OK, this is irritating. Begin rant:
1) Impala is spelled with ONE "L", not two. 2) I agree with the statement "old tech, but NOT low-tech". Those motors are not only indestructible, they can put out insane amounts of HP. Back in 1988, Reeves Callaway took a 350 block from the BowTie catalog, bolted on a couple turbos, chopped up a Holley tunnel ram intake and inserted his own FI system and got 920HP and ~800 lb-ft. Stuffed into a Vette (later dubbed Sledgehammer), it went 255mph and was driven to the test track (TRC?) while getting 17mpg. I'll take that kind of "low-tech" pushrod any day. 3) Solid rear axle? BFD. Looked under your VW's rear end lately? The SS's brakes are awesome, btw. My gripe with the SS is the poor front/rear weight distribution and lack of bucket seats (yuk!). 4) The story about the editor plowing cones is funny- to the point where the observer thought the car sucked. Get real. It's the driver that makes the difference. Thanks for the rebuttal where a *real* driver took 6 people through at near the best time for the day. I race motorcycles as a hobby (road course, not dragstrip), and it's fun watching posers on late-model high-tech superbikes get smoked by some dude on a 5-year old duct-tape special with half the horsepower. I've been on both sides of that scenario. It's 90% rider/driver talent, 10& machinery. 5) The FWD vs. RWD thing always gets me. I grew up in upstate NY, learned to drive in the snow. I can't believe people STILL think FWD is better. I can't remember how many times I plowed my VW into a snowbank because you can't make it oversteer under power. In trouble? Can't brake, it'll make the front slide. Can't gas it, same reason. E-brake? Lame band-aid for the real problem. I like to be able to do something with my rear wheels other than put air in them. Give me RWD at the track anyday. I find it interesting that most (if not all) of Mercedes, BMW, and Porsche's lineup are RWD. And everything Japanese is FWD. Yeah, I knew there was a reason I like German cars... ;-) (end of rant. Nomex suit on- flame away!) Dave M. Sacramento, CA 1990.5 GLI (for sale) 1991 GLI (needs HP) 1981 Dasher (150 miles/qt) 1970 Impala (wish it was '96 SS) 1997 Suzuki GSX-R750 (streetbike turned racebike) AFM #760 _____________ List Sponsor: http://www.netsville.com To remove yourself from this list, send mail to [email protected] with 'unsubscribe a2_16v' in the body of your message See us on the web at http://www.a2-16v.com Visit the 16V Homepage at http://www.gti16v.org
