This is the third of four behind-the-scenes looks at our 2012 10Best Cars competition; you can read the rest of the posts here. Don’t forget to come back next Tuesday, December 6, to see the full list of this year’s winners.
A steady drizzle greets us as we begin the third day. Driving in the rain isn’t much fun, and it makes evaluating the higher-horsepower cars slightly more difficult, since we have to be more cautious when approaching their limits. (Coffee and doughnut update, because it’s seriously important: Joe was on time, but we were woefully short on cake doughnuts.)
We stand under the eaves of the cabin HQ, watching the lot where we park the 10Best fleet slowly morph from packed dirt to slippery mud. Car after car departs for test loops, and every one returns with a fine coating of brown paste from beltline to rocker. The compact hatchbacks get especially nailed, as the low-pressure area behind their square tails sucks up road grime and deposits it on the rear window. Good thing they have rear wipers.
We mention the small hatches in particular because they received the most attention this day; we’re all impressed by how interesting and genuinely enjoyable many of them have become. Over a lunch of sandwiches trucked in from a local deli, we discuss the highly impressive Ford Focus and Chevrolet Sonic five-doors. “Compared to the Aveo, the Sonic is a quantum leap, and it’s genuinely good on its own merits,” one of us says. Good enough to move the original hot hatch, VW’s GTI, off the list? Maybe, maybe not.
In the afternoon, once the school buses roll out and the locals start arriving home from work, we break for a little lock and load. There’s a firing range on the grounds of our encampment and, following a tradition established by our late friend and original master road warrior, André Idzikowski, we fire off a few hundred rounds. There’s no better way to relieve the tension than to atomize a fake beaver and perforate a few targets. As the smoke clears from the muzzles, conversation settles on the marvelous turns we all took over the past three days in the BMW 1-series M coupe and Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG coupe. The former impresses with its razor-edged focus, the latter with its sledgehammer brutality. They’re limited-run showroom candy, though—can we justify either a spot on the list?
Day 3 Standouts: Audi A6, Chevrolet Sonic hatchback, Infiniti M35h, Porsche Boxster
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