- Location
- Desert Beach So Cal
How many of you guys are into the modern muscle cars or "econo-rockets"?
What is out there that's worth the money? What is considered fast these days for factory performance cars?
I have not followed the current factory performance car offerings (much), other than scanning cover page hype about the LT1 or WRX and some of the supercharged 4-banger rockets, but never really looked into the stats.
What raised the questions is a stop light run this weekend (the first real hobby car exercise in over a year). I had just left a morning cruise spot when a kid in a Neon decided he wanted to have some fun.
I spotted this Neon closing fast, in my mirrors, and the driver made a dash to line up at the next stop light. Young male driver (~20), in a brand new Neon with a funky hood and S-something badges (supercharged?). When the light changed he was into the throttle, deep. I was already in 2nd, and peddled it till we were even, and pulled a car length with a quick shift to 3rd, and then short shifted 4th (pulling another car length, before peddling hard again just to keep the two to three car lengths intact, and him in the rear view mirror). The driver had that serious look, from the rear view mirror perspective, that I haven't seen in a while.
What was a surprise was the little Neon ran well, it was not falling back
real fast, before I realized I needed to make the next corner (the shutdown speed was fairly high). The Neon driver kept his foot in the throttle and blew past me (so I know it was not speed limited like my old Neon was). The Neon had the funky hood scoop/buldge and badges, and paper dealer plates.
I was hoping he would stop so I could get a better look at the car and ask what options it had, but he took off. I hope I did not spoil his Saturday.
I would guess the Neon would run mid 14-second ET's, and it certainly had better brakes than my 40-year old runner, because it took a fair bit of foot effort (and distance) to drag my car to a stop in the few hundred yards that were left after I lifted. The Neon lifted 50 yards or so later, and made the stop much easier than I did (I think I need to service the old drum brakes, like it might help
counter the difference in 40-years of improved brake technology).
I just though it is cool to find a domestic built econo-rocket these days (if that is what it was, as there is a fairly large import-tuner business in the area we were, Huntington Beach, CA). What do these things run (Et's and cost)?
What is out there that's worth the money? What is considered fast these days for factory performance cars?
I have not followed the current factory performance car offerings (much), other than scanning cover page hype about the LT1 or WRX and some of the supercharged 4-banger rockets, but never really looked into the stats.
What raised the questions is a stop light run this weekend (the first real hobby car exercise in over a year). I had just left a morning cruise spot when a kid in a Neon decided he wanted to have some fun.
I spotted this Neon closing fast, in my mirrors, and the driver made a dash to line up at the next stop light. Young male driver (~20), in a brand new Neon with a funky hood and S-something badges (supercharged?). When the light changed he was into the throttle, deep. I was already in 2nd, and peddled it till we were even, and pulled a car length with a quick shift to 3rd, and then short shifted 4th (pulling another car length, before peddling hard again just to keep the two to three car lengths intact, and him in the rear view mirror). The driver had that serious look, from the rear view mirror perspective, that I haven't seen in a while.
What was a surprise was the little Neon ran well, it was not falling back
real fast, before I realized I needed to make the next corner (the shutdown speed was fairly high). The Neon driver kept his foot in the throttle and blew past me (so I know it was not speed limited like my old Neon was). The Neon had the funky hood scoop/buldge and badges, and paper dealer plates.I was hoping he would stop so I could get a better look at the car and ask what options it had, but he took off. I hope I did not spoil his Saturday.
I would guess the Neon would run mid 14-second ET's, and it certainly had better brakes than my 40-year old runner, because it took a fair bit of foot effort (and distance) to drag my car to a stop in the few hundred yards that were left after I lifted. The Neon lifted 50 yards or so later, and made the stop much easier than I did (I think I need to service the old drum brakes, like it might help
counter the difference in 40-years of improved brake technology). I just though it is cool to find a domestic built econo-rocket these days (if that is what it was, as there is a fairly large import-tuner business in the area we were, Huntington Beach, CA). What do these things run (Et's and cost)?
) away with ease. For the money they can't be beat,as I think they run in the mid to high 'teens as far as $$ goes. It's a shame they won't stand up to much abuse though. A small displacement 4 banger under that kind of boost probably won't make it to see 80,000 miles with that type of driver. Sorry,but I'll take V-8 torque over high RPM HP any day
He's got a 454 in it and street tires and he is always fighting for traction. He got sideways on the 2-3 shift, hit the guardrail, spun it, slid across the track into the otherside's guardrails and finally came to rest in the grass. The body is toast, only the driver's side rear corner survived untouched, but the front clip, doors, and passenger rear corner are gone. He's pulling the rest of the body off this weekend to survey the frame damage. The hardtop survived, but you can see where the rest of the body moved 'cause the brackets cut through the glass of the rear deck. He walked away and the funny thing is that he was more pissed about the puncture in his brand new Be-cool radiator than the rest of the damage to the car. Sorry for the hi-jack, there was no real point to the story. 
