NSX - R Wins Evo's COTY
Yep, our beloved NSX-R has taken evo's COTY (Car of The Year) award for 2002. Even against the 575M Fiorano, 911 Carrera C4S, and SL55 AMG, the NSX-R was ranked the best driver's car for 2002.
Final results:
NSX-R - 93.5
Porsche 911 C4S - 92.9
Ferrari 575M 'Fiorano' - 88.6
Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG - 86.9
Lotus Elise 111S - 85.1
Mini Cooper S - 84.9
Mitsubish Lancer EVO VII FQ-300 - 82.7
Nissan 350Z - 81.8
Renault Sport Clio Cup - 81.3
Jaguar XKR-R - 79.7
Subaru Impreza STi PPP - 78.4
Ford Focus RS - 76.0
Here are some excerpts:
No time to dwell on the details -- just get comfy, turn the key and go. But boy, what a fierce noise, and what a direct, mechanical-feeling gearchange, and whoa! what heavy steering
You just can't believe this is the same output as the Nissan [350Z], and the way it builds and builds while all the time the engine note swells, flattens and eventually lets rip with full-blooded howl is quite intoxicating.
All of which leaves the NSX-R and C4S. The Porsche's balance, traction and poise are sublime (although it can understeer in the the wet), the brakes firm and tireless. For such a well-judged, road-biased car it makes a great track car. But even the C4S bows to the NSX-R, as Barker explains.
'Even in the wet you can work the NSX-R hard. The front scrubs wide first, as it should, and if you squeeze a bit more power in, the tail arcs out gently, and is easily caught and gathered up again. You don't expect this sort of poise with such a stiff, mid-engined car on such dry-weather-biased rubber. In the dry, it's simply stunning. It's so easy to drive it over the limit yet feel you're not over-driving it. There's so much grip, so much progression, so little feeling that there's a weighty mid-mounted engine trying to dictate proceedings. You rarely want for any more power, a sure sign that it's a superbly well-judged dynamic package.'
There's a constant stream of messages coming through the wheel as the tyres turn, grip, slither, patter, grip again... Of all the cars here, only the Elise comes close. The same directness is there in the throttle response, and there's a real touch of savagery to the way the engine pulls now, getting an extra kick at 4000rpm and then sustaining the rush all the way to 8000rpm. By which time the V6's urgent voice has compressed from nape-prickling howl to teeth-tingling blare.
The last word goes to Hayman, who drove it up to Wales: 'I shouldn't really like the NSX,' he says. 'I sat in it for six hours on my way up here -- including motorways, traffic jams, no sound deadening and no radio. It was intense but it was, and is, utterly superb. Anyone who's still not sure what we're talking about when we bang on about evoness should just drive this car.'
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