Hi again! So, a couple days ago, my friend came up to me and offered me a spot to work with him as a valet at an upcoming wedding. I wasn't doing anything, so I figured I might as well get paid and write about some of the cars. (The wedding took place in a fairly wealthy city so I figured I would get to drive some nice cars).
Before I begin, let me explain how I will describe these cars. I didn't get to drive these too far so handling and power won't become the focus of this post. I will talk a bit about design, ergonomics of the dashboard and buttons, etc.
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| Mini Cooper S (source: Carsfolia.com) |
The first car I encountered was a Mini Cooper Hardtop Cooper S. This was a decent car; it is a standard 4-cylinder engine with about 180 hp output (nothing exceptional). It doesn't look hideous either. Parking it was fine, but trying to get out of it was a bit confusing - there are no buttons for door locks and windows on the actual door. Everything is in the middle by the radio, probably because there wasn't much space on the doors.
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| BMW M3 (source: Automodels.org) |
The next car, one of my favorites, was a bit of an improvement. My friend was supposed to take the next car, but he doesn't drive stick, so I lucked out and got to drive the BMW M3. I've always loved the M-series of BMW; my dad drives (notoriously) fast and can usually navigate around untrained drivers in cars of this caliber, but M3s and M5s, (mostly M5s), seem to escape from our sights with remarkable ease. I still remember once when my dad was behind the wheel of an M5. To this day, it is still the fastest speed I've ever reached inside an automobile. But I digress. The M3 was a phenomenal drive, the shifter went smoothly into place and didn't give any problems. The turn signal was perfectly placed right by my hand and had a lot more than just the usual light switches, etc. But I didn't get the time to test out all of those things. I did have a problem with getting the car into reverse, I had to push a lot harder than I thought I would need to, but that's probably better on the road. All the buttons for the radio, locks, etc. seemed normally placed and nothing was wrong there. There was, however, an obnoxious blind spot at the driver's side A-post.
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| Porsche 911 Targa 4S (source: HDwallpapers.in) |
My next car was an equally fun ride, the Porsche 911 Targa 4S. This was an automatic, so I didn't get the thrill of putting it into gear and feeling the engine engage, but it was still a decent ride. Everything was great about the dashboard, even the radio's display made its way there. The shifter was somewhat unusual, as the button ran from the top along the palm side of the shifter. Otherwise, this is a beautiful car with a classic design. It also had a Bose music system which sounded great.
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| Mercedes-Benz C300 (source: mbusa.com) |
My German streak did not end there. Following the Porsche was a Mercedes-Benz C300. At first, I wasn't expecting much from this as this is one of the lower end cars produced by Mercedes-Benz in the US and my dad had instilled in me a dislike for Mercedes-Benz. But I was quickly shown otherwise. Not only was everything in place, which I expected, but the car seemed to handle incredibly well. Mercedes-Benz also knows how to design their cars too, and even this "low-end" Mercedes was no exception. One problem I did have was that the car did not back up well; giving it small amounts of gas did nothing and larger amounts almost sent it into the car behind it, although this may have been the fault of something other than the car.
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| Mercedes-Benz SL550 (source: mbusa.com) |
I will also give an honorable mention to the Mercedes-Benz SL550. I did not get to drive it, but it was without a doubt the most beautiful car at the wedding. This particular one was a silver one with a red designer interior.
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| Jeep Patriot (source: cargurus.com) |
The last car I can remember is a Jeep Patriot. I'm personally not a fan of these larger cars, so this won't be much of a positive review. Firstly, it's REALLY high off the ground, a lot more than I'm used to. I did not handle poorly, but it definitely wasn't competing with any of the other cars on this list. One thing I did enjoy was the massive side mirrors it had, but it was probably to compensate the useless rear-view mirror. The massive seats combined with the small rear window and high elevation didn't offer much to see behind the car. It was alright, but not what I would want in a car.
All in all, it was fun to drive some of these cars.
