"Oh boy here it comes!", you're probably thinking. "XSquare is here to white knight a slow ass boring Mazda saying how we don't understand its appeal, citing some inane trivia, and then sharing some of his boring IRL experiences with the car while simping some Japanese girl who owns one before calling it the best car in the entire series of Gran Turismo, past, present, and future. Why do I have to scroll through this guy's crap to get to a valid opinion?"
...except, no, not really. The Atenza is slow, boring, and completely useless in the e–sports centric title of Gran Turismo Sport, easily being the slowest N200 car in the game, stock or tuned. I have not come into contact with one IRL, nor do I know of any attractive Japanese woman that owns one. In–game, if you just want the experience or novelty of driving a diesel road car, the Mazda Demio is much lighter, maneuverable, cheaper, and has a manual. For nearly 40,000 Credits, you might as well just save up for a WRX STi, a much lighter and powerful sedan. At the end of the day, it's a car Alex picked, what did you expect?
But, the "but" changeover point comes very quickly in this review, almost as quickly as the Atenza revs from idle to its peak torque rpm of just 2,000rpm, because I think in this context, being boring is a compliment. To first lay out all the cards on the table, the Atenza is a full size premium(ish) sedan that makes only 172HP from a soulless, filthy diesel engine while weighing in at a whopping 1,600kg (3,527lbs), an uncomfortable 63% of which rests over the front axle. That it can even manage to be boring at all instead of being comically catastrophic to drive on a racetrack is in itself a feat worthy of praise, I think.
In fact, the sheer neutrality of this thing on a racetrack would shame some cars whose marketing departments would like you to believe are sporty. Slam on the brakes and chuck this gorgeous lump into a corner, and there is none of that protesting, hands in the air surrender understeer that plagues even some supercars we've tested here in Car of the Week—at least, not initially. The Atenza mostly complies with any reasonable request made of it, and it will hook up and bite apexes no problem with the right driving techniques. Of course, it's not invincible, but the beauty of how the Atenza handles is in how it lets go: slowly, steadily, and with plenty of buildup and warning, communicating with the driver every step of the way and giving them plenty of outs before the car completely lets go. That's usually praise reserved for some of the best sports cars ever made, like the 86 and Roadster. In similar vein to those acclaimed sports cars, the soft suspension and slow acceleration of the Atenza combine to become a valuable tool to teach a beginner driver about weight transfer and the value of momentum, but unlike your typical RWD sports cars, the Atenza won't bite at all if you get something wrong, making it an ideal car to start learning about driving fast in.
So, what's a 172HP AWD inert lump like once it does let go? To be honest, I can't much tell you, because the Atenza is so difficult to upset and lets go so slowly and with so much buildup, you'd have to be a proper Muppet on a road trip to meet your local friendly Barry R. to get the Atenza to bite back. The only time I've gotten into trouble with it is at Paddock Hill of Brand's Hatch, where the softly sprung car is already severely off balance being trail braked, only to have the road suddenly fall away from the car. That was the only instance in the whole night that I've looped the Atenza around, and that only happened because the car was so stable everywhere else, Paddock Hill was truly a freak exception that caught me by surprise. Oh, and it was wearing Sport Hard tyres way too grippy for its stock suspension on race day, subjecting the car to way more gs than intended, and Paddock Hill was the only corner the car gave up at. For reference, the car comes default with Comfort Medium tyres in GT7, two whole compounds less grippy than the Sport Hard tyres GTS defaults most production cars to.
Being a high end XD Grade, the 40,000 Credits Mazda asks of you for the privilege of owning their flagship sedan notably nets you Mazda's invaluable Active Driving Display, a pop–up glass panel atop the dashboard onto which the most important tidbits of information when driving, such as the car's speed and nav directions, are projected. It's a feature I genuinely wish were on every modern car. On the motorsports side of things, you get paddle shifters and AWD too, which carries over to the Atenza Gr.3 Road Car, making it the fastest accelerating and fastest shifting homologation car in the game, while the optional AWD saves Mazda the indignity of having its sole representative of Gr.4 be FF, as the Atenza Gr.4 is similarly AWD,, though the pros and cons of having AWD in this game is a whole 'nother warehouse of worms best opened another day.
Overall, the Atenza is a very composed, neutral, predictable, and communicative car to toss around a racetrack. It won't belt out a soulful orchestra, nor will it kick out its rear end playfully, and yes, it's a little soft and awfully slow for track use, all of which means it's a very sedate experience even when put through its paces. But that's more than okay, more than fine, it's great; not everyone wants to stand out or be the centre of attention. Some petrolheads know what they have and is content to quietly enjoy it instead of having to shout it out to their neighbours with pops and bangs. Oh and if you think it has absolutely zero performance credentials to boast about, it does casually outrun a 1.5L ND Roadster around most tracks if both cars are wearing the same tyre compounds. That I think is precisely what it means to be a modern Mazda: completely unambiguous to everyone else, but always worth hustling for the one behind the wheel, and the package of such opposites I find is such an incredible feat, especially considering that the Atenza can be had with an auto or manual, a gasoline or diesel engine, a sedan or wagon body style, FF or AWD, or any combination of the above (in Japan, anyway...). I think it's criminally easy to overlook how important and enthusiastic Mazda's presence in the automotive industry is today, and every time I get in one, I'm just pleasantly surprised. And you know what? If this is the worst Alex can do, I think we're going to be okay for a while.
...until we finally transition into GT7, that is. But Alex is NEVER getting to pick a Car of the Week come GT7. MUUHAHAHA!
No comments:
Post a Comment