When it came right down to it during AJAC's TestFest, almost four decades of striving for objectivity took a back seat to pure emotion, just as it should.
One of my tasks was evaluating entries in the Best New Sports/Performance (over $50,000) category — hey, somebody had to — which included five of the most brilliant devices for going fast in style, comfort and safety introduced this year and a retro-ringer — a pair of BMWs, the 3-Series Coupe and M Coupe; Audi's RS4 and S6; the Lexus GS450h; and Ford's Shelby GT500 Mustang.
The Bimmers were classic Euro-sophisticates, the Audis slick, high-tech hot rods and the Lexus with its hybrid drive train perhaps a first step into a high-performance future. And the Shelby? It was a 500-hp blast from the past.
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Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang
Basically it's the Sixties all over again, but better, with a supercharged 5.4-litre V-8 making 500 hp and 480 lb-ft of torque, a six-speed gearbox, independent front suspension but still an iron-age live axle under the back end, big disc brakes and monster tires.
All this is wrapped in a retro-styled coupe body with an interior that isn't exactly expensive looking. There's enough livability in there to make using it between track days viable, but the ride is rugged, the clutch heavy, the gearshift a wrist exerciser and sound levels high. And the small portion of its performance you can make use of on the street may not make this sacrifice worthwhile.
On the slightly lumpy airport runway track, that live axle went into a demented hopping routine on launch that required feathering the throttle. But the acceleration is still incredible with 0-100 km/h taking just 4.9 seconds (according to AJAC figures). Only the RS 4 was quicker.
That the Shelby is a big, heavy car is well disguised, but the suspension struggles in hard cornering requiring corrective input, particularly when reapplying all that torque. Braking distance was the longest of the six.
But what sold me on the Shelby was taking three Canadian Automotive Institute students, who'd been stuck behind a desk handing out car keys for three days, for rides on the track. The Shelby's fierce and violent acceleration, the bellow of the V-8, the cornering and braking Gs, and the sheer speed, experienced for the first time, was, judging by the reactions, pretty overwhelming. There's absolutely nothing subtle about this car, and therein lies its charm.
BMW M Coupe
One of the three cars I'd actually want to take home would be the BMW M Coupe. This lithely muscular two-seater, with just enough storage space under its hatch for weekend luggage, is truly a modern-era example of the pur sang sports car. It has all the usual amenities inside its snug-fitting cockpit, but with its almost punishing ride it's really all about performance, not commuting.
The M Coupe's 3.2-litre inline-six revs to a heady and snarling 8,000 rpm and makes 330 hp and 262 lb-ft of torque. Its six-speed transmission snicks between gears like a light switch, getting it to 100 km/h in 5.1 seconds. The huge brakes and grippy tires haul it down from speed with god-like authority and it steers with precision and corners tenaciously.
Perhaps because of its low seating position and the way the seat grips your body, every nuance of slashing through an S-curve is transmitted to the appropriate part of your brain.
BMW 3-Series Coupe
Vying with the M Coupe for garage space, and likely winning because of its practicality and lower price tag, is the 3-Series Coupe.
Great styling and, although it's awkward to get into, there's room for two in the back plus decent trunk space. The interior is light and airy and elegantly trimmed in leather and burl walnut.
This is matched by a driving experience that is a true delight. The twin (tiny) turbo, 3.0-litre inline-six revs to 7,000 rpm, producing 300 hp and 300 lb-ft of torque and feeding it to the rear wheels via a surgically precise six-speed gearbox.
On the road you notice, but get used to, rather heavy steering feel and a tendency to follow pavement irregularities with the wide tires. But on the track you quickly lose yourself in the rhythm of accelerating, shifting, braking and steering — and going very, very quickly — with little of the dramatics usually associated with that process.
Audi RS 4
But if I chose the 3-Series, I couldn't have the ultra-exciting and rather astonishingly priced (as tested, $94,200) Audi RS 4.
If it weren't for its bright-yellow-peril paint, its fender bulges and wide tires, this A4-derived four-door sedan would have been the perfect stealth bomber. And what a punch it packs. Its 4.2-litre V-8 puts out 420 hp at 7,500 rpm and 317 lb-ft of torque at 6,000 rpm.
With a tightly patterned manual six-speed delivering this to the Quattro all-wheel-drive system and the 255/35ZR19 tires, it blasts to 100 km/h in 4.7 seconds in a howl of revs and rapid shifts.
The RS4 delivers its performance with a fencer's precision, arcing through the 140-to-150 km/h esses on the track like a go-kart, braking with force and precision and taking the tight right-hander in a nicely balanced drift, accelerating early and hard thanks to the AWD system. You'd be amazed at just how quick this four-door sedan — which, hard ride aside, would make a pleasant and fun daily driver — really is.
Audi S6
Oddly enough, the other Audi, the larger and more powerful (and even pricier at $107,440) S6, didn't exert the same level of appeal as the RS4 — despite a 5.2-litre V-10 producing 435 hp and 398 lb-ft of torque transmitted to the Quattro AWD system by a six-speed automatic. Under its mid-size four-door bodywork is a tautly tuned suspension, large-diameter disc brakes, 19-inch wheels and wide, low-profile tires. Perhaps I'd been spoiled by the S8 I'd driven earlier.
There are few cars that even come close to matching the S6's performance (0-100 km/h in 5.1 seconds and prodigious cornering and braking capability) on the road or the track.
Lexus GS 450h
The Lexus seemed a little out of place in this field, more luxury than sports/performance oriented, although it proved surprisingly fast and competent on the track.
Its electronic safety systems play a perhaps too active role in making this happen, but this does translate into high levels of safety on the street, where it is more at home and very enjoyable and pleasant to drive.
The hybrid (3.5-litre V-6 and electric motor) power train set it apart, too, although its seamless operation — which generates a total of 339 hp (delivered through a continuously variable transmission) — makes it a very quick car with a 0-100 km/h time of 5.8 seconds. That's less than a second slower than the Shelby.
The Shelby shouldn't win this class (although it could), but the 3-Series Coupe or the RS4 might.
