I am about to start a new job that will require me to drive some significant highway miles. My current daily driver ('96 z28 with 42k miles) is a great car that's fun and reliable, but it's got a loud aftermarket exhaust that makes highway driving annoying and I just don't want to put many miles on it. So I have narrowed my options to a new Solstice GXP or a new Cobalt SS Turbo. I'm leaning towards the Solstice because of its looks and the fact that you can get deep discounts on them these days, but I'm also a former owner of a 2005 Cobalt SS Supercharged which I loved.

My question is this... which car would win on a high speed road course? My new car will definitely see some track time, and I'm just curious about the Solstice's road course performance and if you have to put a hard top on it to run time trials. I used to autocross my Cobalt SS S/C in local parking lot time trials, but there is a new high speed road course opening in my area next year. I know full well about the advantages of having a rwd car, but the new Cobalt SS Turbo holds the world record on the Nurburgring for stock production fwd cars... that's faster than a VW R32, Mazdaspeed 3, or any other fwd car. Has anyone been able to find a Nurburgring time for a GXP?? The Solstice and Cobalt have the same engine and weigh about the same, so this is all about handing characteristics and racing regulations for verts that I may not be aware of.

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'96 z28, 42k miles