Local autocross last night... a black 4door GTP, virtually stock (had K&N) showed up last night. It was a pretty clean looking car...the guy mentioned how he wanted to do an intake and smaller pulley for his hair-dryer. I waited in anticipation for his runs to see how well GTPs handle and if the marketing behind the car was actually factual...

Basically, nope. GTPs handle like poop. The thing swayed like a caddy. The whole "wider is better" tagline was being ridiculed as this man tossed his tugboat around the course. Even the announcer made mention of the less than mediocre handling prowess that it displayed.

On a very very short course with two very strong acceleration points... the GTP was two seconds slower than my Maxima. I ran with everything in my car (3300lbs, full tank), on toyo proxies (grips about as well as Nitto 450s...which is to say, they suck), and under-inflated tires. My best time was 30.5xx, his was 33.0xx. Fastest time by a non-trailed door-slammer was 27.8xx.

I would love to race one on a road course now...hehehhe, GTPs do one thing well, go fast in one direction.

Conclusion, Maximas handle better than GTPs...or I'm just a better driver than the GTP driver (which i doubt). And the rear-sway bar does nothing for low-speed turns.

 

Want to know why the 'Wider is better' campaign is BS? The Olds Intrigue, the sister car to the Grand Prix actually has a wider track. I still haven't figured that one out.

 

*waiting for rebuttal from GTP owners*

 

BTW...

 

ditto..

 

and to add... the Maxima isn't as fun as the CRX.

I wish I had race tires on the Maxima.

The proxies i have are the 300 threadwear ones...