Car and Driver - USA (2019-10)

Sic your dogs on us at: [email protected] or join: backfires.caranddriver.com OCT/2019. CAR AND DRIVER. 7

AMERICAN HIGH

I’m glad you put a

Camaro and Mustang

on your July cover so

all the whiners will quit

bitching about a truck

on the cover!

—Bob Dinkins

Olathe, KS

Keep up the good

work! Love those

drone images!

—Joe Strapac

Bellflower, CA

Wow. Great cover for

the Fourth of July,

themed with red,

white, and blue, plus

two iconic American

muscle cars in blue

and red, the Mustang

GT and Camaro SS.

It would be great

to see a follow-up to

the cover story “Take

Me Home, Country

Roads” with both cars

fitted with 10-speed

automatics.

—Andrew J. Sultan

Austin, TX

SUP, Y’ALL?

Your test of the new

Toyota Supra [“Shake

Your Rump,” July

2019] shows that it

performs well, but

geez, that is one ugly

little bridge troll.

—Ron Cline

Salinas, CA

With the possible

exception of the

Pontiac Aztek, the

new Supra is the

ugliest car I’ve ever

seen. The rear is

creased, rumpled,

pinched, and vented.

The front reminds

me of an anteater or

maybe a catfish.

—John Wilson

Acton, MA

I look at the picture

of the interior of the

Supra and I think,

“Surely Toyota’s

designers could

have come up with a

better-looking interior

than the one from

BMW.” Then I look at

the exterior and say,

“Nah, they probably

couldn’t.”

—Richard Potter

Seattle, WA

What is it with the

Japanese? They sure

know how to screw

up a great design.

The iconic 240Z

evolved into a shape-

less lump; the Civic Si

grew two big assholes;

and likewise the new

Supra is ass-ugly,

never mind its nose.

I recently attended a

Porsche Track Experi-

ence at Barber Motor-

sports Park. What an

incredible day spent

driving the 911 GTS,

911 Turbo S, and

Cayman GTS. At the

end of it, I was smiling

and tired as I climbed

into my naturally aspi-

rated Cayman S for

the drive home. Now

I know why so many

people have trashed

the sound coming

from the new Cayman.

I’ll be looking at the

Supra when it arrives.

I’ll miss my six-speed

manual but will trade

that for a six-cylinder’s

sound any day.

—Perry Hudson

Alabaster, AL

I am a little confused

with your spider graph

as it relates to the

Ford Mustang GT350.

It shows that car’s

roadholding at 1.00 g,

but on page 79, you

report 1.02 g’s for the

2017 model and 1.

g’s for the 2019.

Previously, your

January 2017 issue

reported 0.98 g. And

in February 2019, your

long-termer reported

1.02 g’s when new

and 1.03 g’s after

40,000 miles. Okay,

so maybe I don’t have

a life, but golly gee,

you’re killing me.

—Keith Adams

Santa Cruz, CA

We messed up. The

1.00-g skidpad of a

2017 was inadver-

tently inserted. For

2019, all GT350s got

a more aggressive

tire. On page 20, the

new GT350 achieved

1.08 g’s—Ed.

PONY TOYS

I enjoyed your

comparo in the

July issue [“Take

Me Home, Country

Roads”]. However,

I got a different

result than you. The

Mustang beats the

Backfires:

The joyful noise of the

commentariat, rebutted

sporadically by Ed.

leaped out of my old

sketchbook.

—T. Peters

Tenochtitlan, Mexico

Step away from the

pencils, Peters—Ed.

You describe the

Supra as offering two

drive modes: Normal

and Sport. However,

you mention what

appears to be a third,

called Traction mode,

as an intermediate

setting. Are there two

or three drive modes?

—Paul McWilliams

Overland Park, KS

The Normal and

Sport settings

control the steering

heft, transmission

shift strategy, and

throttle response.

Traction mode is an

intermediate mode

for the stability-

control system that

disables straight-

line traction control

but retains some

dynamic stability

control—Ed.

Now there is nothing

wrong with spending

a few fun hours with

ugly, but for all that

dough, why would you

bring it home?

—Marek Winiarz

Internet Land

I, for one, like the

styling. I see it as

evolutionary. It’s as if

Toyota’s GT concept