Best-Handling Car For Less Than $40,000: 370Z vs. Evo, Mustang GT, GTI, Miata, Mini JCW – Feature

Handling, in the simplest terms, can be defined as how a car responds to driver inputs and how it communicates feedback. Are the responses and feedback smooth? Do they inspire confidence? Does the car have insanely high limits? Does it approach those limits gradually? Feel connected? We take all this into consideration with every car we test. But rarely do we isolate each individual handling trait, tear it apart, and put it back together to the degree we’re about to here.

Last October, we selected seven cars to compete for the title of best-handling car for less than $100,000. This year, we decided to lower that price cap to put it within reach of more car enthusiasts, with a minimum of financial finagling or illegal activity required. All the cars here can be purchased, with all their performance-enhancing options (big brakes, sport packages, and summer tires, for example), for less than $40,000.

Our editors entered into a handling conclave, emerging with six finalists: Ford Mustang GT, Mazda MX-5 Miata, Mini John Cooper Works, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution MR, Nissan 370Z, and Volkswagen GTI—all cars that have impressed us with their dynamic competence.

At this point, you might be asking, Where’s the BMW? The omission of a Bavarian representative was not intentional. The next-generation 2012 3-series sedan goes on sale in February, and so it seemed silly to include a 2011 model that would be all but done by the time this issue’s ink dried. A suitable 328i coupe (which continues through the 2012 model year on the existing platform) or 128i were unavailable. A 135i with the M Sport package breaks the $40K cap.

The sweet-of-chassis Mazda RX-8 was also a non-starter. Sadly, 2011 is the final year for the rotary until further notice.

Four of the cars’ base prices are more than $30,000; two are less. There are two front-drivers, three rear-drivers, and one four-wheel-drive machine. It’s a motley crew of  body styles, and half of them (Miata, Mustang, and GTI) are reigning 10Best champs. Only the Nissan and the Mazda are sports cars from the ground up. The remaining four have more plebeian roots.

We once again called upon vehicle-behavior consultants Cayman Dynamics to assist us in the acquisition of empirical data. The company’s ability to systematically dissect a chassis and its subsystems goes far beyond our attention span, so we limited it to four critical tests [see here].

The sub-40 six were subjected to serious scrutiny. We spent two days bombing southeast Ohio’s roller coaster of Appalachian tarmac, followed by a full day of instrumented proving-grounds testing to find ­lateral acceleration, braking distances, and slalom velocity. We then capped off the inquiry with an extra-full day of lapping the 2.2-mile gem called Grattan Raceway Park to get full, unabridged impressions of each car’s limits and behaviors. Lap times were recorded and broken down into sectors for analysis but played no role in the finishing order.