-Just shooting the breeze here, swap a story if ya want:
In '99 (I think) my brother in law, who had already had 3 5.0's, called me all excited he'd found a SVO at a local car dealer. It was overpriced at $6k or so. We went to drive it, it was a beater, really worn out, suspension/steering shot, interior worn out and faded. Paint shot, body beat up, 15 years of dirt on it. Had a K&N cone, nice wheels and 20 lbs of boost.
It was exhilarating to drive, he and I were shocked and he said he didn't know if his 5.0's could beat it. The acceleration was amazing!
Then I blew something and filled the interior w/ smoke pouring through the vents, tons of smoke behind us, smoke pouring from under the hood. We pulled off on a side road, popped the hood, rolled down the window's, let the smoke clear, limped it back, parked it, thanked them for the test drive and got out of there. To this day I still don't know what it was even though I've had an SVO a couple years and tried to figure out what broke.
That began my hunt for an SVO and lamentable 2.3T addiction. My SVO is faster than that one and doesn't break! My LX is even faster.
THEN I DROVE AN LS1 (see pic). Now it's a nice car, no doubt, and it is a bit faster bottom line. But the whole time I was driving, nailing it off idle and winding it out, stomping it while at speed, accelerating out of corners, it was just to sedate. It was boring. It was like being in the right place w/ the wrong equipment. Powerband was smooth from idle to redline w/ no freak you out yanking power turbo owners love.
There's just no comparison to the rip the tires up, head yanking pull of a turbo spooling around 3k and an immediate 100-200 more hp than you had a second prior. It is a wild and awesome feeling. It is slower than the LS1 I drove, but if you could harness every bit of traction and tweak it for a bit more power, hmmm...
best 1/8th ET in the LS1 mentioned: 8.3
best 1/8th ET in the SVO 9.6
-slower but sure doesn't feel like it! And lemme tell you, the LS1 owner swore my car would spank his after a ride in it. He was all smiles.
3 cars I'd like to drive to see if my 2.3T's are still "the stuff" for me, '05 GT Stang, Sub WRXTi, *Dodge Neon Turbo (just curious 'bout em).
In '99 (I think) my brother in law, who had already had 3 5.0's, called me all excited he'd found a SVO at a local car dealer. It was overpriced at $6k or so. We went to drive it, it was a beater, really worn out, suspension/steering shot, interior worn out and faded. Paint shot, body beat up, 15 years of dirt on it. Had a K&N cone, nice wheels and 20 lbs of boost.
It was exhilarating to drive, he and I were shocked and he said he didn't know if his 5.0's could beat it. The acceleration was amazing!
Then I blew something and filled the interior w/ smoke pouring through the vents, tons of smoke behind us, smoke pouring from under the hood. We pulled off on a side road, popped the hood, rolled down the window's, let the smoke clear, limped it back, parked it, thanked them for the test drive and got out of there. To this day I still don't know what it was even though I've had an SVO a couple years and tried to figure out what broke.
That began my hunt for an SVO and lamentable 2.3T addiction. My SVO is faster than that one and doesn't break! My LX is even faster.
THEN I DROVE AN LS1 (see pic). Now it's a nice car, no doubt, and it is a bit faster bottom line. But the whole time I was driving, nailing it off idle and winding it out, stomping it while at speed, accelerating out of corners, it was just to sedate. It was boring. It was like being in the right place w/ the wrong equipment. Powerband was smooth from idle to redline w/ no freak you out yanking power turbo owners love.
There's just no comparison to the rip the tires up, head yanking pull of a turbo spooling around 3k and an immediate 100-200 more hp than you had a second prior. It is a wild and awesome feeling. It is slower than the LS1 I drove, but if you could harness every bit of traction and tweak it for a bit more power, hmmm...
best 1/8th ET in the LS1 mentioned: 8.3
best 1/8th ET in the SVO 9.6
-slower but sure doesn't feel like it! And lemme tell you, the LS1 owner swore my car would spank his after a ride in it. He was all smiles.
3 cars I'd like to drive to see if my 2.3T's are still "the stuff" for me, '05 GT Stang, Sub WRXTi, *Dodge Neon Turbo (just curious 'bout em).