Carmakers can still do mad, dumb and amazing things

10/12/2024 01:22 PM

It's not hard to feel a bit jaded as a car enthusiast these days. Cars can often feel boring, repetitive and monotonous as they all yearn for higher and higher levels of safety, comfort, convenience and cutting-edge technology. 

And while every car I drive and review is an opportunity to assess and scrutinise, and eventually evaluate against its competitive set, very few set your heart on fire in any real and meaningful manner.

Risk is dangerous for business at the end of the day, and profitable businesses are rarely going to chase a low percentage play when there's easy money to be made from safe, predictable and reliable product choices.

It makes it all too easy to look upon yesteryear's metal with those rose-tinted glasses perched on your head, getting lost in thoughts of how great some cars used to look, how they felt and simply existed in comparison to our current crop of options.

This feeling goes a long way to explaining why those archetypal icons of performance and culture we now refer to as 'classics' have become so sought after, opined about, and revered (with suitably appreciating value).

I'm always amazed at how many of us have one or two examples of something special holed away out of sight, in the garage under a sheet or tucked away in long-term storage.

Unfortunately, there's no getting around the fact that most interesting cars now cost a lot more than they used to, and proper enthusiast vehicles at an affordable price are few and far between. There's still a few second-hand bargains out there, but such offerings are increasingly thin on the ground.

It's easy to see where this kind of thinking – that cars are getting progressively more and more boring – is coming from: Electrification, platform sharing, an obsession with safety and constant increases in weight and size. More refinement, more technology, more assistance. More homogenisation and an inevitable dulling of sensation.

Such things don't really spell out 'fun' and 'exciting' to me, and all roads lead to a loss of that special kind of connection. 

Beyond that, is a constant apprehension that cars can lose that 'wow' feeling behind the wheel today, that brief tingle you get when you discover and explore the breadth of engineering, ability, design or sheer strangeness on offer.

With modern-day electric cars, I've never had more opportunity to go from zero to 100km/h in an insanely short period of time. And yet, I've also never been more nonplussed about it. 

It’s an acceleration that pushes you into your seat, as you feel your innards compress. But driving a few fast EVs also pushes you back towards wanting something old, slow, silly and engaging. 

And more broadly speaking, the increasing levels of refinement, comfort and convenience in modern cars can rob drivers of engagement, joy and connection.

The overall outlook may be bleak, but there are a few blips on the radar in the current climate that still get the blood pumping. The occasional exception to the rule that washes that jaded feeling away from you.

And it's not just about driving a great sports or performance car that I'm talking about. It's driving something you know could easily not exist. The simple premise of which, would be shot down one hundred times by a pragmatic accounting department before the proposal even finishes.

In other words, there are still enthusiasts and car people who are in positions of power who are making bold decisions. Dumb decisions really, that put them and their company out on a limb.

And in one fateful week, thanks to our small editorial team being pulled in many different directions and being otherwise unavailable, I found my initials (SP) beside two such hair-brained vehicles on our 'Cars and Bookings' calendar in the same week.

And while we did end up running something of a soft comparison of these two vehicles, it became more of a celebration, an adulation of the simple fact that these cars exist at all. 

It gave me immense hope for my own automotive future, and I hope it might for you as well. So let me introduce you to them.

2024 Porsche 911 Dakar

It's a limited edition run of only 2500 around the world, and one of only 15 you'll find on Australian roads. It's eye-wateringly expensive, before you even get to highway-robbery options list. 

But that's all elementary. Porsche could have charged much more and still sold out instantly, just like they have done with a half-mill starting point. And buyers are likely looking forward to a payday in the future of this appreciating asset. 

Underneath that $54,000 optional livery (yes, really) and Dakar modifications is a Porsche 911 GTS, which has a wonderful 3.0-litre twin turbocharged flat six that makes 353kW and 570Nm, running to all four wheels via a modified and specially-designed control system.

Suspension is 50mm taller than a regular 911, and springs are 50 per cent softer. When the off-road mode is engaged, suspension is lifted another 30mm via a modified hydraulic nose lift system.

It's not just done for Stuttgart giggles, either. This 911 Dakar is a drivable homage to the 1984 Dakar-winning Porsche 953 that defied the odds across over 9000 gruelling kilometres for a heroic victory.

But, it's worth noting this wasn't an easy decision for the storied carmaker to take. It took a decade of talking, planning and deliberation to finally commit, proving this car could have easily never existed.

What we end up with at the end of the day is something quite startling in its capability. I'm not the most experienced motoring writer when it comes to things like Porsches. I'm an off-road guy, at the end of the day.

But despite the lifted suspension, all-terrain tyres and additions of off-road protection added to this Dakar, I've never driven something so dialled-in, malleable, responsive and communicative on fast-paced back roads.

And the engine. That freaking flat-six motor. The response you get, with a piercing howl as you approach (and exceed) that 6500rpm mark, is a glorious experience. 

Perhaps a regular 911 adds in an extra dose of sharpness and tactility to the experience, but this 911 Dakar also soaked up rough surfaces and sharp potholes like nobody's business. And it did so it at startling pace.

But the most startling revelation coming from this 911 Dakar is the fact that it walks the walk off-road, and took on some soft and rutted sand driving with impressive ability. 

And to see what I mean, you’ll need to watch the video.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N

The second choice of these two is quite a different proposition from a very different manufacturer, but something that is equal in its sheer madness and utter ambition.

Think about it: Who would have pinned Hyundai, the bearer of budget goods like Excel and Trajet some 20 years ago, to produce an electric performance vehicle so impressive, it it spoken of in the same breath as Porsche's own best EV sports car?

And while it steps into a price bracket not before seen by this Korean car maker, it provides a similar level of performance, engagement and capability to Porsche's vaunted Taycan, at a fraction of the price.

There's no doubting the Ioniq 5 N is a true enthusiast's car, and something driven by the likes of car-loving engineers like the highly respected Albert Biermann and the many hundreds of others who work with him.

Tim Rodgers from Hyundai Australia, who was involved with the development of the Ioniq 5 N explained the depth of investigation, intense levels of development and constant tweaking that went into the three-odd year gestation period.

That’s just for the hi-po N model as well, not the broader Ioniq 5 range.

But the straight proclamation is that numbers like horsepower, acceleration times and lap times are not the end game (impressive as they might be in their context) for this vehicle.

Instead, it is driver enjoyment. To step into the breach that no electric car has yet done: Provide a simulated form of hoonery, engagement and manipulation into a vehicle that cannot burn liquid fuel.

It's a huge challenge, and a test of financial resolve from Hyundai to see it through to a finished product. There would have been myriad opportunities, as more money and time was needed to fettle the product, to quash the whole thing.

But, it made it through. 

The Ioniq 5 isn't selling as well as Hyundai had originally hoped, which is symptomatic of the challenging economic times we all currently face, but also of the pioneering spirit of this vehicle. A six figure asking price for an electric Hyundai? It's madness. But believe me when I tell you that it can easily win you over after time on back roads, race track or a weekend away.

While it achieves the impressive sub-four second dash to 100km/h, the beauty of the Ioniq 5 N is how it feels and responds to steering and throttle inputs through sharp corners and heavy direction changes. That sense of weight, sheer heft against the tyres' ability to hang on, doesn't impede here like it does with other electric cars.

And while there is a dizzying raft of electronic controls, sensors and computations happening within the car to belie its weight, it feels natural and dialled-in from behind the wheel. It's an addictively fun car to drive. Just pour one out for the tyres, because they have one of the toughest and short-lived jobs in the automotive industry.

So, in the wash-up of all of this, which of these two madcap cars is best? 

Does it matter? Who cares?

Both of these vehicles are special in their own way. Not because they portray an unusually high level of competence and engineering in the way they drive, but because they are, in a way, dumb.

An off-road ready 911? That's dumb. It's arguably the all-time sports car of the last 50 years, holding a better track record of consistently high performances than the All Blacks, Novak Djokovich and Roger Federer combined.

It's barely put a foot wrong over so many decades, and this strange blip in the historical landscape of 911 – as historically relevant as it might be – could have easily dropped the ball quite severely. Lifted suspension, knobbly tyres and supposed off-road ability feels like hammering the squarest of pegs into the roundest of holes.

But owing to the sheer quality of the inherent development within, the 911 Dakar still shines fiercely as a memorable and enjoyable vehicle in its own right. On-road and – as we found in our testing – off-road.

Equally, an electric SUV from Hyundai that's billed to match petrol-powered vehicles for the grin-factor and provided unheralded levels of ability, endurance and speed on a race track, could easily be batted away as a ridiculous pipe dream. 

Hyundai has shown some real intent and ability with its existing range of N cars, but the Ioniq 5 N takes things to another level of ambition.

We should celebrate the fact that it exists, but also respect the finesse and exactitude in the final product.

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