2020 Road And Track Performance Car of the Year

[strat61caster]

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-car...r-of-the-year/


1. tl;dr it's the Hyundai Veloster N

2. Travis Okulski is a genius. Sure, Motor Trend and Car and Driver have more 'scientific' tests at Laguna and VIR. I don't give a shit, I don't know who their writers are and I won't do more than skim their tests, bench racing is fun I guess, I still do it, you can probably dig up posts where I talk about swapping tires and such on cars and getting better lap times than X and Y, I'm over it. Road and Track has guys writing that have personality, that work social media, I see Cammisa and Sam Smith responding to comments all the time, they're fun, they get it. How many journalists are swapping seats in their Integra Type R's on the weekend or benchmarking new Golf's against their 30 year old Sciroccos? Read the article, it's fun, that's what cars should be. This morning if you had asked me to pick a 2nd car for my garage it would have been a Civic Type R, because of articles like this, now Hyundai is in the hunt, I never thought it would be.

Cheers for a daring pick, cars should create joy.

[Spuds]

A bit OT for a second post, but I had a Veloster as a rental and the car itself is too weird and lopsided for me. But their Elantra GT is pretty fun. I wish we got the full N version here, but we only get some of the bits on the N-Line spec

[TunaNoCrust]

Thanks for sharing and I agree R&T really know how to put together an entertaining test and you can tell in their writing that they are very passionate about it.

I was always curious about the Veloster N and then I had a student with one at Palmer. What a wonderful car! Plenty of power, great feel, very predictable, comfortable, sharp looking, and reasonably priced!

[DarkSunrise]

Given that the Veloster N won, wouldn't it have made sense to include a CTR in that comparison? Seems like it does everything the VN does, but better.

The CTR comes the closest I've ever seen to successfully pulling off a one car fits all approach. Great on track and practical/comfortable/fun for daily driving. All the rest (STI, Evo, Focus RS, Golf R/GTI) compromise too much in one area or another. If I was looking in that segment, I'd definitely consider it.

The only real downfall is the looks, but I don't think the VN is that much better there.

[GeorgeJFrick]

First odd thing to me is that multiple automative writers said the N is awesome, but that you should buy an R-spec because of the invalidated price difference.

For me it's odd to see this post. I've been off the forum for a few years after selling my BRZ; but I'm back because I'm shopping between another BRZ or a Veloster R-Spec.

It sounds like I shouldn't default to the BRZ and should go test drive a veloster if I can.

Which would look better put into the swamp at Black Hawk Farms?

Another funny tidbit, I went out to buy a Genesis Coupe and came home with a BRZ and a new life of AutoX. Here's Hyundai hoping for another shot at my love.

[NoHaveMSG]

Am I the only one that thinks Thunderhill West is a weird track to test that group of cars

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise

Given that the Veloster N won, wouldn't it have made sense to include a CTR in that comparison? Seems like it does everything the VN does, but better.

All of these yearly 'car of the year' tests (R&T, C&D, MT) focus on cars that came out within this year or had significant changes (like the ND2), CTR was new last year, no changes for this year, thus ineligible for the comparison.

In any case, there are plenty of CTR vs. VN tests out there already, seems like the Veloster is 95% of the car that the CTR is for 80% of the price (~$30k vs ~$35k). I agree if you're that close the money difference is pretty small, $5k over 5 years is $83/month, probably less than you'll spend on gas over that time, just buy the better car. I'm going down the rabbit hole of Veloster forums now, with how hard the Hyundai depreciation is and how high the Type R tax is, buying one used in a few years might be a no brainer when a VN is $20k and a CTR is still $30k...

10 years ago I would have laughed in your face if you told me I was going to buy a Scion within 5 years, a year ago I felt the same about Hyundai, methinks I might have one in 4 years if the N-hype delivers.

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Am I the only one that thinks Thunderhill West is a weird track to test that group of cars

Meh, certainly one of the more technical courses in NA, not much space to open up the power on Mclarens and Lambos, but that's not really the point of a test like this, Roads and Tracks have turns, anybody can build an engine and go straight. Like I posted earlier, there's the C&D VIR Lightening Lap and MT Laguna test for the outright speed and bench racing stuff. I think Thill West fits with the vibe that R&T wants to capture, no use charging a fortified establishment that the other two mags have built up over a decade+.

I also think the Thunderhill management are offering West up cheaper than East in order to give it some 'street cred' with media outlets and events that can generate good PR like this. I'm also assuming they're playing favorites with their SCCA tie-ins to keep the regional races and profitable HPDE's on the East.

[EAGLE5]

Should have had Cammisa write that article.

[Atmo]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

Read the article, it's fun..


Cheers for a daring pick, cars should create joy.

Fun indeed, but more for how they "got" the driving experience around, over and through 49er Country. Good to see them focus on the Road part of R&T on some of the most scenic areas in the world.

I've driven most of those in sports cars, GT's, SUV's (Rubicon) and probably had the best, pure on road driving experience in an MR2 Spyder top down and heater on. Yet no completely topless car was tested, too bad for those who still define sports cars as two seat roadsters.

Interesting comparo anyway. Has me planning another road trip there next year if the lights are still on in CA.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by EAGLE5

Should have had Cammisa write that article.

Cammisa almost exclusively "writes" for Instagram now. I liked Bowman's piece, they spent more time on California back roads than hunting for tenths at T-hill and the writing reflects that.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4c4ONGA...=1j7ww1t6wi0w7

[Dadhawk]

As much as i'm glad to see more info on the C8, I don't think it should have been included in this since it was preproduction. That aside, the review did change my mind a bit about a couple of the cars, including the winner. So here's how I would vote with my pocketbook based on the numbered photo, high to low:

1,4,3,5,2,8,6,10,9,11,7 Four cars moved up at least one spot based on the review: 3,5,4,8.

[DarkSunrise]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

All of these yearly 'car of the year' tests (R&T, C&D, MT) focus on cars that came out within this year or had significant changes (like the ND2), CTR was new last year, no changes for this year, thus ineligible for the comparison.

In any case, there are plenty of CTR vs. VN tests out there already, seems like the Veloster is 95% of the car that the CTR is for 80% of the price (~$30k vs ~$35k). I agree if you're that close the money difference is pretty small, $5k over 5 years is $83/month, probably less than you'll spend on gas over that time, just buy the better car. I'm going down the rabbit hole of Veloster forums now, with how hard the Hyundai depreciation is and how high the Type R tax is, buying one used in a few years might be a no brainer when a VN is $20k and a CTR is still $30k...

10 years ago I would have laughed in your face if you told me I was going to buy a Scion within 5 years, a year ago I felt the same about Hyundai, methinks I might have one in 4 years if the N-hype delivers.

Yeah same here for Scion and Hyundai (and Kia). I was actually thinking about getting a Hyundai Palisade or Kia Telluride to replace my wife's GTI as the family car if we have another kid.

BTW I just saw the track video from the R&T comparison. The VN actually sounds pretty good for a stock hot hatch.

[EAGLE5]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

Cammisa almost exclusively "writes" for Instagram now. I liked Bowman's piece, they spent more time on California back roads than hunting for tenths at T-hill and the writing reflects that.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4c4ONGA...=1j7ww1t6wi0w7

Yikes! That guy has the greatest writing chops. Such a waste.

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise

Yeah same here for Scion and Hyundai (and Kia). I was actually thinking about getting a Hyundai Palisade or Kia Telluride to replace my wife's GTI as the family car if we have another kid.

BTW I just saw the track video from the R&T comparison. The VN actually sounds pretty good for a stock hot hatch.

Get a minivan. It'll be far more useful.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by EAGLE5

Yikes! That guy has the greatest writing chops. Such a waste.



Get a minivan. It'll be far more useful.

The curse of independent wealth and owning a home in Marin county. At least he adds some slightly useful opinions to my Instagram feed.

He's also doing YouTube videos for a used car dealer.

Never read much of his writing when he was a regular journalist, struck me as good at describing car dynamics but lots of people can do that.