| Make/Model | Exterior | Interior | Corner | Acceleration | What I think? |
| 2004 Mini Cooper
S (6 speed manual) |
The S trim looks good with the twin center exhaust outlet and the hood scope. Tiny and easy to park. :D | Small as expected but still have useable backseat. I rather have the speedo mounted on the driver side than in the center. All the buttons are easily within reach. Doesn't seems to have enough pedal space for me to do a comfortable toe-heel, maybe more adjustment on the seats will fix this. | Quick steering! It changes direction really quick and per your command. It likes fast corners. | Acceleration is smooth, it didn't push me into the seat but it's decent and smooth. | Really like it. Plus it has some useful space dispite it's small size. The down side it needs to be serviced at mini dealer, which doesn't exist everywhere along with the $6000 dealer markup and a couple of months of wait (at the time of writing). |
| 2004 Infiniti G35
Coupe (5 speed automatic) |
I like how it looks more than the Nissan 350Z. Not the best looking car out there but its definitely looks good. | 2 (fold down) back seats make this a 2 + 2 coupe, along with a sun roof are to contribute to my liking of the G35C more than the 350Z. Everything else looks ok for a luxury coupe. I am not crazy about how the gauges looks. But I hated the foot parking brake. :( | I didn't push it too much but the extra weight (comparing to my S2000) can be felt around corner. | I hated the combo of throttle response and the automatic gear box. The car only *goes* a second of so after I stepped on the throttle. In the manual mode, the shift is slow. You can feel the acceleration when you stay in a gear and you burry your foot down the throttle. | Dispite the ugly parking brake, extra weight and bigger size, I still like it, not based on the automatic that I tested but a 6 speed stick that I imagine. :p It feels like a entry level luxury GT coupe and it should do the job well. |
| 2004 Subaru WRX
wagon (5 speed manual) |
I like the 2004 redesigned head and tail light with bigger hood scope. And the WRX wagon is one good looking wagon that I don't mind owning. I only wished that they will put a sunroof on it. | The interior is decent for it's price range. Good seats and steering wheel. Things seems to be at the right place. The pedal placement doesn't do it for me, I can never have a sure foot on the clutch pedal. I felt like I could only put half of my foot on it. | I like how a turbo + AWD put out of a corner. It simply inspire you to step on it out of a corner with confident. | Good acceleration with 3000 rpm or up. Below 3000 rpm, it feels like a NA 2.0L engine. | Overall I like it as a wagon with the extra cargo space. But I hated the manual gear box, it's hard to shift and not smooth (what can I say, I got spoiled by the world class S2000 gear box :p ). |
| 2004 Acura TSX (6 speed manual) |
Good looking. I really like how it looks. The USDM Accord looks a bit big for my taste and this TSX looks just right. | With the Navigation system, the interior got my vote. I simply like the design and layout of it. The leather seats are to be better than the one in Honda. The only thing I would change is the blue gauges, maybe into red and more aggressive? I still needed more time to search for a seat position to fit the pedal placement. | It feels good though with some body roll. It is expected since this is a sport sedan, not a sports car. It still like to go where I point the steering wheel. | It didn't push me into the seat but it's smooth and quite for a 4 cyl. Coming from a high rev-ing 2.0L 4 cyl engine, the extra low end torque of the 2.4L iVTEC engine is welcomed. Cruising @ 80mph on the freeway is effortless. | I soooo like it. :) The only thing stopping me to buy one is the lack of LSD for the 6 speed manual. The 6 speed manual has one of the smoothest gear change I have ever driven (along with the new Civic Si, Honda really knows how to make a good gear box.) I wished for a little more quite cabin while cruising but that's not too big of a deal. To make it perfect (for me :p ), put on a LSD, make the gauges look more aggressive, big brakes front and rear, pumping out a little more hp & tq and that's it. :) |