The Comparo

GATHER, TEST, JUDGE, WRITE, REPEAT.

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“SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISONS are more revealing than you could believe.” So we said, introducing a September 1966 sports-car comparison test that Ken Miles helped judge. The statement remains true today. Circulating through a group of cars over three or four days immerses us in a vehicle segment in a way no press junket or single-car drive can. On comparison tests, we swap cars every 20 to 30 minutes and make sure to drive on freeways and twisty roads, in urban traffic, and even on racetracks. We evaluate and rate back-seat comfort with two and three occupants, an often sweaty endeavor that lays bare colleagues’ hygiene. We rip up and down mountain roads. When the brakes cool, the differences between the cars in the test become as clear as the Ten Commandments.