32-35K to spend on a car.

The F-150 lightning is insane, it was the first Truck to make the cover of Car and driver, i think that there have only been a few other trucks ever produced that have been faster, but i think it did have a pretty high tec engine.

I think that the origninal Viper engine was development for the Truck first and then Dodge had Caroll Shelby develop a car for the engine.

My problem with trucks is, if you dont need the truck aspect of one, the whole f=ma thing kinda convinces me to stay way from them, that being said i could really use a truck.


If you wanted to go ridiculously fast in luxury without dropping M5 like money there is the Cadillac CTS-V, it is caddys midsize 4 door sport sedan with the engine form the Corvette Z06.
 
Originally posted by donutsrule
Info on these:
750bm.jpg


can be found here:
http://vortex3.rely.net/artman/publish/article_330.shtml

It sounds like a lot of fun.:)
Click to expand...



Thanks!!! Great article. Now I need to see what the R32 is going for.

UPDATE EDIT: Did I say thanks? Well thanks for telling me about a car that doesn't exist on our shores right now and NOBODY knows when..
BUt thanks anyway
Paul
 
Originally posted by The Tourist
BTW, as I've said, local F-150 Lightnings hunt ricers here. Until next year, all Lightnings have automatic transmissions. I haven't seen one guy who can shift a 6-speed that fast. It gets worse. To match the Ram, Ford is putting a Cobra engine and a 6-speed into the Lightning. Trucks seem to be the coming thing.
Click to expand...

Uhh.. Yeah.

Ford lightnings is the fastest moto-car that ever was built. And them auto-magic transmissions will always beat a 6 speed.

Or something.

Quarter mile times:
2003 Ford Lightning SVT: 13.7 Seconds
2003 Subaru STi: 13.23 Seconds
2003 Mitsubishi Evo: 13.08 Seconds

(Below data from same links as above)

0-60 Times:
2003 Ford Lightning SVT: 5.2 Seconds
2003 Subaru STi: 4.87 Seconds
2003 Mitsubisi Lancer: 4.59 Seconds

MSRP Prices:
2003 Ford Lightning SVT: ~$33,500
2003 Subaru STi: ~$32,000
2003 Mitsubisi Lancer: ~$29,000

Look, I'm not saying that Lightnings aren't cool. In fact, I like them a LOT.

But, in just about any kind of racing that I can think of, they'll get killed by an STi. Lightnings are heavy as heck. They can't compete with smaller, lighter cars until you get into full on race built engines. And then, it's really only a function of how much air you can get through the head into the cylinders, and how much money you've got.

Go to a nice track someday. Take all your buddies with Lightnings. Watch them get repeatedly owned by old "ricer" CRX's, "ricer" miatas, etc.

And as for the Ram SRT-10's: I haven't found a good, reliable quarter mile on it yet. Maybe it will be faster. But, for the price I've heard of around $70,000, I could buy an STi and add a lot of goodies.

Anyways, trucks are trucks, cars are cars. Not the same thing at all.

The "ricers suck" attitude is pretty lame.

-- Rob
 
Baraqya, Lets be honest here their are "ricers" and their are import tuners. Yes a well built and tuned car will be fast, It can be American, Euro or Asian. Your friends at the track are most likely serious tuners they would have a fast car no matter what brand they chose to work with. However the bulk of the cars people refer to as "ricers" are not well built cars. These are cars that are often modded to look fast but are lacking in performance upgrades or are in fact slowed down by the "mods". These cars and the owners are often highly visable and in your face. Sure a real Evo or WRX STI is a fast car but I don't see a lot of them on the road in comparison to the number of "ricers" I see.

As for my take on the matter if you take a $15,000 dollar car and dump $15,000 in to it you don't get a $30,000 car, I don't care if it's done by the factory or some kid in his basement. A late model Audi or BMW can be modded to turn out equal preformance for the same if not less total investment and at the end you have a car with a higher resale value and to most people more class, prestige or what ever you want to call it.
 
Baraqyal,

I think the reason that STI's are getting clobbered here is the type of racing in which they compete.

Most of it is 'high profile,' like on the main drag of a cruiser area, in front of their friends. The distance is usually very short, like 'stoplight to stoplight.' And they pick their opponents poorly.

They see a radical old V-8, or a Lightning, or a Cobra, and they cannot wait to take them on, like wanting to be a giant killer. Then they do one of two things; they do a scratch off at the lights, and from that initial burn-out they are a little four-banger gasping for air, or a pedal-to-the-metal light-up trying to launch with the turbo spooling. The hook-up ain't right.

In a short drag, it's the torque, not raw horsepower, and the guys they choose to race have torque to spare. Sure, I've seen Lightnings burn and pull sideways doing a poor launch, but usually they just grab and fly away.

There might be a gear change, maybe two, before the next light. By then, it's over. In a roll on, even my truck out torques them.

Having said that, guess what I'm going to do with my 250 TT paddle-shifter next year? Probably very little. Sure, we might 'tweak it' a bit, nothing flashy. But I want my wife to have fun driving the car and she thought my Mustang was scary and it over-powered her. I might get chewed up by a STI, but I want a sports car for grand tourissimo, like a Z-06; a car that defend its honor, but build more for the personal experience. Get a TT brochure and check out the 'black' interior option. It sure is better than Legacy plastic.

Of course, if my wife test drives the TT and doesn't care for it, I'll buy the 225 6-speed. Then THAT car might have a few tricks. I'll pass on the purple windshield wipers, however.;)
 
Please do us all a favor and confine your "racing" to something safe like a track. Street racing and "stoplight grand prixs" only end up getting people killed.:(
 
Originally posted by pcnorton
Thanks!!! Great article. Now I need to see what the R32 is going for.

UPDATE EDIT: Did I say thanks? Well thanks for telling me about a car that doesn't exist on our shores right now and NOBODY knows when..
BUt thanks anyway
Paul
Click to expand...

You're welcome.:)

I know how you feel: My first three cars were VWs, and I owned a G60 Corrado for 12 years and watched and waited for a Rally Golf to make it to these shores. When Subaru beat them to it, I bought the WRX. When we got our MINI, I finally sold the Corrado, but it was a great little car (with the exception of traction issues in snow when using Summer tires ;) ).
 
Donutsrule,

To be sure, you're right. But there's little real street racing, and NOTHING like the 'Fast and the Furious.'

Believe it or not, the real money here seems to go into a sound system, not the engine, anyway. I don't know what you call it, but the guys seem to have a 'trunk full of speakers,' and I mean THE ENTIRE TRUNK, or lift-gate area. Asking a spooling 4-banger to pull a eco-box, while it's shouldering a radio as big as a phonebooth has to hurt some performance!

The TT I'm looking at has something like 8 speakers, and I cannot think of where they're going to hide that many in an area smaller than a love-seat.

If it ain't radios, it's chrome narrow sidewall wires and tires. Hopefully, the overall circumferance (sp?) is near stock or all of the engine mods might be for naught. Well, I guess youth has its season; the very first mod I made to a Harley was a cam, alloy pushrods and solid lifters. It pulled better, but I was disappointed that my bike looked stock, and no one could 'see' the improvements.
 
Originally posted by The Tourist
To be sure, you're right. But there's little real street racing, and NOTHING like the 'Fast and the Furious.'
Click to expand...

Street racing is for morons. I think FF accurately represented the intelligence level and depth of thought of the "real" street racing crowd. Unfortunately, it also inspired a whole generation of fools.

"Stoplight to stoplight" races are not a good measure of either car or driver. The track is the place to go for controlled conditions.

Anyways, my whole original point is don't get confuse sweet cars like the STi for "rice" just because they're made in Japan and have some minor cosmetic similarities.

As for the modification issue: SPHayes is right. Spending money on mods is like throwing it away. But if speed is what you're looking for, it's sometimes a good way to go.

Back on topic.

I thought the R32 was out already. Man, I'd sure hate to be a mechanic working on that car. It's amazing that they were able to cram such a big engine in such a little space.

So, have you test driven anything yet?

-- Rob
 
Agree with several of you that I personally like a "good" all round car that is "pretty fast" on the initial launch...but it's not the end all for me. Prefer something that is good/decent all round (performance/styling/etc) versus something strictly about performance at the local strip. Nothing wrong with only wanting performance, but from what I infer from Paul (PCNorton), he is not looking only for track times, but a stylish all round performance car...let me know if I got that wrong, Paul. Another prereq of his is front wheel/AWD because of the cold weather--limits us, but there are quite a few options mentioned.

You NEED to pick up a copy of an unbiased review like "Consumer Reports" for the reliability ratings. SEVERAL of the vehicle makes mentioned in this thread are well below/below average for reliability. I was initially looking at a VR6 Jetta or a Passat when I started looking for a replacement for my old Dodge 4x4...didn't take me long to realize that a Volkswagon would not meet my basic requirements for reliability (if your planning on getting rid of the car before the warranty expires, have at it I guess). Without going back to my research (off the top of my head, so someone can correct me if needed), believe Audi was also below average and the 2004 BMW 3 series were rated as below average (new addition unfortunately). Easy enough to confirm yourself, but I'm on leave in Kentucky and don't have access to the research I purchased before buying my G35. Many of these cars are great on the engineering...what is up with the build quality, I don't know?

Glenmore
 
The car that's getting me excited is the new VW R36. This bad boy will be packing a 275bhp 3.6L V6. It will have all wheel drive, 18 inch rims, and huge Brembos. It will be stiffer and handle better then the current R-32 which for some reason has not made it to the US yet. I can only guess that since VW is redesigning the Golf next year that we probably wont see the R-32 here.
 
Agree with several of you that I personally like a "good" all round car that is "pretty fast" on the initial launch...but it's not the end all for me. Prefer something that is good/decent all round (performance/styling/etc) versus something strictly about performance at the local strip. Nothing wrong with only wanting performance, but from what I infer from Paul (PCNorton), he is not looking only for track times, but a stylish all round performance car...let me know if I got that wrong, Paul. Another prereq of his is front wheel/AWD because of the cold weather--limits us, but there are quite a few options mentioned.
Click to expand...

Yes. Unfortunatele R32 is out. No realy info when/if its coming and dealers are telling me mid $30K. If rear drive was in Iwould think nissan zor the lexus equivillent.

I guess I'm going to head doown the MCS with the works, unless VW pulls it head out.

Did you WRX fans know there isn't a radion in the car?


Paul
 
Chrysler crossfire or the MINI Cooper S with the works. Both about the same price. I know I said i wouldn't go rear wheel drive but the cross fire is nice (drove it!) and it has a winter mode.

04.chrysler.crossfire.f34.500.jpg




Paul
Still looking though!
 
Originally posted by pcnorton
Did you WRX fans know there isn't a radion in the car?
Click to expand...

Actually, I'm not just a fan, I own an MY02 WRX. ;)

You're referring to the WRX STi, which does not come with an audio system from the factory. It's a dealer option of course.
 
Originally posted by pcnorton
Chrysler crossfire or the MINI Cooper S with the works. Both about the same price. I know I said i wouldn't go rear wheel drive but the cross fire is nice (drove it!) and it has a winter mode.

Paul
Still looking though!
Click to expand...

Get the MCS with the Works package :D :cool: :D
 
the MCS. If all goes well with financing it will be the car. More room more options, (Although it is a not as "adult" a car, but hey I am a kid at heart.) Otherwise chrysler is offering the crossfire at $520 a month, 2k down and 72 months. $6** for 60 and so on. Will see what the Cooper people in Hartford can get me. They were hemming and hawing about the loan including the accessories.



Paul
 
Originally posted by pcnorton
the MCS. If all goes well with financing it will be the car. More room more options, (Although it is a not as "adult" a car, but hey I am a kid at heart.) Otherwise chrysler is offering the crossfire at $520 a month, 2k down and 72 months. $6** for 60 and so on. Will see what the Cooper people in Hartford can get me. They were hemming and hawing about the loan including the accessories.



Paul
Click to expand...

Good luck! FWIW, it seems MINI (aka BMW) financing is not the absolute best deal out there, so if they wont work with you on that, a credit union could get you better rates and you can still get the car.

Both our MCS and WRX (now with 49,000+ miles) are motoring along happily. We don't regret getting either.:)
 
Sounds like your decision may already be made, but how come no-one suggested an Acura? The TSX is under $30K, the new TL is right around $35. Great performance and nothing breaks! I've had BMW's, VW's, Mercedes and Lexus, the Acura & Lexus are one's I have had the least (None on the current Acura as of yet) problems with. Lexus and Acura also have the most friendly and efficient dealers out of the bunch. Just my 2 cents here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top