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Road Test: Comparison Test
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2001-2002 Sport Coupe Comparison Test
Chariots of Youth
By
Brent Romans, Senior Automotive Editor
Date posted: 11-20-2001
Between surfing the Web for the latest Star Wars Attack of the Clones rumors (Dear
Mr. Lucas: please have Jar-Jar die in the first scene. Thanx) and getting Orange
Mango Zoom smoothies from the local Jamba Juice, we somehow manage to test hundreds
of cars per year. Some are absolute snoozers, like minivans. Others are high-powered
machines capable of breaking speed limits and the occasional sound barrier. Somewhere
in the middle lie sport coupes.
The cars in this comparison test might not be as thrilling as Porsche 911s or
Corvette Z06s, but they do represent performance for the real-world car enthusiast.
To us, a sport coupe should provide the following:
- A fun-to-drive disposition. As their name indicates, sport coupes should
have a sporty element to them. This means lively handling and peppy acceleration.
Otherwise, we'd have a Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the test.
- Attractive styling. People buy these cars to get noticed. Cute is fine.
Aggressive is fine. Edgy is fine. Bland is not.
- Practicality. Unlike sports cars, sport coupes are used as daily drivers.
They should have a decent interior, useful controls and storage, and a ride
quality that isn't abusive.
- Good value. Sport coupes should offer maximum bang for the buck.
We created a list of sport coupes consumers usually cross-shop and ended up with
six cars from America, Europe and Japan. These were the Acura RSX Type-S, Honda
Prelude SH, Mercury Cougar V6, Mitsubishi Eclipse GT, Toyota Celica GT-S and Volkswagen
GTI GLS 1.8T.
We should clarify that while the title of this test is "Sport Coupe," most of
the vehicles are actually hatchback designs. Of the six, only the Prelude is a
sport coupe in the strictest sense of the word.
We also included the Chevrolet Camaro Z28 and Ford Mustang Bullitt GT for an indirect
comparison. Heralding from the golden age of muscle cars with their brawny rear-drive
V8s and low-tech suspensions, these cars provided an interesting backdrop to today's
more modern and sophisticated machines.
As with other comparison tests we conduct, we assigned a crack team of Edmunds.com
editors to determine which car we think is the best. We evaluated each car based
on price, feature content, performance, a 20-point evaluation and subjective ratings
of which cars our editors would put in their own garages as well as which they
would recommend to others.
Over the course of two weeks, our editors racked up hundreds of miles and got
intimately familiar with each vehicle. In addition to our normal test loops on
public roads, we also booked time at Willow Springs International Motorsports
Park, a road course located about an hour's drive north of Los Angeles. Using
the smaller and more technical 1.5-mile Streets of Willow track, we were able
to further push the performance envelope of each vehicle in a safe, controlled
environment.
So, enough blabbing. Read on to learn the good, bad and ugly details about each
car. We also recommend checking out our supplementary video coverage to see these
entertaining coupes in action. Enjoy!
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