Volkwagen GTI, Ford Focus SVT, Honda civic Si

[tritonheat1]

Car and driver or Road and track tested all three of the cars and the Focus SVT beat both of the Volkswagen and Honda in everything except performance. The Focus Stands out pretty good. They said that the new Civic Si shares the same engine from the base RSX, and it didn't improve for the new Si and is almost a second slower than the 99-00 Si's.

Volkswagen GTI:
0-60mph 7.1sec
1/4mile 15.4sec

Ford Focus SVT:
0-60mph 7.5sec
1/4mile 15.9sec

Honda Civic Si:
0-60 less than a second than the 99-00 so 8-8.3sec
1/4mile less than a second than the 99-00 so 16-16.5sec

I know the Topspeed for the new Si is 128mph barely reaching the 130mph mark. reaching it's 6600rpm and almost at redline 6800rpms. Said by the road and track.

 

[vegasmp3]

First of all it is a ford....A big piece of s***......I would never own a ford no offense to anyone......American mind set in cars is straight line speed.....foreign companies is about handling and quality.....Real racing isn't 0to60 it is how a car can perform in a slalom and windy roads.....Ex. nsx pretty fast,viper really fast...Viper would get its ass kicked everytime in a real race......they handle worth s***....nsx is probably the best handling sports car out their....

 

[APEXistud]

I don't know about whoopin up on a Viper on a track. Those are pretty fast and it would depend on what type of Viper, (RT-10, GT-S, Hennesey, ACR) I believe those would all give the NSX a run for it's money.

[ 02-20-2002: Message edited by: APEXistud ]

 

[MP3-E]

.....ummm.... Vegas, isnt Mazda apart of Ford? Dont a few cars from both manufactuers use the same engines? a good example is the trucks, the rangers and the B-series trucks come off of the same assembly line.

 

[20ESGUY]

I usally put down american cars, I work(ed) for a Chrysler dealer.I've actally driven a viper. One of our customers has a '96 GTS and a '94 r/t-10 both handle very well and take high speed great, around town isn't all that good but that's not what it's meant for. The viper is not a car thats gonna get "whooped" on. The viper and corvette teams do pretty good in scca racing. The viper has actually won it's class in ACR the last two years running which includes the nsx if I'm not mistaken.
Just to throw in one extra comment if it wasn't for the escort we wouldn't even have protege's. Up until '99 the miata, protege, and escort shared the same chassis, minus a few parts here and there of course.

 

[rocket_ride76]

Ok first off... Thats pretty damn sorry to call fords pieces of s***!!You are no better than the guys who call ppl like us "ricers"!!Second of all I own a MP3 "daily driver" and a 1988 Mustang 5.0 coupe!And it is FAR from a piece of s***!Hell just to be an ass lol I could pull off 4 of my plug wires and still kick your ass!!!LOL Im not trying to flame but I am SICK AND TIRED of all these little punks putting down Imports and American cars,and the ppl who drive them!I love ALL types of cars,that is what I live for,without them none of us would even be on this site right now!If you dont like a certain car ,hey thats fine BUT when you call MY car a piece of s*** be it my MP3 or my Mustang you better be albe to put up or shut up!!!DONT SING IT BRING IT

 

[hakushi no sakura]

WTF? How can the Focus beat out the VW in everything but performance? VW's have amazing build quality, good design and quality interiors. Elegant and driver oriented. I'd say the GTi absolutely CRUSHES either the Focus OR the Civic Si. If I had a choice, I'd always pick a German car over an American or Japanese car.

 

[MP3-E]

LOL, you tell them Rocket_ride76

 

[Polonia2]

Yeah I think mazda is parts of ford too,
go to their website, you can see that ford owns volvo, mazda, lincon, mecury, caugar, aston martin and land rover.
I agree with "hakushi no sakura" and I also prever german car than others (except italian), and i know that vw GTI is one damn good car......
In my opinion, focus should have a good performance too because their name jacked by cosworth. Remeber those old rally car the ford escort cosworth?
About viper, I drive my freinds car a few times. On performance, the car is very strong(450hp) especially in straight line.
But for handling, a little dissepointing. On each corner (try some than you know), you can feel that the tail is not balance, than as try to straighten you will fell the wabble.
In my opinion, my 996 will perform better in the corner. However,I agree that viper is much stronger car in drag line.
For the money, I will prefer M-5. Unfortunetly, that car is not available when i am ordering my porsche...

 

[erictho]

Originally posted by 20ESGUY:
<STRONG>Just to throw in one extra comment if it wasn't for the escort we wouldn't even have protege's. Up until '99 the miata, protege, and escort shared the same chassis, minus a few parts here and there of course.</STRONG>

Pass the crack pipe, buddy...

All three of those cars were built on different platforms, and still are... except now the Escort is dead...

First off, the Miata doesn't share it's chassis with any other car in the Mazda (or FoMoCo) lineup.

Secondly, Protege and Escort were similarly built on different platforms, and have never been built on the same platform.

Your sentiment may be right, but your facts are wrong

 

[erictho]

Originally posted by hakushi no sakura:
<STRONG>WTF? How can the Focus beat out the VW in everything but performance? VW's have amazing build quality, good design and quality interiors. Elegant and driver oriented. I'd say the GTi absolutely CRUSHES either the Focus OR the Civic Si. If I had a choice, I'd always pick a German car over an American or Japanese car.</STRONG>

I've got a VW GTI VR6 and I've driven the new GTI 1.8T. I've also owned a Contour SVT, and have driven the new Focus, but not yet the SVT version.

While I agree that German cars do have a certain flavour, it is by no means an outright reason to buy a car.

If SVT works similar magic to the Focus that they used on the Contour, the Focus SVT will be a far better handling car than the GTI. Even the base Focus is a competent handler.

And as far as being better than Japanese cars, the best handling car I've ever driven: hands down, the current generation, Japanese engineered, designed and built Mazda Miata*.

* with full respect given to our German car loving brethren.

 

[tritonheat1]

Hey i don't care witch car is faster id rather pick the MP3 over all those three cars. Lets see how long they can last on reliability. I don't know if the miata handle like the MP3 on the slalom but i know they can run pretty darn fast on the slalom, i know over 60mph....and that could be just with a normal driver 2. MP3 rules that's the choice and that's what i got.

 

[cfbjr]

In defense of the Viper, I've never seen an NSX win LeMans! Additionally, the Viper, when driven properly, by someone with real driving experience is an extremely potent road racing machine. In the American Lemans Series and the Trans-Am series the Viper racing teams are consistent winners, as are the Corvette racing teams. The NSX's don't even bother to compete. Although the Jaguar (a Ford company) does and they also fare well. The Viper has extreme amounts of torque and acceleration possibilities as well as a great suspension and braking setup. You have to have smooth throttle, braking and clutch inputs to drive them properly to make sure you don't induce too much oversteer which is the most frequent problem. It's not the kind of thing you hop into and drive around the block once and can make a valid impression of. It takes some getting used to and it helps to have proper instruction on how to drive it from a person who knows. Most Viper owners attend some driving school, like Skip Barber, to learn how to properly drive the vehicle before or right after they purchase it. I was just barely able to get used to it within about an hour of driving around an autocross course with an instructor present the entire time coaching me through it. The NSX has 290hp and 244lb.-ft. of torque. The Viper runs 500hp/500lb.-ft. The Viper is not twice as heavy as the NSX, it's only 300 lbs. more, and that's all engine. The Viper also boasts a better ditribution of weight, with a near perfect 48/52 vs. the NSX's not bad 41/59. On a road course, with identically skilled drivers, it would be very hard, nearly impossible, for an NSX to beat a Viper. vegas, I would actually drive a Viper first, or at least check facts, before making a statement like, "Viper would get its ass kicked everytime in a real race......they handle worth s***". Additionally, the NSX is no where near the best handling sports car out there. Even an NSX owner would admit to that. I would agree that real racing isn't just 0-60, you just misstated the Viper's ability to handle.
triton's post shows that the cars he mentioned are nearly equal in performance, meaning anyone of them would have a chance at beating one another in a "real race", as defined above.

 

[buster]

Up here in Canada the Focus SVT is to retail for 28 000, way too much and although it has won 10 best it still has many quality control issues. The Civic SI is promising but the car is not pretty in SI trim and it is just missing something....can't quite point it out yet (styling or the bent nail coming out of dash?) the VW is the next choice but it is very heavy comes way too soft in suspension setup and the initial quality control leaves much to be desired, as does the 27 500 price tag but the motor (turbo) is esaily pushed up lots in HP and some firm springs may fix some handling issues. The SI would be a no brainer for mods and the Spec-V would be the best bang for your buck all round. If I did it over I wuld consider a new MP3 with more power but otherwise for now I would go with the Spec-V or my R/T.

 

[vegasmp3]

Hey I own an mp3 too......I have driven many high dollars sports cars......Ferrari,nsx,typhoons,mustang,
porsche and in my opion ford is a piece of s*** along with chevy and dodge....You are all right mazda is a product of ford....But the cars isn't built by ford......I love most sports cars but not mustangs or even a corvette......I can bring it...to anyone who wants me to bring it......You dont have to like my opion, but respect it because i respect what you all have to say...Some of you are right......But as long as i live i will never own a car from chevy, dodge or ford.......I do know ford has their hand in lots of manufatures like mazda and jaguar....I think i am into more of the technology part....Because a nsx is a v6 in the two hundred horsepower range when a viper is a v12 with 400 hundred horsepower and a nsx can hang with it......That is what impresses me.....The strongest engine in the world pound for pound is the honda s2000.....4 banger with around 240 horsepower will kick a mustang v8 ass...That is what it is all about....That is what makes a cars special and why i like foriegn companies.....They dont look for the easy way out.....

 

[vegasmp3]

I do know what i am talking about......THe slalom is the key test in handling.....THe nsx handles at 70.3 mph and the twin turbo porche at 70 mph.....corvette is slower than the mp3,even the ferrari spyder is slower than the mp3 in the slalom......The two best handling sports car are the nsx and porche.....SO you need to check your facts.....the viper doesn't handle well......my friend dad is very wealthy and has owned almost every spors car out their.....and we were able to drive them all....so i know the nsx may not be the fastest but it handles the best along with the porche......

 

[buster]

Uh ok??

 

[70]

Hmmm...Interestingly, Grassroots Motorsports just test drove all the letter cars (as in MP3, GTI, SE-R, etc.). The MP3 acutally out did the Focus SVT in the autocross...Look for the article in the next issue of the magazine. It promises to be intresting to say the least.

As for the Protege and Escort sharing chassis', that is not exactly right. The Protege was designed by Mazda (released in 1990 to replace the 323 sedan), and the 91-96 Escort share the same 1.8 liter motor as the 90-98 Protege. The chassis' are similar on 90-94 Protege and 91-96 Escort's. The is enough similarity that most parts for the Escort will fit the Protege.