See buddy,here is my take on various terms:-
1):Handling:Handling may be defined as how your car responds to the steering inputs or how it negotiates the corners etc.Handling generally comprises of three factors namely suspension,body control and steering responsiveness(Understeer or oversteer) and how the car behaves on it.
2):Ride quality:Ride quality is the way your car behaves on various surfaces.It is due to aerodynamics that as the speed increases the front of the car feels higher downforce as compared to the rear,now if the suspension is very soft then it will cause wobbling motions even on even surfaces like you can see in VW Vento and Hyundai Verna,while if the suspension is neither hard nor soft then car behaves quite good at high speeds but it shows this wobbling motion during turning or steering inputs like you can see in Toyota Corolla,Honda City,Civic,Optra etc.While if the suspension is tight then the ride at high speeds is very planted like in Skoda Laura,Ford Fiesta 'S',Mitsubishi Lancer Cedia and many sport cars.
So,you can say that ride depends on two factors,namely suspension and body control.
3):Performance:People have a misconception that performance means just how the engine behaves to throttle response.But being true performance consists of two factors namely throttle response and in-gear response.
Throttle response means how the car behaves on sudden throttle inputs as well as throttle over run(engine braking you an call it).It depends on two factors,power and torque and these two factors depends on a master factor called 'REV RANGE',why?
Because no engine performs at its best throughout the rev range.Some engine have good low end(Maruti Suzuki MPFi engine from Alto,Zen and Wagon-R(older)),some have good mid range(Most of the turbocharged diesel engines) and some have good top end(Honda i-vtec).So youcan say that performance depends on how the engine responds to the throttle inputs in any rev range.
While in-gear performance depends on the gear ratios,for longer gear ratios generally speeds are higher while for shorter gear ratios you will get better acceleration.Like in Fiat Linea due to longer gear ratios it is faster than SX4 while due to shorter ratios SX4 accelerates faster to 100 kph.
4):Engine response:As mentioned above..
5):Body roll and cornering:Body roll depends on three factors namely weight distribution throughout the vehicle,center of gravity and suspension.
Body roll means how much the vehicle has the tendency to turn turtle while negotiating corners.
If the weight distribution throughout the vehicle is uniform then the whole vehicle will feel the centrifugal(outside pushing)force and hence the force gets distributed equally and less body roll is felt.
If center of gravity is higher like in SUVs then body roll is higher.
If suspension is on softer side,then also it results in feeling of higher body roll.You can feel it significantly in Vento and Verna while Rapid which is a Vento with tougher suspension is more planted and lesser body roll is felt in it.
Cornering,simple it is,how the car behaves while negotiating corners.
No doubt,Laura is better than Civic,but not the nose heavy TDI,only TSI handles better than Civic.
While new Jetta is really better but older was not as good as Civic if handling is concerned.
Well,there is nothing like that,many japs like Lancer,Honda City,Nissan GT-R have already set benchmarks for ride and handling.
But yes,they are very few as compared to the European army of such cars.
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