Acura RSX, ILX and Honda EP3 Forum banner

Car & Driver's Lightning Lap results at VIR (Cobalt SS/TC surprises many!)

10K views 43 replies 15 participants last post by  z24sport 
#1 ·


Not sure if anyone has been reading the latest issues of C&D, R&T and Motor Trend, but they've all been having some pretty big test and the Cobalt is proving to be the best bang for your buck for performance + economy.

Just for example, Car and Driver held it's 3rd Lightning Lap at VIR recently. While the Supercharged SS did well when it was invited to the Lightning Lap, C&D decided to bring back the little Cobalt with it's upgraded engine and suspension to see how well the General has improved on it's FWD Tuner.

In short, it surprised everyone. Finishing 9th out of 22 cars, the Cobalt was easily crowned champion of the LL1 class (cars > $30,000). But not only did the Cobalt dominate it's class, it also finished ahead of 11 out of the 15 cars in the next class up! Just a few of the cars the Cobalt took by surprise include the Evo X MR, BMW 135i, Lexus IS-F, Audi S5, S2000 CR, and the Lotus Elise SC and a handful of other respectable cars.

Here is the overall results...


And here is the link to what they thought about the Cobalt SS/TC...
Cobalt SS/TC Lightning Lap

This is not a one time thing for the SS/TC as it has seem similar results in other testings by different publishers. It has caused much commotion all across automotive forums across the net. Jim Hall is quoted in the feature as saying about the Cobalt "Calling it one of the best handling front-wheel-drive cars ever doesn't do it justice--it's one of the best -handling cars, period."

Thanks GM for finally taking some time and money and putting it into your FWD platform and making one HELL of a car for one HELL of a good price!
 
See less See more
2
#5 ·
No kidding! I'd love to even see a Mosler!

Hump said:
Yeah this little thing posted a crazy time at the nurburgring (sp?) so this doesn't surprise me. More than anything else I'm amazed that it beat out the elise sc

lol @ mugen si
Wow Hump, I didn't know you were still here...been a long time since I've seen ya on here.

I'm sure the Elise is a faster/funner car. The N/A version ran a 3:09.2 versus 3:16.6 for the supercharged version. It had wider and stickier tires though.
 
#22 ·
Nah they should have brought the ZR1... goliath vs goliath:thumbsup:

Nice the viper beating the gtr will upset the fanbois.
The viper didnt just beat the GT-R it man handled it... again:(

Here ya go.:thumbsup:
Thanks!!



On another note... so its safe to say Americans can't engineer shit? amiright!?!

that should get this thread going!!!
 
#10 ·
but..but...but....it says mugen on it. That alone adds like 4391 HP and cuts times at the NRing of like 3:16.86
 
#12 ·
Nice the viper beating the gtr will upset the fanbois.
 
#14 ·
It's not really that great, rx7s and supras have quite a bit better latteral G's
The current base gt mustangs have .89 G


The challenger being right behind the s2000 is going to piss fanbois off too :lawl:
 
#16 ·
lol I think its funny, the new sti's are a huge pile of shit. I always liked evo's better anyway. Just didnt get one they wouldn't come down 1000 bucks on a new clearenced evo 9 so here I am lol. I think its funny how bad the mugen si did, ahaha. I wonder how much worse the standard SI handles.
 
#20 ·
can someone attach the pics in the OP? Stupid work filter.....
 
#25 ·
I hope he was paid a lot of money to dress up like that
 
#28 ·
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the only real differences between a regular S2K and the CR weight (no radio/ac/etc) and aero package?

How much quicker is the CR supposed to be than a regular S2000? I was always under the impression that it was the same as the Mugen Si is to a regular Si?

I'm just curious because I honestly am just not sure what the main differences are.
 
#39 ·

Red is correct...they had a black one too, but I love red so much. It's an 08 turbo version. Loving it so far. 30.5mpg so far and these test don't lie. It handles extremely well. I had to avoid a huge chunk of steel that fell off the back of a National Guard deuce 1/2 and if I was in the Cavalier, I'd probably be in another halo.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top