Speed Claims, What to Believe?
 

Today at work, I had a person ask me about my Vette that was sitting in the building at the time. We talked some about cars in general, and of course he asked me if it was fast. I replied, well, fast is a relative term. Fast as Vettes go? No. Fast if compared to a Aries K, sure!

He then went on to tell me about a Cobalt that GM's "Making", I didn't ask for details, wasn't important to me at that moment. Said his buddies boy has one and it's a "Vette Eater". I just smiled, and shook my head. No doubt, they make a quick one. So, he goes on to say they make a twin turbo version. The only thing I can find online is a 300whp TT with Supercharger that GM had someone else do mods on (the TT setup on top of the Charger). Maybe 300whp in a car that light is quicker than a Vette. Hard to say. I also saw a Youtube vid of a modded one that was just over 400hp, that on 25psi, etc. Sounds like a grenade waiting for the pin to be pulled :D

I didn't find much else.

I realize some new cars can stick down some ponies. Does anyone know of a Chevy Cobalt that is quick on the order of "Vette Eating"??? (Not talking about eating a 78-81 either).

There are alot of cars out there that can beat my '03. But I don't care. I just enjoy driving the Vette to no end. It is a wonderful car in my opinion.

Cobalt is a dead nameplate and there was a single turbo Cobalt SS that was quick for an econobox but not even close to a vette eater.

It's not incredibly hard to get the Turbo Cobalt deep into the 11's. Turbochargers are a great equalizer.

Saw one on Pass Time run mid nines at 160+. Auto trans even. Remember though, they drive the tires on the wrong end of the car.

The Ecotek is a very stout platform.

BTW....my daily driver is an 06 Supercharged Cobalt SS. I like it. Not a Vette eater.

Ron

I think people need to consider there is a difference between fast in a straight line, and fast in straights and turns. Some of these light cars with loads of horsepower may do great at the drag strip, but get them on a track, or auto cross, and they will most likely fail. From what I've heard and read, these late model mega-horsepower Mustangs do not handle very well in the curves. I guess it depends on what you want; a sports car, or a sporty car. A drag car or a track car, even though the Vette is good at both. Things can get interesting when you tell someone your Vette has 350 HP, and they proceed to tell you how the new Mustang has more than that. In fact some of the current Mustangs have more HP than a base C6, but then you're back to the sports car vs sporty car discussion. Car guys should know what's up, but others just see numbers, and bigger is better.

Ron,

I saw an article from back in around 06 or so where they were talking about twin turbos PUSHING a supercharger on a Cobalt. Didn't go into how much supporting work they did, but they were talking 25psi. I don't know a whole lot about FI, but I'm thinking 25psi is a lot. And for GM to give their stamp of approval on that... I was surprised... Still didn't sound like it was going to give many Vettes a run, especially FWD.

I had no need to argue with the guy, and I don't doubt there's plenty of sleepers out there, I've seen some minivans on Youtube that were pretty bad. I just thought it was odd to stick that sort of performance into that chassis. I've never driven one so I can't say how the street manners would be. Seems like a lot of HP to stick into those front tires.

Haxzaw, I agree

Not happening. Maybe a stock vette with 500k miles could get walked by one...

Guess anything is possible with enough money and the right parts. My wife has an '09 Cobalt and can't imagine what it would be like with a TT pushing 25 psi. :eek:

K,

I don't know what GM was up to, but there have been supercharged cobalts with a turbo added on top of the blower. It's not new tech, Renault did it way back when for offroad rally racing. Diesel semi trucks use turbo/superchargers all the time.

John Lingenfelter suffered his life ending injuries in a RWD turbo Ecotek that made 1600 or so hp. I saw that car run, it was an animal for sure.

Your description of relative is exactly correct. Must come with age. :D
I say the same to folks who ask me that about my C5. Because relative to my Nova, it's slow.

FWIW, the CobaltSS super or turbocharged is quite a competent car in the corners as well.

Ron

New mustangs are about as quick as an M3 around a track.

And a turbo cobalt could easily kill a stock c5 with a few mods.

Here's the only reference I could find to what the car must have been. He gave me the impression that you could go to a dealer and get these things. Maybe I misunderstood. In any case...

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f...gravana-12620/

Still, the car is 2800#+, Minimum. Lighter, yes, by a good bit actually. Still think I'd take the Vette, slower or not.

Yep, that's the one I remember. Didn't end up to be real successful......turned out that a turbo by itself was better. The supercharger becomes a restriction at some point. Twin charged meant turbo/super charged. Not two turbos.

Anyway, any time the sun is shining, the Cobalt stays in the driveway....

This is likely to ruffle a few feathers, but I just gotta ask.....why?

Of course I ask the same question when I see Hondas with coffee-can mufflers. I guess I just don't get it.

There is a stock Mach 1 in town with a vettetr license plate maybe they should get together

Having been a kid once, I did some mods to my early cars too. Trying to make them "cooler". I never jacked one up in the back, in fact, I much preferred the mean, low, level stance. Headers and mufflers were not loud unless there just wasn't a way to keep the engine quiet. Most of mine made more noise on the intake side than they did out the exhaust. They not only sounded mean, they were mean. If it wasn't mean, I didn't try to make it sound like it was.

A couple days ago, I was at a light and saw a kid make the turn in a Jetta. Slammed? omg. I swear, all 4 tires were rubbing on a flat & level road. It just looked stupid. I just thought to myself "dude? It's a jetta..."

Why? :iagree:


Well, there wasn't room on the plate for 78-81vettetr, like I inferred above... Maybe that's what he meant?

A lot of you guys don't get out much.

I learned the hard way. A bolt on turbo cobalt on e85 is a pretty stout "econobox"

The turbo 4 bangers they are pumping out these days out of the box are no joke with some tuning and corn fuel.

I surprised a few C5 and C5Z owners in my 944 Turbo, before I got a C5Z myself. Wasn't stock, nor was it really the same type of car as a Cobalt, but the shock on the drivers' faces after getting dusted by a 25 year old 4cyl turbo tells me they had the same mindset as some guys here do.

Very true. Coming from a turbo 4 myself. My last car actually felt a lot more peppy than the vette and with the turbo seemed like it had more torque as well. Gotta love the sound of the turbo whistling. But I had enough with the upkeep and tuning to keep it running top notch.


On a side note anything can be made to go fast with enough money. Put on a super charger to your vette and thats a lot more catching up to do for the guys with 4 cylinders.

I'd say, "Show me how fast ... I'll wait here."
.

Sports Car vs. a Sporty Car (sort of)....you can have your Cobalt. I don't care what you put in the engine bay it's still a family size sedan that does a great job of carrying many bags of groceries in the back two seats. It's a four seater just like the Mustang...can we just stick with talking Corvette?