Our 2016 Best Driver’s Car competition is the most competitive in the award’s nine-year history. This year, 12 automakers sent their best sports cars, supercars, and ponycars our way for a week of incredibly vigorous testing. In fact, if you’ll allow us to brag for a moment, we had so many contenders that we had to institute a one-car-per-manufacturer rule for this competition—more on that in a sec.
This year, we had 6,484 horsepower worth of cars competing to earn our Best Driver’s Car title. This $1.8 million field of carbon fiber, aluminum, and steel is particularly special because it represents almost every major auto-producing country. It’s a veritable best-driving Olympics. Our United Nations of competitors includes two supercars from Japan, three cars on behalf of the United Kingdom, four sports cars from Germany, and three more proudly representing the United States.
You’ll notice the lack of South Korean and Italian cars. The former is excused by simply not making any sports cars. The latter has no such excuse. Both Ferrari and Lamborghini are so terrified of the world’s most comprehensive driving-car competition that they’ve taken their ball and gone home. It’s not the first time they have refused to take the measure of their supercars; reconsider your declined invite next year, guys.
Although Ferrari and Lamborghini won’t play along, it’s worth noting fellow Italian Fiat had the guts to offer us a Mazda Miata, ahem, 124 Spider. Rather than letting the little Fiata go up against Godzilla, we opted to pull it out of the competition and save it for a potential minor-league Best Driver’s Car with the rest of the cars we cut from this year’s competition, which include the BMW M2, Chevrolet Camaro V-6 1LE, and Ford Focus RS. Stay tuned.
As for the rest of the field, well, here are the bullet points as per our test team: The “average” car in this year’s competition costs $131,730 before options. It makes 540 hp and 462 lb-ft of torque. It’ll sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds, and it’ll trip the lights at the end of the quarter mile in 11.6 seconds at 123 mph. Yeah, they’re fast.
Each of our 12 competitors will first be put through our battery of acceleration, braking, and handling tests in Fontana, California. Next, the cars will cruise on up to California’s central valley, where our good buddies on the California Highway Patrol will close down a gorgeous 4.2-mile stretch of asphalt known as Highway 198 so our judges can further evaluate each contender at their limits in real-world conditions. Next we’ll drive up to the coastal paradise of Monterey, California. Instead of a little R & R, we’ll head over to the world-famous Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where we’ll pass the keys to our contenders on to our good buddy, hall-of-fame race-car driver Randy Pobst, who will set a fast lap around the track in each car.
Then, with all the data and our editorial notes in hand, we all get to arguing. The winner doesn’t have to be the quickest in a straight line or the fastest around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, but it’ll damn sure be the best car to drive of the bunch. It, ladies and gentlemen, will be our 2016 Best Driver’s Car. — Christian Seabaugh
12th Place: 2017 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S
Old World Quaintness In A Modern Sports Car
Everyone needs a V-12 in his or her life. It propels a car with that unmistakably historic, silky, shrieking gravitas that no other engine can. There’s something nostalgic about it, too, as if it were an endangered species (it probably is), and it’s this rarity—especially with a manual gearbox—that makes driving this Aston Martin V12 Vantage S that much more special. To date, this is the most sporting Aston Martin we’ve tested. Not the quickest, not the fastest, not the most nimble, but certainly it is the most ambitious in terms of mission.
Great fun if you’ve got nowhere to go and all day to get there.
But it is simply impossible to speak about the V12 Vantage S without first gushing over the engine. It’s even part of the car’s name, and the specs are gob-smacking. From the press kit, “All-alloy, quad overhead camshaft, 48-valve, 5,935cc V-12.” That’s a lot of metal, cams, valves, cylinders, and cubic-centimeters … but the sound. Every staffer’s notes waxed poetic on the sound of the Aston Martin. Sure, it looks like sex, especially with the orange lipstick that Cammisa said “looks like it’s been kissing the McLaren,” but it’s the sound that stands out. MacKenzie said the V-12 “loves to be revved, ideally kept spinning between 5,000 and 7,000 rpm to deliver its best—and an intoxicating metallic howl.” Said Seabaugh: “The engine! Whoa, boy! It revs so quick. Really a sweetheart of an engine, good power throughout, and it loves to rev. I only wish I knew where the hell redline was.”
And this is where things began to go pear-shaped. Lago was so ticked with the counter-rotating rev-counter that he said he would like to “instantly disqualify this vehicle for not having an actual redline. When you approach redline, the digital gear display turns red, but that is no substitute for the real thing.”
On State Route 198, everyone was impressed with the 565 hp, the steering feel, the poise it displayed at a seven-tenths pace, and the unrelenting power of the carbon-ceramic brakes. “This is a car you drive with your fingertips, not your fists,” Seabaugh said. Yet a lack of lateral support from the seat, a penchant for an unstable rear end, and the much-ballyhooed seven-speed dogleg manual transmission were equally mentioned. Cammisa defended it. “A history of abuse and a lack of maintenance have cost it any chance of scoring well,” he said. “And that’s a crying shame.” We all struggled with the narrow-gated, softly sprung shifter. Pobst even made an extra lap to be sure he hadn’t missed a shift or hadn’t been in the wrong gear.
With seven all-new Astons coming, the V12 Vantage S is the last of its kind, a swan song for this line of Aston Martins. We can’t wait to witness the next era, but we’re satisfied and saddened at the close of this one. This is a lovely old car. It’s a very grand grand tourer, a long-legged oh-my-gawd-am-I-really-going-that-fast GT rather than an outright max-attack sports car with an R in the badge. Had this been Best Grand Touring Car, the V12 Vantage S would’ve been at the top of the list. — Chris Walton
Lap Time: 01:41.77 – Best Practices
Lug torque: NOTE: Two stage, 60 lb-ft to 133 lb-ft
Doorpost cold pressures (f/r): 36/36 psi
MRLS hot tire pressures (f/r): 36/36 psi
Acceleration settings/procedure:
ESC off, second-gear
Rev to 3,500 rpm
Dump the clutch, don’t botch the 2-3 shift
Figure-eight settings/procedure: Sport mode, ESC off
MRLS settings: Sport mode, ESC off
2017 Aston Martin V12 Vantage S
BASE PRICE
$202,820
PRICE AS TESTED
$211,910
VEHICLE LAYOUT
Front-engine, RWD, 2-pass, 2-door hatch
ENGINE
5.9L/565-hp/457-lb-ft DOHC 48-valve V-12
TRANSMISSION
7-speed manual
CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST)
3,677 lb (53/47%)
WHEELBASE
102.4 in
LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT
172.6 x 73.4 x 49.2 in
0-60 MPH
4.4 sec
QUARTER MILE
12.5 sec @ 121.6 mph
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH
114 ft
0-100-0 MPH
13.3 sec
LATERAL ACCELERATION
0.97 g (avg)
MT FIGURE EIGHT
24.3 sec @ 0.83 g (avg)
2.2-MI ROAD COURSE LAP
101.77 sec
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON
12/18/14 mpg
ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY
281/187 kW-hrs/100 miles
CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB
1.37 lb/mile
POWER @ RPM
565 hp @ 6,750 rpm
TORQUE @ RPM
457 lb-ft @ 5,750 rpm
SUSPENSION F;R
Control arms, coil springs, adj shocks, anti-roll bar; multilink, coil springs, adj shocks, anti-roll bar
BRAKES, F;R
15.7-in vented, drilled, carbon-ceramic disc; 14.2-in vented, drilled, carbon-ceramic disc, ABS
11th Place: 2016 BMW M4 GTS
Water, Water Everywhere
Our inner 16-year-olds—brandishing their freshly printed driver’s licenses and ready to prowl the streets while listening to vulgar music—are smitten with the BMW M4 GTS.
The M4 GTS employs a titanium exhaust “silencer” with a distinct sound, and it’s 20 percent lighter than a stainless-steel muffler, but this car doesn’t do silent. It has a carbon-fiber rear spoiler seated atop glistening aluminum uprights. Acid Orange contrast coloring liberally coats the car, particularly on the forged alloy wheels. It has an extendable carbon-fiber front splitter (the leading edge is also dipped in orange), which has two positions to pick: scrapes-over-95-percent-of-things street or scrapes-over-everything track.
The exhaust sounds like a flatulent kazoo in a bathtub.
This M4 has also been weaponized for the diehard driver. Coil-over shock absorbers allow for mechanical adjustment of rebound and low- and high-speed compression. The Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires are 10mm wider all around than any M4 we’ve tested. The water-injection setup plumbed into the 493-hp, twin-turbo, 3.0-liter straight-six (68 more hp than standard) cools the intake air charge by as much as 80 degrees and is nourished by 1.3 gallons of distilled water housed beneath the trunk floor. The M4 GTS is supposed to thoroughly recalibrate what we think of BMW dynamics.
“Good thing this car looks so good,” Evans, one of our many in-house teenage boys at heart, said. “Otherwise I’d really be mad.” Mad. Hmm.
Cammisa elaborated: “Get in it, and you’ll be reminded of that 75-year-old former athlete. You can tell he’s still got the moves, still has that grace and strength that he’ll never lose, and yet he can’t keep up with the kids anymore. This is modern BMW.”
We were frustrated. Indignation was especially directed toward the electronic driver’s assists. “Stability control is ultra conservative,” Lago said. “It is not tuned for this power and capability. Even in M Dynamic mode, the stability control light blinks incessantly the entire way up the hill. This stability control pales in comparison to what you can get from Porsche and GM.” Electronics aside, Loh couldn’t stay engaged. “I was bored halfway up the hill,” he said. “I was bored 10 minutes into driving it on the street. Despite the rollcage and little bits of M/GTS trim, it doesn’t feel all that special.”
So we deactivated the traction and stability controls and clicked the suspension from street to smooth track for Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where Pobst laid down a 1:37.66.
Pobst’s proclamation: “The car is fast, fun, easy to drive, and really happy on the racetrack.”
We’d deem the Bimmer amply quick if it weren’t for two meddling ponycar kids. The heavier and less powerful Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE with a manual transmission still nips at the BMW’s best lap just 0.11 second behind. The heavier Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R with 526 hp and a manual is 1.55 seconds quicker and lives on a higher plane of enjoyment. The not-boring pony kids do awesome work on real streets and post appallingly similar performance numbers to the M4.
As a result, the GTS doesn’t drink to a Best Driver’s Car victory this year. Despite drowning in talent-enhancing features, it puts on a better show on the track than on the road. — Benson Kong
Lap Time: 01:37.66 – Best Practices
Lug torque: 90 lb-ft
Doorpost cold pressures (f/r): 35/30 psi
MRLS hot tire pressures (f/r): 33/35 psi
Acceleration settings/procedure:
Select Drive, ESC off, select SportPlus and third-level transmission setting
Brake, throttle to the floor (it’ll only rev to about 2,500 rpm)
Release brake (then it will rev to 6,000 rpm), the clutch will dump and leave you with a ton of wheel spin to manage with the throttle
Good luck
Figure-eight settings/procedure: Street suspension, ESC off
MRLS settings: Race suspension/splitter/wing, ESC off
2016 BMW M4 GTS
BASE PRICE
$135,195
PRICE AS TESTED
$135,195
VEHICLE LAYOUT
Front-engine, RWD, 2-pass, 2-door coupe
ENGINE
3.0L/493-hp/443-lb-ft twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve I-6
TRANSMISSION
7-speed twin-clutch auto.
CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST)
3,605 lb (53/47%)
WHEELBASE
110.7 in
LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT
184.6 x 73.6 x 54.4 in
0-60 MPH
3.8 sec
QUARTER MILE
12.1 sec @ 118.8 mph
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH
100 ft
0-100-0 MPH
12.5 sec
LATERAL ACCELERATION
1.07 g (avg)
MT FIGURE EIGHT
23.3 sec @ 0.88 g (avg)
2.2-MI ROAD COURSE LAP
97.66 sec
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON
16/23/19 mpg
ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY
211/147 kW-hrs/100 miles
CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB
1.05 lb/mile
POWER @ RPM
493 hp @ 6,250 rpm
TORQUE @ RPM
443 lb-ft @ 4,000 rpm
SUSPENSION F;R
Struts, coil springs, adj shocks, anti-roll bar; multilink, coil springs, adj shocks, bar
BRAKES, F;R
15.7-in vented, drilled, carbon-ceramic disc; 15.0-in vented, drilled, carbon-ceramic disc, ABS
10th Place: 2017 Nissan GT-R
Godzilla’s Back
For its ninth model year, the GT-R has been revised to make it a kinder, gentler Godzilla. The new interior is “a step up,” Loh said. “Screens are bigger and have crisper graphics, and materials are nicer. But it’s a pretty mild step up, one that doesn’t take the GT-R a level beyond.”
Other changes were far more noticeable. The carryover six-speed dual-clutch transmission wasn’t perfectly silent, but it didn’t make the constant gear-gnashing racket earlier cars did. Additional sound-deadening measures and a softer suspension conspired to make this a much more livable monster. “If there’s one thing the GT-R has lacked since its debut, its refinement,” Walton said. “This one didn’t crash on its suspension, knocking fillings lose, and the driveline and diffs weren’t always whining and clunking away. This GT-R displayed a fluidity the old ones didn’t.”
The GT-R has gone gray.
That’s all good news—but the GT-R’s raison d’être was always speed, not livability. And it’s still got the straight-line speed thing nailed, albeit somewhat diminished by heat and California’s 91-octane gas. As usual, the GT-R was much, much happier with a bottle of octane booster in the tank; it was the only contestant that regularly suffered indigestion on 91.
Thanks to narrow, hard bolsters, several editors felt they were sitting on top of the seats rather in them—and the GT-R’s driving position is much higher than many of the other competitors. Markus said that the big, heavy GT-R “has always felt like one of those cars that, where the laws of physics are concerned, resorts to large-scale technical bribery to work around them, whereas the McLaren merely exploits all the loopholes in them.”
This time, the bribery extends to body roll. Even with the adjustable suspension in its stiffest R setting, the GT-R was noticeably softer than previous versions. In corners, it settled into significant understeer—remedied by its otherworldly ability to explode forth in a neutral drift at full throttle. Aged or not, this all-wheel-drive system is still incredible in its ability to rocket out of corners.
On track, Pobst also noticed the softness, pointing out that he “used to be able to throw the thing into a corner, but this GT-R doesn’t like that at all; it gets too loose at turn-in.” He also noted mid-corner understeer and long brake-pedal travel. The former could be nixed with power, and the latter seemed to have no effect on braking distances, only Pobst’s confidence in the system.
The lap time speaks for itself—the GT-R was once king of the road, but it’s obvious that time has moved on.
And therein lies the problem with this Nissan, and indeed with any numbers car locked in time. Once the incredible numbers are no longer incredible, you’re left with the experience. In the case of the GT-R, that experience just isn’t as organic, thrilling, or cohesive as some of the other cars here. We’ll always love Godzilla, but like the rest of us, our monster has gone a bit soft in the last decade. — Jason Cammisa
Lap Time: 01:37.08 – Best Practices
Lug torque: 74 to 81 lb-ft
Tire pressures cold (f/r): 30/29 psi
MRLS hot tire pressures (f/r): 38/38 psi
Acceleration settings/procedure:
Transmission R, Dampers R (unless it’s too harsh), VDC R
Brake
Full throttle (for no longer than 3 seconds)
Release brake
Figure-eight settings/procedure: Transmission R, Dampers R, VDC off
MRLS settings: Transmission R, Dampers R, VDC off
2017 Nissan GT-R
BASE PRICE
$111,585
PRICE AS TESTED
$112,585
VEHICLE LAYOUT
Front-engine, AWD, 4-pass, 2-door coupe
ENGINE
3.8L/565-hp/467-lb-ft twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6
TRANSMISSION
6-speed twin-clutch auto.
CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST)
3,936 lb (55/45%)
WHEELBASE
109.4 in
LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT
185.4 x 74.6 x 53.9 in
0-60 MPH
2.9 sec
QUARTER MILE
11.2 sec @ 123.4 mph
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH
103 ft
0-100-0 MPH
11.3 sec
LATERAL ACCELERATION
0.98 g (avg)
MT FIGURE EIGHT
23.6 sec @ 0.79 g (avg)
2.2-MI ROAD COURSE LAP
97.08 sec
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON
16/22/18 mpg
ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY
211/153 kW-hrs/100 miles
CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB
1.06 lb/mile
POWER @ RPM
565 hp @ 6,800 rpm
TORQUE @ RPM
467 lb-ft @ 3,300 rpm
SUSPENSION F;R
Control arms, coil springs, adj shocks, anti-roll bar; multilink, coil springs, adj shocks, anti-roll bar
BRAKES, F;R
15.4-in vented, drilled disc; 15.0-in vented, drilled disc, ABS
9th Place: 2017 Jaguar F-Type SVR
Better-Behaved Bad-Boy Brit
2016 marked Jaguar’s third at bat with the F-Type. Its first, a 488-hp S-spec roadster, finished in fourth place in 2013 on account of iffy transmission logic and power oversteer that was mostly fun and mostly controllable but nonetheless excessive. The second, a 550-hp R-spec coupe, finished ninth in 2014 because the oversteer only got 62 hp worse.
We had high hopes that this year’s 575-hp SVR coupe might surge ahead in the rankings with all-wheel drive taming the tail-happiness, but from the first runs up State Route 198, Loh and others were scribbling in their notes: “Glad to be alive! Wants to enter every corner tail first.” Walton was particularly chagrined, as he’d pronounced such behavior tamed after the SVR’s launch.
It’s finally got ‘trustworthy’ and ‘fast’ in equal measures, putting its power down well without first scaring you.
But while fitting new tires for the track, we noted excessive play in the right rear toe-control link that allowed that wheel to contribute several degrees of unwanted steering in every turn. This explained the spooky secondary hip check we all felt. The Monterey, California, Jag dealer had the part, replaced it in 30 minutes, and exorcised this F-Type’s Drift King alter ego. “This is by far the best-handling Jaguar I’ve driven, and it catapults to one of my favorite cars in this test,” Pobst said. “A really satisfying car to drive on corner entry; power doesn’t seem to change the car’s balance a lot. It’s like I’m carving the friction circle.”
Editors largely agreed with MacKenzie, who said the F-Type doesn’t feel like an all-wheel-drive car. “Its steering remains fluid, linear, and marvelously uncorrupted by torque inputs into the front wheels,” he said. “Finally, an F-Type whose performance and handling genuinely deliver on the promise of the design.”
Our biggest other complaint with the F-Type is with the ZF 8HP eight-speed automatic. Several judges echoed MacKenzie’s comments: “The biggest letdown is the eight-speed automatic, which in both auto and manual modes always feels a beat behind the rest of the car. Feels unsophisticated compared with the other automatics here.” Pobst found fault with the Sport mode programming and felt the throttle mapping was a little too aggressive, Seabaugh felt the steering turn-in was a bit too eager, and Walton tired of the “trumpet exhaust note.”
Somehow, the two-seat F-Type SVR, which is 9.2 inches shorter than the 2+2 GT-R, weighs 44 pounds more than Godzilla. And sure, it feels super nimble for a two-ton car, but physics conspired against the SVR on the track, where its best lap time of 1:38.75 ranked 11th in this contest. We also had a “brakes overheating” warning illuminate after Pobst’s final hot lap. Still, Loh appreciated the SVR for what it is: “England’s take on an ACR or GT350R—coarse and hairy but more focused on thrills than straight-up performance.”
Had this SVR shown up in 2013 or 2014, it might have enjoyed a high podium finish. England’s ACR must instead settle for vanquishing the GT-R, M4 GTS, and V12 Vantage S. –– Frank Markus
Lap Time: 01:38.75 – Best Practices
Lug torque: 99.5 lb-ft
Doorpost cold pressures (f/r): 37/37 psi NOTE: For State Route 198 use 32/29 psi
MRLS hot tire pressures (f/r): 36/36 psi
Acceleration settings/procedure:
Select Dynamic mode
ESC off
Select Drive (not S)
Select first gear via steering paddle (will display as D1)
Brake
Full throttle
Release brake (allow auto upshift; i.e. do not use paddles)
Figure-eight settings/procedure: Dynamic mode, ESC off
MRLS Settings: Dynamic mode, ESC off
2017 Jaguar F-Type SVR
BASE PRICE
$126,945
PRICE AS TESTED
$147,945
VEHICLE LAYOUT
Front-engine, AWD, 2-pass, 2-door hatchback
ENGINE
5.0L/575-hp/516-lb-ft supercharged DOHC 32-valve V-8
TRANSMISSION
8-speed automatic
CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST)
3,980 lb (54/46%)
WHEELBASE
103.2 in
LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT
176.2 x 75.7 x 51.6 in
0-60 MPH
3.3 sec
QUARTER MILE
11.5 sec @ 122.7 mph
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH
113 ft
0-100-0 MPH
12.2 sec
LATERAL ACCELERATION
0.96 g (avg)
MT FIGURE EIGHT
24.0 sec @ 0.87 g (avg)
2.2-MI ROAD COURSE LAP
98.75 sec
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON
15/23/18 mpg
ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY
225/147 kW-hrs/100 miles
CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB
1.09 lb/mile
POWER @ RPM
575 hp @ 6,500 rpm
TORQUE @ RPM
516 lb-ft @ 3,500 rpm
SUSPENSION F;R
Control arms, coil springs, adj shocks, anti-roll bar; multilink, coil springs, adj shocks, anti-roll bar
BRAKES, F;R
15.7-in vented, drilled, carbon-ceramic disc; 15.0-in vented, drilled, carbon-ceramic disc, ABS
8th Place: 2017 Acura NSX
Proof There’s More To A Supercar Than Super Technology
Perhaps no car in this year’s Best Driver’s Car lineup piqued more interest than the new Acura NSX. A hybrid powertrain with three electric motors. Active all-wheel drive with torque vectoring. Nine-speed dual-clutch transmission. More than 25 years after