[Wolfinwolfsclothing]

R&T held their 2015 Performance Car of the Year. Results are not suprising in the least bit. Glad to see Ferrari was willing to put the 458 Speciale against a GT3...just imagine what the GT3 RS will be like. Lambo and McLaren declined to send cars, but they wouldnt have overtaken the GT3 or 458 anyway.

WINNER: GT3

"So here's the brilliance of the Porsche GT3: Most of our staffers thought it was better around the Motown Mile than the Ferrari, and pretty much everybody thought it beat the Mustang six ways to Sunday as a street car.
Start with the way it looks: equal parts longhood 901 and Danny Ongais 934, grace and aggression in balance. Open the door, have a seat. You could drive across the country in this car and never feel resentful. There's a concert-quality stereo on the options list and three different seating options to fit your preferences. In the Hocking Hills, the GT3 demonstrated stratospheric cornering and braking limits while still managing to thrill the drivers who didn't reach for those limits. The tactile quality of the steering, the billet solidity of the brakes, the laugh that escapes everyone's lips the first time they run the tach to 9000 rpm on a two-lane: like dark chocolate, complex and satisfying.
In Ohio, the Porsche hinted at its raw speed, but around the Mile, it went from flirtatious to furious in the blink of an eye. If you want to drive it at seven-tenths, it will blast by the majority of track-day traffic while keeping you as secure as a child in his bedtime blanket. If you want to switch off the systems and reach for the edge of the tire, it will respond with pace and limits that approach those of an IMSA Cup racer.
Perhaps the truest measure of the Porsche's brilliance was this: Over the course of two days, I stood and watched 14 different drivers run 14 different cars around the Mile. I expected everybody to get the most out of the GTI, and pretty much everybody did. I expected many of the drivers to have challenges extracting the absolute best from the Viper, and that happened as well.

But there was one car that looked and sounded like it was on full boil no matter who was driving. One car that smoked by the starter's flag at full chat whether it was the old-hand racers or the new-blood writers behind the wheel. One car that gave its all, every time, to every driver.

Emotion and commotion, sense and sensibility; the Porsche 911 GT3 is the 2015 Performance Car of the Year."


Field included;

2015 Alfa Romeo 4C

2015 BMW M235i

2015 BMW M3

2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28

2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat

2015 Dodge Viper SRT TA

2014 Ferrari 458 Speciale

2015 Ford Mustang GT

2015 Jaguar F-Type R Coupe

2015 Lexus RC F

2015 Nissan GT-R

2015 Porsche 911

2015 Subaru WRX STI

2015 Volkswagen GTI

http://www.roadandtrack.com/features...ar-of-the-year

http://www.roadandtrack.com/features...the-year-award

[KingOfJericho]

Not too shocked by that one.

[fcman]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

Not too shocked by that one.

Yeah can't say I'm surprised. Porsche has always understood what a drivers car is supposed to be, a perfect balance of power and controllability. I think the M2 will be a strong contender next year or 2016, but BMW has really abandoned their roots with their muscle car-esque M3/4.

[Wolfinwolfsclothing]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

Not too shocked by that one.

Originally Posted by fcman

Yeah can't say I'm surprised. Porsche has always understood what a drivers car is supposed to be, a perfect balance of power and controllability. I think the M2 will be a strong contender next year or 2016, but BMW has really abandoned their roots with their muscle car-esque M3/4.

Agreed. GT3 and 458 were bound to be 1 and 2 respectively. Amazing that Porsche is that much better, at 1/2 the price, having 125 less hp and still isnt even the best GT3 we are going to see.

They did not have much good to say about the m4. Its tq makes it a handful to drive, its not easy to modulate and simply scared them. Years ago Id likely have put BMW in the maybe top 5 or 6 for driver's cars after Porsche, Ferrari, Lambo, and a couple other really great driver's car brands. Now, they have really fallen into the AMG category of years ago and AMG on the reverse has really started to make some great driver's car that IMO BMW doesnt hold acandle to.

The M2 will probably be a pretty good driver's car but feel it may suffer like the M3 does as the 1M did, very hard to modulate and very much a handful at the limit. In the end, I dont think it stands a chance against a counter punch in the Cayman GTS and certainly not against anything higher up.

[fecurtis]

What's funny is that a lot of people complain that each generation of the 911 "loses it's roots".

People claimed that the M3 lost it's roots once it ditched the 4 cylinder of the original just to give you guys perspective.

Not taking away from the GT3, they're great cars, just always think it's funny how people take progress and changes in technology over time as "losing it's roots".

[fcman]

Originally Posted by fecurtis

What's funny is that a lot of people complain that each generation of the 911 "loses it's roots".

People claimed that the M3 lost it's roots once it ditched the 4 cylinder of the original just to give you guys perspective.

Not taking away from the GT3, they're great cars, just always think it's funny how people take progress and changes in technology over time as "losing it's roots".

The issues with the M3 are very different from the issues with the 911. Only the 911 purists have a problem with new 911s because they want things like air cooled engines, but for 99% of people, they are almost always rated as the best drivers cars. Despite the complaints about technology, Porsche has never turned the 911 into anything other than a sports car.

The BMW has the same issue with purists, they hate the twin turbo and the fact that the 4 should be a 3 coupe. But, where the issue with the Porsches were limited to the purists whining over new technology, the BMWs aren't really winning over anyone looking for a drivers car. They've come too far away from being nimble, punchy sports coupes and become entry level grand tourers.

[F1Venom]

Of that list I'd have chosen the 458 Speciale, but the gt3 would've been a close second.

[Wolfinwolfsclothing]

Originally Posted by fcman

The issues with the M3 are very different from the issues with the 911. Only the 911 purists have a problem with new 911s because they want things like air cooled engines, but for 99% of people, they are almost always rated as the best drivers cars. Despite the complaints about technology, Porsche has never turned the 911 into anything other than a sports car.

The BMW has the same issue with purists, they hate the twin turbo and the fact that the 4 should be a 3 coupe. But, where the issue with the Porsches were limited to the purists whining over new technology, the BMWs aren't really winning over anyone looking for a drivers car. They've come too far away from being nimble, punchy sports coupes and become entry level grand tourers.

+1. The 911 is still the absolutel benchmark for any car maker and as for driver's car, you simply dont beat them amongst many other categories.

BMW has really IMO turned the M cars into AMGs of old. Gobs of tq that are really not good for much else than drifting and burnouts.

[hellrotm]

Originally Posted by F1Venom

Of that list I'd have chosen the 458 Speciale, but the gt3 would've been a close second.

Autocar chose the 458 Speciale over GT3. They always include last years winner (991 GT3) in the following years competition. Speciale took it down, as it should.


Autocar 2014 Best Driver's Car

The final scores:

1. Ferrari 458 Speciale – 16 points
2. Ariel Atom 3.5R – 19
3. Porsche 911 GT3 – 27
4. Porsche Cayman GTS – 33
5. McLaren 650S – 39
6. Chevrolet Corvette Stingray – 43
7. Renault Mégane RS 275 Trophy 54
8. BMW i8 – 64
9. BMW M4 – 78
9. Vauxhall VXR8 GTS – 78
11. Jaguar F-type R coupé – 80
12. Alfa Romeo 4C – 93



http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/ne...r-2014-verdict

[fecurtis]

Originally Posted by fcman

The issues with the M3 are very different from the issues with the 911. Only the 911 purists have a problem with new 911s because they want things like air cooled engines, but for 99% of people, they are almost always rated as the best drivers cars. Despite the complaints about technology, Porsche has never turned the 911 into anything other than a sports car.

The BMW has the same issue with purists, they hate the twin turbo and the fact that the 4 should be a 3 coupe. But, where the issue with the Porsches were limited to the purists whining over new technology, the BMWs aren't really winning over anyone looking for a drivers car. They've come too far away from being nimble, punchy sports coupes and become entry level grand tourers.

Fair point, especially when you look at M5's and M6's.

[Year's_End]

I couldn't agree more with this test. That GT3 is essentially perfection on wheels.

Also loved to see how the Mustang fared. This brought a tear to my eye. :')

Minority Report: Should the 2015 Mustang GT have been PCOTY?
A vocal minority shouted the Mustang GT's praises, very loudly.


This is just the second year for Road&Track’s Performance Car of the Year, but the broad and largely subjective range of criteria used to crown our prom queen of performance cars has already led to a level of squabbling and outright manipulative behavior among our staff that would have shocked Machiavelli himself. That’s the Italian Machiavelli, the author of The Prince. As opposed to Makavelli, also known as Tupac Shakur. Which is perhaps a more appropriate analogy, because when the process of casting the ballots for this year’s PCOTY began, it quickly devolved into the same kind of drama and contention that marked the infamous beef between 2Pac and Biggie Smalls.

This time, however, it wasn’t West Coast vs. East Coast, but rather America vs. Germany. In one corner, you had the 991-generation Porsche GT3. A master of all trades from the superslab to the Motown Mile, Porsche’s newest trackday tool had even its strongest detractors reluctantly admitting that it had the right stuff to take the PCOTY laurels. It’s hard to argue against a car that runs neck-and-neck with the far more focused Ferrari 458 Speciale around our airport course yet crawls through Michigan traffic like a Coupe de Ville? It isn’t even that expensive, at least not when compared to other cars that offer a similar level of capability.

Still, even in the face of such undoubted competence, there were whispers that the GT3 lacked a certain… something. A certain charm, a certain tossability, a certain joie de backroad. Okay, they weren’t whispers. They were shouts, delivered across a folding lunch table set up in a hangar of the Detroit City Airport. And the shouting was mostly in favor of the new-for-2015 Mustang GT 5.0.

It’s true that the big ponycar can’t stay within telescope distance of the Porsche around a track or down a twisty road. But PCOTY isn’t about the numbers. It’s about the ability of a car to involve you in the driving process, to make you a companion and ally in a compelling adventure—and in that respect, very few cars on the market today can touch the new Mustang.

To begin with, it’s got that engine. If your blood doesn’t heat up when you hear Ford’s Coyote five-liter, then you’re either dead or a member of a Subaru enthusiast’s forum. This is what the American V8 was always meant to be. Has there ever been an engine this thrilling, this deeply stirring, in an affordable production car? Hell no.

But last year’s Mustang had it too, so that can’t be the reason why the 2015 GT resonated so strongly among our seasoned crew. No, it’s more than just the engine. It’s also more than the new silhouette, although that too is a triumph, combining retro and modern with a deftness that its bloated, occasionally cartoonish competitors can’t approach. On the surface, the Mustang is supremely desirable, and if you never did anything with it besides drive it back and forth to work you’d be completely and totally happy with it.

Want to be even happier? Put the Mustang on a fast back road, such as the ones we used to separate the wheat from the chaff this year at PCOTY, and it comes alive like Peter Frampton clutching a triple-pickup Les Paul. All of a sudden the pony shrinks around you and it becomes possible to hustle it like it was an E36 BMW. The feedback through the steering, brakes, and shifter is just right, a testament to Ford’s willingness to steadily refine this platform and its component parts over the course of a decade. It could use more brakes, but that’s par for the course in a sub-$50,000 performance car. For a quick blast, however, they’re enough and you can trust the status reports you receive from the middle pedal.

In the context of a challenging two-lane, the Coyote motor’s wide rev range and low inertia becomes electrifying, allowing you to hold it against the 7000-rpm redline all the way to the next corner. Meanwhile the chassis is working with you in a way that you’d expect from an Euro sports sedan, allowing the rear to slide and the weight to shift but never letting things get too out of hand. Want to kick the tail out around a hairpin? The engine can do it and the chassis can catch it. Want to hit a complex series of off-camber turns and zero-gravity hills? No car of this sheer size and bulk has ever been this confidence-inspiring.

Suddenly, the Mustang can do things it could never do before. Yet the core competencies of the brand and the platform remain stronger than ever. It can still haul ass in a straight line, it can still turn heads at a cruise-in, it can still serve as a trustworthy companion across the Interstates. None of that’s changed. The changes are all in the things the Mustang didn’t like to do: handle narrow roads, fast roads, sharp hairpins, broken pavement.

In other words, Happy learned to putt.

The result is the best ponycar in history and a real challenge to the established German performance sedans. Think of it as a bigger, brasher, bolder E92 M3 and you’ll be on the right track. Should it have been PCOTY? Plenty of our staffers thought so. After all, the new GT3 is great, but how much greater is it than the old one? Put this 2015 Mustang GT on the PCOTY loop with the old model, though, and you’d see a Grand Canyon separating the two.

When the votes were tallied, the Porsche had it hands down. But at the end of that day, as we packed up our gear and prepared to leave the airport, there was a sprint for the Mustang’s door handle. Yes, the 911 GT3 is our PCOTY, and it richly deserves the honor. But there’s always a minority report.

http://www.roadandtrack.com/voices/m...ave-been-pcoty

Any my favorite excerpt from the OP's main article:

The damping: brilliant, letting the chassis move in a way that rewards and demonstrates enthusiasm without ever getting out of hand. The steering feel: leagues better than what pony cars traditionally have, capable of communicating minute differences in available grip without kickback or grittiness. It's BMW steering, the kind you don't get in a BMW anymore.