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Actual operation of the Talon is new to me: the clutch is very deep. Fuzzy logic learns your habits and adjusts the grab point to match. The engine itself can shift at a variety of RPMs without choking. These three features combine to make for a very forgiving stickshift with a wide range of control, which adds to your ability to choose between ripping off the line as fast as you can or smoothly accelerating. The turbocharger kicks in with a gentle tug forward, not a jolt or change in the engine's feel as many turbocharged vehicles do. The overall handling of the Talon's suspension is very tight: steering is speed-sensitive and wheels grab onto curves and won't let go. A few months after getting my Talon, I took a safety course. One element was learning skid control on a wet skid pad with soap to simulate slick conditions. I couldn't take the test because I couldn't get the car to skid! Doing tight donuts while they were adding more water and soap for me didn't seem to matter - the car wasn't going to give up control, so I had to give up the lesson...but I'm hardly complaining! ;-)
Getting back to the interior, the back seat is suitable only for children no older than "adolescent". Adults might be okay for short trips. It's odd because the seat bench is more than ample and the floor pan is where you have no room at all. Shortening the seat bench and applying that to the floor would have made a pretty decent back seat. But hey, you're driving a sports car - why worry about a back seat? The passenger front seat has as much legroom as the driver's side, of course. The only drawback for the driver is storage space: the glovebox is not much bigger than the car's paperwork and the console's storage compartment would have a hard time closing the lid on a few cassette tapes. The console's space, however, is well-used: a standard (and deep) cup-holder and lighter/ashtray have sliding tops to close them off, and the console compartment contains an additional cupholder for a huge-sized drink. Although the rear view is blocked halfway up by a Jetsons-looking tail, believe it or not you get used to it. Usually the only thing you miss are the eyes of the person behind you, if that gives you some idea. The trunk is (for a small sportscar) pretty roomy: not very long but very deep. I can load a lot into it, but have to do some bending and stooping to get down inside the trunk. Cargo net is standard (and a godsend!). Rear fold-down seats make storage easier, and I have been able to get an 8' extension ladder in the length of the vehicle and still close the trunk.
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