I know that car critic Dan Neil lives on the Left Coast. (I Googled the “LA” in “LA Times“). And I know that anyone with a college education living west of the Rockies (or north of Houston Street in Manhattan) must espouse hatred of gas-guzzlers, lest they face death by arched eyebrow. But you’d hope that Dan’s Pulitzer Prize would give him the freedom to detour from the usual guilt trip every now and then, pull in at a rest stop and review a fast car for what it is. Which is fast. Did you know that the Corvette ZR-1 is fast? Dan’s gonna tell you– after 10 paragraphs of rhetorical mea culpa throat clearing. “What you would do is line up the ZR1 on some empty straight of tarmac and nail the throttle. To do so is to throw yourself on a horsepower grenade. Even with traction control engaged, the wheel spin is enough to cause the ZR1 to sidestep in a cloud of Michelin-flavored smoke and thunder. A half-second later, the tires hook up and you’re drowning in your own spit and hallucinating speed. In less than four heartbeats (3.4 seconds), you’ve gone through 60 mph and you’re grabbing second gear.” And it handles! In fact, “the ZR1 has more lateral grip than the world’s current supply of Polident.” Now you know. So do you feel dirty? Dan does. But he’ll get over it. At least in private.
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I think you’re being a little harsh. It doesn’t read like an apology – it reads like an honest assessment of what a car like this is, namely a guilty pleasure. It’s an amusing review. I liked it very much.
Automotive writers for newspapers are car people in the same way that veggie burgers are burgers. They may be shaped in a patty and go on a bun, but they aint burgers.
That is totally harsh. I thought the review was hilarious. I had never heard of Dan Neil but read a couple of his other reviews and the man has talent. Infinitely more entertaining than the usual car review drivel.
Apologetic as it may be – it’s a captivating review. Makes me want to rape and pillage (metaphorically of course) to get behind the wheel of one. I have a lot of work to do (read: beers to buy) to grease my buddy who works on the C6 development team to get me some seat time.
Sounds like a little “pen” -is envy from Mr. Farago. Dan Neil is a brilliant writer.
Detroit-Iron : In general, yes, but Dan is in his own class. How many magazine-based auto writers would dare criticize cars to the degree that GM would boycott the publication? Dan has a pair, and he’s not afraid to use ’em. Added bonus: He’s a top-notch writer.
The likes of Car & Driver could desperately use a journalist of Dan’s caliber, but I suspect that they would be too afraid to hire him, let alone give him a decent amount of editorial freedom. Maybe he should start a blog.
As for Dan being too apologetic about the Corvette, I suppose that how you view the world depends upon what lens you look at it through. I don’t think he was inordinately apologetic. Indeed, one of the things I most like about Dan is that he genuinely enjoys cars without being a knee-jerk, gas-drinking ideologue like so many auto flacks, er, journalists.
First GM wins over Jeremy Clarkson with the CTS-V and now they win over Dan Neil with the ZR-1. How cold is Hell right now?
I thought the mea culpa was a bit long, but overall it was a fabulous, completely TTAC-worthy review.
I think Dan lives in my neighborhood, based on the number of cars he’s reviewed that I’ve seen parked in front of a certain house (G8, Flex, Tiguan, Jetta TDI, and the Expedition-pulled Airstream come to mind). I haven’t been by there in a few days, and if I missed a chance to drool over this one, well, that thought just ruined my day. Let’s just say I want his job.
“Having to get around in wooden, orphan-drawn carts, Future, it might be hard for you to appreciate what it’s like to drive such a car.”
That is a pretty good line.
Robert! This is a paean to the joys of dino juice in a car that epitomizes automotive fun! I wish I had written it myself. The conversation with the future merely adds to the hilarity, while giving the review a little bit of context. This kind of writing is what got Neil the Pulitzer, and when the dino spigot is turned down to a trickle, and we’re all driving electron powered Better Place Renaults while watching the range-meter like a hawk, we’ll have a copy of this piece bookmarked in our computers, or maybe even posted on the fridge, so that we can wax nostalgic. This is absolutely not an apology. I can assure you that the car haters of Cambridge, who are often the same people who scowl at my bumper sticker that says “immigration is doubling the US population in your child’s lifetime” would not be mollified. Feel better?
I concur with the general acknowledgement of Dan Neil’s awesomeness. His “apology” couldn’t possibly be more facetious.
Note: I’m a DN fan.
Note that Eddie Alderman of the NY Times also loves the thing:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/automobiles/autoreviews/12AUTO.html?ref=automobiles
I don’t see anything to complain about as this is one terrific write up. I won’t even get into how many ways this hits all the right and related buttons. I love the phrase,”To do so is to throw yourself on a horsepower grenade.”
I know Dan and have driven and ridden with him. Anybody who says he’s not a car guy doesn’t know what they’re talking about and should hope he doesn’t get annoyed enough to challenge then to a couple of laps at Laguna. Which he won’t. He’s too nice.
Dan Neil is a great writer. I’ve enjoyed his work since he supplanted the now-retired(?) Royal Ford in the pages of the Boston Globe.
@ dshugarts
I’m going to have to look for him in the Globe, but I sure haven’t seen him there, just hacks from cars.com. I think Royal Ford was let go in a cost-cutting move. There have been a lot of them, and yet another announced just today–business will no longer have its own section.
To those outside of Boston: yes, our car columnist from ’99 or ’00 until just recently was one Royal Ford, who joked that his name sounded like a dealership.
the really sad thing is that GM can’t make other cars that are on par with the Corvette. If they could there wouldn’t be any GM deathwatch here. Why is it that they can do so well with the Vette and so underwhelmingly with everything else?
Kudos to Dan for the visceral, yet clear-minded review of the ultimate red, white and blue “needle” of choice for changing “dino” into “Heroin”.
If you look around here in PA, the “hot rod” of choice is a jacked-up pickup truck with a V8 and glass packs while sporting a tonneau cover, which reveals its non-utilitarian mission; a beast that I consider wasteful of a dwindling resource.
The ZR-1?
Apology accepted.
And Kudos to Robert’s line: “…lest they face death by arched eyebrow.” — I LOL’d.
The Corvette program and philosophy of building a superior car for a reasonable price (compared to the world’s best) could not likely be applied to less expensive GM vehicles across-the-board, but I’m sure there are lessons to be learned.
I am colludge ejukated and live a north of Houston in Manhattan. The vehicles in the garage in my building are mostly high performance sedans. The owners rationalize it because most of us only drive on the weekends, so our “carbon footprint” is extremely low. No one wants to drive a Prius as a pleasure vehicle.
Today’s to-do list for Mr. Farago – unwad thy panties; find tongue in cheek.
This is one of Mr. Neil’s best (and there are many, many to choose from.)
Albnyc :
I’m a boxers not briefs kinda guy, but objection noted. And again, I’m a HUGE Dan Neil fan. Uh, maybe I better re-phrase that…