Car and Driver - USA (2020-04)

6 APRIL 2020 ~ CAR AND DRIVER

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January’s issue may be the

most boring you’ve ever pub-

lished, which, with my being

a subscriber since the ’70s,

is saying a lot. I looked at the

mailing label to see when my

subscription is up. Thank-

fully it’s over in February.

—John Butler

Glen Cove, NY

It’s an oversight to exclude

the Tesla Model 3 from the

10Best list. It’s a revolu-

tionary vehicle, the base

model is attainable by

many, and the Perform-

ance model is amazing

and offers class-leading

performance. It’s the first

cool affordable EV and

has unmatched features.

—Michael P. Durkin

World Wide Web

Tesla sent a very expensive

Model 3 Performance to

last year’s competition. Its

high price severely dimin-

ished its appeal. We liked it

enough to buy one for a

long-term test, but not

enough to loft it onto the

10Best list—Ed.

I feel the same way about

SUVs as I do about toasters.

Do I own one? Yes. Do I want

to read magazine articles

about them? No. Now if

you’ll excuse me, I have to

go back to yelling at the

squirrels in my backyard.

—Paul Miller

Lincolnshire, IL

As much as I love my manual-

transmission VW GTI, my

wife’s Model 3 has trans-

formed how I feel about the

automotive experience. From

one-pedal driving to playing

Cuphead with my daughter

until midnight, there is little I

don’t love about the Tesla

to ”round taillights.” But

what this really proves is

that we can’t win—Ed.

ACCORD REACHED

“The Sleeper” is a per-

fect summary of what an

Accord is all about and why

it remains a staple in auto-

motive culture [January

2020]. My favorite quote

is the last sentence: “The

Accord’s dynamic com-

petence is always lying in

wait for a discerning driver

to wake it.” Well done.

—Tyler Anderson

Arlington, TX

GLADI-HATER

I had the misfortune of

being forced to rent a Jeep

Gladiator [“Atypical Winner,”

January 2020]. It was the

only vehicle available at

the entire Atlanta airport.

Wonder why? It drove like

a grand piano with the lid

raised. Convertible, pickup,

off-roader—it was like a

cheap all-purpose knife: It

did nothing well. Maybe you

had the 10Best list mixed

up with the 10Worst.

—Tom Egan

Camp Hill, PA

BOUGHT AND SOLD

I understand the Kia Telluride

is a decent vehicle, but really

[“Caste Disrupter,” January

2020]? You must be getting

paid by Kia to brag and drool

all over this thing. I drove it

and just about every other

vehicle in this segment and

believe its competitors are

seat and an automatic, I

have exactly one choice:

the Honda Accord. Maybe

you still need 20 10Best.

—Carl McLaren

Haines City, FL

Try again. See the VW Golf

GTI and Jetta GLI—Ed.

It appears that with the

inclusion of a Jeep, a Ram,

and a BMW Z4 in a different

wrapper, I inadvertently

received your 10Best April

Fools’ list. Please forward

the actual list ASAP.

—Matt Nicholson

Satellite Beach, FL

BRIGHT LIGHTS

As one of the geezers

worried about the size

of his prostate that Scott

Oldham was referring to

in his 10Best piece on the

mid-engine Chevy Corvette,

I assume he misspoke on

purpose in order to fire us

up [“California Dreamin’,”

January 2020]. Two ver-

sions of Jan and Dean’s

“Dead Man’s Curve” have

been widely available,

neither of which refers

to the Stingray’s “round

taillights.” They are either

referred to as “frenched

taillights” or “six taillights.”

—Larry Durante

New Orleans, LA

Unsure that readers

would get the reference

to the song and to avoid

getting letters accusing

us of not knowing that

C2 Corvettes didn’t come

from the factory with six

CONTRIBUTOR

Matt

Schmotzer

To create the Rube

Goldberg machine on

page 6 5, we enlisted

the help of Matt

Schmotzer, a mechani-

cal engineer and a

self-described “maker

of stuff.” When he’s

not working as an

engineer, he spends

his spare time creating

with 3 -D printers,

laser cutters, and CNC

routers. Lately, he’s

gained some fame in

the roller-coaster

community for his

models of amusement-

park rides such as

Steel Vengeance at

Ohio’s Cedar Point.

apart from dealing with its

service department. It is

lamentable that you failed

to consider its cars for the

2020 10Best, but I would

not be shocked if it was

because Tesla never

answered the phone. I have

the same problem with the

company.

—Justin Stewart

Chappaqua, NY

Stewart gets to the

heart of the matter

regarding what happens

when we call Tesla to

request test cars—Ed.