Bryan,
As you know, I had a 1997 LSC, well modded. I could have dropped a mere $4K on it for a blower, as I already had all of the general mods. (dyno tuned, pulleys, exhaust, T-stat, 80mm mass air, Cobra R wheels, Lightning plugs, etc, etc..) But I wanted something BETTER, not just faster. The GS400 is an all around better quality car. Everything about the GS was better than my Mark. Quieter, smoother, more reliable, better resale, and the quality, particularly of the interior, is heads and shoulders better. I think everybody here is mistaken, in that I didn't love my Mark VIII...I did..alot. Otherwise, I would not have spent as much $$$ doing mods to make it that much better. I bought the GS for a better car, not a faster car. If I really wanted faster I would have the XJR in my garage. I've owned fast already...is 10.65 fast enough for you?? That's what my Mustang did. Or 9.9's on my bike. I had a Stealth TT that did low 13's., my Taurus SHO almost went 13's. My 1990 and my 1994 Mustang also both went 13's. I have enough income to buy alot of really fast cars...I even considered a Supra, which is a car that can be made to have 700HP...on a stock block. But I wanted a BETTER car. Sadly, nothing the domestic car companies have made really compares to the GS. I honestly think that after the 97-98 LSCs, there is really nothing the domestics have made that are remotely that good. Honest. So really, my hand was forced into buying Japanese, and barring that, upscale European. I work in the automotive industry, and I can tell you story after story about how much better the Japanese are a building cars. I've personally dealth with all domestic manufacturers, and with Lexus, Toyota, Nissan and Honda. Whenever I talk to an engineer from the domestics, the first thing that comes out of their mouths is "We have to make this part/process cheaper". Honest. Whenever I talk to a Japanese customer, the first thing they say is "We have to make this BETTER". I once made a mold for Lexus. It was for a spare tire cover, out of plastic, that sits underneath the trunk liner. It's a part that no one would ever see..a "no show" part as we call it. But Lexus insisited the tooling be Nickel plated, an absolutely huge expense for a no show part. I asked why, and was simply told "Because we want ours to be the best". The same can't be sad for the domestic companies, and that's worrysome for me. I live in Windsor, where we have the Minivan plat, and the Essex aluminum casting plant (which makes 4.6 and 5.4 blocks). For comparison purposes, the Toyota casting plant more than doubles the output of the Ford plant, yet does so with less than 1/3 of the employees Ford uses. It's scary. They also refurbish their tooling a full 20% before they are scheduled for refurbishment, whereas the domestics wait until they are broken before doing anything. We also do repairs on tooling. We had to "repair" the tooling for the mold for the tail-light for the new Caddie SRX. (As a note here..I made the red lense for the large neon tail light on your LSC, Bryan!) This SRX tail light mold was MADE IN CHINA. China has a great labour force, but doesn't have an even decent SKILLED trade force. The mold was absolutely terrible. Cadillac almost flipped out when we informed them the cost to repair the tail-light. As it turned out, the cost of the repair (which wasn't a huge repair) was going to cost more than the entire cost of the mold that was build in China. So instead of doing it right the 1st time around, the mold is now somewhat a cobbled mess, and has cost them twice the amount to do it. They wanted "cheap cost" instead of "high quality". And sadly, that's the way the domestics do it..even high end brands like Cadillac. And it makes me sad, since the domestics are..well..AMERICAN. Like apple pie. And baseball. The industrial revolution from the carmakers is what made America the wealthy and powerful country that it is today. They put food on thousands upon thousands of tables. And these great companies are being eroded, and may someday go away, because they are cheaping out. And that makes me really mad. I don't hate domestic companies..the contrary. I love them, and it makes me angry to see them being degraded, instead of being upgraded with higher quality. And it bothers me that I can't support those workers, and I refuse to buy American just to say I buy American. I work very hard for my $$, and will spend it on the best product. I WANT to buy domestic, but I can't. I suspect of others knew how poor the domestics do their stuff, they would buy less...so maybe it's best they do not. I can't blindly support a poor product, especially such a major purchase as a car. I mean would you buy a POS house just because it was built by local people? I have set standards to have the best, or as near as I can for everything in my life. House, car, friends, wife, dog. There are some things you should not scrimpt on. I never begrudge anyone for buying with their heart though, afterall, it's their money. But for my money, I'll buy the best I can..unfortunately, the domestics don't have the best luxury now. (I test drove the 300C and walked away very unimpressed). I am somewhat encouraged by the quality of the interior on the new F-150. It very, very well done. If they can keep it up with their cars, there may be hope.....but then they will need to do better on exterior design. They need to hire away some of the best and brightest. They are mired in the "retro" look, which in my opinion doesn't take much skill or show much passion. Look at Subaru..they hired a brilliant designer away from Fiat (Andreas Zapatinas) and their next generation of cars are going to be some of the most beautiful and stylish cars we've seen from a mainstream company in awhile. (sadly, their new designer wasn't hired in time to do the Legacy/Outback redesign). Sorry..I just had to vent. I thought some people here thought I was "anti-domestic". I'm just "anit-poor quality".
Oh..and by the way...I did notie you posted the lowest 0-60 and 1/4 mile times for the GS400. Pretty sneaky. My Motor Trend and Car and Driver both list 0-60 for the GS400 as 5.8 and 5.6..so it is quite alot faster than the Mark. I'll let you know how it goes stock..I always go to the strip. I remember fondly my Mark only being able to muster a 15.2 second quarter mile box stock...Phatz in his 1993 stocker beat me soundly. (14.9 or so). So I will post results soon. I have seen a stock GS400 with only exhast, filter and chip put down 258RWHP...which is ALOT more than a Mark VIII with equal mods.
Bryan...where do you live? Perhaps I'll take a trip out there. I'm ready now for a race Stock vs. Stock. Think you can take me? I always loved taking road trips. And sorry about your luck in dealing with Montreal. I don't consider those people Canadian. They think they are "special", and their heads are up their asses. Snobs, jerks, dicks..you name it. The think they are so special, in fact, that they have been trying to seperate from Canada for many, mnay years now. I say, let them go!!!
