2010 cars...

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

(dont really like the pointed mid-late 70's camaros either)

I thought I was the only person in the world who likes some Camaros but does not like the second generation.

[Jay2TheRescue]

2nd generation Camaros don't do it for me either. I do like the 3rd, but I think that's probably because that's what was made when I was in high school, and every 16 year old wanted.

[bowtieguy]

2002 SS--the best looking "affordable" car ever!

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

I always kinda liked the early 2nd gen. Camaros, before they were totally emasculated by emission regs, but then that was what was new when I was in high school...

I was thinking about buying a new car about 1981 (wound up getting a Honda Gold Wing instead) and test drove a left-over Pontiac Firebird. Same styling as the 2nd gen Camaro, and a 305 engine. At the time I was driving a '65 Mercury Comet with a well-worn 289, for which I had paid $100 about a year previously. I drove the Firebird, and I swear to any deity you wish the Comet had a lot more power! And with the rubber nose on the Pontiac, the Comet, even though it was battle-scarred, half red and half primer black, was better looking!

[theholycow]

The Firebird took its 2nd gen styling much better than the Camaro did. That style fit the Firebird.

[VetteOwner]

yea the firebird always looked good IMO

about the only car i like if i absolutely had to get a newer car and not a truck would be a 2003 hyundai Elantra GT with a 5 speed manual

[bowtieguy]

Originally Posted by JoeBob

I drove the Firebird, and I swear to any deity you wish the Comet had a lot more power! !

i don't know Mopar, but i think you could be spot on here. that motor in many 80s GM cars only had around 200 horses or less at the wheels believe it or not. and those cars are HEAVY to boot!

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by bowtieguy

i don't know Mopar, but i think you could be spot on here. that motor in many 80s GM cars only had around 200 horses or less at the wheels believe it or not. and those cars are HEAVY to boot!

They were all torque and no horsepower. TBI and their emissions systems, I think, are to blame for their low RPM ways (which, BTW, are the reason I'm so low-RPM in general). My 1987 Cadillac had a 125hp V8. It went plenty fast until it ran out of gears...like a bulldozer anywhere under 80mph.

[IndyFetch]

Originally Posted by theholycow

They were all torque and no horsepower. TBI and their emissions systems, I think, are to blame for their low RPM ways (which, BTW, are the reason I'm so low-RPM in general). My 1987 Cadillac had a 125hp V8. It went plenty fast until it ran out of gears...like a bulldozer anywhere under 80mph.

I know that the IROC-Z only had 150 hp when it came out in the mid-80s. My grandfather had an '86 Chevy pickup with a 305 rated at 120 hp. In the early 80s, the emissions regs had all but killed the Camaro and Firebird V8s. The big blocks were all gone. I cannot remember if the 350 was out of the Firebird / Camaro then. The 305 and 301 were gutless, except in the turbo 301 Firebird. Even then, it was slow by today's standards; a Toyota Corolla could outrun one. I think that the 7.6:1 compression ratio on the 301 had something to do with it.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Originally Posted by Fetch

<snip> The 305 and 301 were gutless, except in the turbo 301 Firebird. Even then, it was slow by today's standards; a Toyota Corolla could outrun one. I think that the 7.6:1 compression ratio on the 301 had something to do with it.

I think a race between that '80 Firebird (Tiredbird?) and my '91 Geo Metro w/automatic would be pretty close!

Turbos usually have a fairly low compression ratio...