Riiiiight.

 

Some of the attitude on here is driving me crazy. It seems that we have assumed the role of our old musclehead bullies, detracting from all that is american much like they detracted from all that is japanese. Cars are cars. They are different. Some do some things better, and others do other things better. But this double sided auto-talk has to be contested...lest we all end up like the niched in Mustang/Chevy die hards, or the honda ones for that matter.

...obviously not of a neon.. at least an ACR. Anyone who autocrosses knows that the Dodge Neon ACR held stock classes in a headlock with it's factory equipped adjustable camber and it's deceptivly good handling. If anything the neon was touted as a handler with less then astonishing power. I know a couple of SCC articles throwing around the 're-invention of the musclecar' term have given you WRX owners a 'holier then thou' attitude in the corners and while AWD offers supeior traction in less then ideal conditions remember that RT and ACR neons were crushing RS's into pulp at smooth pavement autocrosses when a WRX was a JDM only dream. AWD is of course the only way i'd want to go but it still isn't the apex drivetrain in all situations... which brings me to:


This is a true statement, just as RWD is better on a perfectly dry smooth road course. AWD is excess weight and unnesicarry in some situations but still offers advantages in some other situations.

But the point of it is this...BoOm who posted the above was most likely using that fact to take away from the other fact posted... that the SRT-4 out slaloms the WRX stock for stock. So what? are us Subaru owners going to take to the grave the polar opposite of what the old addage used to be? Now is going faster in a straight line with an STi over an EVO more important then the slalom numbers? Are those slalom numbers rubbish when the WRX lacks the straight line superiority? If the WRX out slalomed the SRT-4 it would just lend justification to all of the now unfounded 'yeah if you only wanna drag race' crap talking. Please stop talking out of both sides of the mouth. Our cars are what they are: A compromise. Deal. Quit hearing what you want and descrediting what isn't convenient to your own choices. Just because you own a Subaru doesn't mean that the answer to a faster 1/4 mile time is 'my car handles better' and the answer to a spanking round the bends is 'got AWD?' or 'Lets take it to the snow'.... please give credit where it's due.

Since SCC seems to be the bible why don't you check out their article going inside the SRT-4's engine.... seems pretty robust. I wish my car had piston oil squirters.... But believe what you want only time will tell.

If you leave the SRT-4 stock...

Besides Mods Vs. Mods is a ridiculous comparison... one needs look no further then the 2 WRX tuner challenges SCC has had... A Vishnu tuned WRX would probably kill a fairly modded SRT-4. But throw a Mopar engineered version at say an SPI car like the one that took on the STi and see what happens. It all boils down to the parts used and their execution. Thats why STOCK Vs. STOCK is the true benchmark because it is what is offered... not what is possible. Anything is possible with means (read money) and method. If you shod a new Civic SI with race rubber it just may outskidpad (another area where AWD is at a gross disadvantage i might add) and slalom a WRX but does that mean 'A modded SI will own a WRX' ? Please ... We all can laugh at that crap...


All i'm trying to say is this. It's just cars... It's all relative. If a SRT-4 was an AWD turbo rally winner and the WRX was FWD would it still be a gung ho american pile of junk? Is a Ford Focus RS lamer then a Subaru RS just because of lineage? Obviously not. A car is more then where it's built.

Also a car is more then numbers. But that doesn't stop the numbers from being fact. A car that runs 10 seconds is still faster then 11 no matter how you slice it (or 14.0 and 14.6 for that matter) but that only matters for what it is, a quarter mile E/T. Handling numbers are the same. But thats all they are.... numbers. Let your heart drive you, not 0-60 times, and we all will get shorter geared cars. It's when we start playing 'my oranges are more sour then your apples but your limes aren't sweet enough...' that we all start sounding like muscleheads or honda jackasses... And as subaru owners i'd like to hope you are all above it.

-DE

 

P.S.

:End Rant Mode:

-DE

 

best post i have ever read Doom.

 

Mopar stage kits are also factory warrantied -- and we all know that's better than Subaru's crap @$$ policy.