Berlau, 3rd of May 1996
“Alright, Nicole, the new characters now got plenty of screentime, time for your Sarah to come back to the force - with a fitting ride”, said Johannes to actress Nicole Korte whose alias in the show is Sarah Maier.
“Let´s start with that red one, what do you have to tell about it, Mike?”
MM: A Vaughn Silverbird in GTC top trim. Nothing wrong with it, but the handling and sportiness are the lowest here, although not particulary bad. Maybe because that thing is quite heavy. But again, not bad especially for a Gasmean car. Excellent safety, but the comfort is meeh. The old-fashioned OHV V8 is reliable but has some thirst, but returns quite stunning performance. The purchase is pricey with $ 25.000, especially considering it is for a junior grade detective.
NK: The front looks like a frog trying to kiss me. Nah. I mean, this is acutally a cool car in general, but among these five, it is the least interessing together with that blue one.
Johannes stepped to the SM Soaura. “Looks like an Illaris, but is branded as SM. Maybe their sister company, like Primus and Globus?”
MM: Feels similar to the Vaughn, also fast, but not that fast, alright handling and cornering, the comfort is a bit better. Actually the best together with the Swanson, but far less than the other protagonists have in their cars. Price and reliability match the Vaughn.
NK: Hm, another car that stands visually out but not in a way I like it. And if I don´t like it, Sarah doesn´t like it, right? The front without a grille is not to my taste, the taiillights are too oval go only roughly with the shape of the rear, too low and too wide to really fit. Saberin Motors didn´t mess it up, but it falls behind next to that other one here.
“You mean the Zephorus 305?”, asked Johannes.
NK: Yeah, clearly an older model, but cool as heck with all those spoilers and wheel arches… this also lacks a grille, but goes better with that than the Soaura. That stripes are also quite cool. Looks like made for a young and wild person like Sarah.
MM: The Zephorus offers almost 300 horsepower for a bargain. $ 16.100 - as low as the Capella, but comes with a V8. Like the Vaughn, the engine is powerful, reliable but thristy. The Zephorus even consumes more than the Vaughn with 16 liter! This is way too much. The simple chassis has a very harsh ride to allow for acceptable cornering, but still offers no improvement about Vaughn and SM in that aspect. Well, the price is still hot. It is hard to get more bang for less buck.
“We made good experiences with a Swanson, what about the 200 series, Mike?”
MM: The 220 PF is no surprise, it handles the best and makes stunt driving very easy and precise. The comfort is good, at least among this quintet, and reliability is great, but none of the five disappointed in that aspect. The price is lower than the Vaughn and SM, but a lot more expensive than the Zephorus. From my side, it´s a go. Perfect all-rounder.
NK: Have you seen that huuuuuuuuge wheelbase with tiny overhangs? Nah. That´s ugly. Sarah is despite her psychological issues a very lively person. That Swanson looks as it has a constantly bad mood and wants to run me over. No, sorry Mike.
She walked over to the Nordwagen Skadi.
NK: THIS is better. Still unique and very different, but smoother and … it´s a bit on the retro side, but plays that card very well. The blue color and some oval shapes prevent it from being too strict. The wheelbase is also quite long, but it somehow looks better than the Swanson.
MM: Well, Nicole, this car is also among the expensive ones. They all are except for the Zephorus. The performance of them all is very close. The Nordwagen is worse in drivability, sportiness and comfort than the Swanson, but not by much. In addition, the Skadi is the toughest in terms of reliability. It is more or less a matter of taste between these two, and I think you made your point.
[OOC:] Surprisingly all cars match each other in performance and price (except for the Zephorus). So it was mostly up to the design.
The Vaughn by @Knugcab is another case of fifth, not last. It has hardly any fault, but just fails to impress in any way. However, working on that shitty mess of mod body and having a bearable result deserves some applause.
The SM Soaura by @shibusu suffers from lack of coolness and seems to mix being different with being weird. The stats of it can´t iron that out. Which means, it will not proceed, even if the car is overall solid.
The Swanson 220 by @Ludvig has the best stats, beating everyone except for the price and has only the Nordwagen in striking distance. But it looks odd. What I felt somehow weird about Batimus car is even worse here, mainly due to the wheelbase that is too long. It just looks different without looking right in terms of proportions. Since the Nordwagen is in striking distance and looks way more suiting for Sarah Maier, this sadly means that the Swanson is not considered despite many positive things.
The Nordwagen Skadi by @moroza has convincing stats and wanders confidently on the small rope between weird and different. Even the bizarre six-headlight-configuration can´t make me call it ugly in any way, and the rear design perfectly reflects the front. It´s being consistent in all details what makes that design work.
The Zephorus 305 by @Riley captivates Sarahs personality the best. Young, wild, free, this liftback sedan manages to look modest and berserk at the same time. Where it also scores is the price: Some 5.300 less than the SM which is the second-“cheapest”. I am still not sure if it is enough benefit to cure the diverse shortcomings which are absurd fuel consumption, mediocre handling quality and low comfort. But it is the only opponent left for the Skadi, and it will be a tough wheel-to-wheel duel.
