Two reviews of the GTO I read to compare it to the Mach-1. One said skidpad was 0.7. Another said 0.85? How could the difference be so drastic between two magazines? The Mach-1 still looks better due to cost/looks/performance.
-Rich
Probably the driver
Bias against Ford.
Same reason that the Auto section in the Wednesday Sun basically said Ford .. nothing new.. a passing comment about the newnamed Windstar... but Toyota.. Honda.. Mercedes... actually anything *BUT* Ford is noted. Oh but a new an improved cupholder in some Japanese rust-bucket now thats worth mentioning... Mustang got left off the list of sports cars.. 4 seats I guess.. but then they don't include it in the same group as the GTO.. although they'll test against it... shrug.. and GOD help us if they ever mention the Cobra!!
Testing methods. Some magazines are not good at testing cars properly.
Rich,
I believe the two reviews you're talking about are Motor Trend's and Car & Driver's recent issues.
Motor Trend recorded an .80 Car & Driver an .88
The differences could be attributable to a few things.
- Track surface. Skid pads can vary in grip.
- Tire wear. Perhaps one car had been run a little harder prior to skid pad testing thus causing the tires to be more worn.
- Tire inflation. C&D noted 33 psi front and 39 rear. Maybe Motor Trend forgot to check their car's inflation rates prior to hitting the skid pad.
Even still the differences in numbers seem pretty drastic. Usually magazine skid pad numbers are fairly close...within .02 or so.
Yes, I think the Mach 1 is really the GTO's main competitor. Both are normally-aspirated V8 coupes with similar performance numbers. So which one do you go for? The one with the much more modern chassis, better seats, brakes, or the other one that delivers the same bang for much fewer bucks.
I say take both for a good test drive before deciding...
Patrick '93 Cobra '83 LTD
If that's the case, go with the car and driver numbers. I've got an issue saved where C&D goes through their test method. They treat it like a proper engineering experiment.
Motor trend on the other hand is slip shod with their methods and every time I counted ads before reading the magazine I could predict who came out ahead in the tests.
ALthough I agree with your general assessment of the two magazines, it would not surprise me that the reason there are more ads for the winner is that once they have determined who won they let the winner know and it would seem likely that the winner would want to run more ads in an issue that carries a story about them winning.
----------------- Jim '88 LX 5.0 (now in car heaven) '89 LX 5.0 vert '99 GT 35th Anniversery Edition - Silver Mods to date - Relocated trunk release to drivers side, shortened throttle cable.
Brent,
lol Funny, but true.
I totally agree with you. C&D's numbers are much more accurate, and are not biased like Motor Trend's.
Patrick '93 Cobra '83 LTD
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