and ducting in the engine room to cool the hot spots.

European emission standards - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

GK.
 
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