I have had my car for about 2 and a half weeks now, and I went into buying it with high hopes. Dont get me wrong, I love the car and it is definitely pretty quick... but i just dont feel like its as fast as everyone says it is. My 2 problems:

First Gear - what the hell, what a waste. In normal driving, I have people on my ass, b/c at 20mph im already shifting, letting the clutch out slow to avoid jerking. Sure once I hit 2nd im gone, but I just feel like this car is an absolute dog from a stop. Please tell me if you think I'm doing something wrong, because that is very possible. I just know I'm gunna have someone rear end my ass one day.

Low End - what I look for in a car, is good low end pull... i could care less how fast the top speed is. This car has sick pull all through that higher gears when it comes to passing on the highway. However everyone always talks about how hard 2nd gear pulls... is there something wrong with my car? Ive driven trucks that have better throttle response. It looks like im getting full boost out of the car, but I really dont feel much, and all of a sudden at around 4.5-5k rpms all of a sudden I feel it kick in and that is when I DO get the expected pull. I was under the impression that these cars were under steady boost, no lagging like a turbo.

Anyway like I said, tell me if I'm doing something wrong, otherwise lemme know if your cars do this.... i just want to make sure I didnt get stuck with a lazy 05.

Oh and I am waiting for fedex to drop off my intake... hoping maybe this will solve the lack of throttle response.

Thanks,
Mike

 

VTAK! hahaha



Try getting a couple mods, like an intake and a tune.

The stock tune probably has boost and perf limiting factors like torque managment

Edit: Just noticed you already have a K&N

 

intake probably wont cause your throttle response problem imo

 

Intakes are all about better throttle response... so I sure hope it helps otherwise whats the point.

 

Yup! alot of people will agree with you that first gear sucks,but alot of new 4 bangers today are this way,its just a useless lead out gear

 

I'm actually waiting on the intake, its ordered and should be here on monday according to fedex tracking... yea I'm hoping that might help this thing breath a little

 

you will be able to tell a difference with the intake and you will get the whine too. Maybe you should also think about some exhaust work

 

Well i had an injen Intake and it didnt help my throttle response that much imo, then again i dont have a ss/sc. I know it helps response im just saying if you have a huge problem with it dont expect it to be grade A perfect with just an intake

 

Yes that will be sometime this summer.

 

I'm sure theres someone in your area with HPTuners, you can get credits to tune your car for like 50 bucks thru HP Tuners, then you can remove all the stock **** that limits your power, and maybe change around a couple other things to get it running better

 

I felt exactly the same way about the low end pull when my car was stock. There just didn't seem to be much there. The boost would go up but I wouldn't be pinned to my seat. I had to get a 2.5" pulley, a custom tune, and all the other mods in my sig to get the low end pull up to a respectable level. I can now pull away from other drivers easily going partial throttle and only shifting at a little over 2000 rpm during normal driving. At full throttle I can completely break my tires loose from a 2nd gear roll.

 

Honestly, do your self a favor and go stage 2. Thats how the car should have come anyway.

Then get either a tourqe brace, or some kind of traction mod, and you will find first gear a lot more useful! Plus, when you shift to second at redline, you will get dropped right in seconds sweet spot!

I agree, first gear stock (while racing) is pretty F'ing useless!

 

Sounds to me like you are really a Honda Si owner in denial. Extreme denial. Its so bad that your Si even looks like a Cobalt. These symptoms are typical. I reccomend you get a car that actually has more than 100 ftlbs of tq. Take 1 domestic and call me in the morning.

 

Yeah I agree on people riding your ass while you make your way out of 1st gear. Then they think you're racing because of the way the car kinda wakes up once you're in 2nd.

The way I overcame this was just learning how to drive (a certain way). For a few months I couldn't figure out the "trick" to the 1--2 shift. Finally I realized you have to treat the 1--2 different from the rest. You need to apply a little throttle in between so that you don't get that annoying long pause as you go from 1 to 2. Instead of a long pause, you get a nice fluid shift with no jerkiness. It's a little difficult to explain but I hope you get what I mean.

 

Talk to Paul (06blackg85ss) he should be able to hook up with a super stock tune! I'll keep you informed I am getting it next week!

 

to the OP, you're perceptions of the car are right on. lacks low end *****, useless short first gear, rough clutch/tranny. intake/exhaust wont help. poly mounts will help traction. as for the lack of bottom end, yer gonna need a tiny ass pulley and some 60#ers to fix that.

so to answer your question, no i dont think this car is as fast as people think, atleast not in stock-ish form

 

best thing to do to see if you got a lazy car is to take it to the track...and see what it traps. That'll give you an idea of how much power your car is putting out stock. One thing about roots type blowers is that they are very linear power. Its not like a turbo where it builds and you feel the rush. This car, you hit the gas and get full boost then doesn't feel like its pulling any harder even though it is. These cars definatly aren't fast(even though its hard to define such a term). I went from a camaro ss(ls1/t-56) to this. I though my camaro was slow. So that says it all about this car...although I really do enjoy the car.

 

I'm not sure what everyone expects a 14 second car to feel like but this car is spot on to what I expected. I don't know what you guys are looking for?

Yes 1st gear is useless, but some mods can fix it.

CAI an exhaust will do nothing to change your perception of this car. Don't waste your money, do the airbox mod and get a stage kit. If you decide to go further then do exhaust.

 

Yeah, i agree.. this is a mid 14 second car stock.... and thats what you get!

the boost response is fast.... you must not have driven a turbo car before..

 

put the rpm limiter to like 7200

 

You need stage 2. Thats all there is to it. After that, you need an exhaust. Your car will wake the f**k up when you put the stage 2 on it from GMPP. And a torque brace will help alot with first.

 

14 seconds as your finding out really fast at all. Quick? sure but fast? no. Its not a bad little car but in the end its an economy car not a race car.

You can make it faster with moding it.

 

I get the feeling a lot of people haven't driven really "fast" cars here.

 

Yeah no kidding! Fast is being able to run 11's, top out around 180mph, and put down over 550 hp tp the wheels (rear wheels that is puts flame suit on) I have nothing against FWD cars but for real performance its either RWD or AWD. Sorry guys.

 

For a factory stock car under $22,000, this is a pretty good car...

Of course they can't compare to a 11 second, 500+ HP "race" car,
then again there aren't many stock factory cars that can make that claim...