z31maniac

You can get a GT Mustang for under $30k. I paid $30k for my Base with the track pack. And that was a special order car, so I could get base, no options and white.

Why settle for 300hp when you can have 420hp?

Stein

iTrader: (46)

Because it's for his mom. Don't think she needs that.

z31maniac

That seems awfully sexist. Are you implying his mother can't handle all that raw horsepower?

18psi

iTrader: (76)

you don't need 420hp in the kitchen

z31maniac

Touche good sir, touche.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

When I suggested to my wife the g25 over the g37, she was like, "why cant i have the big engine?" like a baus.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Coffee came out of my nose, thanks.

mx5autoxer

iTrader: (1)

One feature (or combination of features rather) that would be very near the top of my list would be flywheel size, and trans throw and feel being in perfect harmony. Nothing gives me blue ***** like trying to downshift for a corner and waiting for the engine to rev before banging down a gear, and if I have to use more than just my wrist and look for where the shift lever goes then you can bet I'm not buying that car. I think drivetrain feel is just as important as steering feel. These are the top two reasons I enjoy my Miata- the turbo is 3rd.

gearhead_318

iTrader: (1)

C5 Corvette FR or Z06
C6 Corvette Z51
S2000 Club Racer
The driver AIDS are deflatable and V8's are awesome.

Sparetire

Bleh. Snow is awesome, it keeps my state from burning down, and loserific Denver people all freak out over it. I love how people talk about how great it is to live in Denver and get outdoors, then they spend their lives eating neuvo-gourmet BS food, staying indoors, bitching about locals, and turning Denver into another McCity. But, snow also kills plans for test drives.

Went to autoshow. Both cars have far better visibility than sporty hatchbacks etc. So that's a wash.

Reason for V6 over V8: Cheaper, slightly better on gas (roughly 5 MPG), makes 300HP anyway. For most people, thats plenty of power for fun. The extra cash for the V8 is extra cash not going to retirement/fun trips/good food, and not really making the car any better for her purposes. 15LBs/HP-ish is fine.

Side note: Camaro is priced really really well, at least in terms of BS autoshow stickers. But they do tend to at least reflect what you see at a dealer. Overall my impression is that the Camaro is not nearly as fun to drive or daily livable though. Its defnitely not suited to someone who's 5'4.

Toyobaru: Likey oil filter location. No BS interior is fine. Nothing we did not already know.

Must do test drive, and see how much fun Mustang is.

Sparetire

Drove V6 Mustang. Nice. The car really does steer well and it doesn't get juddery over mid-corner bumps much either. Very smooth acceleration. Not that long ago V6s were pretty sad sacks of crap that generally made no TQ down low, then made so-so mid range for about 2K RPM, then ran out of breathat about 5500. We test drove an 07 V6. It was about like driving a Jeep Liberty that was lower to the ground.

The '13 makes so-so low end, has a pretty good mid range, and does not taper off to drastically up top. Does great. Steering is pretty damn good. Surprisingly good turning radius too. Went over a mid-corner bump that upset the 07 and it was barely noticeable at ~10 mph faster in the '13. Manual is not really a good idea if you are shorter than 5'5, you need a fair ammount of reach to get the clutch down. Normal type autobox was normal.

Drove MT FRS. Clutch is so light it just felt weird. You really use more throttle than you'd think to get started. Brakes good. Disappointingly slow in a stright line, felt a lot like my bone stock '95. But it will go up I-70 into the mountains in any gear but 6th and accelerate without a downshift. Meaning its fine. And you can always grab 3rd and have useful power. Seats better than pretty much any other OEM I have test driven. Good visibility, maybe a tad better than a Mustang. Easy to use clutch even for short people.

Auto BRZ was same, auto-flappy-paddle not as bad as expected, in fact pretty fun except for the lag off the line. Shifts reasonably quickly for whats basically a normal old slushbox with a fancy shifting setup. Shift light is neato, so is the warning chirp when you downshift too aggressively.

Tires on the Toyobaru are indeed crap. I drove a '78 Pacer in LeMons with large dryrotted tires off an old van, and they were not really all that much lower performing than these Prius tires. Wow. And yet the Subarota was still fun. Some halfway decent summer tires will work wonders even for a grocery getter.

End of day: FRS/BRZ wins. More fun, not much difference in price, acceleration difference not meaningful in this particular case. Both pretty good cars.