Well it is pretty fundamental experience. It is difficult to get in, yes. The first thing you notice is the size of the steering wheel - 50's big and your leg has to bend slightly inboard to clear the wheel. The pedal box is tight - Heel and Toe happens naturally - you don't have room for anything else. The dead pedal is perfectly formed just to the right of the clutch. The gear lever is in the plane of the steering wheel about 3 inches to the right. I grouse unceasingly about uncomfortable cars - but I conform to this car to drive it - go figure. I have to hunker down to get behind the windscreen or I have look over it. The doors are cut down so that I can easily place my hand on the pavement. When you drive down the highway the underside of a semi trailer is definitely two feet above you. You could make that fast and furious lane change under the semi - A mistake however would be your last.
The car is not oh my god fast but is deceptively quick - lane changes happen instantaneously the low weight and low center of gravity put you where few cars fear to tread. The car is more than adequate to keep up with modern traffic but you are frighteningly small to everything - you are below the average mirror adjustment on any SUV. A SUV owner on a cell phone is a life and death hazard.
Ok - off the interstate and on to 2 lane - the car comes alive - it accelerates, turns like a go cart. When you do break it loose (the tires are 4.5" wide) it breaks the rear tires and swings out sweetly - lifting the throttle and the car comes back to neutral behavior. The weight balance is 50/50 front to back and on the track it encourages a full tail slide drift. You never feel that the car will bite
I have spun it several times to avoid a James Dean moment - but it takes an effort
For the midwesterners - The Courier comes alive at Road America after turn 6 into Hurry Downs, Braking hard in to 7 and full throttle through the Carousel into a full drift at the kink and carrying a tremendous momentum down into Canada corner .
I have kept many a better car at bay in this area (not that I was racing) - But through the horsepower consuming climb out of Canada - I might as well drum the steering wheel until I drop back down to turn 5. You could see why these cars were raced
In a TSD rally - the car is a surgical knife - 45 MPH through any public road and the effort is in driving 45 MPH - No need for complex calculations to keep you on speed track - the car will simply stay balanced and poised at any speed you request - However staying to the course requires different skills - not yet mastered.
Light weight and balanced power make for a good car - the closest modern car to the feel is the Lotus Elise
Our Honda S2000 is a great sports car - but the litheness and instantaneous of the Courier is missing.
More to come
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