Sometimes being the publisher of a new magazine has its good sides...
yesterday I went to the annual UK car industry test day, where all the brands show their models, and all the journalists and PR's get to test them freely on special tracks (there was a lovely one-way hill route, an off-road track plus a high speed bowl) http://www.millbrook.co.uk/
so I got behind the wheel of...

Audi S6, automatic. Fast and good looking


Audi S3, manual. Not as good as the S2000, although they are in the same price range.

 

le car, international man of mystery. Sounds like a great job. How did everyone else react when you arrived in you S2k? Please tell me you did bring your S2K.

 

toyota mr2, with sequential gearbox. Nice size and good looking, but again far behind the s2000


Porsche 911 carrera 4. Big mistake I did : having my first taste of a right hand drive manual car in this!!
The porsche guy sitting next to me (porsche and ferrari didn't let pple drive alone) certainly thought I just couldn't drive a manual car at all...


Porsche 911 carrera 2. Manual. Tested this one later in the day, with much improved skills in left-hand gear-changing. Couldn't really push it because of the Porsche guy though

 

Jag XKR_R. Auto. Nice interior, gotta love that indicator clicking sound...


Honda Insight. Manual. Had to try that one. Loved it, even at 100mph on the speed bowl. Its a honda...


Alfa GTV spider. Manual. Very good-looking, but frightening, tends to have sudden bursts of acceleration while upshifting, maybe it needs some practice to get used to

 

Vauxhall VX220, manual. (Opel on the pic). Rough and scary. Understeers, and feels unsafe.


Renault Clio V6, Manual. VERY good-looking, but bad Gearbox and gearshift (your hands hits the dash while upshifting in 3rd!). Feels funny and boxy, very wide also.


MG MGF. Manual. No comments

 

Lancer EVO VI Makkinen Ltd edition. Manual. Amazing car, but my taste was hurt by its looks.


Lancer EVO VII. Manual. AAAARRGHHH!!! MAD CAR!!! Perfect handling, fast as hell, forgiving... Just a bit ugly.


Impreza WRX "UK 300" Ltd. edition. Very close to the EVO VII, very good car. Fells like you're in Gran Turismo!




[Edited by le car on 05-25-2001 at 08:58 AM]

 

Nice life. Where can I sign up.

 

Great post and Pics!!!! Thanks for all the info. Do you still like (love) your 'S' after driving all these other autos?

 

Ford Focus WRC. Manual. The one I drove had the rool cage and the nasty stickers, but that was about it!! Just a lightly tuned production car...


M3. Manual. Yellow. F***ING HELL!!! This is the ultimate coupe! Light, agile, fast, I can't find the words to describe it...


F360 modena Spider. Blue, F1 gearbox. Unfortunately ferrari only let us drive their cars on the speed bowl, with an instructor, but it was still fun to use the paddleshift system, very easy actually. Only went to 130mph though, the guy wouldn't let me go faster.

 

What some of us have to endure....oh the pain, the pain.....
:-)