Very hard to compare acceleration times over decades. Look at the muscle cars for instance. A Hemi Cuda could manage around a 14.0 1/4 mile. My Solstice can better that by a second or a tad more. But it was the tires. Put one on modern street tires and the numbers change drastically.
Add in the fact that the Countach was geared more for highway use . And that it would do a 1/4 mile in 12.9 and would top out at 185 mph and see how the Solstice comes out. And then put the Countach on modern tires and revise all those numbers.
I had a Lamborghini that was just slightly earlier than the Countach. When I bought it the car had been garaged for several years so I had to do a lot of deferred maintenance on it and put it on new (at that time) Pirelli Z rated tires and the difference was astounding.
PS - I used to take my car to the Italian car shows and park beside a Countach. He told me that the rear tires for his cars, a 345/35ZR15 size, were only made evert few years and in between you were out of luck. Plus they cost $1,000 - each.
Actually, there is nothing wrong with the performance of the NA cars. It is a shame that they live in the shadow of the turbo models. If there had never been a GXP, the NA would have happily competed with the Miata as was planned and no one would have commented that they didn't have enough power - neither did the Miata.
I disagree. There is no shame in more horsepower in a GXP model.
And it was definitely in the Pontiac DNA to push out the “worked” sports model upgrade. Isn’t that how John DeLorean brought the brand back from the “old peoples car” the marquee was under back when he was at GM?
(Or did I get that bit of history wrong?)
He said “it’s a shame that they had to live in the shadow of the turbo models”.
I was offering a counterpoint.
this is Pontiac 101 going back to DeLorean.
The only reason DeLorean snuck the first sports Pontiac, the GTO past GM management was by offering a performance package as an option.
It is widely acknowledged that GM would have never let him build the GTO as its own model.
though many decades of water (and management personnel) have passed under that bridge between DeLorean and the time of the Solstice, GM has always shown an unwillingness to let any other marquee “surpass” the performance of the corvette.
Not saying that the Solstice does, just saying it is interesting that similar corporate thinking seems to exist at GM even today.
an interesting short read from 2015 about Pontiac’s Banshee prototype (under DeLorean) and how it so obviously became the Chevy C3 Vette after being stolen from Pontiac…
hence the “no shame in more power” response.
Not intended as antagonistic, just offering a counterpoint.
NA proved the customer interest, GXP was almost preordained after the NA being sold out, it being Pontiac.
no those are the same cars. lots of differences. but back to the na...the gxp has nothing to do with the na being a slug.that's all on gm. how much hp does the NA honda s 2000 have ?? Im not bashing,I love my little slug.just wish gm hadn't made it so. but in the same breath,,,the S 2000 is ugly.so.... I wish i still had it in me to tear mine apart and fix it, but I didn't buy this car to do that with.And they didn't make the gxp with this interior.yes I want it all.And desert.
You could always buy a GXP and swap the interiors then sell the NA?
Or is there a fitment difference?
Admittedly ignorant on the subject as I have never even got to sit in an NA
Hard to compare with the S2000 - they had the highest specific output per liter ever (until one of the Ferrari engines managed a tad higher). The 2.4 engine is getting just under 75 bhp per liter. The LT1 in the C7 Corvette got abour 1 bhp less per liter than that. Nothing disgraceful there.
Modern cars with electronics even on stand-by will drain a battery in 3-4 weeks or so, and of you have too many cars to drive them often enough, either a maintainer or just disconnecting them and reconnecting them next time you use them is really needed. We rotate among around four cars every summer and depending on weather, may not use a given car very often (even more so during Covid). Remembering how to reset the time on a given car is always a mental chore when you reconnect them, of course.
I like my old traditional sports cars that can sit all winter with the battery hooked up and they start right up in Spring (no computer, no radio presets etc.)
About the NA. It's no slug, by my parameters at least. It's just that America has so many powerful cars that the NA might not feel so special. About the only things it is lacking are off the line acceleration, and top speed. Yesterday I happened to do a little "street lights grand prix" and lost to a 1.4 turbo 140hp Golf with the DSG gearbox. He took a turn and I remained on the same street after that, but I do believe he wouldn't win if we went at it on a curvy mountain road. Straight, off the line acceleration isn't everything. Granted it does feel great to reach 0-60 or whatever speed quickly but it is only one aspect of sports car driving. Heck a Rivian R1 isn't a sports car but it will eat the fastest GXP and even the best Corvette for lunch from 0-60. Just goes on to show that straight line acceleration is not the best metric by which to judge a sports car.
I came back yesterday from a weekend at a city 200mi from home. Single lane motorway all the way. Passing was easy and without much effort we always had a clear road ahead. Just have to work that shifter and gas pedal!
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