Car and Driver Magazine Feature

Factory Five Roadster tested in July 2004 Issue!

 

Check out the cover of the July issue of Car and Driver Magazine and you’ll see a stunning red FFR roadster staring back at you!  The car was part of a story written by Tony Swan comparing some unlikely candidates to the new Lotus Elise Sportscar.  The cars in the test were as follows… Mazda Miata Turbo, Honda S2000, Caterham Super Seven, Factory Five MkII Roadster, and the new Lotus Elise. 

The FFR roadster was the quickest horse in this derby… 3.6 seconds to 60 mph, 9.0 to 100mph, and 12.3 at 113 mph in the quarter mile!”

The article covered a 1400 mile road trip where the cars were compared on such things as performance, road handling, sound levels, space and comfort.  The Factory Five car simply dominated the testing.  Our car won 13 of the 24 performance and testing categories, earned second or third in 7 of the remaining 11 categories. We were bested in just a few categories where these type of cars normally are found lacking (sound levels etc.).  Here’s the breakdown.
 

Category              Ranking     Result         Comments                                       

1. Base Price                1st                    $21,740           Run as fast as a Porsche Carrera GT Supercar

($460,000) for a price lower than a Miata!     

2.  Price Tested           2nd                    $32,109           Damn Carbon fiber body pushed us past the Miata…

3.  Weight lbs.             3rd                    2062 lbs           Beaten by two featherweight Lotus cars.  Still 2000 lbs

is LIGHT!

4.  Fuel Capacity         1st                    15 gallons        Stock Ford Mustang fuel tank beats the imports.

5.  Octane Rating        1st                    87 Octane       As the Blues Brother said, “It runs good on regular

gas”… The rest of the cars needed 91 ultra.

6.  Cockpit Space        1st                    53 cu feet        The next closest car was the Miata and Lotus at 46 cu

feet.  Who says these cars are small?

7.  Trunk space            1st                    5 cu feet          Biggest trunk in the group of space-challenged cars.

8.  Braking                   5th                   181 feet           Car had race pads and they were stone cold. 

Car should have been in the 160 range for top honors.

9.  Roadholding           3rd                    1.0G               First and second place cars wore DOT RACE

RUBBER!  Our car had street tires!  Awesome.

10.  Lane Change         3rd                    66.0 mph        No explanation, simply beaten by the two Lotus cars. 

Still stomped the production cars.

11.  Power                   1st                    348 bhp           Not that much for one of our cars, a slightly massaged

302 V-8.

12.  Torque                  1st                    328 ft/lbs.       First in Hp, First in grunt.

13.  lbs/hp                   1st                    5.9 lbs/hp        This is why the smile comes to your face as you mash

the throttle…

14.  0-60 mph              1st                    3.6 seconds      Are we all paying attention?  You own the stoplights.

15.  0-100 mph            1st                    9.0 seconds      Nine seconds to lose your license.  The next closest car

in the shoot-out was THREE seconds behind.  That is called getting smoked!  A Saleen S7 does this in 8.9 seconds!

16.  0-120 mph              1st                 14.5 seconds    The next fastest car, the Lotus Elise is a full SIX

seconds behind! 

17.  ¼ mile                   1st                  12.3 seconds    12.3 @ 113 mph.  The rest of the cars are dots in the

rear view.

18.  Rolling 5-60 mph  1st                   3.7 seconds      Same story.

19.  Top Gear 30-50    2nd                  6.2 seconds      overdrive…

20.  Top Gear 50-70    2nd                  6.7 seconds      Same story.

21.  Top Speed            4th                   125 mph          Gearing limited (3.55 gears, 4th gear @ 5800 rpm)

22.  Sound Level         5th                    Too Loud       We are honored to lose this test and concede that the

Honda and Mazdas are indeed quieter, Thank god.

23.  Fuel Economy      5th                    16 mpg          If you factor in the price difference between regular gas

(that the FFR car uses) and premium (required by the others), it’s a wash.  But then again who the hell buys this car for gas mileage! 

24. Best Lap                3rd                    1:09.87          Both Lotuses that ran faster were on race tires vs. us on

street tires.  One week later we ran 1:05 on the same track with FFR spec cars running 225 hp stock engines!  The Lotus Elise ran 1:08.9

 

Over-all

13      First Place Wins!

3        Second Places!

4        Third Places!

1        Fourth Places

3        Fifth Places

 

By our estimation we should have ended up on top based on the sheer number of categories we dominated.  The test was not however, pure performance, but was very subjective.  The editors really disliked the steering and springs which is understandable.  The power steering set-up and race springs were straight off our full-on race cars, perfect for the track but not real fun on a 1400 mile road test in the rain.
 

“The hefty tire package also gave the roadster enough grip to pull an even 1.0 G on the skid pad!”
 

The combination of steering, stiff springs and lack of good all-weather protection, the good folks at Car and Driver gave us fifth place.  We are proud as hell of the car and really feel it proved itself in all the categories that matter to our customers.  Had we known they were going to be focusing on street driving vs. track shoot-out, we would have sent the stock car with softer springs and a more predictable manual steering rack.  Nothing however would have saved the car from a head to head comparison in a torrential downpour based on things like heated seats, low sound levels, and good mileage… These are categories where mass-produced appliance-like Japanese cars do well.    
 

“ We emerged with respect for the roadster’s brawn and bellicose exhaust rumble, which at one point set off a nearby car alarm”
 

In the end the car proved that if you want the fastest, meanest looking most legendary car of all time, the FFR car is right on the money.  The verdict according to Car and Diver? 

 
“A primal brute that will confirm your mother-in-laws worst suspicions.”