What do you think of the Kia Stinger? Who doesn’t like a turbocharged car? They come in AWD as well (as well as DCT). Here’s a Car and Driver Facebook post.
It sounds good and it’s definitely tunable!
I was curious about this, then I clicked the link, which took me to a R&T page that had a YouTube video. I was floored.
The video in question:
It took a sec for me to understand that the sound wasn’t coming from the WRX but from a Porsche Boxster. And it sounded VERY nice. Very Subaru’ish but still very nice.
So, I checked FB today and saw this at Road and Track’s page:
I honestly haven’t even read the article yet (will do so soon) but immediately went to the comments section, because I knew there would be guys insisting they know how to build a better sports car than Toyota or Subaru. Well then, if that’s the case, you’d think there would be many more cars better than this (while also being at an equivalent price point) on the market already.
I’ll update the post once I’ve read the actual article.
UPDATE:
So, the article is saying that if people want more HP from the 86, they should just wait for the upcoming Supra.
The above was a Cobb Tuning live video session that occurred today.
They dyno’d a Ford Focus RS. The car was stock. In fact, they dyno’d it four times. The first two pulls were with the stock tune. The latter two pulls were with a Cobb AP tune (stage 1).
The guy in the video stated that he’d heard that a lot of people were thinking the car was overrated from the factory and that they wanted to test to see if it was true.
[SPOILER ALERT – Stop reading now if you’d like to watch the video to see the results!]
Well, the first two pulls netted 301 WHP and 340 lb-ft of torque. The last two pulls netted 313 WHP and 360 lb-ft of torque.
Now, my concern is that current RS owners say they aren’t getting full boost on a consistent basis (ie, they’re not getting the full power on demand, every time they run the car hard). Yes, different atmospheric conditions will dictate how well the car runs, but if your car is only generating 250 WHP when you want the full Monte, that’s a problem. The cars are probably dialing back boost when ambient temps are high. The Cobb test car was run in Texas, where it’s in the low to mid 90s today. The dyno testing didn’t see any anomalies but their testing isn’t what the mag publishers’ test numbers are showing. The mag publishers are showing discrepancies (the cars are not generating what it should, HP-wise).
Cobb needs to test more, IMO. Or maybe they don’t care enough to investigate further…after all, it isn’t their problem.
Regarding the HP numbers of the dyno runs, the car saw rather significant gains when going stage 1, but this car is already putting out serious amounts of power. How much more before the car either stops generating nothing but heat (or a thrown rod or cracked piston)?
Excerpt:
Pontiac had long pined for a two-seat sports car, only to be rejected by GM management on the grounds that such a car would compete too closely with the Corvette. But as fuel efficiency became a compelling issue in the late 1970s, engineer Hulki Aldikacti successfully pitched management a plastic-body, mid-engine two-seater. The key was that it wasn’t a sports car, but a cute little fuel sipper for cost-conscious commuters. “It was kind of a backdoor car,” explains Gregg Peterson, an engineer for Pontiac at the time. To avoid raising any suspicions at the corporate level, official drawings of the car showed only a four-cylinder engine aft of the rear seats. “But in every drawing we made sure a V-6 would fit,” says Peterson.
Read more at http://www.automobilemag.com/features/collectible_classic/1602-collectible-classic-1984-1988-pontiac-fiero/
My thoughts about the car? I owned one, a 1986 GT model, without the rear spoiler. I had no mechanical issues during my ownership of it. It was a well-rounded two-seater, with decent power, good handling, and good aural characteristics. I was impressed with the facts that it had mass (ie, it wouldn’t just disappear in a crash), there was ample interior space, it had a small but very deep trunk in the rear of the vehicle and I still had space enough in the vehicle to throw two sub-woofer boxes behind the seats. Many people nowadays measure vehicles by how much power their engines produce. I don’t think anyone in the 80s era expected this car to be an over-achiever. It was good for what it was. It’s a pity the car died after only 4 years of production, as the last versions were very good.
It is indeed a classic…and no, not all cars reach classic status. All cars age, but not all become memorable.
From Road & Track:
Unlike the 911, which is using a 3.0 liter flat-six in both the Carrera and Carrera S, just with different turbos, the 718 twins will have a 2.0 or a 2.5 liter turbocharged flat four. The 2.0 in the base cars will have 300 horsepower and 266 lb-ft of torque while the 718 Boxster S will have a 2.5 liter flat-four turbo with 340 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque. There could also be a GTS version coming with 365 horsepower.
Porsche is going all-in on turbocharging.
Posted by Road & Track Magazine on Tuesday, December 15, 2015
In the Facebook comments, I already see people equating the upcoming 718 engines with Subaru EJs. Now, when has Porsche ever not blazed their own trail? Porsche will almost certainly ensure this engine will generate glorious (or at least non-nasty) sounds. Subaru’s trademark sounds are due to the EJs running unequal-length headers. I highly doubt Porsche will do something stupid like adopt unequal length headers, especially if they opt to use twin-scroll turbochargers. With luxury-sport cars such as these Porsche variants, they’re going to ensure the car sounds like it looks…fast, powerful, and sleek.
This was a pretty good read.
Do yourself a favor this winter and get a set of winter tires. Even if you don’t see snow, the rubber is optimized for lower-temp use.
Posted by Car and Driver on Saturday, November 28, 2015
We rarely see 2015 WRXs on the dyno, but here it is. I wish they’d provided the baseline HP at the wheels first, but I believe they make 240ish to the wheels stock. I’ve no idea what mods this one may have.
Esnel’s 2015 Subaru WRX – 301whp/325lbtqEsnel brought in his 2015 Subaru WRX to get a COBB Tuning ProTune by Vlad! Vlad got the WRX all dialed in at 300.66whp and 324.84lbtq!
Posted by National Speed on Saturday, July 25, 2015
UPDATE — the mod list is: Tb exhaust , intake , tgv delete
Check this out! Now, this isn’t the very first Boxer-powered motorcycle…BMW has a crap-ton of them. Honda’s Goldwings have always used the horizontally-opposed engine configuration, as well. I like this one, though, because both wheels are powered. As well, that black engine looks sinister! I’m not sure if the coloring has been photoshopped to represent WRX/STI rally colors (rally blue with gold wheels…Subaru trademark).
There’s also this:
http://thekneeslider.com/kickboxer-subaru-wrx-powered-motorcycle-concept/
This IS powered by a WRX engine, but it’s also just an electronic sketch. Be sure to visit that link, because it has a ton of pictures of the bike and engine…it also has a quick article on how the bike was designed.
I posted about the upcoming Ford Focus RS a few times already, but R&T apparently analyzed some video footage of a Ford Focus RS on the track and determined that the car is indeed AWD. I’m not sure I believe it. Video analysis of handling characteristics might not be enough.