[wireflight]

1) I don't think anyone was saying that makes not domestic to the USA have no performance potential. Heck, I tested a 1994 RX-7 that was HEALTHY:

The salesman insisted on riding with me, even though I had arrived solo in my loaded-out 1993 210-hp Crown Vic' LX; I cautioned him that I was going to test the vehicle the way I intended to drive it, that it was being marketed as a sports car, etc. He said he understood all those things, and that he wouldn't expect me to sandbag the test drive.

He drove off the lot to a service station, where a couple of local PD mistook the car for a Viper; I laughed, and the salesman put in a few gallons. When we left the station, I was behind the wheel. The jaunt south to the next Interstate off and on ramps went fairly smoothly, but the salesman chattered about the comfort and power, blah blah blah. He didn't understand my occasional twitching of the wheel, etc.

The off ramp led uphill, and I crossed the road to turn around in the parking lot of a service station. Facing north, I paused for a second to cinch my seatbelt and to cycle the shifter through the pattern a couple of times. The salesman thought I didn't know how to find the gears, and was babbling about how to locate first; I explained that I knew where the gears were, but that I wanted to get the feel of the shifter.

Unconvincingly, he said he understood, but I wasn't convinced. I admonished him to buckle-up, and he said something like, "Only sissies wear seatbelts." I said, "Whatever: it's your life." With that, I pulled onto the roadway and headed east onto the on ramp -- crossing the Interstate about 55 mph.

It probably doesn't mean much to anyone here, but after crossing the Interstate, the on-ramp makes a sharp "20-mph" LH curve; it's one of those curves where anything over 30 mph is considered aggressive, and anything over 35 mph is considered by most people to be reckless. Most "performance" vehicles are challenged to take that curve at 50 mph. Describing ecerything that happened in the next few microseconds is impossible, but it went something like this:

When I crossed the turn-in, I tapped the brake and checked my speed (70 mph). Since the car wasn't doing anything wierd, I rolled into the throttle and was simply thrilled by the cornering force: the lateral acceleration was trying to force my body over the console, and the salesman was pressed firmly against the door.

The ramp has steep slopes on both sides of the road in the area of the LH curve, which wasn't so much a problem for me as the car drifted across the road from inside to outside edge. I glanced across at the salesman before pulling onto the Interstate, and I got scared for him: he was as white as a piece of paper -- so I backed out of throttle at 135 mph, short-shifted and dropped my speed back to 55 mph (the posted limit).

I don't think I've ever seen anyone else that badly frightened -- but, hey: I told him my intent, and I did everything I could think of to prepare him for what was ahead -- but he just wouldn't listen. After we got onto the Interstate, he buckled-up; I asked him if he was okay and he tried to tell me that he was, but his speech told me that he wasn't.

I promised him that he'd be okay and that I'd drive sedately back to the dealership (which I did). I had to help him out of the car and back to the building. I didn't buy the car.

2) The Subie WRX STi is supposed to have the "ginormous" hood scoop and rear wing; heck even the base WRX has a showy hoodscoop and rear wing: that's Subaru's way of branding the car as something other than a run-of-the-mill Imprezza.

I can't remember where I saw it, but someone took an STi and turned it into a "stealth" Imprezza -- relocating the intercooler, etc: it was a pretty major build. If I recall correctly, the car was treated to a 2-color paint job. The light color was on top, extending down to the character line (about an inch above or below the door handles; I don't recall exactly). It was amazing!

The transformation was radical: from a "boy racer" image to a "not-quite-plain" (but nevertheless very subtle), relatively respectable family sedan -- that just happened to be able to run like stink!

On the other hand, the aesthetics of the current and older Imprezzas simply aren't going to appeal to the average US consumer -- but since that isn't the market targeted by Subaru, it all works out.

3) Who says the GNX wasn't real muscle? One of my pals has an '85 or '86 GN (I'll have to ask him) with a/c, p/w, p/l, T-tops and all sorts of other amenities -- that ran low 14s right off the lot. He used the zip-tie thingy on the firewall to "tighten up" the shifts of his transmission and disconnected his front sway bar, which significantly improved his straight-line performance.

How much? Well, I can't remember any times he posted with only those mods, but at the local dragstrip, he disconnected the exhaust from his turbo under the hood (the outlet side, duh), and bolted on a pair of 8-inch slicks mounted on Corvette wheels -- and RIPPED 11.70s (he weighed between 260 and 300 lbs at that time). With me in the car as a passenger, it ran 11.90s.

The GN was equally at home at the drag strip or at the drive-in, or at weddings and funerals: it was a "go anywhere" car for the person that wanted to look respectable, who also wanted a car that would run like a scalded ape. Kudos to Buick (but they should have used the 4.3 instead of the 3.8)!

4) Has anybody ever done a Syclone/Typhoon (or other AWD) drivetrain in a Cobra?