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Avenue of the Giants Weekend Run - Sat. March 23, 2024

Saturday will be a very full day of cruising from Novato up through the Avenue of the Giants and ending at Eel River Brewing in Fortuna. Sun...

Edmunds Track Tests The 2013 MINI Paceman Cooper S

You can get all the numbers from the tests in Edmunds' article by Mike Mcgrath.  Here are the "Tester's comments":
Acceleration: A little bit of a stumble off the line when using Drive and simply whacking the throttle. Responds well to some pedal overlap for the launch, and as is the new normal with turbo-4s, there's plenty of torque even in the lower rev range. Sport mode also seems to add a little pop, but I doubt it makes a difference at full throttle.

Braking: Little dive, zero wiggle or wander. Dead consistent from first to last stop with very little to no variance in pedal feedback or distance. Buzz- and vibration-free ABS action.

Slalom: Steering feels unnecessarily heavy, but it is precise and direct. These tires provide more grip than most drivers of this car will ever know. The stability system is properly calibrated to take full advantage of the tremendous tires; little to no intervention approaching the limit, which turns out to be very mild loss of grip at the front that can be easily swapped for mild slide at the rear with the proper throttle technique. Excellent balance.

Skid pad: Again, steering is too heavy for heavy sake, but it does load/unload with variations in grip. Good balance here, too, with mild understeer on the front tires. Exceed the tires' limits and the stability system gently closes the throttle, almost imperceptibly.