Re: Odysseys and performance

["Tony Sims" <simstony@domain.elided>]

> I think somehow the point continues to be wildly missed here.  Obviously,
if
> you took an old car and brought it up to modern standards - be it with
> sticky tires or suspension tuning or bigger brakes or whatever - it would
be
> more likely to "beat" a modern minivan in an autocross.  But that's not
the
> point of the article at all.
>
> The point of the article was not to show what an awesome autocrosser the
> Odessey is.  The whole point of the aricle was to compare performance cars
> of yesterday with a MINIVAN of today!  The point was specifically to show
> just how far technology has come!  The point was to show that technology -
> tire technology, brake technology, engine technology, suspension
> technology - has come so far that even a MINIVAN can beat an older Porsche
> and Jaguar.

If it makes you feel any better, Paul, I got your point.  Being a guy who
has almost always had some piece of vintage iron oxidizing away in the
garage, I have long been aware that some of my toys (in stock form, which
usually isn't how they remain) could likely be challenged or bested by my
daily driver Jetta.  I always find it interesting to find acceleration and
skidpad results from old car magazine tests, and compare them to average
modern sedans like an Accord or a Taurus.  And let's not even bother
comparing to a modern "sporty" car like a Mustang or a Camaro -- that's just
embarrassing.  They might not always be entertaining or interesting, but
many average modern cars can post acceleration and handling numbers that
better even the hottest performance cars of earlier days, and they can
probably do it with the A/C on and get better gas mileage.  Knowing this
doesn't reduce my joy one bit on back-road kamikaze runs in the GTV.

Tony
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