Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
And I don't care if you can corner twice as fast, that only means you'll hit a deer at twice the speed. Around where I live 90% of corners I take in my Dakota are visibility limited. Do I care about increasing handling when I won't be able to use it? Not really.
That situation applies to you. Perhaps the Camaro is a better suited car for you than the S2000, not everyone lives in your part of the country where all the corners are visibility limited.
Top end horsepower? Who cares if you have to be at 50MPH to feel it, are you gonna downshift to 2nd on the freeway just to feel it? I want it down low where I can feel it from every stop sign, stop light, onramp, and while in 5th. I can feel the torque whenever I want. I got 295LB/ft of it in a smallish truck.
1) Driving style. (Is downshifting too difficult? If so why not just get an auto tranny?)
2) Earlier point proven, once again a domestic driver trying to drive an S2000 like a domestic big block.
"But you can take the S2000 road racing!" Are you GOING to? I can spend $20 and a friday night and go drag racing. I have. Drag racing is quite popular and the torquers almost always kill the twisters. (though the twisters often kill thier half shafts)
An alternative would be autocrossing, which albeit popular, isn't as common as everyone makes it out to be. If it's popular, it must be the best, right? Hey, it's your town -- I don't know what's popular there. Then again, I doubt you could say much about the popularity of drag racing across the US.
By your logic, who in their right mind would buy a lighter, slower car with great handling (i.e. Miata) and even
bother "road racing"?
And consider that you really should be comparing the S2000 to the Corvette. They're closer in price and in the same class. Think the S2000 can outrun a car w/ 345HP and possibly BETTER handling?
http://www.chevrolet.com/corvette/index.html
http://www.chevrolet.com/camaro/index.htm
Yes, Corvette's $43k is closer to S2000's $30k pricetag than S2000 is to Z28's $23k or SS's $28k.
Most car buyers today place the priorities as such:
1: Image
2: Cup holder count
3: Rim size
4: Impressive sounding numbers
5: Cup holder size
...
12: Performance
Yes, and since the majority of the car buyers today drive an automatic, let's just assume everyone in America drives automatic.
The Mitsubishi Eclipse is a 3200LB car, but people _THINK_ of it being a small car. The Camero is a 3500LB car but people _THINK_ of it as a big heavy car. Those "little" cars are often not as light as you think. 300LBs won't cover a 100HP deficit unless you're in the 1000HP range.
We're not comparing Eclipses. We're comparing the S2000's 2,809lbs and Camaro's 3,439lbs, and spell the goddamn car name right.