He's is obviously unhappy with Ferrari and is venting his anger, ergo its extremely biased (i.e only one side of the story given)
Chris Harris Slaps Ferrari on Jalopnik
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He's is obviously unhappy with Ferrari and is venting his anger, ergo its extremely biased (i.e only one side of the story given)
MX-5 comments were hilarious and good to see someone standing up to the Roman Legion of MX-5 fans. No doubt it is a good car but far too many people seem to look upon it like a demi-god.
Loving an MX-5 is a bit like loving scientology......
Runs!
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He must be incredibly confident about his claims, because Ferrari's libel lawyers could have a field day with that... Jalopnik has massive balls for running it.
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Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest! Especially given Ferrari's F1 cheating!
<3 Chris Harris though.
<3 Chris Harris though.
Some valid points he makes though. Driving position is fine but if you are tall (i'm 6'1") it does mean you can never get low enough or far enough back so I can see his point even though he is small. Pedals are also far from perfect when it comes to heel toe, the side swipe technique is not really possible in driving shoes in my wifes car, though odly is fine in my race car.
His point about modern tyres is also right. In the dry getting the rear end to do anything is pretty hard, it's simply so well stuck and even in the wet the rear end doesn't really do much. Still moves around a lot though and the wider tyres tend to mean it tramlines more than I remember in the newer car. His point about lack of power is also spot on. The car needs more ooomph and put simply it's slow.
Having said all this when on a nice country blat with the roof down it is epic fun. The brakes are up there with the best, simply bags of feel and stops brilliantly. The steering is really good too, but I think over sensitive, something Chris Franklin agreed with me on when he set it up. Took some getting used to that and always takes me a few miles to get use to it. Gearbox is average, notchy when cold but never really as smooth as some, S2000 kicks it in the tuds on this front.
I can see what he is saying, but I think he goes a bit too far with suggesting it's boring and is being a bit 'Clarkson' of late......one can perhaps see why though. Top Gear in the next 18 months. You heard it hear first....
The editor of EVO has already fallen out with Ferrari (reported in Ed speak in issue 151), something or other about using a customer's car. They've also had difficulty in getting the cars they want for some of the group tests and received flack when a carefully prepared car has been beaten by a standard press fleet Porsche.
Ah ok, so this should be seen more in the light of him spinning the company line rather than a renegade rant. That makes more sense.
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Got no beef with the ferrari stuff. I have *some* beef with the MX5 stuff as you might imagine 
I don't think there is another car out there I could by for under 2k, drive 3000 miles through europe, rag on a track day the following week, and then commute 100 miles a day in to work. Without it breaking down, without it needing expensive parts, and still always be a good laugh. On it's stock tires, I have to rag it silly to slide it in the dry, but I can do it if I want, and I like that.
I've driven one on track, I've driven an exige on track, I've driven a track prepped mx5 on track too. They aren't the same of course, but I think there's a common driver focused feel to them. I accept his points, I just think once you factor the money/value aspect into it, there's nothing as fun/sporty anywhere near the price of a half decent mk1
Anyway, predictable owner defends his own car spiel over
I don't think there is another car out there I could by for under 2k, drive 3000 miles through europe, rag on a track day the following week, and then commute 100 miles a day in to work. Without it breaking down, without it needing expensive parts, and still always be a good laugh. On it's stock tires, I have to rag it silly to slide it in the dry, but I can do it if I want, and I like that.
I've driven one on track, I've driven an exige on track, I've driven a track prepped mx5 on track too. They aren't the same of course, but I think there's a common driver focused feel to them. I accept his points, I just think once you factor the money/value aspect into it, there's nothing as fun/sporty anywhere near the price of a half decent mk1
Anyway, predictable owner defends his own car spiel over
Autocar had a very similar issue with their recent 'Best handling car' feature. Ferrari insisted on bringing two cars to the track day where they tweaked the car to run the fastest time.
The 458 eventually did get the fastest time, but the author wrote that it was a hollow victory (unless they offered this service to every owner!).
The 458 eventually did get the fastest time, but the author wrote that it was a hollow victory (unless they offered this service to every owner!).
Exactly. It is a car for the masses and that shows in the sales figures.
Harris knows that and banging on about how it doesn't tickle his "dab of oppo" fancy is hardly surprising because the mass consumer market doesn't want a car like that and that particular niche is fulfilled by the likes of Lotus with cars like the Elise.
He knows that full well which makes the whole speel pointless with the only possible outcome to get his name out there.
Just to confirm....... We're talking about THIS Chris Harris... Right?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTurbScHcqY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTurbScHcqY