America's Best Handling Car winner - Audi R8 - Conclusion - Co

VIDEO: CLICK HERE to see the conclusion video of the series featuring the Audi R8. And if you haven't already, be sure to read the instrument test and track testing portions of the series.

If handling were simply about lap times and lateral-g numbers, the awesome Dodge Viper ACR would have run away with this test. But as our data show, and as Randy Pobst confirmed, handling is about nuance and consistency. If you look closely at the graphs, the diagrams, and the computer traces from our objective testing, three cars consistently produced the smoothest curves, or the most closely grouped data points: Audi R8, BMW M3, and Nissan GT-R. And two of those three-the R8 and the M3-figured right at the top of Pobst's subjective rankings. Before we get to our winner, though, let's review the finishing order from 10th place on up.

Pobst loved his laps in the Ford Shelby GT500KR (10th place), exiting the car while whooping and hollering as if he'd just won the Daytona 500. "Man! That was fun!" he crowed. Yet after the adrenaline rush had subsided, Pobst admitted that, while the KR was a gas to hurl around Laguna Seca's curves, in terms of sheer handling performance it left much to be desired -- a view confirmed by our instrumented tests and on-road drives. The Shelby finished 9th in our lane-change runs, 6th in step-steer reaction time, and next to last in ride quality. One look at the KR's computer tracing in our figure-eight test sums up its overall handling flavor: messy. The Shelby team has massaged the old live-axle Mustang chassis well enough to bring out the boy racer even in a racing pro, but in this sophisticated field the GT500KR comes off as decidedly old-school.

The first car Pobst drove on the track, the Chevrolet Cobalt SS (9th Place) left the hot shoe nodding his head in admiration. "A really fine effort," said Pobst. And while the Chevy didn't produce any apex-rattling numbers, it proved composed and adroit at most handling chores. Check out it's figure-eight tracing: neat and tight, albeit with relatively low limits. Lane-change responsiveness finished just ahead of the Shelby, and ride quality proved far better than the Viper's or KR's. Given that it's an affordable, front-drive sedan, the Cobalt SS earned lots of thumbs-up for showing well against the big guys.