2002 Ultimate StreetCar Challenge: Driveability

Amidst all the cancer-inducing tire smoke and noxious tailpipe emissions, it's easy to forget we're in search of the ultimate street car. This means that contestants must also achieve a sublime balance of performance and driveability.

In first place was James Chen's Ferrari F360 Modena F1. From the start, the Italian exotic set new standards for daily driveability with a complete lack of discernable weakness. Just a few merits behind was Steve Mitchell's turbocharged Sentra SE. Exhibiting the kind of power and boost response that could coax a supercharger lover into changing his colors, the multi-colored sedan could be driven by your mother. Just make sure she's careful or she'll torque steer into a curb. Next in the lineup was Geoff Bennett's supercharged Ford Mustang, which has one of the most flexible powerbands this side of a nuclear submarine.

Tied with the Ford was Mani Jayasinghe's single-turbo Toyota Supra, which earned extra points for an amazingly comfortable ride quality and a leg-friendly clutch. However, points were deducted for excessive turbo lag. The 300ZX proved that two carefully matched twin turbos get up to speed faster. Weaknesses include a complete lack of driver's-side foot well room (making heel/toe shifting virtually impossible), a slightly troublesome twin plate clutch, and poor rearward visibility.

From here on, things got a little hard to handle. Tying for fifth place was the Type R and MR2, both of which were suffering from engine management maladies that could not be overlooked. The Acura would misfire and bog under certain throttle angles, while the Toyota would require constant blipping to keep its engine from dying during coast down. And the Skyline? Don't even think about making this your daily driver without attending a stress-management clinic. With what could only be described as a clutch from the darkest recesses of Hell, the GT-R handled stop-and-go traffic like a barracuda in a fishbowl.

Tying for the last place was none other than Tod's beautifully fabricated Datsun 510 and Michael McIntyre's insanely powerful twin-engined Tiburon. Both of which are completely out of their elements on public roads. The Datsun, with a cabin full of cacophonous clanks and rattles, couldn't be driven for more than 10 minutes without driver exhaustion and a tinnitus attack.

That leaves the Hyundai, which lost this competition while still in the parking lot. Just starting it up requires a bizarre and time-consuming ritual. Plus, the car is shifted with an awkwardly placed, nickel-sized knob, which could easily be mis-switched. Sometimes lighting up all four wheels at 70 mph doesn't make up for other problems.

Waitasec... did we just say that?