You sure don't have to get that label for just picking on the GTR. At least the GTR advertises what it is going to be like before you ever touch the car. But a lot of the sporting sedans are supposed to still be livable and they flat aren't in the real world. My 2GS430 came with a suspension that I consider an abomination that was really unsafe. I got it handle where I thought it should with some bars and shocks but almost anything I did to improve handling really degraded the ride. BMW used to be magical in their ability to combine ride and handling but whether it is the Ring or not, they have gotten progressively more harsh.

Walter Rohrl would be one of the first to tell you that a cars suspension is of no use whatsoever if the tires are not in contact with the road. A stiff suspension is far too easily upset by the road surfaces we have to contend with in the real world. But then you get Larry, Moe, and Curly on Top Gear doing their supposed testing on a runway and make all sorts of wonderful proclamations about the handling, almost always coupled with their desire to impress the bejeezus out of you by demonstrating their ability to turn tires into smoke. Burn up your tires on the beginning of a lap on the old Nurburgring and you had a long time to think about how stupid you are. Been there, done that.

 

It's a better benchmark than 0-60 or quarter mile times.

 

Some good points, RON. That is one of the reasons why European-spec cars often get harsher suspensions and tires than their American-market brothers. Engineers know that roads in America are, in general, rougher, more deteriorated, and more pothole-strewn than in Europe, particularly in the cities of the Northeast and the Snow-Belt regions.

BMW is STILL, though, at least in my book, the world's best automaker for steering feel and chassis engineering, though I thought the Mercedes E63 AMG I reviewed was close. As you note, BMW can combine ride, steering, and handling like no other. Yes, some of their vehicles, like the X3 and M3, have fairly stiff rides, but their handling level MORE than compensates for the stiffness. If you have ever driven a Mitsubishi Evo, for instance (I have), sure, it handles great, but an Evo suspension is SO stiff and noisy over bumps it will make even an M3 feel like a Town Car in comparison. Same with the new Lexus IS-F....good handling, but an excessively stiff ride as the trade-off. BMW, through superb chassis design, manages to avoid much of the traditional ride/handling trade-offs.

 

"the entire life of a vehicle can be simulated by just a few weeks on the ring"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTBDnvTQH6U

 

You think America is bad, you should see some of the goat paths here, only the toll ways are a little bit decent.

 

Very true, and I will emphasise that I don't know how they are marketing over there. But I found that their only selling point is how fast it goes, which is fine if that is all you are looking for, but as the OP said a lot of cars are suffering due this competion just so they can say "we have the best figures for this class", incedently which was driven by a pro that handles a car like it was a part of his body.

 

The GTR is more comfortable than 911 turbo at least 996tt... I use to commute LA -OC couple times a week in a 996tt and they are not very comfortable for long distance/traffic...

 

I disagree completely. If the car performs well on a track or on the ring in this case it should perform well on the street. If the car has a working AC, sound dampening so the noise doesn't kill you, passes modern day emissions, has a radio and navigation, it is more than a street car too me.