More test drives

Right, so we drove 4 more cars the last couple of weeks. I want to note three of these cars are compact cars in direct competition with each other and that none of them showed any definate advantage over any other in its class. so if you give a crap, here goes.

Bismark, ND.;  2010 Chevy Cobalt: Good power. Fair to good suspension. Fair interior. Note of interest: I did not expect to like this car. It is not a fantastic car but the engine is tourquey and the suspension good enough to make it somewhat fun to drive. This model is being replaced by the better Cruze which has been in production for a couple of years in Europe and has even been made the basis for a BTCC team in G.B.

Seattle, WA.;  2010 Ford Focus: Good power. Good torque. Fair to good suspension. Good interior. Note of interest: This had the best interior of the three and tied for worst suspension. This model is also being replaced by a much praised world car which promises to be better than this U.S. domestic only unit. It is also not nearly as fun to drive as my first gen. which by the way was also a world car.

San Diego, CA.; 2010 Chevrolet Impala. Good power. Good torque. Fair interior. Good suspension. Note of interest: I was not expecting much from this car. It had good torque and power and carried its weight well. Not that it was fun to drive but I am biased towards a short wheel base. I have to mention that they fly pretty well as well. Five year old Tyler Allen Strong thought that it might be a good idea to "tell the guy I borrowed the car from for money that I am sorry for jumping his car". I considered the idea but ultimately decided against it.

Eureka, CA.; 2010 Toyota Corolla. Good power. Fair torque. Fair to good suspension. Fair interior. I always wonder what the big deal is with everyone praising Toyota but this car made me realize... I was right. Nothing special here. Nothing was horrible but the combination of crap torque, lack-luster suspension and ho-hum design inside and out made me wish I had gone back to the counter and asked for something else.

To sum up, the two cars for which this blog was basically made (amongst others) are not as good as they should be and it shows in their performance. They are both, thankfully, being replaced by models designed and tested in Europe. Don't get me wrong, I believe we can design and make a good car. Look at Cadillac. The really do give a shit when they build a car and performance wise, they are kicking the crap out of their European counterparts. For that matter, both Ford and Chevy are making ground on their competition from Japan and Europe but when it comes to the small car market we don't care enough. At least they know enough to know they can just bring over a proven design they already technically own. A practice they should have never abandoned.