Having flown overnight into Frankfurt, we loaded up the EVO and Z and immediately headed south toward the Alps and the famed Stelvio Pass. Despite the jet lag and sleep deprivation, the efficiency of the autobahn highway system was immediately apparent. Germans are the most disciplined drivers in the world, only using the left lane for passing and always getting out of the way of faster-moving cars. As a result, we were able to drop the hammer and make some serious headway whenever driving in the deregulated (meaning no speed limit) sections of the autobahn. This is when we discovered just how long the 370Z's legs are. From 0-60 mph, the EVO is no doubt the quicker car, but during the high-speed runs on the autobahn the slippery Z simply walked away from the boxier X. Part of this was due to the 7-speed automatic gearbox in the Z (which we were initially very disappointed to see, but as we learned during the trip it's actually a very responsive transmission that takes surprisingly little fun out of the driving experience), but the Z's superior coefficient of drag and high-revving engine certainly contributed to its impressive high-speed stability and acceleration. Starting from our typical cruising speed of about 160 km/h, both cars would accelerate strongly to about 200 km/h, but from there the EVO seemed to hit an aerodynamic wall and also ran out of revs at around 245 km/h, whereas the Z just kept on pulling like a train all the way up to its top speed of more than 270 km/h (about 167 mph). Of course, the EVO was at a weight disadvantage given the extra passenger and trunk full of luggage, so from a practicality standpoint the Mitsubishi certainly shined brightly throughout the trip.
The EVO was a bit of a thirsty car. Luckily, we brought fuel canisters!
Once we crossed into Austria, the terrain began to change-rolling hills turned into mountains and straight multi-lane highways turned into twisty single-lane ribbons of asphalt. And tunnels, lots and lots of tunnels, some stretching as long as 16 km. These made for some great photo ops, but paled in comparison to the breathtaking vistas that awaited us on top of Stelvio Pass. To be honest, the drive up Stelvio isn't all that thrilling, the countless (OK, there are 48 on the north side we drove) severe 180-degree hairpin turns requiring extreme caution because it's both difficult to see if a vehicle is approaching from the opposite direction and because you're sharing this very narrow road with countless cyclists, motorcyclists as well as buses and RVs. But the view just kept getting better and better as we climbed toward the 9,045-foot peak of this ancient pass, originally built by the Roman Empire more than 1,000 years ago and paved in the 1820s by the Austrian Empire.