Today I mixed it up with the life insurance guy, health insurance people, got a second job at Z Gallerie, burned the new Mono CD You Are There(it is angelic, inspiring, will bring you to tears with its beauty) and drove a Suzuki SX4. Missed a day of work, but altogether good deal. Helps balance out my shit.
Driving really lowly cars is always a shock considering what I normally target. You just walk up, ask if they have one of these foreign jobs to drive, and they make a copy of your driver's license and hand you the keys- you don't have to worry about bullshitting or scaring/not scaring the salesman the whole time. Being alone and encouraged to enjoy a car that isn't yours is a strange proposition; but a few miles out you get used to it and settle into the car. Fair play to the thing- the SX4 is full of faults but in my mind dominates its little segment. It dwindles with the Fits, the Yariis, Versas, various Koreans and Scions but I don't see how any of those live up to what the Suzuki SX4, or as it is better badged the Fiat Sedici. For just-under VW Rabbit money you get standard AWD, 143hp, 120mph, standard 7year/100,000mi warranty and tons of capability & room. The engine is just enough to move the thing with any pace, it has the same problem as my Beetle's anemic 2.0, a phantom 'turbo lag without a turbo' for the first 2500 thousand RPM, after which it winds up to what is (may or may not be intentionally-) loud by today's standards.
The only one on the lot was an auto, which is not the pick for this car- there isn't any sportomatishift or anything, which you need, beacuse the motor needs to be flogged to actually work. Doing snap U turns was fun, but only if you can get it to stay in second and the revs at around 4k.
The driving position is terrible, the seat can't be lowered and my steering didn't have the tilt/tele option. So essentially, the position was great were I a 5'4" Asian woman, which to my knowledge I am not. I had to make the best of it. Luckily the steering was quite good for what it was, quick like the first-gen MINI, if not as precise nor as karty. There was also some bump steer, just enough not to be a liability but to help you into feeling out the car and actually help keep it in check. Beacuse of the raised right height I wondered about its dirt ability, so I sought out an area dirt road and unpaved parking lot and was shocked to find that it was every bit, no, more as chuckable and filled with feeling on the soft stuff than on asphalt. If I lived in North Carolina mountains or something I think I'd be seeking one of these suckers out, if for the magnificently smooth, communicative, controlled ride. This is a wonderful little all-wheel-drive car that can have its limits easily reached on the road, for that it should be treasured alone I suppose. Did I mention the AWD has locking? It automatically turns off at a certain speed(probably like 20 or something like early Quattros, not sure, never looked at the speedo) but you can really feel it off the line, or shooting out of a gas station onto the road. I know in old Quattro-equipped Audis some Auditistas would activate the locking switch, then cut the wire so it wouldn't deactivate itself at higher speed. I don't imagine nigger-rigging the low-speed-snow-intended diff lock just to hoon about the place improved the car's performance much.
The brakes are the size of milk bottle tops, but work magnificently. Really, really top-notch stoppers. I think they appreciated my work on them too, they thanked me by smelling loudly when I got out.
Scandanavian flicks do not entirely work. Were it downhill, moving over alternating cambers or carrying some straight-line speed it might do the Carlsson Twist for you. But simply trying to take it off-guard does not work. It bears mentioning at this time I don't think I've ever gotten a car to do a scandanavian flick with the intended result. (Though I'm pretty sure I could have gotten the GTI to Tiff it out. It imbues such confidence on the pilot.) When I was pulling back to the dealer I admit I was thinking of ways I'd want to tune the thing. It could use a tiny turbo, more power to the back end and a sway bar in the front. (sounds like I want a baby Evo IV.) I'd change the wheels for more attractive, Rota or Advan units and mismatch the tires to have as much grip in front as possible. If the SX4 had a really low seat and a great turn-in it would be one of the most fun cars under 20.
So the order of similar-segment cars still goes, as having driven all of them.
Cooper over VW Rabbit, Rabbit just over SX4, SX4 over Mazda3. (The 3 is an excellent small car, but the SX4 is just so lovely and value-filled.)
However:
VW GTI over MINI Cooper S.
I drove the Cooper S on what was it, Saturday, and was shocked to see how much it had changed. It rides less like a skateboard and more like a car now, a bit softer. The turn in is just as aggressive but doesn't feel as much like it(fending off understeer not as inspiring as the original). The Throttle! My God, what a touchy little fucker! The supercharger of the Mk.1 was a smooth thing, no suprises hidden in the powerband. The Mk.2 has the turbo that reaches peak torque, 191lb-ft of it, at 1600RPM. That's a lot of torque for a little FWD car! It has not bad lag, but really noticeable abbreviated lag before those 1600 revs. Then it all arrives at once and just shoves you forward! And this isn't under hard acceleration, either, this is trying to get out of the parking lot. It is certainly much louder and much less gentlemanly than the GTI. The ride is excellent, most certainly better than anything else FWD- except the GTI. I wouldn't say it's faster, but it is more raw about issue than the German. For the space and pace I'm going to obey my Fast on this, but the MINI is a close second. I'd only rather want one at a track if I hadn't seen what Tiff Needell does for a living. (Moves our souls.) Don't get me wrong, the exquisite MINI Cooper S lives up to the legend, looks the business, sounds like it's always the pissed off British bulldog and gets astonishing gas mileage. But when you have the smooth-as-polished-aluminum steering, DSG, and impeccably stable ride of the GTI, and how utterly empowering the youth of it is, my pick remains certain. The Clubman's arrival may shake things up, but I don't know...but what when the Swift gets here? The Suzuki versus MINI battle and ensuing test drives will make for a good Coffee Day.
Stupid car, hilarious commercial.
All a fair distraction.
-wp
P.S. Porsche print ad, unspeakably brilliant:
A harbor sunset, the edge of night, and a shooting star flies over a deeply coloured 911 Turbo Cabrio. The tag:
"Pity you don't have anything to wish for."
Cue riotous applause.
| | Will; Herald of the Cosmos (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=91.7){kind=small} artistruth) wrote, |
Forza Sedici! Sedici Forza!
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