OK, so let’s talk cars! After all, this Buckle-Up blog
has always been about motor vehicles, road trips, car shows and our time out on
track. I know, it’s been a while to dedicate a post just to cars but for Margo
and me year 2020 represents a milestone. That’s right; we didn’t buy a single
car all year! Mark that down as a new record for Margo and me although truth be
known (and already recorded in earlier posts), we did order a new car for
delivery sometime in 2022. Does that even count?
Worth noting, however, was how we took the time in 2019
to reduce the number of cars from six – plus an RV and trailer – to four and this
year that number will be further reduced to just three. Count them; a garage
with only three cars to choose from. I seriously don’t know if I will be able
to adjust to this new reality!
For the past two decades, we have really had
opportunities to pretty much test drive many different cars. Some we truly did enjoy more than others even
as we had access to friends’ cars as well. However, with it being February,
after all, for many years I have taken this opportunity to I write about our
cars. Whether it’s the cold and simply seeing our cars “shelter in place,” each
February we have looked at them all, taking time to record our likes and
dislikes. But now, the time has surely come to do something we haven’t
attempted before; creating our list of top ten rides where we rate them
according the driving experience that they afforded us.
Experience gained while commuting between Colorado and
California has definitely influenced these rankings even as time spent on
tracks west of the Mississippi have been taken into consideration. It’s all
subjective, mind you and there will likely be a number of surprises, but even
so, as noted above, it’s been a long time since we talked cars.
As an aside and before we dive into this list the only
excuse I have, according to Margo, to spend time writing about cars and not about
children or grandchildren is that unlike cars the little humans cannot be
ranked and you just have to love them all. So let’s just admit that there is really
nothing to say as you can’t compare them; give us a couple more years though as
in time, I am sure favorites will appear!
Tenth Place …
No surprise here really; the Jeep SRT 392. Not the
“Hellcat” version, mind you, but a beast all the same. We drove it everywhere;
to Orlando, to Toronto, to St Louis and pretty much everywhere the compass
points. You may argue that it isn’t a car but a truck and indeed we left off this
list our GMC Yukon, our Cadillac Escalade and even our Range Rover Evoque
convertible (too new an addition to properly evaluate) but in truth, the SRT
392 was not just a beast but could be driven hard up and down any mountain
range. Or around any race track for that matter! Let the record show that my
best lap around a wet Road Atlanta circuit was in a borrowed SRT 392.
Ninth Place …
This is the first reference to BMW and in this instance we cannot ignore the pair of Seven series “limos” we leased. Early 2000 it was a short wheelbase 740i and then mid 2000 it was the long wheelbase 750Li. Truthfully, the 740 almost had me thinking it belonged further up the rankings as it did prove to be a long distance tourer but the 750Li was, well, a bit of a compromise all around. Too long, too soft, and yes, border line ugly when viewed from some angles. With that, the seven series belongs in the cellar.
Eighth Place …
This is where the interest levels begin to rise. Having
said that, sad to say, we have to rank our beloved C6 Corvette quite a long wat
down the list! We watched the release of the C6 and read all the reviews that
followed. When it came time to talk to our dealer he advised us to wait for the
2006 models as they would come with a six-speed automatic that featured paddle
shifters. It was this very same Corvette we turned up with for our very first
track weekend with the National Auto Sports Association (NASA) and where we
began our journey that led to us regularly spending weekends at the track.
But this big blue Vette proved to be a difficult car as
it was (surprisingly) slow and needed a court order to change gears when using the
paddles. Driving it in full automatic didn’t help as the software was such that
lifting off the gas to brake (entering a corner) the auto changed up a gear.
Problem? Well as you exited the corned and stomped the gas, it dropped down at
least two gears destabilizing the body with unpredictable results. To fix all
of this, we elected to supercharge the C6 Vette but that story has been covered
many times in the past. Enough to say, “what were we thinking?”
Seventh Place …
It all started when a white coupe pulled into the
traffic a little ahead of us. “What’s that,” said Margo. “It’s a Jaguar F
Type,” I responded. And so it began. Without a second thought we headed to the
Jaguar dealership where there was a Supercharged V6 coupe on the showroom floor
and a few days later, we took out yet another lease.
It certainly is a pretty car and one that we may even
consider purchasing once the lease is up. This cat purrs and is beautifully
appointed; it has become Margo’s car of choice now and her only possible regret
is “should’ve got a V8” and for this reason alone, it doesn’t climb any further
up the list.
Sixth Place …
And here is where we really cut loose and bought our
one and only Italian exotic. It had been sitting on a showroom floor for nearly
a year but ultimately, we sat down and did the deed. We left the dealer driving
an almost new bright yellow (with black wheels but yellow brake calipers)
Maserati GT-S. What a car and even as we drove it home (on summer tires) just
as a snow storm began, we couldn’t stop smiling. We put a lot of miles on this
Maser and enjoyed every one of them.
After we sold the Maser we noticed the dealer dropping
the price. As it looked likely to drop below what we sold it for, we made the
decision to rebuy the Maser but when that eventually happened we pulled the
trigger just a few hours too late. We still think about it even to this day!
Fifth Place …
Touring, on track or simply heading for groceries, all of our cars serve multiple purposes. There have been few disappointments with each and every car offering something positive during the time they were part of the family. And what about the BMW i8 Coupe and the BMW i8 Roadster? These are both plug-in hybrids and pretty much in a class of their own.
For a short time we had both the i8 Coupe and the Maser
in the garage but after a couple of months of not driving the Maser, we
realized our car experience had taken us down a new path. But that is the
beauty of living in the US and it’s hard to explain to those living elsewhere.
As of the time of writing this post, there were moment when we thought about
elevating the i8 to first place but then again, it really didn’t warrant being
placed any higher than fifth as it sure could have done with a bit more power!
Fourth Place …
Let’s talk about BMWs M Division. We have had an M3
convertible and an M4 Competition coupe. Let’s just say that the M3 was
forgettable and almost dragged the M Divisions offerings way down the rankings.
And why? The 1997 US engine equipped M3 Convertible didn’t quite deliver; in US
guide, it came powered by the lesser 240hp engine. And then we get to the M4.
Without doing any research and following an enjoyable lunch, Margo and I walked
onto the floor of our Boulder BMW dealership and saw a very special BMW M4
Competition and following a couple of well-timed “ooohs and aaaahs,” we drove
it home.
Multiple trips to California have only confirmed that
this is not only a good sports car but a pretty capable touring car although, I
have to acknowledge, tire noise is pretty dreadful as there is almost no sound
deadening in this particular model. On reflection (and yes, in a few weeks’
time, the M4 comes off lease and we will return it to the dealer), we aren’t
sure what BMW is up to with its M division but ultimately the car, much like
the Nissan GT-R left the driver out of the equation and ultimately proved just
as soulless as each other.
Third Place …
There was a time when we lived with two sequentially
purchased Nissan GT-R coupes. When we saw the first GT-R at the LA Car Show in
2009, we decided we would buy one pretty much the day they began arriving at
dealerships. At first dealer markups were $25,000 and more but we did negotiate
with our local Boulder dealer who came through with one at list. We came to the
Nissan GT-R via an Infiniti G37S coupe that we had purchased but kept only for
a very short time that in turn, was a replacement for our Pontiac Solstice.
Turning to the Infiniti for track days saw our
skillsets improve almost overnight but with the GT-R, there was no way we were
going to track it as everything about that car was expensive. We later traded
the 2009 485hp GT-R for a 2012 545hp variant and what a difference. Have to
say, with this upgrade all the little annoying issues we had completely
disappeared and the only regret I have is that it was Margo who was behind the
wheel when we drove US Route 129 otherwise known as the “Tail of the Dragon!”
Second Place …
Perhaps another surprise? Surely not this high up the
list? In 2003 we bought two Corvettes – a 2003 fifth generation (or C5) coupe,
the Z06 and a 2004 fifth generation convertible. There’s something to be said
about your first love and there was no hiding the fact that we truly loved
these Vettes. Even as we started our time on track with the 2006 C6 coupe we
thought the 2003 C5 Z06 was simply “too pretty to track.”
However, with the purchase of the Maser for which we
traded the C6, we finally broke down and took the Z06 to track and what a
difference! Wow; we improved with every outing even if heel-and-toe gear
changes never quite materialized. The car we ordered and referenced earlier in
this post just happens to be a new mid-engine C8 Z51 Corvette convertible and
maybe this will help push the Corvette to the top of the list.
First Place …
With no regrets or second thoughts, taking first place was our mighty Generation 4 Dodge Viper SRT/10 roadster. What can we say; every time we backed it out of the garage, we turned to each other and smiled. There wasn’t an occasion when we didn’t enjoy the ride. Margo had her best track outing ever behind the wheel of this Viper when she passed everyone else on track except for another tracked-focused Viper ACR. The big surprise – on this outing she only needed to use third gear.
The whole track in third gear; so much usable torque
and horsepower! A balance of 600 / 600 hp / lb ft. Glorious! Even without
cruise control we drove it back and forth to California and we enjoyed each and
every track outing with NASA at High Plains Raceway (HPR) Byers, Colorado. We
keep talking about buying another one, but a lot has changed and we wonder if
we would end up liking it as much. It would be terrible if something occurred
that took the shine off our past experiences so for now, the answer has been
no. We are passed that and yet, it’s always hard to argue with number one.
This is indeed the automotive capital in the world and
barring extreme exotics, the potential to drive almost anything is on offer –
just walk into any car dealership and the possibility of driving away in
something new is very high. Perhaps that is what Margo is concerned over me
writing this post. But know this, Margo and I have been married for twenty
years and enjoyed nearly twenty cars in that time. It doesn’t take all that
much before our garages simply fill up, again.
So what do we like? What don’t we like? To start with
we only turn to SUVs somewhat begrudgingly as we don’t like any of them. We
have grown to like hybrids as long as there is reasonable power under foot. But
we haven’t warmed to Battery Electric Vehicles, or BEVs as they are called. We
have reservations about the infrastructure being in place out here in the
western states. What we really do like though is the many memories we have
created no matter which car we chose for the ride and that’s something that
shows little sign of letting up any time soon.
Will there be another twenty cars in our future?
Nothing is more certain these days than change so who knows? On the other hand,
maybe the move to just three cars is part of a bigger program to downsize.
Perhaps it’s just further indication that we have more we would like to do than
just drive. And yet, to just drive seems such a wonderful idea in this time of
COVID-19 even as our outings in 2020 were limited. Whatever happens though and something
is sure to happen in 2021, keep reading future posts as you will first read all
about it here, in this blog.
Comments