Perspective... Imagine a super country more super than the US. It was bigger, had bigger roads and because they could -had cheaper gasoline. Needless to say they drove the biggest cars. 6L V12s were the mainstay for the average car but the only cars they admired were 12+ liter V24s. Cars that weighed <2 tonnes were the lightweights and road design allowed high-speed travel all day long. The rest of the world considered them gluttons. They excused these judgements as jealousy. They thought of Ferraris as Americans think of NSXs: finicky, high strung little cars that excels in the hills and twisties but has no real power...it is all relative.
Such is power, elusive to capture. An application of power to create speed can however be tested. Real competance is the ability to complete a said task with better efficiency. LeMans, is such a test. For the average consumer car there is no such universal test. A respected automotive journal should test cars for track times to see exactly how cars stack up against each other. Might be a good use of Silverstone now. Or maybe a track where handling advantage can be easily seen as well as topspeed advantage. Elise beats F-360 on the infield Whereas the F360 betters the Elise by 50 MPH topspeed. And lap times are the verdict.
I propose that we start a petition at UCP and present it to the different Journals. A real selling point for them and a real definitive test for the enthusiast. I for one would buy such a magazine. Since we presented the idea we should have a say in the ground rules: Manufacturers present unmodified examples of their cars. Based on weather conditions/unfavorable testing retests can be petitioned. No cheating as the testing should be independantly monitored...etc. Can an STi take on the Carrera4? How does a X5 compare against a 5 Series or V6 Camry? You'll know.
If you'd like to see such testing done, send others here and let's get the ball rolling.