| I'll set aside exterior/interior finish for another day and strictly focus on the driving aspect here.
The car changes during the break in stage I feel.
The dealership instructed me to keep in at or under 4,500 rpms for the first 1,250 or so miles. They also encouraged me to do frequent runups through the gears and back down every 30 minutes or so during my cross country drive from Ft.Lauderdale to San Francisco.
I did just that and can honestly say this car has more usable power than anything else I've tried. It is smooth consistent delivery of power throughout the rpm range and throughout the gear set. There's simply no lag in power anywhere. Nothing like the low end lag of the S. It just keeps pulling, and I even caught myself reaching 5,000 rpms a couple of times it came on so fast. The play between 3rd and 4th is just awesome.
There's almost a two stage supercharger pull as well. You fell the whine coming on slowly after 3,500 rpms as you begin to push it and then a secondary more pronounced whine kicks in around 4,200 rpms and keeps going from there. That's probably why I had a couple of my runs go from 4,200 to 5,000 in the blink of an eye.
Running down the gears, the engine brake is excellent and the gears shift smoothly as well. Nice revs without too much of the bubble.
Handling wise, the car doesn't sit down too much but you do feel it squat slightly. The handling is crisp and never got lose on me. Shoots like a dart. Switching lanes at speed also showed me how well the suspension is tuned. Just like a real go-kart. Fantastic. I have yet to notice any real understeer.
One thing I would recommend is to not have the AC during run-ups. An odd AC smell comes up when I forget to turn off the AC.
Some have complained about the "road noise", but I find it to be just fine. After all, it's a sports car. Choice of road though seemed more of a concern to me. The ride is bone jarring on poor asphalt. You really feel it.
Clutch does show a lot of throw, but before too long you've got it dialed in. Just got to keep the foot down throughout the full shift.
Brakes do their job, but they feel somewhat "buttery" soft. I'll have to keep an eye on the pads. Rear brakes occasionally put out a slight locking feel upon coming to a complete stop.
It's about 3,300 miles now and the car sounds sportier than when I first got it. Especially the exhaust. The note is "meaner". At idle also, the car sounds a little different. It almost sounds like a very light diesel engine with a sporty note. Not sure if that's normal or not, but it seems ok. Also, I have gotten into the 6,000 to 8,000 range now a couple of the times and the supercharger just keeps pulling, eventhough peak torque is supposed to be at 4,800. The two stage supercharger feeling seems more uniform now and almost blends into one seemless pull. The on-ramps to the freeway just aren't long enough anymore. You're up to 80 mph before you know it and in 4th!
The wheels have also grown on me. Love 'em. Grip is excellent. I haven't had any real rain to speak of, so I'll reserve final judgment for a later time on these since I've heard the car wants to squirrel in the rain.
The bottom line is I feel very content with my purchase. Especially since I had zero markup from MSRP. Would do it again in a heartbeat.  | 
Nov 7th, 2006, 12:40 AM
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