jdmspoonitr

iTrader: (1)

Meh I have never seen a cobalt at any local tracks here, so I can't comment on how they handle.

Usually I see a lot of bmw, porsche, miatas, hondas (mostly S2K's), corvettes and a mix bag of everything else. HPDE is all about driver, not the car...so keep in mind everything comes with a tradeoff. The big power cars are expensive to maintain. There's no way around that. Some ITR owners cringe at $120 a tire. Try $270 per tire. It's all about what you can afford on your budget. If you can't afford a more expensive car, no reason to worry about it. Just work with what you have.

Just enjoy being out on track with a car that is fun. No you aren't going to pass everyone and be the fastest car out there in an ITR, but it's still a lot of fun and thats what its about. If it bothers you that much just go buy a faster car and keep the itr for fun.

HYREV2NR

Our R's will always be what they are, really great cars period! I believe they're a timeless piece of automotive history that will never be repeated again.
I enjoy seeing new technology being developed in modern performance cars but I hate all the new regulations that makes them so darn heavy.
Putting a car on any autocross track speaks volumes for how the car is put together as a whole package. The one thing I do hate about living in the dirty south is 99% of enthusiasts here think if it's fast in the 1/4mi., then it's an awesome car. Outside of the strip, most could care less.

CraterGrillo

Raising hand here...


161K miles, engine strong as ox. burns about a qt every 2000 miles. Rev it like crazy when appropriate. Vtec at least every other day. Still haven't found a replacement car that's as fun to drive.

Steve

racebum

amazing

i've seen 40k cars burn a quart every 1200

a qt every 2k at 161k miles is seriously the best condition high mile R i've heard of. you ever compression test it recently? curious what the numbers are

Hybrid96EK

Just rolled 120k the other day. Still pretty strong I will say. Ran 14.6 @ 96 with a 2.4 60 ft about 6 months ago with only mod being an icebox. Sure, it's not the quickest thing on the road but I like it. Handles really well but I have full coilovers and Azenis on the car.

Btw: leakdown and compression are great. Tends to use oil only when I wind the **** out of it. Maybe quart in 3,000 miles. I'm sure I could chew up more if I beat it silly. All the dohc vtec engines I've had use oil at high rpm.

CraterGrillo

Nope. Never tested it. Sorry I can't get you numbers.

I do know that 5w30 burns a few quarts per 3k miles on my car, and 10w30 is MUCH less. So I use 10w30 now, and don't have to check very often.

I really don't think the engine has changed much in the last 75k or so. Not the fastest car on the block, but it puts a smile on my face every day.

I've tried probably 15 different new cars over the last 3 years to replace it, and found nothing. The only car that seems interesting to me is the Subie BRZ coming out, but I'll have to drive it to find out.

Steve

Todd00

Raise your hand if you've ever seen a Cobalt SS (over 100K) with all of it's original engine parts. Even better, I've never met an owner who hasn't had some significant issue within the warranty period.

And the interior rattles/quality...My mom's Tupperware collection from the early 80's is better made.

Comp97GSR

Watching the video, AND I AM NOT AN EXPERT BY ANY MEANS, if the BMW had a driver worth a crap, that Cobalt wouldn't have been in the picture.

From what I hear, from people who track cars and have experience in all types of cars is that the Cobalt isn't a very good handling car and R-comps mask some flaws.... and they eat tires when tracked. But they seem to think the engine is very good.

I'll stick with my R, I am a fanboi.

racebum

the only GM cars i've seen go 100k and hold together are corvettes, some of those at 200k are still going strong

the rest

well...not so much

itr1244

i got a ride from a guy that has SS but the super charged ones. with stage 2 superchargers . bigger injectors etc.. it feels fast but my itr (192whp mustang dyno) +4.9 fd does "feels" faster. ss s/c felt sluggish between shift while my itr just goes every gear.
at the end of the day i still love my itr more than anything..

racebum

GM is a fan of wide ratio transmission

really kills the feel of cars they try and make sporty. they just brute force everything with more hp rather than refine it like acura/porshe

klzemx6

don't worry my itr is still faster on that same track in that same config then that cobalt(206 whp, suspension, full interior, 4.9 final drive, 225 rs3's on 15x8's)

http://cscs.ca/images//r2lt.pdf

I didn't see him do anything under a 1.10 in that vid

I was the winner of street fwd in the link there

itr1244

which track? mosport?

klzemx6

Yes the results I posted and the track the cobalt is on in the video is mosport drivers development track clockwise 2 kinks

HYREV2NR

I hear this more and more these days.

FULLYBUILT2.0

ITR VS. COBALT SS?? LoL, serious guys!!

weirdocolorEJ

comparing a cobalt to an itr.. lawl. especially a boosted cobalt with a huge hp diff. boost an R on 20 lbs and see if it doesnt scoot ya around pretty quick.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

^the point is that the ITR doesn't have 20LBS of boost.....which is why itd slower. You could use your comparison for ANY car. There'd be no reason for one car to be different or better than another and we'd be back in communist russia.

Z06 faster than an S2000? Pffft...put a V8 in the S2000 and see what happens. Porsche GT3 faster than a civic? Ha! Put "civic" badges on a GT3 and see what happens. See? It makes no sense.

The cobalt is a newer chassis. The point of this thread was to show that it's sad that the ITR has aged and cars like the cobalt are starting to pass it up. But on the bright side, it took 11+ years and a boosted engine to take on the ITR.

98ITR747

I disagree totally. There's still nothing even close to an R in terms of handling and overall performance, lightness, etc on an NA platform for anything in the range of what the R cost new. It's really looking like there never will be. Everyone is going overkill on the weight with safety, navigation, mp3 players, TV's, audio systems, green tech, paddle shifting etc. I would totally rather have an R than a "performance" car like the Tesla. Sure there's more hp/tq numbers on paper but when has that ever mattered? Have you checked the Nurburgring times for the ITR or the NSX R? It's still way up there.

98ITR747

Also it's time to admit that this is a classic car.

Todd00

Newer does not = better. The only reason the Cobalt is faster is because it has more HP, period. It is not because of super-special GM chassis tuning or suspension design. It's just HP.

FWIW, the ITR still domainates the Cobalt SS in stock-class autox (both are in the same class), and the Cobalt has the advantage of wearing much larger R-comp tires, wider wheels and makes much more HP.

And since when does lap times from random HPDE's make a car better than the other? Drive a Cobalt SS and then an ITR and let me know what you think is a better car, regardless of age.

Just a n00b

Speed can be easily modded. Handling cannot.

I'd rather have a perfectly handling car from the factory (like the ITR or a Miata) and then add HP little by little rather than the other way around where I'd need to tune the suspension and camber and stuff after swapping out the OEM parts.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

Lol you guys really live on another planet.

ITR...perfect handling???!!! Nope! It's good...but let's not go nuts here. The driving experience is great wih the ITR, however.

And to the guy who mentioned nurburgring times....the Cobalt SS is much faster than the ITR. Probably mostly because of the power difference, but Im sure the handling isnt too bad with that cobalt either.

While I'll agree that most newer chassis' are saddled with excessive features, and that those take more away from overall driving experience and feel, Ill also say that a lot of new chassis' are faster anyway.

Tooburns

did some lap on track with some ss turbo/ss (stock) they are hard to get in strait but so easy in technical section they just can't keep up. My friend have a 2008 turbo (stock exept spring) one with brembo brake drove it once to give it a try and its sooooo boring to drive, i mean brake are not strong at all and dont like getting hot... for the rest is at a pure cavalier like gear feeling is like a 89 pos plastic rattle are horible, overstear all over the place ...just no no no but yes it looks nice. Car have arround 20k miles and its in rly good shape my R is arround 62k and ill never ever think about getting a cobalt and get rid of the R !
the car in question

95Type-R

I respect ALMOST all cars. Everything but a chevy. No matter what. I've been around enough of them that I can't respect them. Just my .02