you know in respect to what the SRT is. a performance-minded small car. it does just that. no frills go-fast parts.

for me personally, and to meet MY requirements, i NEEDED a wagon, a sedan isnt an option for me. im a photographer and as such i have a ton of gear to lug around, and my previous VW sedan just wasnt cutting it. so naturally, the WRX wagon provided me with the ideal solution. i happened upon an 06 and went for it.

we cannot be so ignorant as to lump a car into any given category. purchasing a car is a purely emotional experience, you buy it because its a car YOU want, and it is a car that will make YOU happy.

i bought the wrx because it had the looks i wanted, the stock power was more than adequate for me ( and is easy to upgrade if i feel the need to), and it had the function and utility that i absolutely NEEDED.

we dont really have a right to bag on SRT owners just simply because we dont like it. it may not be for me, but it is for someone else.

and what gives any of us the right to tell someone ( especially a young guy ) that he cant be proud of the car he drives, so what if it has a neon shell, its got a little monster under the hood, and thats all people care about. plus if you ditch the wing it really could become somewhat of a sleeper.

 

You've really never been around SRT owners much have you? 95% of them are the biggest idiots you'll ever come in contact with.....seriously.

 

lol well in that case i guess they can all just go **** off then!

i was just trying to be the nice guy. but if they're idiots.. the f*ck 'em.

 

No problem with trying to be a nice guy, but honestly, most of them are real assbags. I know a few people with SRTs and they're real cool, but the funny part about it is they won't even hang with SRT owners. :rotfl:

 

Thinking about it there are few idiot srt drivers . I geuss to make-up for the sub-standard image american car's have potrayed for the last few years they tend to get alittle excited . It just makes me laugh when they try so hard to be better than a sti or evo , but again it's the driver not the vehicle . It's still a very fast car for chump change . Just my opinion .

 

I've never had an issue with domestic fans. It's the import crowd that started the whole "import vs. domestic" war.

There's no Japanese import car on Earth that can even come close to running with a Top Fueler. Until there is, they can take the back seat where they belong.

Some of the Japanese import manufacturers may take the cake when it comes to handling but they're way out of their league when it comes to straight-line acceleration. The Supra and Skyline can be brought up, but neither of those cars will crack a 13.50 in stock configuration. What's the issue? The C4 Vette was running 13.60s between 1992 and 1996. The (standard) C5 was running in the 13.10-13.30 range, with the ZO6s trapping in the 12.70s. The (standard) C6 is now trapping in the same range as the C5 ZO6. And we all know what the C6 ZO6 is capable of. Each, which are superior in performance to the Supra and the Skyline, save for the C4 Vette that was right on par with them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but all of these cars are competitively priced with each other......

I'd hate to say this, but while handling is fun (I wouldn't have purchased an STi if it wasn't!), straight-line acceleration takes the cake. You can't travel through a corner rowing through gears at full throttle, with your head banging off the seat with every shift.

As for SRT owners, I'm not normally one to judge people by the car they drive, but the majority of SRT owners never cease to amaze me. Whether I drive by one (or one drives by me) on the same side of the highway, or down the opposite side of the highway, I always seem to get the requisite SRT "blow-off check."

 

2.0l turbo inline four FWD..... boring
if I wanted one that would impress people and is still "domestic" id get a wrecked plymouth laser and have my way with it.... also save 10k in the process.
I get so much flack for driving an import in detroit..
some ***** actully stoped me and said 'how can you sleep at night knowing you put people out of work buying a forgen car'
I said
'How are you going to sleep at night knowing that your caravans engine and transmission were designed by mitsibishi, made in japan, your intirror was made in mexico, and im pritty sure your car was assembled in canada'
she retorted with
'fallow the doller'
oh yes thats right all the money the big companys make realy stays in the country......
the echonomy around detroit is based off of manufacturing. I will support any company that opens any plan in our area (toyota)
Unions and lazy employees killed the big 3..

when you break it all down its very simple.
I purchesd my car because subaru is the only one that made a car with the quality and configuration I was looking for in my budget.
As soon as detroit can figgure out what a quality product at a compeditive price is Ill start buying "domestic" if you can even call it that any more.

 

Its a purly american stand point in the first place.
other countries have more tight winding roads so they developed cars that would handel well, thus why most of them have 4-6cylinders and low body weight, so they will be able to turn when need be.
of corse american cars have been geared twards streight line acceleration, because in the US NASCAR is the #1 most viewed motor sport with one road corse race per season ... all the rest are left turn only's. All the muscle cars back in the day were developed to race nascar and in order to qualify as a 'stock car' a certen number of the cars had to be produced and sold in the us market... case in point the superbird and origional dodge daytona.
all american proformance cars sence then have tried to embody the muscle car....
so next time you wanna compare 1/4 miles... hug the nearest guy wearing a nasscar t-shirt.
I am not trying to smack you down here.... just explaining why that situation is, most people never see these connections.

 

NASCAR does do road races, but not many. There are a few tracks that are road courses. If you ever watch them, they can't stay on those tracks either. The reason most of them are "left turn only" courses are because those dumb rednecks aren't smart enough to know how to turn right.

"Stock car racing" is no longer "stock car racing."

You mention the Superbird/Daytona. Chrysler couldn't give those things away. They sales were very slow on them, but now everyone wants them. Go figure.....

You mention most of the Japanese cars had low body weights and only 4 or 6 cylinders so they handled well....

300ZX Twin Turbo- 3500+ lbs

Latest generation Supra- 3400-3500 lbs

Skyline R34- 3400-3600 lbs

Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR4- 3700-3800 lbs

Hardly low weight......

 

300zX= pig
supra= pig
skyline r34= awd
mitsubishi 300gt= awd
98 ls1 firbird 3600lbs
73 dodge charger with cast iron big block 3700lbs
obviously there are acceptions to every rule.

most imports do have lower curb weight, you are judging the majority by the minority.

if you notice in the post I said yes they do race road corses but again thats not the majority of the race season. That is a moddern add on to the season back in the 60's-70's it was all oval track racing.

The muscle car movement was started by stock car racing having to reliece a certen number of production cars to qualify= fact.
thats the only reason the genral public knows the word 'hemi'

the daytona and super bird did not sell=fact
they did not sell because they were designed for stock car racing and no one at the time wanted the big wings and sharp noses. They have gained in popularity because most dealers converted them to regular road runners and fiew people bought them, now they are very rare.
and if you realy want to get nit-picky about it the 426 hemi didnt sell well eather. not because it was a bad engine but because they way it was configured required forged pistons. The genral public didnt want a car they had to start and let idel for 10 minuts untill the pistons expanded enough so the car wouldent burn oil. they wanted a car that they got in and went. so alot of people had there hemi's replaced by 440's

What I am trying to point out is thru the history of car manufacuring post 1974 companys have been trying to keep with the mucle car legicy (those that arnt trying to choke there cars to death with environmental controles). And the muscle car legicy was started by the whole stock car thing.

If you dont believe me look at the concept cars they are comming out with.
challinger
camero
charger
trying to revive the names, styles, or power of there 60's-70's predicessors.

I think my point is getting nedlessly boged down here.
what I am trying to point out is genraly forgen cars are geared twards handeling and us cars are geared twards stright line power wich tends to be a US mind set more than any other. Yes forgen manufacurers make 1/4 mile monsters but thats not the only thing they accell at, they usualy have the handeling to back it up. Also now US cars are becomming better handeling to try to compeed.. to little to late in my mind.

 

True, and every one of those cars is a pig. As for the Firebirds weighing 3600 lbs, I believe you are thinking of the T/A. Formulas are about on par with the Z28s. They're not as highly optioned, more than likely being the cause for the difference in about 150 lbs of excess weight.

Also keep in mind that the supercharged Cobras were weighing in at around 3600-3700 lbs.

Well, yeah, if you're counting Nissan Sentras and Honda Civics.

The Muscle Car movement started in the early 60s. The 1962 Catalina 421 SD with tri-power was arguably the first Muscle Car. Hell, those beasts were running very low 12s bone stock!

It's funny that the 426 Hemi is the one that gets all the glory, especially because the 440ci would whip its ***. The 440ci has always been more powerful than the 426 Hemi.

These days the Hemi is basically nothing more than a fashionable nameplate. It's akin to the "SS" nameplates on Chevrolets. Everything from a Cobalt to a Malibu has the "SS" name on it; NONE of which do the "SS" name justice! These great names have been nothing short of desecrated.

I won't disagree with you that motorsports had a lot to do with the sales of high horsepower machines. "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday."

Yes, look at those names that the manufacturers are trying to revive! The domestic companies are sinking.....FAST! Not only can we blame poor marketing and quality, but also the unions which are causing these manufacturers to crumble. When a manufacturer doesn't have money, they're forced to cut expenses elsewhere, hence the poor interior quality of domestic automobiles. If you remove the auto unions, I would damn near guarantee that domestics would take back their rightful places at the top with a hell of a lot better vehicles than what are currently on the market.

Another reason for those names making a come-back is because horsepower is in style again, despite gas prices. People are driving what they want to drive, and they will pay the price.

 

it looks like we are beginning to see eye to eye on just about every thing. ..
the hemi vs 440 debate is still raging on mopar forums.. from a published horse powerstand point the 440 is beating the hemi. but back then they under rated both motors for insurance reasons but not by the same amout so comparrison there is hard to find.
alot of people are also making the mistake of compairing modified 440's vs stock hemi's
so its pritty much a stand still with alot of greay.
the firbird number I thru out was what my fully optioned 98 ls1 formula weighed in at in a highway weigh station with me, a duffle bag and half a tank of gass
3632lbs to be precise.

the unfortunate thing about big hp being back in so is big curb weight
SXT - 3800
Daytona - 4031
SE - 3727
R/T - 4031
SRT-8 - 4160
for the new charger!!

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you probably weigh between 150-200 lbs. So basically, that Formula probably weighed about 3400 lbs, give or take about 25-50 lbs.

The 440ci was definitely the more powerful between it and the Hemi. The 440 was a beast that never really got the respect that it deserved. On average, the 440ci cars were probably about .2-.3 faster in the 1/4 than the Hemis.

If I had my choice, from a performance standpoint I would definitely take a 440ci, but from a collector's standpoint or an investment standpoint, you'd be stupid not to choose the Hemi.

 

yep at the time I was 175.
from a driving stand point the 440 is going to be the better bet more of them out there, more after market, more forgiving all around.
mah well.

 

It is snobby to put down any running car. Having owned several broken down wrecks. Were speaking about performance though mainly. Lets not enter reliability into the equation. Then we'd really sound snobby.

The new american muscle rides make good power and thats a major bonus but fuel economy? Reliability? Handling!!! I cant consider any car without good handling.