It probably didn’t hurt that I offered to take him riding tomorrow, and let him drive the new toy.
I hit the woods outside of Gates, and put on forty good break-in miles. Overall, I am extremely pleased with the car. I can’t wait to get this thing to central Oregon, so I can really stretch her legs. Some early notes:
1) This thing is absurdly fast, especially in the forest. I can’t even imagine what the turbo version must be like, but I think I made the right choice for the riding that we do. The clutching is just about perfect, and I see no need to spend any money to increase performance. I’ll spend my money increasing comfort, storage, and (of course) LIGHTS!
2) The car drifts nicely, but could really use a front sway bar. It comes with a rear sway bar, but it’s nowhere near stiff enough IMHO. Chopping the throttle mid-drift produces a rather abrupt kick-back response, and a good stiff pair of sway bars will remedy this. I’d prefer a little more level cornering attitude, as well. Consider it "on my list".
3) While the factory suspension settings are comfy, I’ll be making some adjustments to suit my driving style. As delivered, there is a whole lot of rearward transfer under acceleration. This works in the dunes, but not so well in the woods I can certainly drive around the issue, but I’d rather dial out as much transfer as possible. A driver who is inexperienced in dealing with this much transfer can get themselves into trouble fast, especially on hard-pack or gravel roads. "On my list".
