OT: Talking Cars Tuesday - Fast Car/Slow Car
Pretty simple for this week - what's the fastest car you've ever owned? How about the slowest? Good or bad (hopefully not too dangerous) speed stories are welcome.
Personally, the fastest is the current MkVII GTI. It's quick. 0-60 in 6 seconds, top speed of 150ish. That's boring. The older, slower, 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ has much better speed stories. The thing that I remember most about it was how passing semi-trucks on the highway was always harrowing. Aerodynamics weren't the Jeep's forte, and hitting a wall of wind was super taxing on the little 2.5L 4cyl (rated at 120HP when new in 1991! Did I mention I bought this in 2003?). The other aerodynamic issue was the soft top and half doors. Air going over the top of the jeep got thinner because of the same reason airplanes fly, and the soft top would balloon something ridiculous. The worst was when the top half of the half doors would bow out from the soft top, bringing in cold/rain/whatever was out side unless I slowed down. I think the fastest I ever felt comfortable* in that was about 74mph.
*Comfort meaning non terrified with the speed. Not actually comfortable - mainly due to everything mentioned above.
Let's hear about your fast & slow.
As always, throw suggestions for future topics in the comments!
Slowest was definitely the 88 Firebird with a 305. I know for a fact that the PT Cruiser (turbo) that my mother drives is faster to 60 than that thing was.
Fastest is my current car. Challenger R/T. The 0-60 timer on it says I've done it in 4.8 seconds. Top speed I've reached is 143 mph. One of the few advantages of growing up in a rural community is knowing where the perfectly smooth straight roads are. Once the fields are harvested, you can always find someplace to do a "safe" top-speed run.
Bought her used in 2012. Intake, headers, high flow cats, catback exhaust, custom ECU tune. I haven't timed it but 0-60 in the low 5's. Lots of other supporting work done like a big brake kit, full aftermarket suspension, etc. I've taken her to the track a few times to wring her out, but one of my best memories was heading to the Tail of the Dragon in NC.
I was in a caravan of about 15 other Z cars just as you start getting into the mountains heading south from Ohio. There was a rock slide IIRC, and a 5 lane highway was reduced to 2 lanes for a few miles. By the time you got out of the construction, you were met with 5 perfect lanes of completely straight, empty highway leading you down into a beautiful forested valley. As we got through traffic, naturally everyone was gunning it. Either the police didn't care, or were just off that day... not an officer in sight and we all cruised at about 120mph for a good mile or two. Clear, sunny day, beautiful scenery, engines screaming... it was perfect.
Slowest car? My first and short-lived car in HS, a 1990 4 banger Chevy Corsica. I'm pretty sure my dad's self-propelled lawn mower was faster.
The worst was when the top half of the half doors would bow out from the soft top, bringing in cold/rain/whatever
That happened on my brothers YJ. It was wierd at first, but part of the fun later. He had the 4.0 liter though.
Fastest was probably a '97 Intrepid I had; I'd had it over 100, but not much. No idea what it was good for. Maybe 115?
Slowest I didn't own. It was my parents '84 Minivan with a carburated 2.2 liter (86hp, I think?)
that thing was terrifying on on ramps. And that was in a day of 11 second 0-60 cars.
The fastest I've ever driven was a challenger 392 at a Dodge SRT event my wife got for me for my 40th. Putting my right foot down was like igniting a solid rocket booster.
The slowest I've ever driven was a buddies Escort. 5 speed. Not sure what was under the hood. Good for 70.
Slowest would likely be an '09 Ford Escape. Definitely not a screamer
Currently own a supercharged Hummer H3 Alpha that's built for speed/show as well. Not as fast as the Z-28, but wildly popular at every show we attend
My slowest car was the 1978 Mercury Zephy with a 4-banger, 4-speed manual, and no tach, so shift by the level of hamster screaming from under the hood. Then again, you had lots of time between shifts given how long it took to generate much forward motion.
Fastest car is my current car: 2011 BMW 335xi. Does 0-60 in about 5.5 seconds which is plenty fast for me. My 1989 Taurus SHO was pretty fast, but all that torque going through the front wheels made it a bit of a wild ride.
Side note: My neighbor just bought a Chevy SS and put the supercharger kit for a Camaro ZL-1 in it. 700 horsepower and 0-60 around 4 seconds. He's a major gearhead.
The slowest car I ever owned - and I owned it very briefly in high school - was a 1989 Lumina that was "self-limited" in that it would not accelerate much beyond 50 MPH due to a failing fuel filter, catalytic convertor and a couple other things that should not have been a problem on what was then a fairly young (4 years) car, but then if you treat it wrong, that's an eternity in car terms. That's how I learned that lesson anyway.
Fastest would be the 2000 BMW M Coupe I bought as a fun/collector car in 2009, and the slowest would be a snail's race between a 97 VW Cabrio and a ~03 VW Jetta diesel. I think the diesel felt better though, because of all of the low-end torque. Of course, beyond 3000 rpm it fell flat on it's face, but in normal driving it felt quite strong actually.
Fastest: Dodge Viper GTS
Slowest: Spec Miata
1968 Firebird - 389 cu inch engine(factory engine 350).
1983 Olds Omega X car.
The only thing they had in common was they were both 4 speeds.
FIrebird - All 4 speeds were fast.
Omega - All 4 speeds were sloooow.
My fastest was probably a 1994 Caprice Classic with the 5.7 L. I know I had it up to 120 mph and rea that it's top speed was in the 140-150 mph range. 0-60 was 7.3 seconds which is pretty amazing for a car that weighs over 4,000 lbs.
I'm not sure what my slowest car was, but I remember my brother had a Vega that he punched to see how fast it would go. I think he got it up to around 90 mph in Flushing, MI. Apparently the local police started chasing us, but I think their cars topped out at about 75 mph this would have been late 70s or early 80s).. All I know is we didn't know they were even chasing us and we were pulling away. We couldn't outrun the radio, though, and a State Trooper and some other LEO, maybe a sheriff or something pulled us over. It took a few minutes for he Flushing PD to finally show up. At first the State Police thought we must have been dangerous or had warrants or something and didn't believe us that we had no idea there were police behind us (apparently way behind and losing ground).
These posts actually turned me from a long time lurker into a seldom posts.
Slowest was a first gen S10 pickup that my father who worked as a bricklayer on the weekends treated like a full size truck. It had a home applied paint job and could not accelerate on any sort of incline. I learned this the hard way after I pulled out in front of a semi.
Fastest is my current 2013 Dodge Challenger R/T classic. It might not be the fastest in the world, but it puts a smile on my face and is really confortable for long drives. I have 3 carseats in the back, one in the front, and plenty of room for the wife in the trunk.
Fastest: '66 Shelby GT-350 vintage race car or '67 A-H Sprite F Production SCCA race car (depending on the track)
Slowest: 1981 Ford Fiesta or 2002 VW Beetle TDi