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My, how far have cars come in 10 years.

Demon-Xanth

Demon-Xanth

Lifer
Corvette (LT1), Car and Driver 3/95
Price: $42,614
0-60: 5.1
1/4: 13.7@103MPH
Top speed: 161MPH
Handling: 0.85G
70-0: 166ft
Gas milage: 17/27

Mustang GT, Car and Driver 12/04
Price: $27,570
0-60: 5.2
1/4: 13.8@102MPH
Top speed: 149MPH
Handling: 0.87G
70-0: 183ft
Gas milage: 17/25

Corvette, Car and Driver 12/04
Price: $54,240
0-60: 4.1
1/4: 12.6@114MPH
Top speed: 186MPH
Handling: 0.98G
70-0: 164ft
Gas milage: 18/28

F355, Car and Driver 3/95
Price: $136,500
0-60: 4.5
1/4: 13.0@110MPH
Top speed: 179MPH
Handling: 0.98G
70-0: 156ft
Gas milage: 10/15

For higher end performance cars, there is actually price/performance depriciation! A car to get a certain level of performance now, only costs half as much. The F355, which was a supercar, only has a little bit of braking performance over a Corvette. And a race between an LT1 Corvette, and a current Mustang GT is also a close one, again, with a major price difference. Gas milage for that performance is also up. With the fastest of these cars actually getting the best gas milage.
 
Not much, with all the regulations imposed in the last 10years, I think cars took a step back in terms of performance for features and safety. A lot of newer models are slower than their counterparts from a decade ago.
 
on a related note... my oh my... in a couple of decades, computers have shrunk from the size of a warehouse to the size of your palm, and is on the order of thousands times faster and more versatile, and costs millions less!
 
Just in the last five years car makers have really stepped up the HP.

In 1999 when I bought my Passat GLX, it was one of the most powerful sedans in it's class at 190 HP.

Within just a few short years, all the makers started offering sedans in that class with 220-260HP.
 
Most of the real performance gains have come as a result of the advance in computer controls. Fuel mixtures, suspension response, and transmissions have all benefited from fast, cheap processing.
As for raw data, it can be highly misleading. While the '04 'Vette shows better data than the '95 Ferrari, I don't know any drivers who would actually believe that the stock 'Vette is capable of beating the Ferrari on a road course given drivers of equal ability.

Interesting comparison, though.
 
You can't really say that a Corvette is in the same league as a Ferrari though. Ferrari has so much more style, panache and racing heritage than a Vette does.
 
Mustang vs corvette is pretty interesting, but I can't really compare a ferrari to a corvette, because nobody can claim that the exotics have particularly good bang for buck. You can get a viper to smoke cars that cost more, but when it comes down to it it's still a dodge, which is why people still buy the ferrari. There's more to a ferrari than just performance.
 
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
You can't really say that a Corvette is in the same league as a Ferrari though. Ferrari has so much more style, panache and racing heritage than a Vette does.
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So? If you feel like paying an extra $80k for the Ferrari badge, go ahead. I personally think the Corvette is an incredibly well refined car with an incredible price/performance ratio. Just look at the numbers in the original post. Add on a Lingenfelter package, and you'll argueably have an F355 killer for substantially less than an actual F355. If you ask me, I'd say that most Ferrari fans aren't willing to admit that an American-made car can actually compete with exotic, foreign cars.
 
Originally posted by: psiu
Originally posted by: judasmachine
I still want a damn hybrid.
Click to expand...

Yep. Invest in battery companies.




*Wants an Escape Hybrid*
Click to expand...

Nope, capacitor companies. REchargable batteries will meet there end in 5-10 years. Capacitive tech is shrinking so much, that for the size, capacitors will be smaller and equally efficient in terms of storage.

Truth is, this tech is already available in larger size capacitors.

Just remember, a one farad cpacitor used to take up the size of a whole room, kinda like computers. Now look at their sizes today.
 
Originally posted by: ItTheCow
Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
You can't really say that a Corvette is in the same league as a Ferrari though. Ferrari has so much more style, panache and racing heritage than a Vette does.
Click to expand...
So? If you feel like paying an extra $80k for the Ferrari badge, go ahead. I personally think the Corvette is an incredibly well refined car with an incredible price/performance ratio. Just look at the numbers in the original post. Add on a Lingenfelter package, and you'll argueably have an F355 killer for substantially less than an actual F355. If you ask me, I'd say that most Ferrari fans aren't willing to admit that an American-made car can actually compete with exotic, foreign cars.
Click to expand...


Most exaotics are toys. To alot of people, Corvettes are daily drivers.
 
you didn't think the auto industry would be sitting on their hands for 10 years did you ? Of course there would be advances. The only thing I'm surprised at is how inflation doesn't seem to play a role.
 
Inflation happened. But the performance is outstripping inflation.

As far as ferraris go, there's an anecdote about a guy that figured out he could own a one. Insurance covered, gas covered, cost of the car covered. There was one thing he didn't factor in. The monthly tune ups. This was back in the day of carbs, so every month he had to take it in, and have the carbs tuned up and his wallet lighted up by quite a bit. Complaining about it didn't get him anywhere. In the Ferrari community, that was the way of life. They're over priced toys IMO. Ever notice how rare it is to see them in SCCA and other amature forms of heads up racing? Car and Driver's 1 lap of America event has NEVER had a Ferrari in it. They even posted a request that someone show up. Never happened. A Lambo's showed up a bunch of times, BMW and Porche owners are common, high end cars that are virtually one off barely streetable race cars have shown up. Vipers are almost the most common. But the only horses that show up come with blue ovals.

IMO, the BMW owners are some of the best performance owners. They race the damned things, and keep the mods focused on performance.
 
The "hot rod" or now know as the "tuner" market seems to be driven by old Japanese cars now though. You can mostly blame Honda but between Nissan, Subaru, Mitsubishi, and Toyota... they've all contributed to the increasing market for speed parts. If you count that, performance is outstripping inflation by a large margin since there was pretty much no performance market about ten years ago in the US for "modern" cars. It's now much MUCH bigger.

If you think about it, for the stock showroom cars... gas mileage and power output are up... also weight for the most part. ~210hp was once all that was needed to run a mid/lo 14second 1320. Now you're looking at 280bhp! Then again, the increasing popularity of rallystyle supersedans kinda explodes that generality.
 
True, the inflation of weight is massive. The VW R32 is a 3400LB compact hatchback. The biggest price inflation is in the "SUV" market, which is now only another name for "tall station wagon" instead of "truck without a bed". In '99 my dad paid an obscene $34k for a Ram 2500 w/ every option except clearance lights and a 4.10 rear end. Literally, every option. Now look at what $34k gets you, not that much. Though here's an interesting power comparison: '94 Cummins Ram: 165HP, '04 Cummins Ram: 325HP. Talk about blowing up. The diesels have come longer than any other engine because of the age of computers.
 
Originally posted by: KokomoGSTmp
If you think about it, for the stock showroom cars... gas mileage and power output are up... also weight for the most part. ~210hp was once all that was needed to run a mid/lo 14second 1320. Now you're looking at 280bhp! Then again, the increasing popularity of rallystyle supersedans kinda explodes that generality.
Click to expand...

Some people get around that by putting the new generation motors in old chassis. Example, the K series Honda motors in the older civic chassis. Plus no one cares for the new civics cause they took away the double wishbone suspension.

Insight with RSX-S motor
 
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