I could see a positive and a negative to this car as soon as I looked at it in the dealership. On the positive, it looks fantastic, I could hardly blame an everyday person for mistaking it for an Audi TT or another more powerful coupe. On the negative, it doesn't have a proper name. In a time where more and more cars are named a strange permutation of letters and numbers, this car seems to deserve a name like "Tigre" or "Panthere" rather than just a dull mix of letters seemingly chosen at random like on a lottery. "Right, first letter "R!", second letter, "C!", third letter "Z!" And that's this week's winning Big Three Lotto selection!"
But of course, neither style nor letters tell the full story of a car, so I bought me one and took it bone stock to the Ascari circuit to put it through its paces.
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![[IMG]](proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi29.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fc263%2FJackRyanWMU%2FAscariFullTrack_1_zpsee68b933.jpg&hash=6826ffe4f7abbca1f9fc00bfb551016d)
Granted, this is a car that the "I can gold the X2010 challenge at Goodwood on the first try with no aids, blindfolded, and with one hand tied behind my back" crowd won't find terribly exciting or interesting. But as a "mere mortal", I rather enjoyed flogging the ZRC (or was it the CRZ?) around the tight techincal corners of Ascari. The car behaved in a very predictable way and it was easy to tell when I was approaching its limits in the corners. Even when I missed a braking point or otherwise overcooked a corner, the car seemed to handle the mistake in stride and keep going on with a minimal amount of drama. My best lap time in a dozen laps was a 2:45.027 effort, but I'm sure both the car and myself personally are capable of a better time with practice.
Ultimately, the biggest fault I can find is not the car itself, but it's price. Ringing in at 42 grand, this car is hard to justify when a late '90s/early '00s Honda Civic Type R can do nearly everything it does for about half the price.
So, I consider the car nice enough to raise it above, "Beater" status; but certainly wouldn't classify it as "Sleeper". I have to declare it, "Throroughly Average" at this point so far.
Last edited: Dec 31, 2013