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I'm curious here ... how would these do compared to a steet legal but autocross prepared Mini Cooper S?
Very different vehicles. A Mini Cooper is not going to hammer the driver back into the seat like the other cars will, or blast out of a corner. Small cars like the Mini typically need to be wound up high to really get moving, while big V8s have good power at much lower revs. The Mini may have some handling advantages, but probably only on tight courses, like parking lot autocrosses. Being FWD would offset any of those advantages, IMHO, against the RWD V8s, on a full size course or most roads. And it's a buzzy tin can compared to the others.
Before I bought my GTO, I drove numerous vehicles, including the Mini. It was fun but there's just no substitute for big power. It's just a different driving experience.
I had to get a car to bridge a gap between my last one and when new models come out/are reintroduced...so I DID THIS EXACT SEARCH, op...looked for the best bang for my buck.
It always came back to the 'vette. I'm not one of those culturally initiated 'vette people...but I can appreciate the power, performance, looks...the whole package...for far less money than a lot of cars that can't even be considered comparable. Even dealers of other brands I have spoken to have to agree it's the best value.
So that's what I got to tide me over for the next couple of years - '11 Grand Sport convertible (I needed a convertible and the ZO6 and ZR1 don't come that way!).
But in the end, the car has to speak to you...go touch 'em, drive 'em, smell 'em...I would have thought I'd be won over by the 911 4S, but I was actually not moved at all...kinda bored, actually. To each their own.
I had to get a car to bridge a gap between my last one and when new models come out/are reintroduced...so I DID THIS EXACT SEARCH, op...looked for the best bang for my buck.
It always came back to the 'vette. I'm not one of those culturally initiated 'vette people...but I can appreciate the power, performance, looks...the whole package...for far less money than a lot of cars that can't even be considered comparable. Even dealers of other brands I have spoken to have to agree it's the best value.
So that's what I got to tide me over for the next couple of years - '11 Grand Sport convertible (I needed a convertible and the ZO6 and ZR1 don't come that way!).
But in the end, the car has to speak to you...go touch 'em, drive 'em, smell 'em...I would have thought I'd be won over by the 911 4S, but I was actually not moved at all...kinda bored, actually. To each their own.
An ex-coworker had a '98 C5, built to nearly 500 RWHP. It was brutally fast and handled like nothing I'd ever been in. He sold it and bought a Carrera 2. Beautiful car, amazing workmanship, even better handling. Fast, but nothing like the C5. He had it a few months, then sold it to buy a C6 Z06, an '07 I think. He knew the Porsche was a better car overall, but it didn't have that brutal acceleration he liked so much.
An ex-coworker had a '98 C5, built to nearly 500 RWHP. It was brutally fast and handled like nothing I'd ever been in. He sold it and bought a Carrera 2. Beautiful car, amazing workmanship, even better handling. Fast, but nothing like the C5. He had it a few months, then sold it to buy a C6 Z06, an '07 I think. He knew the Porsche was a better car overall, but it didn't have that brutal acceleration he liked so much.
I've driven both corvettes and Porsches and I prefer the Porsche on normal everyday roads. It just seems like you get more feedback and are more "one with the car" in a Porsche when driving around town or through backroads. I'm not taking anything away from the Corvette it is a great vehicle. A Porsche and corvette are almost opposite type vehicles.
I had a Porsche for a brief period of time, it was a 1986 911 Convertible. It was a neat car, my dad was selling it because he no longer really cared to drive it; it was difficult for him to get it and out of and didn't had the support he needed for his bad back. I bought it from him for a fairly cheap price and enjoyed driving it but I sold it for my '05 Corvette 'vert.
The Porsche definitely handled better than my 'Vette and even the interior quality of my 1986 beat the interior quality of an '05 Corvette. But I like raw power and the Porsche didn't even have close to the amount of get-up-and-go that my 'Vette has.
Maybe it's my personality, I'm not as sophisticated as some of my peers in the firm I work for but I get things done, one way or another. I'm very blunt, I don't beat around the bush...if I was a politician I'd be a Bill Janklow or Chris Christie, I'm not a fan of pandering to others either. The Porsche is more for the suit-and-tie people whereas the Corvette is for the blue jeans and a tee crowd...I am definitely the latter. Even when all the managers at my firm have a monthly meeting with the big whigs, many are wearing fitted suits while a couple of us show up in our regular apparel- usually a collared shirt and a pair of dockers. I don't care to impress anyone, I know what I'm doing and I do it well, I'm not in the business of looking like Donald Trump.
Maybe this is why the likes of BMW, Mercedes, etc simply don't thrill me, they're too tame and not rough around the edges. I have friends who drool over the M3 and M5, I wouldn't give them a second look over a regular Beamer.
Last edited by SpeedyAZ; 05-18-2011 at 12:55 PM..
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