Featured in this Comparo |
Everyone looking for a deal these days looks to Hyundai and its low, low prices. All-new for 2003 is the Tiburon, a slinky coupe that's been whetting appetites since the world's first glimpse on the show stand at Frankfurt last year. Fully loaded with a 181-hp V-6 and a six-speed manual, the Tiburon GT barely tops $20,000 when the destination charge has been added in.
From Honda, the obvious choice is the sporting version of the Acura RSX, the Type-S. Standard equipment with that model is a high-revving all-aluminum two-liter four churning out 200 horsepower. A six-speed is standard, of course.
Also packing a six-speed is the eye-catching Toyota Celica, provided you order the GT-S model. Toyota really cranked the fun into this seventh-generation Celica. If there's a more athletic chassis in this class, we'd love to find it. In past tests, the GT-S always impressed us with its quick reflexes and tenacious grip.
Another class veteran is the Mitsubishi Eclipse. Gone, though, are the turbocharged rat racers. New for 2003 is a GTS model with 10 more horses from its naturally aspirated 3.0-liter V-6, a shorter final drive, and a few mild styling tweaks. Hey, it's spring! The glacier has pulled back enough to allow serious traction. Time for g enjoyment.
One more possibility. VW just introduced the "sportiest New Beetle yet." Turbocharged to 180 horsepower, packing a six-speed gearbox, and rolling on 17-inch alloys, the Turbo S may give us reason, finally, to regard the New Beetle as something more than a smirk on wheels. Let's give it a chance.
The Mercury Cougar, especially the promised SVT version, would be a welcome entry into this sports-coupe class, except that Ford recently unpromised the SVT and gave notice that it will terminate the whole Cougar line. Sorry—no lame ducks on this adventure.
As you know, good intentions don't always bring good results. We intended a fairly tight price range, within a spread of $3000 starting at $20,000. But like customers everywhere, we can't always find the exact car we want in time for deadlines. We couldn't find a Hyundai with a sunroof to make a feature match with all the others. So the Tiburon comes in low at $19,344. At the top end, Mitsubishi made a big jump to a $24,752 base for its '03 model, so our budget got busted. Debtors' prison again!
Anyway, we have possession of the keys to five new sports coupes—four sculptured wedges and a Beetle bubble. As Tennyson would have said had he known what's sprouting this spring, "Let's drive."
Fifth Place
Volkswagen New Beetle Turbo S
This little fastback two-door makes some folks grin as if they were sipping their first cherry Coke. Does that mean it's a sports coupe?
It has a high-boost turbo four huffing out 180 horses from only 1781cc, up 30 horsepower from last year's best. Does that make it a sports coupe?
Volkswagen New Beetle Turbo S |
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It has a six-speed gearbox well-connected to the driver's right hand by a slick-action lever and a pair of front buckets very much like Recaro used to make back when it was the throw-down name in cockpit furniture. Are we there yet?
On the tail you see a name, borrowed from Porsche, that has shimmering cred on the autobahn. This is the Turbo S.
Convinced?
Right. We're not buying it, either. Yet give Ed. credit for keeping an open mind. The specs sound frisky enough, but the Turbo S ends up more quirky than sporty. Whether you're reaching way forward to affix a radar detector to the distant windshield, or trying to see around the oddly placed A-pillar into the next left turn, you're always reminded that the New Beetle is the result of an unnatural act?the re-creation of a 1930s rear-engine body shape on a 1990s front-engine chassis. As a result, the placement of the people in the New Beetle is about two feet behind where God meant them to be, so much so that tall rear passengers have the backs of their heads against the glass.
That said, most drivers can find a proper place to work, thanks to a column that tilts and telescopes, the only one here to do both, and to a seat that easily jacks up to your preferred height. We're not inclined, however, to give extra credit for features that merely enable usefulness in a willfully misshapen car.
The front buckets are interesting throwbacks to the German "sport" seats of 25 years ago. You sit on a relatively flat space bordered on each side?on both the cushion and backrest?by hard perpendicular walls to keep you in place against lateral forces. Those with square-cornered butts will feel right at home.
Performance in most track tests matches the group's average or falls just a tick below. The Turbo S accelerates to 60 mph in 6.7 seconds and clears the quarter-mile in 15.0 at 90 mph. Boost comes up early and relatively smoothly; fine when you're in the commuter mode but troubling in the twisties. This chassis responds unhappily to the rush of torque, raising its nose and understeering strongly when your foot goes down, diving and cutting sharply when you lift. The body also rocks laterally on its suspension with just the slightest provocation. So you corner on a weaving path, back and forth over the desired line.
In the end, we ranked the Turbo S lowest for driving fun, and we find a few of its features insincere at best. Amid much mechanical clatter?think of the loudest sunroof mechanism you've ever heard?the goofy spoiler at the top of the hatchlid angles up at 48 mph and drops flat again as you slow to walking speed. This act, and the accompanying clatter, repeats and repeats in metro traffic.
Last question: Would a real sports coupe have a thumb-size tachometer? This New Beetle was conceived as an amusing visual statement, and we think it's best left at that.
Fourth Place
Hyundai Tiburon GT V-6
If you're a young car company with ambition, how do you win a place in the world's biggest car market? Easy. First, keep the price down where lots of singles and DINKs can reach for it. How about an $18,494 base for a two-plus-two sports coupe? Next, put priority on high-visibility attractions. The Tiburon leads with the must-haves. The shape is sufficiently wowee! to draw second and third glances, although it begins to look a bit amateurish on closer study. The tail flaunts a big wing. The 17-inch, low-profile, 45-series Michelins have genuine sporting credentials (instead of four-season capability). When you peer through the hatch glass, you see a healthy subwoofer in the side panel.
Hyundai Tiburon GT V-6 |
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There's muscle on the menu, too. Our test car has the up-option 2.7-liter V-6 of 181 horsepower mated to a six-speed gearbox.
All of which adds up to a load of good stuff for less than $20,000, and for four grand less than the next coupe up this test's price ladder, the Acura RSX.
It all works reasonably well, too, with a fourth-place finish just one point behind a tie for second.
Reasonably well, but the Tiburon is not excellent at any task, and once you've savored the deal, the rest of the car is never inspiring. Acceleration by most measures trails the others', although occasionally the Tib nips ahead of the Toyota as it does in 0-to-60 times: 7.1 seconds versus 7.3. On the skidpad its 0.82-g grip edges only the Mitsubishi. Nearly the same story in braking, too, where the Tiburon shades the Eclipse by one foot and the Acura by three. Put another way, you could say Hyundai braking and Hyundai acceleration can play in the same league with the famous brands, which they surely do.
In the end, performance has little to do with the fourth-place ranking. This is a machine of unrefined flavors, perhaps inevitable in a young car company. The cockpit smells of unpleasant chemicals. The doors slam with a junky note. The ears and the seat of the pants report a heavy-footed ride; it clomps over the bumps. The interior at cruising speed fills with a dull roar rather than mechanical music. In the lower gears, the Hyundai has more steering wiggles in response to power than the others. Otherwise, the steering is lifeless and lacking in the feel of precision that makes a great sporting car. The gearbox requires heavy effort; trucks are easier to shift these days. The lever motion is trusty. We always grabbed the right gear. But the action is not fun.
The engine lacks thrills, too. It peaks fairly low, far below the 6500-rpm redline, and offers no encouragement above 5000.
None of us liked the dark-feeling interior, either. The seats are supportive but lacking all traces of plushness. And we noticed small ripples in the door stampings and elsewhere on the exterior, a sign of unsophisticated dies in the manufacturing plant.
We'd like to report that we've found a $24,000 sports coupe for less than $20,000. But after 750 miles of evaluation, we think the Tiburon is priced about where it belongs.
Second Place (tie)
Mitsubishi Eclipse GTS
It's easy to get the wrong impression about the Eclipse, what with the basket-handle wing on the tail, not to mention all the slots, slits, and slats festooning its exterior. Are we talking fast and furious here, or Magnum Gadget?
Neither, it turns out. This is the Miss Manners of the bunch, a sports coupe of quiet dignity.
A contradiction in terms? Not really, if you're speaking of a car that's fun to drive yet never gets on your nerves, as we are in this case.
Mitsubishi Eclipse GTS |
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The fun starts with a clutch that's creamy in its takeup, a rheostat to get you off the mark. Then there's the exhaust music, more purr than snort, that rises and falls in time with your right foot. The 3.0-liter V-6 stays silky all the way to the 6200 redline. Acceleration is better than the group's average in all tests. And the behavior just gets sweeter as you push the envelope. The Eclipse slips reliably into understeer, and the steering response is relaxed enough that its path is not twitchy, even when the turn you're entering is blind and you're uncertain of its exact geometry. Corrections to your line are so easy, so intuitive. Back out of the power slightly, and the drift angle widens, scrubbing off speed while it tightens the line. Squeeze on power, and the rear tucks in. Then fine-tune your path with steering. Some credit must go to the V-rated Goodyear Eagle RS-A 17-inchers for these benign responses. The Eclipse is a sporting car that will cover for you when you're a bit imprudent.
Moreover, it's not a car that will goad you into injudicious ventures. The suspension feels relatively soft compared with the Acura's and Toyota's. The nose dives under braking, and the body rolls as the side forces build. That softness contributes to the generally pleasing ride, but some of our drivers felt it was a bit too old-ladyish for genuine sport. The Eclipse had the least grip on the skidpad, 0.81 g compared with the group average of 0.83 g. Braking performance was also in the low half of the group.
Somehow, though, when you put all the capabilities together on a road-course lap, the stopwatch finds the Eclipse to be second fastest. This is one athletic old lady. Or should we call it a sweet blend of the qualities that add a fun flavor to an everyday commuter?
The Eclipse feels to be the "big car" of the group, and it is, outweighing the second-heaviest Hyundai by 180 pounds and overwhelming the featherweight Celica by 640. It's also longest at 176.8 inches overall. This bulk doesn't carry over into hospitality for backseat occupants, however. Only the Hyundai was less spacious. Road sounds are also LOUD back there.
In front, the loose-fitting driver seat surely contributes to the big-car feel. What it lacks in lateral support in the twisties is more than made up for in cruising comfort. A three-position lever on the backrest makes meaningful differences in lumbar support, something that can't be said about all such adjusters.
Fast and furious the Eclipse isn't, but if you'd like to throw off your neighbors by announcing a midlife crisis without actually having one, here's your car.
Second Place (tie)
Toyota Celica GT-S
Toyota Celica GT-S |
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If you've got clout with your congressional rep?these days that means, what, a credit balance with his or her ever-ravenous campaign??you can scam a ride in an F-15. But if, like most of us, you haven't pledged sufficiently, you'll have to settle for a demo jaunt in a Celica GT-S. It's the closest you can come for less than 25 large to the jet-fighter sort of bubble-packed zoom.
Is there a more exciting cockpit this side of the Acura NSX? The Celica has a huge windshield that starts low, down by your knees it seems, and sweeps back toward your forehead. If there are bogeys overhead, you'll see them. The sills of the side windows sweep down as they go forward, too. The view out is exhilarating.
The black leather-wrapped wheel is just the right arm reach away. It tilts to clear your sight of the dashboard dials. Your legs stretch out under the dash, and the seat holds securely without being confining. Most of your surroundings are covered in dark gray vinyl (Toyota's way of simulating an aluminum monocoque?), interrupted by black on the handles you'll grab, or where glare would intrude.
Light it up and let it happen!
The high-output 1796cc four is almost the perfect character for this mission. It's high-strung. Methamphetamine injection? Yeah! It's the same size as VW's turbo four, and its rated output is the same at 180 horsepower. What's different is the revs. The VW peaks power at 5500 rpm, the naturally aspirated Toyota doesn't get there till 7600. The rev difference at peak torque is even more telling, 1950 rpm versus 6800. The Toyota's sidewinder comes on strong when it finally spins into the fun zone, but life is short in the last 1000 rpm before the 7800 red. Even though the six-speed gives you lots of slices, there are never enough, a problem compounded in the test car by a killjoy rev limiter that came on duty a few hundred revs too early.
So the Celica finishes last in most of the straight-line acceleration tests. Yet the losing margin is narrow. And as with F-15s, battle lines are seldom straight. For all contests involving braking and turning, the GT-S wins big. It stops from 70 mph in only 166 feet, has the best grip on the skidpad at 0.88 g, and figuratively smoked all the others through the lane-change test at 74.3 mph. The next-best Acura managed only 71.7 mph.
Putting all the Celica's abilities to work at once, as a road course demands, is both enlightening and frustrating. By the thinnest of margins the peaky Toyota nipped the torquey turbocharged VW, but the playground between the limiter at the high end and the bog at the bottom is impossibly narrow.
As for the more mundane qualities of practical transport, the rear seat is surprisingly spacious, given that it is the second smallest of the bunch, but entering back there is a contortionist's challenge, and headroom is inadequate for largish adults. We were also disappointed by the buzzes and sheetmetal dingling noises coming up from all directions. In paring weight to only 2580, less than the next-heavier Acura by 200 pounds, Toyota seems to have left behind some of its famous quality.
Of course, maybe F-15s rattle, too, and nobody cares.
First Place
Acura RSX Type-S
Occasionally, a machine comes along that's so self-confident, so tightly screwed together, and so highly trained for its game that we all just nod our heads and say, "Yup, this is the benchmark." This little Acura is that sports coupe.
Even from a distance, its personality stands out. This is no barroom braggart. It wears no costume: no wings, no skirts, no chin splitters. No flash and filigree. Just a clean shape with purposeful wheels and tires. Purposeful but not exaggerated: merely 16-inchers of modest 55-series profile.
The cockpit fits everybody. How is this possible? Dunno. It's just one of those qualities that mark special cars. And the details all around seem so precise, so securely fastened down, so technical in nature. Look at the charcoal wrapping around the instrument cluster, checkered like a fine gunstock to eliminate glare. The same material covers the front of the shifter so your fingers don't slip. The dials have low-reflection metallic faces, more of the technical look. At night the needles and numbers go red. It's a uniform red across all dials and gauges, the radio, and the HVAC controls. Amazing. Nobody else in all the car world gets night illumination more uniform, and more perfectly controlled by the dimmer, than Acura does in the RSX.
Look at뾫o?I>reach for the fat-rimmed wheel just the right distance away, so perfectly shaped for hooking your thumbs over the spokes. "Drive," it says.
First impression once under way: This is a machine. The controls snick so easily, with no friction, and no slop. And something more subtle: no flex. Levers and knobs go where you tell them to, exactly, then they stop. No overtravel. You're in control. You drive with your fingertips. Like a safecracker, you get messages back from the unseen mechanisms beyond.
The engine whirs. Very unusual. It whirs up and down with the angle of your Reebok. It's captivating. So smooth. So refined. So loud, too. Maybe a bit less would be better.
The whir turns to controlled anger when the needle swings past 6000 rpm. And the messages come back through the fingertips at 56K. Fast forward! Only two liters, but they're all business. The other coupes drop back in the mirrors. Zero to 60 rips off in 6.3 seconds, on the way to a remarkable 94 mph in the quarter-mile. This engine is more flexible than the Toyota's. It has broader shoulders in its torque curve. You needn't work the lever so feverishly to keep it happy. And it's never so raucous in its cry. The Acura knows how to act.
Well, most of the time. Textured road surfaces send up an amazing amount of thrumming drone through the structure. Too much. Way too much. The suspension has lots of shock control, too, which makes it notably abrupt over bumps. Very sporting. After enough miles, very tedious, too.
Then you come to the twisty section, and you fall in love all over again. The controls always stay light and quick, even at the limit. Think of a scalpel for carving up the road. A precision blade. You provide the skill. This Acura RSX Type-S is sharp.
Acura RSX Type-S |
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