Mountain Road: A Challenge? An Experience? Both?

My GTI had lately been feeling betrayed transporting people over lazy, monotonous freeways. After all, this is not what a thoroughbred German hot-hatch is born to do! To its credit nevertheless, it has been doing an absolutely marvelous job of being a highway cruiser. Not that I wanted to be branded an evil producer who denies that dose of creativity to his director. I simply was lacking in confidence and company.

60 miles of unrelenting tarmac, cutting through the Diablo mountain range overlooking Silicon valley. That to an enthusiast is pure bliss, and to my car, something it had always yearned for! Mt. Hamilton Road - San Antonio Valley Road - Mines Road: this trio of back roads represents the best that California has to offer. The day starts with a tingling appetizer of a tortuous climb to Mt. Hamilton, followed by a sumptuous helping of sharp curves dropping to San Antonio valley in the main course. For dessert, Mines Road lays down a flurry of exquisite sweeping corners! What better can a connoisseur ask for?

The map

Hairpin with mid-corner elevation

Mt. Hamilton Road is the only way to reach the famous Lick Observatory. This popularity unfortunately attracts a good number of tourists. Many of them are lazy drivers who simply come to enjoy the sun. The road is also filled with bicycles and motorbikes which need to be dealt with good care. All these can make your climb much slower than you would want to. However, the sheer climb makes up for all the shortcomings! There are hairpin bends with mid-corner elevation changes. Attack them in 2nd gear and blast out in 3rd leading generally into a sweeping corner. Most of the road can be dealt with staying in 2nd and 3rd gears. However, consider novice drivers in front of you who can suddenly stop out of fear of oncoming traffic. The climb is abundantly studded with breathtaking views, especially on corners which seem to drop into nothingness! Its more than worth making a stop at the lick observatory. However, that is a topic for a different discussion.

Descent starts

Post Mt. Hamilton starts the San Antonio Road which is my favorite among the three. It is a little less winding than Hamilton road and I got a chance to open up the throttle. The turbocharger helps at this height and doles out torque in abundance! As the road opens up, it greets you with a series of esses which can be tackled staying in the 3rd gear. There are those tantalizing short straights which poke you to floor the gas. But as soon as you hit fourth gear, you are about to enter another corner forcing you to shift down. This stretch keeps you busy (read, entertained) all through. After a few miles, begins the sharp descent into San Antonio valley. This takes the form of hairpin bends dropping height like sand flowing out of your tight fist! If you want to take them fast you have to be pretty careful here. I was trying to brake into them and then blast out, but that deprived me of some much needed grunt at corner exit. As I figured out, it is better to enter in 2nd, hold it till the apex and then accelerate out while shifting up. Here, you have to be careful against torque steer, which shows up in oodles in my hot hatch. There is a narrow single lane bridge which allows traffic in only one direction. Needs special attention!

A fast ess (S) curve

As you approach sea level, the road starts opening up considerably. This is Mines Road. Here I suddenly remembered that there were 3 more gears in my kitty! This is the very reason I love this trio of roads. It gives you an wholesome experience of driving pleasure! There are stretches where I could climb upto the 90mph mark in fifth gear. That reminds me that this road along with the San Antonio is hardly used by casual travelers because actually there is no reason to. Coming back to point, it is not only about straights here. There are "zero-brake" sweeping curves and fast esses which are a delight to attack in the 4th gear. Centerline is missing in a lot of places on the road allowing you to be more creative with your line while dealing with the esses.

I for one cannot recollect the number of times I patted the steering wheel after coming out of the those tight corners. It might lack the road feel of the now archaic hydraulic system, but is precise, direct and sweetly weighted with speed. I could place the nose exactly where I wanted to and cut through the tightest corners with confidence! While I was at it, the hugely bolstered sports seats held me in place. The perfectly balanced chassis coupled with the car's limited slip-differential, all worked in tandem to orchestrate 3 hours of symphony. Today, I felt I was more connected to my car. The car came out smiling at the end of it. I could hear it say "I love you too!".

An aerial view

Acknowledgement:

Many thanks to lateralg.org for providing invaluable information about these roads. Hope to be able to hit all the the wonderful roads described in it!

2013 Civic Si vs 2013 VW GTI

Here is the promised comparo. I would start with a clarification that I tested only 2-door coupes. 4-door sedans are just too boring for me!

Civic Si (201 hp, 170lb/ft torque, 0-60 mph in 6.4 sec):

Feel:
The coupe has some sexy lines going down to the boot and the swooping shape strikes the eyes well. Car looks pretty good overall, especially with the new alloy wheels introduced by Honda. As I got into the driver seat, I found the cockpit quite roomy, while I was not impressed with the ride height which was a little too high (even at the lowest position). Rear visibility is hampered a little by those swooping C pillars and the smallish rear window.
The steering wheel is small and thick, falls very well on the hands. And the gear stalk is very well within reach. Dashboard quality has definitely improved from the last edition and that red-stitching throughout adds to the "zing" factor. However, it still cannot be termed "premium". It is however loaded with gizmos what with a back-up camera as a standard fitment! The rear seats are very coupe'ish and not the most spacious place to be in. The rear headroom is restrictive as well especially for tall people.

The Drive:
Having not driven a manual transmission for years, I was quite apprehensive about it. However, there is a conspicuous "easy" air about the Si and I started feeling at home quite soon. The shifter is a delight to use! It is the smoothest transmission I have driven till date. The shifts thunk into their slots like they have been eager all day long to reach home! The clutch feel is pretty good and predictable, without being too springy in action. The steering is quick, it could however do with a little more weight. I could not get an opportunity to take it through the canyons. But, the suspension setup says there will be some body roll in fast corners and yes, there is some nose-dive on hard braking.
The VTEC engine loves to be revved. It may not have the grunt that some of the competitors have, but keep it between 5K to 7K revs and it responds to throttle as if a baby dear has been let loose! The sheer eagerness of that engine to be abused and pushed puts a smile on your face. That is good, but also bad in certain aspects. It means you have to be pretty energetic in driving to have any fun. You will also need open and empty roads to allow the engine-speed climb that high. Lack of turbocharger means a lot of this grunt will be missed in high altitudes. Overall, a pretty responsive engine which makes a glorious noise, a brilliant gearbox and a quick steering to go with it. This car could easily win the "easiest to drive sports car in the world" contest!

Courtesy: autoweek.com

GTI (200 hp, 207 lb/ft torque, 0-60 mph in 6.4 sec):

Feel:
Wide, planted and raring-to-go! That's what is communicated across when you eye the GTI. The low profile, those huge fat 18-inch wheels ooze "hot"ness like nothing else. Not without reason, it is called the gold standard in hot hatch category. At the same time, it does not go over-the-top with its look like the Focus ST. Step in, and you will be welcomed with class-leading interior quality which is echelons above the competition. While Honda's red-stitching looks funky, this one is best termed "sublime". It is not as generously equipped with gizmos as the competition though.
The seats are made for the twisties as they hug you with deep bolstering and brilliant lumbar support. All round visibility is best in class. The flat-bottomed steering wheel is the most delicious thing to hold on to. Even the gear stalk oozes class very unlike a typical hot-hatch. Moving on to the rear seats, the GTI is most spacious coupe in the industry along with the Scion tC. Being hatchback helps here.

The Drive:
I stalled the GTI right out of the parking lot (and again into it). It is not an easy car to drive for a novice. The clutch is very sensitive and those tons of torque coming out of that fire-cracker of an engine add to the difficulty. Once you get going though, it throws you ahead with the gusto of a muscle car. One tap at the gas pedal and your head is pushed back into the seat. The gear shifts are very confident, though not as smooth as the Si's. Once you are done revelling in the outright burst of acceleration (the turbo kicks in at a measly 1800 rpm!), throw it into a corner and the car shines through! It sticks to the road as does a caterpillar to a leaf! The chassis and the suspension are tuned for hard driving and it stays like that always. The steering is an absolute work of art. It is quick and weighs in delightfully with increasing speed. Exiting a corner is helped by the instantaneous torque from the turbocharged engine. You have to be however careful of torque steer. My suggestion - never shift up entering into a corner.
The "out-of-the-world"ness of the GTI swept me off my feet. It teases you to drive faster and harder. It doesn't lose steam even in the 6th gear! All this while, the gorgeous exhaust note keeps you entertained. Seriously, who needs to turn on the music! To sum it up, a true-blue driver's car which envelops you with its charms. It may not be as simple as the Si or as powerful as the ST, but as Ron Doron of autobytel said, "this is as much fun as you can have in a FWD sports car". While doing all of this, it does not sacrifice passenger comfort and that says a lot for this little hot-hatch!

Epilogue:
Both of these cars are enjoyable marvels of machinery. They try their best to take on the garb of a daily car and perform surprisingly well! However, they are not as practical as the ubiquitous Camry/Accord or the Corolla/Civic. They definitely do not come under the "fit and forget" category. These are cars that demand your attention and lots of care. In return, they reward you with dollops of entertainment every time you step into them. With that thought, I close my first ever car review :)  

Falling in love..

Alas, they never made "writing and driving" legal! I feel I could write this best while at the "flat-bottomed" steering wheel of my darling GTI! Nevertheless, you guys have to make-do with the second best piece I could write or tolerate my going to jail.

As they say, you can never tell when a dream started. I have been in my dreamworld with these beautiful creations called "cars" since I don't know when! Those of you who have read my last blog-post would very well be aware of the recent turmoil that had been brewing in my mind. I had to choose one from among the very things I love most! I had to find sense in my dreamland and that seemed quite an uphill task! Yes, I had let my heart do the groundwork and quite predictably it came out with a beautiful list. A list of such desirable cars, that I wouldn't hesitate a second before committing adultery! Some of them were too cute to ignore, others had "hot" written all over! Only if heart ruled the world, I would have all of them for me!

This is when the significance of another faculty in my body dawned upon me, goes by the name "brain". God did not create it out of whim after all! As soon as my brain was summoned to service, that smirk on some cars became very apparent. The smirk which said "i will keep you happy, but do not expect any purpose out of  me!". These are cars which titillate impulsive buyers initially; then pinch them very bad when anything other than pleasure is asked of them. That "other" might be some insignificant chore like stashing your grocery or giving your parents a short ride. But the very inability to do these things in spite of having your own car is potentially more depression inducing than your dog's death. So, those cars were kicked out with all due respect.

Courtesy: Sujay Sarkhel

I was left with cars which were pretty equal on paper. This was as far as the brain could forge. It was time for heart to take over again! These cars deserve to be named here: Ford Focus ST, Honda Civic Si and the VW GTI. All of them capable sports cars, with the rare ability to frequently don the very important role of a daily car. The first one was ruled out pretty quickly when I saw it together with a GTI in my office parking lot. The ST does have a boy-racer look which screams "sports". But there is something about the understated and gorgeous lines of the GTI which took my heart away. It looked innately more polished and soulful, something which would live on through years. Now I was left with the Si and GTI. The day of test-drive arrived and I let my heart do the rest. Read on.

PS:
You know why I got so late writing this post? I was on honeymoon :)