Have you ever driven a car that you thought was perfect?

Hanging around the Subaru dealership, waiting for them to change the oil on my 2012 Outback, I spied a cherry red 2016 WRX premium on the lot. I found the saleswoman I bought the outback from and asked her if I could take it for a spin. "Of course, here are the keys, see you in a bit!" Much better than sitting in the waiting room, no matter how much you like Fugazi.

So it turned out to be a WRX Premium... CVT. I actually like the idea in theory as a CVT and a turbo should be able to work hand in hand holding the car at peak boost/power while speeds increase, just like my snow machines. The electro upgrades on the premium model were nice I guess, and the sunroof is always welcome except I don't think I'd fit with a helmet sitting as upright as I normally do.

It was definitely quieter than I remember wrx's being, from the engine to road noise to wind noise windows up or down. The suspension was great: compliant on our massive permafrost heaves yet responsive to every input with little body roll and no wallowing like my wagon. It handled like it was on rails for the most part... it's definitely a hooligan car underneath. Then there's the power. Tons of it, everywhere. I had a hard time figuring out if what little lag I felt was from the turbo or the cvt in the S- mode or whatever the softest setting was. On the most aggressive mode the car simply E36 M3s and gits. The cvt was seamless; for the most part any issues were me trying to adapt to it as it does drive very differently.

So as I parked it back in its spot at the dealership, the only thought I could think was "I think this car is perfect". It handles yet rides well, has real room for 4 with a good size trunk, is comfortable and quiet for commuting, and has all the power one really would ever need in a street car. And AWD so I won't get stuck in the driveway in winter. Oh, and it averaged 28mpg on my test loop.

As a comparison I drove a Legacy Limited H6 too. Kinda wanted to see if just adding the extra power would be enough compared to my current car... And no, it's not the power. It's the whole package. The Legacy is really nice in that trim level and honestly is what a man with a growing family in Alaska should drive assuming he already has a truck too.

But the kid and car guy in me still wants the fast turbo car, not a family car. Hopefully I can get one in good conscience when my Outback purgatory ends. Crazily enough, I think I'd like the CVT version more than the 6spd. It's a... different drive than a regular sporty car in that way, and I think it's the faster car in the end.

So that's my brush with perfection, at least in my experience. What's yours?

1965 Ferrari 275 GTB

This one to be exact:

Everything about it is just right somehow. The feel and shape of the steering wheel in your hand, where the shifter sits relative to your hand and the sound, oh my god the sound...

You're welcome.

My TDI Sportwagen. Fell in love with it when I testdrove it and at least once a week in the nearly 4 years since, a thought crosses my mind along the lines of "if someone told me when I was 16 that I would be this pleased with driving a diesel VW wagon, I would laugh in their face". It's really the perfect daily. The room of an SUV, GTI brakes and suspension, plenty fast (a turbo upgrade and flash away from 200whp/370wtq, and proper fast), uses no fuel and zero issues.

The only way I'd let it go is if VW gave me a ridiculous trade in value to get a newer one of the same thing for free. Even then, unless it's a new one, I would be hesitant since I wouldn't know the history of the replacement and I've maintained this thing like it's a Ferrari.

BMW E30 with spec suspension. Its a box on wheels but the thing just responds perfectly on a track, talks back with clarity and won't let you do something stupid unless you force it to. The stock car was good too but lowered and stiffened turns it into a whole different animal.

My 2006 S197 Mustang V6 is about the perfect street car for me. Pleasant to drive, capable if pushed and I never tire of looking at it inside or out. Not much else interests me in new cars except maybe a S550 but I'm in no hurry to get there. All other cars just sort of look the same and don't draw me in.

Disclaimer: I am an old curmudgeon and what passes for styling on new cars bores me to tears.

GT3 - I've never been much of a Porsche fan, even though I was well aware of their capability. I guess it was just leftover stigma from 80's yuppies. But that car...damn! It just sticks, goes, and works seamlessly with the driver.

My E46 ZHP sedan blew me away with it's overall goodness. Steering feel like no other car I'd driven until then, buttery smooth and powerful inline six that still delivered mid-20s on the freeway, fantastic seats and dash. It had it's issues, the ride was a bit stiff for Michigan roads, some of the interior materials were a little chintzy, and I never warmed to the color (Imola Red). But it was a great overall car.

5th-gen Camaro ZL-1. It looks great, especially with the optional black 10-spoke wheels. The stock exhaust sounds absolutely ludicrous, with silly amounts of backrap on decel. The suspension is way more capable than I'll ever be as a driver. And that LSA delivers freight-train torque. I was one of those guys that said "580hp? That's weak." Well, when you actual drive it and are blazing 305 Michelins at 40mph, and cruising at 80mph at idle, it doesn't seem so weak.

If maintenance were taken out of the equation, my 2005 Phaeton was hands down the best car I've ever driven.

If maintenance was factored in, I suppose it'd be hard to beat the '98 Corolla that never needed ANYTHING.

Most cars land between the two.

My 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 RS is perfect.

Stock suspension is PERFECT for loose surfaces. Took me to many All Wheel Drive Stock rallycross wins back in 06-07. I kept telling people it was the car as pretty much I was the only evo competing at all but one event that year. I see they still dominate and wonder how I would stack up with the other evo guys but C.R.E.A.M and I don't have much cash.

Three limited slip diffs

No abs

Steering from some magical engineer's mind. I have never found anything close in any other car. The way it almost tells you what to do next. Weights up under brakes. Just wonderful.

All the noise may make some call it too noisy but when tackling corners all of the noise becomes feedback on what the car is doing.

Four seats, A/C, good trunk for the costco runs.

Will probably own it until I die or my family life demands it's removal.

I have not and do not expect to. Every car is a compromise and none are perfect.

Porsche 991 GTS. I can't think of anything about it that I would change. I guess that's what 50 years of continual refinement gets you.

T.J. wrote: I have not and do not expect to. Every car is a compromise and none are perfect.

Sadly, neither have I - yet. I have high hopes that my RS will approach perfection.

Nope. Not even close. Especially when performance and mileage/cost of ownership are almost mutually exclusive.

There's no such thing as perfect. You have to find the best mix of compromises, and that takes time. There have been many cars that I thought were 'it' for a day, or even a few weeks. Character has a way of turning into annoyance over time.

The perfect car is the one your appreciate a little more every time you drive it.

For me, it's the ZHP. Not perfect, and not the best at anything, but it's going to be in my garage for a long time.

What I mean is that, as an example, Trans_Maro's Ferrari would not be so great at a rallycross or a gravel logging road or even very useful for a run to Home Depot for some landscaping supplies.

There is no overall perfect - perhaps there are cars that are perfect for some particular task, but they cannot be perfect for everything that a car could be expected to do.

Years ago I drove a BMW Z3 at an auction and it felt perfect. The pedal placement was perfect the steering wheel position and diameter were perfect. The car was communicative and very responsive, it was as if there were some connectors in my butt that matched up to some connectors in the seat and instantaneously told me exactly what was happening with the car.

But I was broke and basically just tagging along with a friend of a friend who had a dealer's license and wanted another set of eyes to check out cars, so buying it was never an option.

As far as I'm concerned, the 1985 Volvo 245 Turbo Intercooled wagon is the closest thing to a perfect car as there ever was. If I could buy a brand-new one tomorrow, I would.

In reply to Advan046:

An Evo was the first car I felt that way about too. It was almost telepathic. The 997 GT3 takes all that to an even higher level, and seems to bend the laws of physics in the process.

Probably the closest car for me was an E46 M3.

Oddly enough, one of the most impressive feeling stock cars I've driven was an XJ40 XJ6. It was an early one, so it had the 3.6 instead of the 4.0. So it was pretty slow. But it did have the single best digital dash I've seen in a car. Looked cool and had bar graphs instead of numbers so it was very easy to read.

But the ride quality was downright perfect, the suspension was very composed even when pushed, it had basically no body roll, a nice, low seating position, good pedal placement and firm input. The steering is amazingly quick (just over 2.5 turns lock to lock), so the massive wheel doesn't feel like an annoyance. It was so smooth no matter how you drove it that getting out and hopping in the Jeep felt like getting in a 4300lb Miata In comparison, the Jeep is much stiffer, rougher, louder, more raw and requires smooth inputs to get smooth output.

You could cruise down a windy backroad and toss the 4000lb behemoth through the corners without any idea how fast you were going. It was only when you looked down that you'd realize you were doubling the speed limit without even feeling like you were pushing the car. And then you'd drive the same road in another car, wondering when all the bumps and potholes appeared and why you felt like you were getting tossed around so much despite going about the same speed.

The drivetrain was relatively responsive, despite being a bit under-powered and the trans was happy to do as you told it if you wanted to keep it in a lower gear. The motor was quiet, but what bits of noise did make it into the cabin sounded good.

The brakes had a very firm pedal and took plenty of effort, making it easy to drive smoothly. But if you leaned into the pedal hard, you'd be eating windshield.

The experience of that car has me seriously tempted to hunt down the last evolution of that chassis in the form of an X308 XJR. Almost the same car, just updated and with the addition of a V8, some blower whine and clearance for fatter tires.

T.J. wrote: What I mean is that, as an example, Trans_Maro's Ferrari would not be so great at a rallycross or a gravel logging road or even very useful for a run to Home Depot for some landscaping supplies. There is no overall perfect - perhaps there are cars that are perfect for some particular task, but they cannot be perfect for everything that a car could be expected to do.

No one expects one car to be perfect at everything, just like an athlete who is the best in the world at his discipline wouldn't be expected to be able to take the gold in all the other events at the Olympics, too.

When I was a parking valet, my favorite car to park was an 80's beige W123 Mercedes Diesel. Not the Ferraris, not the Porsches, Audis, BMWs, Corvettes, no it was the diesel Benz owned by a regular patron who kept it in pristine condition.

I don't know what it was, but that car just felt right. It was comfortable, easy ingress/egress, with highly visible corners that made backing it between the SUVs a breeze. The interior was simple, but beautiful. Easy to use.

And it always classed up the place. It always got attention, but not too much. A polite amount. I loved parking it up front next to the exotics just so I could look at it some more. When it was time to go, the grumbling diesel would finally lurch forward only once the accelerator was firmly pressed halfway through its stroke. Not like the ultra-sensitive pedals of the modern luxury cars, that make a valet nervous when the customer's eyes are all on you, just waiting for that impolite slight over-rev. I could jam on that pedal all I want and it would only move at a speed I felt comfortable parking at, because that's the only speed it would go. Even on the busiest, fast-paced, most hectic night for a valet, it seemed like time stood still inside that cabin.

http://www.kolorbox.pl/media/car_images/Sandbeige_444.jpg

The diesel W123 is the perfect car to valet. I miss you, diesel W123.

To be fair, a 'favorite car to park' is a very different set of experience criteria than a favorite car to own and drive.

(PS - I've worked as a valet too)

I don't think there are any perfect cars out there, but two cars in recent memory check off nearly all the boxes for me:

2011 Mustang GT: My friend has one. After he bought it, he came over one night and tossed me the keys. At the time, I still had my 2009 WRX, so that was my benchmark. The Mustang of course is a different animal altogether, but I liked it way more than that WRX. While I wasn't a big fan of the car's looks inside or out, the Coyote/6-speed manual was sweet! It makes power everywhere in the powerband, and basically making the car a guided missile. You point the thing in the direction you want to go, mash the throttle, and hold on! Handling was better than expected (mind you, this was a Base GT) and I could actually (and surprisingly) see out of it. I hate the interior, but I was comfortable enough to seriously think about wanting one. Now that they have updated the Mustang, and improved the looks inside and out, I would love to take a spin in a new GT.

2010 BMW 135i: This one is Pseudosport's car. It's a base 135i with the twin turbo I6/6-speed manual. That means no sport seats or sport wheel, but whatever. The car is tiny on the outside, but there's so much room for the front passengers inside. It has a heavy steering feel and handles great. And then there's the POOOWWWWAAAAARRRRRR! Man, does it go! It's probably the last bastion of basic BMW performance, and that means no stupid iDrive, no nav, and no other likely-to-shed-pixels nonsense. I had the chance to autocross this one last year. Another "point and shoot" car.

I just bought a GTI, so I'm heavily biased. But my answer is the GTI. :D