Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site oblio.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!packard!ihnp1!ihnp4!pesnta!hplabs!oblio!jeff From: jeff@oblio.UUCP (Jeff Buchanan) Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: Re: big block vs 4-bangers Message-ID: <281@oblio.UUCP> Date: Thu, 28-Feb-85 13:49:46 EST Article-I.D.: oblio.281 Posted: Thu Feb 28 13:49:46 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 3-Mar-85 03:17:35 EST Organization: Counterpoint Computers Lines: 76 > > I can't really identify with a guy like you, Jeff. Gimme a break! I have never said that I think a 170 hp turbo 4-banger is the ultimate street car. However, do you think a 60's rat-motor 'vette is the ultimate? I hope not. I expect both of us have our ideal set somewhere in the Porsche 959/Ferrari GTO land. So what? Well, this leaves us with the question of where to compromise when our financial resources run out. If I had to compromise, I'd like to keep a nice handling and a good cockpit as opposed to the raw power. I believe that you, Jeff, would choose otherwise. But even a nice turbo 4-banger like the 944 engine is not that bad, is it? In any case, I (and several other people in net.auto) believe that the most fun is to be had not by street racing rat motors and injected hemis but by driving small, nimble cars with reasonable engines (here again, we go our separate ways --- I'm sure 100 hp is not reasonable to you) but with a lot of emphasis on handling and maneuverability. Like a Fiero (140 hp with a V6). Like a GTI (100 hp). Like a CRX (85 hp I think). These little cars are a h*ll of a lot of fun, even if they do get blown off the road at the lights by big V8s. However, you can't take your GTO Judge or '68 Corvette to a Solo II contest either without being blown off the course by little Mini Cooper S's... I can live without a V8 --- can you? \tom haapanen watmath!watdcsu!haapanen Don't cry, don't do anything No lies, back in the government No tears, party time is here again President Gas is up for president (c) Psychedelic Furs, 1982 Dear Tom, What's the deal?! I never said you said a 170 hp 4-banger is the ultimate street car. As far as the mini Cooper is concerned, I don't know what a Solo II is, but it would have to be extremely tight for a 68 Vette to lose to a mini Cooper, e.g. 10 foot straight aways, turns less than the turning radius of the Corvette. You put a 68 Corvette in the same catagory as a GTO Judge. This tells me everything I need to know about your level of sophistication as a car enthusiast. Why is it that so many people on net.auto think that great handling and great acceleration are mutually exclusive? Can people really be so ignorant? Is 100 HP reasonable? In what context? 100 ponies is plenty to motivate a 2000 lb. car to 35 MPH so that one can drive to the grocery store, work, or wherever. Is 100 ponies enough to feel some acceleration when you pull away from a stop light? Of course not! As far as the comment about nimble cars is concerned, how nimble is a car with so little power that when you step on the gas, the only indication you've done so is a change in the sound of the exhaust? If you want to feel nimble, I'll take you for a ride in my '66 L-88 Vette. The cars you mention are no match in straight line nimbleness or side to side nimbleness for an '84 Corvette with Z-51 suspension. It has the nice cockpit you wanted and the handling is literally the worlds best. It isn't a fast car in terms of acceleration, but it isn't dangerously slow. Of course it costs far more than those put-put cars you mentioned. The Porsche and Ferrari you mentioned are so exotic, I can't take you seriously, especially at around $100,000 a copy. But think what you could have at 1/3 the price? For that kind of money, the buyer expects to have sensational performance. You could buy an '84 Corvette for say, $24,000, buy a ZL-1 aluminum motor for it for another $10,000 (including all mods to yield 800+ HP non turbo charged, blown, or injected), drop the motor in the Vette, and you would have a car that would blow away those "high price spread" cars. Jeff