[THE EVIL TW1N]

Originally Posted by wjones14

I would say this: The Camaro arguably has stickier and wider tires than the Mustang GT w/track pack, so how do you explain that the Mustang put up better skidpad and slalom numbers in Road & Track's test?

You're talking about hypothetical situations, and yet we have black and white numbers in front of our eyes, yet you are discounting them any way you can.

And I'll tell you why the road course doesn't tell you everything about a car's handling. As you said, the Miata is a fine handling car, no one really argues that. However, in the last 3 years at Car and Driver's annual "Lightning Lap" competition at the 4.2 mile Virginia International Raceway road course, some 50+ cars have been tested, and guess which one came in dead last for lap time? Yep, the Mazda MX5. It lapped the track at 3:29.3, which is almost 3 seconds slower than the next slowest car, a Volvo C30. The Honda Civic Si beat it by over 4 seconds. The Solstice (GXP version) was quite a bit better, lapping at 3:15.7, but I would say that is largely due to a 90hp advantage over the MX5, and not strictly due to better handling. Both the Mazda and the Solstice got smoked by a Cobalt SS turbo, btw, which lapped the track in 3:13.0.

So if a road course is the true test of handling (like you say), then the Mazda MX5 is the worst car out of 50 cars tested in Car and Driver's annual test... while at the other end of the handling scale, a Shelby GT500 absolutely crushes the Miata, lapping at 3:05.9.

GOOD POINT!