Just bought and read the May issue of Motor Trend and it had an article with the SS going up against a SRT. Thought this was a cool article cause so many people sweat the SRT (POS). Surprising in the 1/4 mile the SS was timed the same as the SRT. 14.4 . They also said, " In a real world application, the SS is the better of the two with overall better looks, tires, interior etc." Thought that was some cool info for the Mopar people that talk smack on a Chevy forum.....?????????

 

Yes...thats is very impressing...like i said earlier i think that the SS is putting out close to what the SRT-4 is cuz i dont think the gearing in the tranny could make up for the difference.

 

We have definetly given that article the once over.

 

Believe me I much prefer my SS over the SRT, but realistically the SRT is significantly faster. An SRT4 runs 13.9's out of the box in the quarter, and 5.7's in the 0-60 sprint. Motor Trend mentioned this in their article too:

"But in real life, build variations and green engines (1450 miles old) can conspire to lower performance, as or test car's 6.0-second 0-to-60-mph sprint and 14.4-second 100.8-mph quarter-mile time suggest (our last two SRT4s were about a half-second quicker to both marks)"


Half a second is a lot of time in the quarter mile, but hopefully the SS aftermarket will fix this little problem in a hurry

 

Nothing against dodge, but does everyone realize we are talking about a NEON here? This is the car that became the number 1 piece of crap cheap car... it's still a neon it looks like a neon, before they put a turbo and called it the SRT-4 nobody liked it anymore. I would rather have a nice car that comes stock a little slower than a neon. Just my opinion thouhg no offense to any NEON SRT-4

 

Could not agree with you more!!!!

 

Yes but no matter how much I dislike Neons I have to say I'm glad american car company's are starting to compete with companies like honda... I dont even want to oepn the can of bad things I can say about them... So good for the NEON and its quickness I'll stick with the SS though

 

and your ss/sc is still just a cobalt, like a wrx is still just an impreza, like a evo is still just a lancer, like a mazda speed protege is still a protege, a civic si is still a civic, redline is still an ion......need i go on? granted the ss/sc is a nice car but how many times is the sport compact world going to say......its just a neon? face it regarldless if you drive a srt-4, ss/sc, wrx, msp, ect your still driving a souped up version of an econobox.....

 

Yah...atleast chevy and mopar realize that its about time to get seriously involved with the sport compact market because all i see is hondas with cherry bombs on them riding around my town...and even though the SS is slower so what, its basically about preference and who like what better..even though the SS is slower its nothing major and you can ALWAYS make more HP

 

Anybody have a link to the article the only one I found was a more generic cobalt one and I dont have time to buy the mag...

 

Well the good points about the Chevy MT pointed out were:

"The Chevy comes off as a bit less extroverted, quieter, and slicker than the Dodge. But the technology beneath that calm veneer is five years more advanced than the Neon platform. Its 60/40 weight distribution bests the Dodge's 64/36, and its smaller, lighter engine almost Japanese (down to the light flywheel that demands more throttle at launch to prevent stalling)." (MT; May 05')

"In the real world, however, the Chevy takes a narrow but decisive lead, even when considered against quicker SRT-4's. Its robust body structure, superior tires, more balanced chassis, and sleeker looks make it a far more satisfying car to own and operate in the real...world." (MT; May 05')



Makes me happy on the decision I am going to make this saturday!!!!!!!!!!

 

see here for scanned pics:
https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/general-cobalt-68/motor-trend-scanned-1910/

 

if gm would come out with the stage 1 package with a proclaimed 230hp-240hp then it would definatly hang with the srt-4 in all aspects. and kill the srt in the aspect it allready dominates, ie handling.

 

there is a post somewhere in here or on another site that ive read where someone had spoke to a GM engineer about staged upgrades that talked about that...im so lazy:-/

 

I'm curious to see what real world drivers will get from the SS.
I'm not expecting to see SRT-4 times, but I bet it will do even
better than what MotorTrend could muster.

 

It will happen. I think magazines run the cars on a rented non-prepped track (why prep, there's no slicks) and most likely leave the tires at their stock inflation levels and everything in the car. Once people start taking them to the track on a day where the track is prepped, the tire pressure is lowered and the spare tire & jack are removed, you'll see low 14's.

My guess is that 2.3 60 foots were average for MotorTrend... and I think a good driver on a decent track will be able to get 2.0 60's. Heck, I got 2.0 60's on the stock tires on the SRT-4 and those were 205/50's... What do the SS come with? 215's? And the rule of thumb is that for each .1 you lose in the 60' you get .2 in the 1/4. So with a 2.0 60' a 14.1/14.2 would be likely. (Note: This rule of thumb may not entirely be accurate, my experience is closer to .15 for each .1 loss in the 60')

The trick will be learning how to launch the car... Every person and car is different, experimentation and practice will get you there tho.