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a) "newer Saabs are far better built than my 1988".
Um, never driven an early NG900, I suppose? ;-)
Apart from the 9-3 SS, you have the pick of the Saab bunch, handling-wise.
But then again there are many, many older Saabs ('performance tuned' ones too) that are tired and feel nowhere near how they should. Friend of mine owns a pristine 1992 900T16S (euro SPG) with a Trent Saab Stage 1 (~220 hp) conversion but otherwise bone stock down to the tires. Everyone who drives its comments on how good this cars feels compared to 'modern' cars, and that's from folks who drive RS2's, massively modified NG900, 9-3, and 9000 models, Prodrive Scoobies and 911's.
A well meant word of advice: f**k the extra 10-15 hp. Concentrate on handling and driveability. Returning anything on the car that's still original to stock, new condition will even work wonders.
b) There's Porsches and Porsches. There not created equal by far, and lowlier versions ARE no match for some 4-cyl. hatchbacks,but the other way round as meant.
Do any of you by any chance have the opportunity to watch 'Top Gear' on BBC2 television? It's often laude as the best car show, anywhere (which doesn't mean a whole lot, sadly), and every week an unnamed racing driver referred to as "The Stig" takes one of the road test cars on the show (or a group of three) to the limits (and beyond ;) ) on a race track. The recorded best times are on a pole in the studion and represent the current 'pecking order' of performance cars.
You might be surprised about some of the outcomes: a 2004 Boxster (1.37:0)might have fractionally seen off the S2000 (1:37.2) and the Z4 3.0 (1.37:4), but as sports cars go it's not making the grade at all. A 1,650 kg lump of Saab 9-5 Aero (which not only carries fou adults and a sh*tload of stuff in comfort, but also is a fair bit cheaper) was only marginally slower at 1:37.9 despite criticism levelled at its combination of big heavy car and FWD, but a Ford Focus RS was almost two seconds faster at 1.35.2. Note that a Scooby WRX is slower than an Aero at 1.39:x, too.
A 911 Turbo posted a 1.31:x - but a TVR T350C costing three times less lapped the track in 1:27 flat, and the barely more expensive Noble M13 GTO-3R did it in an astonishing 1:25! Note that Evo magazine takes their test cars to a track, too - and lo and behold a 2003 911 is trailing cars like an Evo VII FQ-300 by a full four seconds. Forget about not boasting to your friends about the 5-door hatchback you saw off, you're getting walked over by 4-door econoboxes!
Then again, at Top Gear the 911 GT3 lapped the track at 1.27 - in the wet (which gives a 3-4 second penalty on average there). An NSX Type R was 1.31:x in the streaming wet, BTW.
So to conclude:
* A hardcore version of an econobox will see off a bog standard Porker.
* A boggo Porker is about in the same overall performance bracket as a big, fastish saloon (an M5 would walk all over it...).
* A hardcore version of a Porsche and the best examples of specialist sports cars from small manufacturers will kill them all, with the exception of the most 'super' of supercars (Zonda, Koenigsegg et al: both in the high 1.23s) and the fastest of all, bike-engined trackday specials.
Whether you have a five-door hatchback or a two-door sportscar doesn't matter, really. A big badge won't help much on the track either. It's all down to how much you are prepared to compromise on creature comforts, nice floaty suspension, sat nav, aircon, a docile engine pulling loooong gearing for those motorways hauls, et cetera, and how much you want to spend on proper brakes, suspension, lightening and stiffening, drivetrain hardware. Load a Porker up with the former and you won't be much quicker than a good 'sporting' sedan with all that stuff, strip a hatchback from all kinds of 'luxuries' and equip it with the latter lot, and it will tear up the track and kick sand up the faces of 'real' sports cars (ask Damien, for instance). Heck, I reckon you can even make a Yugo go very fast from point to point or on a track. Top Gear had the Lotus folks do this with a Lada (even worse than a Yugo, when they put it on the dyno after they bought it it had 35 hp...) and it rocked.
posted by 82.169.6...
, Tue, 30 Dec 2003 22:37:18, Tue, 30 Dec 2003 06:39:21
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