Does James May Read AutoSpies? Why ARE We So Caught Up With Performance Figures?

performance is a part of the driving experience just as much as electronics, or soft leather seats.

For this same reason racing is a sport as old as the automobile itself and many of the best selling companies pried themselves in the victories of racing simultaneously bringing racing tech to the mass market.

uaw_lax says "...performance is a part of the driving experience..."

To a degree, yes. But I wonder how many drivers can feel the difference of driving a car that can be 3 seconds faster on The Ring, or 0.2 seconds quicker in 0-60 mph time, or 0.05 higher lateral Gs (in the hands of a skilled professional). This is the stuff of "specs," and many of us lust for these coveted numbers, with the difference being not *what* the driver feels, but *how* the driver feels while knowing his car has the "better numbers."

Yes but statistics on what a car can do should not be placed ahead of what the car feels like to drive. There are cars then can pull 1 G on a skid pad,there are cars that can break 3 seconds to 60 MPH. But not all of them feel the same reaching those statistics. I think what May is implying is that statistics alone do not make one better car then another. A Mercedes AMG63(in what ever version offered)will do near 4 seconds 0-60. Does that make it a better car then an V8 Audi R8. The answer has to be no. The R8 performs this task in the mid 4's plus it has fabulous handling.The Aston Martin Vantage V12 is not the best performer out there either. Why would you choose it over an AMG63. Because there are obvious fun to drive elements in the way this car feels that gives it an advantage over a AMG63. This in spite of the fact that it is no quicker then an AMG63. There was a recent publication
that compared the new Boxster Spider to a Ferrari F355 Spider. The Porsche had better handling number's but the jounalist chose the F355 Spider simply because the driving experience was more enjoyable then the Boxster Spider.The point is there can be so many reasons and so many examples of why one would choose 1 car over another. The people that use statistics only to base whether one car is better then another
are completely in the dark.

I wouldn't be surprised if James May spends half the day on the internet going over certain stuff (; and automotive sites now that he's accustomed himself to a computer on his wingback and Porsche pipe!

Bragging rights. We feel better about ourselves when we can put down others because our car does The Ring 1.2 seconds faster than the other guy's, when in the hands of a skilled racer. Just about any BMW handles great, but we lust for the M because it buys us instant street cred. Or at least we believe so. You see this a lot in motorcycling circles where guys buy the latest and greatest sports bike, and think they've just become Nicky Hayden.

Many "performance oriented" drivers don't draw the line between "good enough for me" and "good enough to impress others."

Buy what ya want. Be happy. I won't think any less of you, regardless if you drive a Lambo or a Focus. As long as it works for you, great. But that's just me :-)

I've always thought of this in the back of my mind as well.
This alone had me debating quite a while over a used E92 M3 vs a brand new 335i, despite the fact that I actually prefer the torquey tunned turbo engine (I've driven both). So I had to get myself passed the M Ego and realize that the 335i will be better off for me at this point in time (minus that extra street credit lol).

With that said, my 2011 335i M Sport should arrive next month :)

Get the "M". BMW 335 needs an LSD.

Not performance figures but feel. But what I've found is that cars that offer the feel that I'm looking for always fall into a certain performance figure. So figures are important and shouldn’t be questioned if a person is looking at the numbers. There’s nothing worse than non-enthusiast trying to tell an enthusiast how he/she should think.

Look at it this way. If I see a car that does 0-60 in 7 seconds I can come to the conclusion that that car will not offer the feel that I’m looking for.