Mustang Slowbra. Test drive impressions.

[J-specCb4]

Hey Ill admit, GM makes mistakes and creates a quality product once in a while....on accident, and they probally regret it.
Some auto manufacturers found out you make more money at the parts counter than you do selling the damn car....
Heres you typical American car owner.
"Oh its a great car, I never had any real problems with it"
Meanwhile its had 3 trannys 2 engines.
^ BTW that was my friends 98 K2500 with 350

I guess you hear the good and the bad all the time, it really depends on how you treat a car, any manufacturer can mess up making a car (should we talk about factory "piston slap"?) But in the end, its the person behind the wheel that makes it last.

like i said u cant compare anything GM to anything from japan. whether people want to admit it or not they are different. less now than before as american car manufactures had to step it up or not exist. american cars are different from imports because the american consumer(generally speaking) wants a lot for their money. Ford, GM, and Chrysler offer that... people who buy most american cars dont have the same concerns as u and i.

[CB7Man]

like i said u cant compare anything GM to anything from japan. whether people want to admit it or not they are different. less now than before as american car manufactures had to step it up or not exist. american cars are different from imports because the american consumer(generally speaking) wants a lot for their money. Ford, GM, and Chrysler offer that... people who buy most american cars dont have the same concerns as u and i.

Sorry, I just cant see any value in an American automotive product.
Yes they had to step up, they waited as long as they could, ripped off as many people as they could. But now they are facing extinction.

I have to dissagree next statement though, I guess off the line a new Cadillac is nice, but the average suburban mom doesnt have $50K to blow.
The Japanese are WAY more cut-throat about cars. Cars had GPS FACTORY installed back in the 90's. Cell phones were a factory option in the late 80's, CD players and CD changers, when GM was still fuckin with tape decks. TV's in the dash.
Not to mention bulletproof engine platforms, trannys to die for, high horsepower with small displacement. Economy AND Performance!
I mean hell, the USDM Accord is being sold as a "Low Model" Accord Inspire in Japan. Shows you how smart americans are eh?

If they were truely so high quality, would The "Big Three" be in the situation they are now?

[J-specCb4]

Sorry, I just cant see any value in an American automotive product.

im sorry too because 400 hp for high 20s brand new with a warranty sounds pretty good to me.

Yes they had to step up, they waited as long as they could, ripped off as many people as they could. But now they are facing extinction.

shit went south..

I have to dissagree next statement though, I guess off the line a new Cadillac is nice, but the average suburban mom doesnt have $50K to blow.

it really doesnt take 50k but ill get to that in a second...

The Japanese are WAY more cut-throat about cars. Cars had GPS FACTORY installed back in the 90's. Cell phones were a factory option in the late 80's, CD players and CD changers, when GM was still fuckin with tape decks. TV's in the dash.

yeah cut-throat like 150hp fwd LOL... its a different breed man. thats what ive been trying to stress. japanese companies offered all those things to other markets. not ours. this is another testament to my point that our market doesnt appreciate details like say a japanese market. for 30k i could buy an underpowered fwd tsx. or i could a buy a 400hp G8. this is where im saying it doesnt take 50k to get value out of an american car. however if u wanna go there we can do that too. i could get an RL(amazing car) or a cts-v which is worlds beyond the RL from a performance standpoint.

Not to mention bulletproof engine platforms, trannys to die for, high horsepower with small displacement. Economy AND Performance!
I mean hell, the USDM Accord is being sold as a "Low Model" Accord Inspire in Japan. Shows you how smart americans are eh?

If they were truely so high quality, would The "Big Three" be in the situation they are now?

indeed bulletproof, and something great to own and appreciate, but that doesnt mean its the only way. just because an economical and small 4 cylinder performs(for its size) doesnt mean it provides enough performance for anyone. lets be real, japanese car companies havent offered anything affordable thats performance orriented in a long time, with the exception of nissan with the Z/G series. people like, and look for different things in a car. i know people who wont own anything with anything larger than a 4 cylinder, and guys who wont even consider anything without a v8 its all preference man. they are different. i get it. they arent for u, but that doesnt give u cardinal rule to say they are theives and build nothing worthwhile to anyone.

[bcjammerx]

they are heavy cars too...very heavy...and if it isn't supercharged...ouch

[rexload]

is this a joke? chevies have never been synonymous with breaking or being unreliable.... they have been ripped on for interior quality, but they sure as fuck do run for a long time.... especially something like a camaro with a small block chevy in it... let alone the ls1.... i think someone might be a little biased.

I have never owned a GM car... well besides a Saab 9-3 which broke down quite often and I was SO glad I always fixed it myself because the Saab dealer wanted INSANE amounts. That car went through THREE engines in 100,000 miles.
A couple of my friends own newer chevys and they replace parts that should never need to be replaced.. like air bags and control modules.. and every time they take it to the delarer and the repairs cost an arm and a leg.
I was looking at Corvettes. I really wanted to buy one until I heard horror stories about shit breaking for no reason and the insane repair bills.
If I was buying a Chevy, I would probably get a pre-obd2 LT1 so that I could rip out all of the GM electronics and throw an AEM EMS in there. Its so damn hard to find an LT1 camaro in a good shape though.

[Bcozzi71]

my family since the 50s has always had ford trucks....chevy cars...and mack diesels.

My fords have way more problems then my chevys. The only real chevy (GM) car I had trouble with was my POS firebird that sucked balls. 90's GM i agree sucked balls.

[texasvtak]

Honestly, my nose heavy turbo F22 Civic handles 10X better with no sway bars.

See, your whole post is a load of shit..but this is what makes me think youre a fucking retard.

[deevergote]

Or he drove a Cobra that was cosmetically maintained, and mechanically beat to shit.

[texasvtak]

Well he never mentioned wheels falling off.

[turbomaxx]

just because i know american cars doesnt mean i dont have standards. pre smog Ford F100 with a 460 or a 90's chevy truck

i dont do dodge just like how i dont do nissan.

Fair enough.

I don't know why, I just always loved dodges. Still want a cummins turbo diesel.

[turbomaxx]

there must be lots of broken mid 90s cobras....

There are. Running low compression, <8 cylinders due to problems, and with shitty drivers. RSX-S are garbage. I've driven 2 and they both made me lose my will to live. Not to mention that just my GT walked all over them, on the street and on the track. RSX-S might be a good looking car, but it's NOT something I think you import guys want to use as your go-fast flagship.

[short1]

Damn, was it really a cobra, or a GT with highway gears, a cobra body kit and emblems lol. Auto or Manual? If auto maybe the trans is beat, it does have ten years of probable beatings on it. As for reliability, most cars of any make are gonna need repairs. I am biased towards fords though.

[92vig]

DSM for lyfe, son. I walked all over STI's, Evo's and even Carrera's and 911's. Boy how I miss that one....but I'm sure my new one will be up to that standard some day.

[owequitit]

Jesus Christ what a fucking stupid thread.

1) The NA Cobras for that timeframe are widely known NOT to make advertised power. That is the main reason Ford ultimately supercharged it in 2003. It stopped the complaining.

2) 320HP in a car that heavy isn't all that impressive. SS Camaros of the time were around mid to high 13's and the Cobras were typically high 13's to low 14's. Hardly the stuff dreams are made of, considering a bolt on D16 powered Civic hatch can get really close to that using junkyard parts. It certainly isn't slow, but cars from even 10 years ago are slow comparatively speaking, when considered in reality to today's cars. In comparison to what most correctly modified imports will do for cheap, it still isn't impressive.

Take the SS for instance. Back then it was amazing to run 13.6 in such a cheap car. Today's version of that same car is running 12's, and it is way bigger and way heavier. The Caddy with a refinement of that same engine is running low 13's to high 12's. The current version of that Caddy is even faster.

When you stop and think about how much the average car model has gained in 5-7 years, it is staggering.

3) Everybody knows that Dakotas with a 4.7L are the fastest shit ever. My best friend has one, as well as a Tacoma 4.0, and the fact that the Tacoma walks that thing like it is standing still is an imaginary thing. It never really happened, because the 4.7 is such a lump of awesomeness, what with its 230HP for fury. Of course, his Tacoma is about the same speed as my Si, so it is only natural that a Dakota walks every Type-S in the whole world... ...especially considering it is also about the same speed as my Si.

4) Who gives a fuck how a stock Camaro performs? The OP's statement was that he wasn't impressed about how fast a stock Cobra with 320HP was. Frankly, considering the shit he has driven, and the realities of a stock Cobra with 320HP, it isn't that far fetched, especially since every beer drinking redneck in the US of A will tell you that a Cobra can blow the doors off of any stock import. Just like the Camaro guys think their shit is unbeatable, and the Viper guys think their shit is the fastest on the planet. Guys who drive cars because of the cars are OK. Guys who think a car enhances their manhood are fucking lame.

5) There is a lot more to the enjoyability of a car than how fast it will accelerate. Period.

Take the Mustang vs Camaro debate for instance. I have ZERO desire to own a new Camaro, because it is a 4200lb overweight, overstyled car with a cheap and ugly interior, a horrible trunk opening and represents the latest Billy Badass trend in motoring.

However, in the same breath, I wholly lust after the new Mustang GT, because it is high tech, looks good, shaves about 700lbs off the weight of an SS, has a nicer interior, actual steering feedback and feel, a good manual tranny, and great brakes. It also out handles the SS fairly handily, and in many comparison tests, has in fact outrun the Camaro with less engine.

But, I am not going to sit here and tell anyone that wants a Camaro that they are stupid, unless they start trying to pretend it is the best car ever.

6) If GM had been running a good business for the last 30 years, they wouldn't need to be 60&#37; owned by the Federal government.

You can spout this and that about how your GM's have run, but for every 1 you can point out that ran for several hundred K, I can personally point to 4 or 5 that didn't make it to 100K. And they were no more severely neglected than any of the imports I have come across that were still running at 3x the mileage, and in some cases age. The problem with the domestics was that widespread, they did NOT last as long. It has been substantiated in every measureable, scientific way possible, and yet, there are those that still live in denial. Luckily, for their business model, GM is no longer living in denial.

When you are flat out told by a GM rep that a particular car was DESIGNED to quit running at 100K, you are not going to convince me otherwise. The fact that they couldn't believe that the car just happened to live 3x as long as it was supposed to was by luck, not by design.

The problem with the domestics was that you didn't KNOW if yours was the one that was going to die by 80K or make it to 300K, which made it harder to trust the product. With the average Honda, you KNEW it was going to go AT LEAST 200K before it started having major issues. No brand is perfect, but statistically, there IS a significant difference in how long their shit lasts, and has lasted, which is why they command higher purchase prices, and higher resale values. That stuff isn't based on voodoo magic, even if the average person doesn't understand it. Throw in the refinement, ergonomic design, quality, build quality and standards, painstaking attention to detail as well as equal or better performance from a smaller powertrain, and that is just icing on the cake. By the way, that statement doesn't apply to just Honda. It could be applied to Toyota, Nissan, BMW, MB, Audi, or any other number of "foreign" makes.

And yes, you absolutely CAN compare them to foreign makes. If I have a choice between an Accord and a Malibu, and I only buy one, would I not be comparing them? That is a old, obsolete way of thinking. Define a "lot for your money?" Is reliability not something I get for my money? How about refinement? Feature content could be, but in the grand scheme of things we know whose business strategy worked, and whose didn't, and thus we know how people prioritize things. Imports not being able to be compared to domestics is the most bullshit statement I have ever heard.

[J-specCb4]

There are. Running low compression, <8 cylinders due to problems, and with shitty drivers. RSX-S are garbage. I've driven 2 and they both made me lose my will to live. Not to mention that just my GT walked all over them, on the street and on the track. RSX-S might be a good looking car, but it's NOT something I think you import guys want to use as your go-fast flagship.

u are horribly mistaken. it has the ls1 of the import world under the hood. i cant wait for u to run into one with so much as an intake in ur truck and see what happens. ur mustang "would get walked on" by every RSX-s i know.... just a heads up