The most recent AutoWeek magazine (see www.autoweek.com) has a news flash in it regarding the fastest road-registered car. The record for nearly seven years had been the almighty McLaren F1 at 240.1 mph. Most people didn't think it would be beaten, except possibly by the upcoming Bugatti Veyron (see http://www.bugatti-cars.com/bugatti/index.html). In fact, many in the industry did NOT expect the Veyron to beat that number, because although it should have the power to do so (987 hp and 938 lb-ft of torque from a quad (!!!) turbo, 64 valve, 8.0 liter W-16 engine), the company has been having aerodynamic difficulties in addition to problems finding a tire company to build a 250 mph tire. Therefore, the latest news was the company had dropped its target top speed from the 250 originally quoted to a 'more modest' 230 mph. In that case, obviously, the McLaren's record would be safe. However, the news in AutoWeek claims that a German Porsche tuner company, 9ff (see http://www.9ff.de/Englisch-htm/home-eng.htm), last December set a new record at the Nardo track in Italy. AutoWeek claims the new time is 241.1 mph, while the company's website claims 243 mph. Either way it is crazy, crazy fast, especially coming from the car it did. The car was...? You guessed it, my favorite car, the Porsche 911 GT2. Here are some numbers from the tuned GT2: 3.8 (up from stock 3.6) liter twin-turbo inline six; 828 horsepower (!!!) at 7200 rpm; 649 lb-ft of torque at 6450; 2860 pound curb weight. That translates to a 3.5 power-weight ratio, which would put it in a third place tie on my power-weight ratio chart (behind the F50GT (see Post below), the ME412 (see Post below), and tied with the McLaren F1 LM version. Good sweet gracious. The German company says they are planning on building up to 20 cars at $400,000 a pop. Pretty crazy. I'll take two please.
Friday, February 04, 2005
Possible cars to buy:
So, I have been looking at a couple different (used) cars that very well might be my next car purchase. I have found a handful that I like, some more likely than others. Here they are, in no particular order:
1994 Ford Taurus SHO:
four door sedan
front-wheel drive
3.0 V6
220 horsepower
5-speed manual
71k miles
$6k
1995 Lexus SC300:
two door coupe
rear-wheel drive
3.0 V6
215 horsepower (I think)--BUT, see earlier Post regarding dream-car SC/Supra swap
5-speed manual
87k miles (but remember the 2JZ-GTE swap)
$11,000
2003 Subaru Impreza WRX
four door sedan (or wagon)
all-wheel drive
2.0 turbocharged inline four
227 horsepower
5-speed manual
31-32k miles
$17,000
2001 Audi A4 Quattro
four door sedan (or wagon)
all-wheel drive
1.8 turbocharged inline four
170 horsepower (stock, but see earlier Post regarding the 1.8T in the Passat)
5-speed manual
33-37k miles
$17,000
Now a little explanation:
The SHO was my very first car, so that has a special place in my heart. It was first produced for MY 1989, and at the time was really quite a rocket. It had a Yamaha 3.0 V6 engine that produced 220 horsepower, and had a 7000 rpm redline. I went the fastest I have ever gone (top speed) in a 1993 model (146 mph (indicated)). I had a ton of fun in that car, and the handling was quite impressive. I had upgraded it with Eibach springs, Koni Sport struts, anti-roll bars, 18-inch wheels and 225/45 Michelin Pilot Sports. The thing stuck like glue. There is a corner out on a country road that has a 35 mph sign for it. One night I took the 35 mph corner at 90 mph and the car didn't lose traction or even squeal it's tires. My record for a 25 mph on-ramp to a freeway is 72 mph. The thing was pretty impressive. However, the thing was a nightmare in terms of maintenance, as I spent a small (not so small actually) fortune on repairing various things on it. Plus, the parts are astronomically expensive (think German car parts pricing on a Ford). So this is really more of a dream, than a really viable option. However, someday when I am making decent money, I would love to have a (relatively) low mileage 1993-95 Ford Taurus SHO with a 5-speed manual in my garage.
The Lexus we have talked about earlier. It is a great car right off the bat, with a nice inline-six cylinder and 5-speed manual transmission. It is rear wheel drive (as all proper sports cars should be), and comes with Toyota reliability. I have seen many cars advertised with between 150,000 and 200,000 miles on them. The thing, if taken care of, will run forever. Plus, (and this is the primary reason I am interested in it) you can swap the Supra drivetrain into it and it will bolt right up. That is 'bolting right up' 320 horsepower and a six-speed manual. Not to mention the Supra 2JZ-GTE is one of (if not THE) most tunable engine on the market. Again, I would recommend seeing an earlier Post for the some of the potential that this engine has. This is actually a relatively realistic car because it has relatively low miles (for a Toyota), and is a lot closer to a price range that I will hopefully be able to afford within the next couple of years.
The Subaru is a great little car. I have seen stock 0-60mph times of 5.5 seconds, with a top end of around 150mph. This engine (EJ20) is also incredibly tunable. I have seen a cat-back system alone improve horsepower (at the wheels) to a dyno-proven increase of 15 horsepower (nearly 20 horsepower at the crank). A further indication of its potential is the myriad of tuners that have coaxed more than 300 horsepower from this car, with no internal modifications, and only a handful of external ones. On a side note, I recently looked at a website that boasts both a 580 and a 600 horsepower WRX (see www.airpowersystems.com for more information). Some modifications I would like to do to a WRX if I were to get one include: turbo-back exhaust (probably a Greddy, but possibly a HKS or B&B (see www.bbtriflo.com)); lightened flywheel; Exedy clutch; blow off valve; AEM (see www.aempower.com form more information) EMS engine management; turbo timer and APS front mount intercooler to start. This is a somewhat realistic car as you can get one with pretty low miles (less than 40k) for less than $17k. Some drawbacks of it are its 'boy-racer' looks, only average interior quality, and a less than stellar shifter.
The Audi would probably be the most realistic alternative. This would be a great car. It would be practical (wagon body style), sporty (turbocharged inline four), and the interior quality of Audi vehicles has been claimed by many automobile magazines to be the best in the business. I have also previously Posted about the 1.8T engine. This is a great platform to build off of. Although it only comes stock with 170 horsepower, it has a great deal more potential (even if not as much as the WRX or SC). I would first put a front mount intercooler on it (probably either an ABD Racing (see www.abdracing.com) or APR (see www.goapr.com)); turbo back exhaust; at least an APR or GIAC (see www.giacusa.com) chip, but possibly a full APR kit (APR's Stage III kit puts out 280 horsepower). I would prefer a wagon, however, Shelle doesn't particularly like how the wagon looks, so it might have to be a sedan. The definite plus of a sedan is it comes with 110 pounds LESS curb weight than the wagon, which would help with the power-weight ratio tremendously. You can find a 2000-2002 A4 with the 1.8T and a manual and Quattro (all-wheel drive) with less then 40,000 miles for less than $17,000. This very well might be the next car in the Kuzma garage (assuming there is ANY new car in the garage).
Well, those are what I am looking at right now. All would be good choices, but the Audi is probably at the top of the list at the moment.
1994 Ford Taurus SHO:
four door sedan
front-wheel drive
3.0 V6
220 horsepower
5-speed manual
71k miles
$6k
1995 Lexus SC300:
two door coupe
rear-wheel drive
3.0 V6
215 horsepower (I think)--BUT, see earlier Post regarding dream-car SC/Supra swap
5-speed manual
87k miles (but remember the 2JZ-GTE swap)
$11,000
2003 Subaru Impreza WRX
four door sedan (or wagon)
all-wheel drive
2.0 turbocharged inline four
227 horsepower
5-speed manual
31-32k miles
$17,000
2001 Audi A4 Quattro
four door sedan (or wagon)
all-wheel drive
1.8 turbocharged inline four
170 horsepower (stock, but see earlier Post regarding the 1.8T in the Passat)
5-speed manual
33-37k miles
$17,000
Now a little explanation:
The SHO was my very first car, so that has a special place in my heart. It was first produced for MY 1989, and at the time was really quite a rocket. It had a Yamaha 3.0 V6 engine that produced 220 horsepower, and had a 7000 rpm redline. I went the fastest I have ever gone (top speed) in a 1993 model (146 mph (indicated)). I had a ton of fun in that car, and the handling was quite impressive. I had upgraded it with Eibach springs, Koni Sport struts, anti-roll bars, 18-inch wheels and 225/45 Michelin Pilot Sports. The thing stuck like glue. There is a corner out on a country road that has a 35 mph sign for it. One night I took the 35 mph corner at 90 mph and the car didn't lose traction or even squeal it's tires. My record for a 25 mph on-ramp to a freeway is 72 mph. The thing was pretty impressive. However, the thing was a nightmare in terms of maintenance, as I spent a small (not so small actually) fortune on repairing various things on it. Plus, the parts are astronomically expensive (think German car parts pricing on a Ford). So this is really more of a dream, than a really viable option. However, someday when I am making decent money, I would love to have a (relatively) low mileage 1993-95 Ford Taurus SHO with a 5-speed manual in my garage.
The Lexus we have talked about earlier. It is a great car right off the bat, with a nice inline-six cylinder and 5-speed manual transmission. It is rear wheel drive (as all proper sports cars should be), and comes with Toyota reliability. I have seen many cars advertised with between 150,000 and 200,000 miles on them. The thing, if taken care of, will run forever. Plus, (and this is the primary reason I am interested in it) you can swap the Supra drivetrain into it and it will bolt right up. That is 'bolting right up' 320 horsepower and a six-speed manual. Not to mention the Supra 2JZ-GTE is one of (if not THE) most tunable engine on the market. Again, I would recommend seeing an earlier Post for the some of the potential that this engine has. This is actually a relatively realistic car because it has relatively low miles (for a Toyota), and is a lot closer to a price range that I will hopefully be able to afford within the next couple of years.
The Subaru is a great little car. I have seen stock 0-60mph times of 5.5 seconds, with a top end of around 150mph. This engine (EJ20) is also incredibly tunable. I have seen a cat-back system alone improve horsepower (at the wheels) to a dyno-proven increase of 15 horsepower (nearly 20 horsepower at the crank). A further indication of its potential is the myriad of tuners that have coaxed more than 300 horsepower from this car, with no internal modifications, and only a handful of external ones. On a side note, I recently looked at a website that boasts both a 580 and a 600 horsepower WRX (see www.airpowersystems.com for more information). Some modifications I would like to do to a WRX if I were to get one include: turbo-back exhaust (probably a Greddy, but possibly a HKS or B&B (see www.bbtriflo.com)); lightened flywheel; Exedy clutch; blow off valve; AEM (see www.aempower.com form more information) EMS engine management; turbo timer and APS front mount intercooler to start. This is a somewhat realistic car as you can get one with pretty low miles (less than 40k) for less than $17k. Some drawbacks of it are its 'boy-racer' looks, only average interior quality, and a less than stellar shifter.
The Audi would probably be the most realistic alternative. This would be a great car. It would be practical (wagon body style), sporty (turbocharged inline four), and the interior quality of Audi vehicles has been claimed by many automobile magazines to be the best in the business. I have also previously Posted about the 1.8T engine. This is a great platform to build off of. Although it only comes stock with 170 horsepower, it has a great deal more potential (even if not as much as the WRX or SC). I would first put a front mount intercooler on it (probably either an ABD Racing (see www.abdracing.com) or APR (see www.goapr.com)); turbo back exhaust; at least an APR or GIAC (see www.giacusa.com) chip, but possibly a full APR kit (APR's Stage III kit puts out 280 horsepower). I would prefer a wagon, however, Shelle doesn't particularly like how the wagon looks, so it might have to be a sedan. The definite plus of a sedan is it comes with 110 pounds LESS curb weight than the wagon, which would help with the power-weight ratio tremendously. You can find a 2000-2002 A4 with the 1.8T and a manual and Quattro (all-wheel drive) with less then 40,000 miles for less than $17,000. This very well might be the next car in the Kuzma garage (assuming there is ANY new car in the garage).
Well, those are what I am looking at right now. All would be good choices, but the Audi is probably at the top of the list at the moment.
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