Vaughan
August 21, 2008 12:03 AM
Keely Grasser
I’ve always wanted to drive one of those cars that other drivers admire when you’re stopped at a light.
Of course, my current ride doesn’t elicit the longing stares of others, so I was quite happy to take an assignment at a Nissan test drive event at Vaughan Mills.
The press release laid out the models from which I could choose. Unfortunately, the 2009 GT-R, also known as Godzilla as the release pointed out, was for display only. No driving, just drooling over the car, which organizers told me is sold out for this year.
Luckily, the 350Z Grand Touring Roadster was on the ticket.
Perfect, I thought. It’s small, sporty, fast and gets bonus points for being a convertible.
So I head out to Nissan’s closed test course, a complicated pylon-marked track with “a few sharps, a few straight aways, a few hair pins turns,” as tour manager Lou Labrecque describes it.
Several silver models were spinning around the concrete course as I approached.
I let Mr. Labrecque know I have my eye on the 350Z.
Sure, he said, and asked whether I wanted him to drive it or if I wanted to.
I’ll drive it, I said. It’s automatic, right?
Wishful thinking.
Unlucky for me, I haven’t the foggiest idea how to drive a standard.
The photographer assigned to accompany me wanted a shot of me driving the car to run with the story. We agreed I’d just pose in the unmoving car for the photo.
The windshield was a bit spotty, so we had to turn on the car to use the wipers.
And, as I found out, not only could I not drive it, I couldn’t turn the darn thing on.
Press down the clutch and the brake, Mr Labrecque instructed, and turn the key.
I pushed in the pedals and turned the key. Nothing happened.
Turn it harder, Mr. Labrecque said.
I did. Nothing happened.
He looks down at my feet.
Put down the clutch AND the brake, he said.
Hmmm ... I thought I was. Looking down, I see there are four pedals on the floor, counting the emergency brake. I was pressing the wrong combination.
Apparently that’s how standard cars are built.
So we get the windows clean, take the photo.
I probably look pretty cool. As long as people don’t know I can’t actually drive the car.
So we step out, but I still need to test drive a car.
Mr. Labrecque scans the available models.
“This one!” he said, pointing to the Altima.
It’s no 350Z, but it would do.
Mr Labrecque explains the course to me, telling me how to navigate the hundreds of pylons around the course.
I see no pattern to them.
So he tells me to turn left or right at every change in the course.
Naturally, I wasn’t zooming around testing the power, handling and brakes of the car. Rather, I got a good idea of how it would handle on a low-speed navigation of a complicated grocery store parking lot.
Which was very good, by the way.
As I stepped out of the course, I met Ben Dvoracek and Rishi Sethi.
They had both just tried out the 350Z the way it was supposed to be done.
“It’s good. It’s fast,” Mr. Dvoracek told me. “They allow you to tear it up as long as you’re on the track.”
Unless you don’t drive a standard, of course.
“It was a little tricky because half the pylons were knocked over, but I just looked at the tire marks the second time,” Mr. Sethi added.
No word as to whether I knocked those pylons over.