03-04 Termi or 04-05 CTS-V?

[TrickStang37]

i thought the cts v's were supercharged?

not yet, almost though. there should be reviews coming in on magazines very soon.

 

[SSmoked99]

It seems like you already know what you want (Cobra). Like another member posted you pretty much know that the Caddy has better interior and ride quality, BUT the Cobra DOES look better and sounds better and is faster. Just get the Cobra and be done with it.

 

[BoostFiend]

Heres what you should do. Take all the info you have, think for about 2 seconds, buy a Cobra, then go drop the money you would have spend modding the CTS-V and buy a 4 door gas sipper for a DD. I realy dig the CTS-V's looks and they perform well for what they are but imo luxury doesn't stack up to performance.

 

[splitdecisions]

guys thank you sooo much for the info and advice, although i sense a few d*cks in here, for the most part every one has offered some great advice... apples to oranges i agree but are similar in the power to weight factor stock for stock. I think the comparison was fair and i didnt need your permission to do so kilgore.

Thanks to all those who have offered advice.

I think intake, exhaust, pully, ported blower and 50 shot sounds like a clear winner... with supporting mods eventually too. Im going to look at a local one tomorrow and go for a test drive =)

 

[jm@ReischePerf]

#2) Pro's would be the ease of making power for relatively low cost and being able to do it with reliability. They look great and sound great, the blower whine is absolutely addicting! The cons are that the interior while nice isn't near the level of the CTS-V. The creature comforts aren't there, the audio system leaves something to be desired, and you could have some squeeks and rattles. Mine is relatively rattle free, but I have had to track a few squeeks down and solve them. I will say that I do really love the gauges and seats in my Cobra, but there are many days driving to work that I really enjoy being in my Eddie Bauer with the steering wheel controls, heated leather seats, and the other luxury options.

#3) Like any other car there are dozens of problems owners have come across. The one you'll probably hear about the most is the cooling with these cars, people that have done high speed runs only to hurt a piston. These cars have a very tight PTW clearance and without enough fuel, too much timing, too much heat, or a combination of all the piston can say hi to the cylinder wall. A good tune with enough fuel, proper timing, and using your head by not beating on the car excessively at high speeds and you shouldn't have a problem. Other minor issues are the steering creak which is easily solved by a new set of steering rack bushings, a clunk from the IRS which has a TSB with Ford if you come across it, hard shifting from the clutch which can be cured with a new clutch quadrant and adjuster, the gas pedal stick which has a recall by Ford to fix it, and the drivers seatbelt not retracting which once again Ford is aware of and should fix. All the minor issues are just that, minor issues which usually are an easy fix if your car happens to get them and can be fixed through recalls or TSB's through Ford.

#4) The most common upgrade path is going to be intake, exhaust, and pulley. You should be able to do the basic I/E/Pulley and tune for under $1200, that would put you at 450-470rwhp/rwtq. For another $500-$700 you could have the blower ported and put you up over 500rwhp/rwtq. Other mods you don't have to do, but would be benificial at that level would be an aftermarket shifter as the stock one sucks, sticky tires, subframes connectors to stiffen up the car and help with preventing the squeeks/rattles, and the clutch quadrant/firewall adjuster. To give you an idea to make the numbers in my sig I have a little over $3K in my car, that includes the supporting mods along with the nitrous.

#5) Overall the build quality I think is rather nice, it's plain but nice. The seats look great and are rather comfortable and the dash and gauges are nice. As I said before the stock stereo leaves some to be desired, but isn't terrible. The shifter location isn't the best either as it requires you to lean forward a bit.

Wow... thanks for this, I thought I was going to have post up "the list" again... last time it got lot of people all riled up.

P.S. I think you missed the noisy TOB and alternator issues... oke:

 

[HEMIHUNTER]

I was reading an old issue of Motor Trend [03]where they did a high speed shootout and they described the Terminator as the closest thing to muscle cars of the old days on a modern [ relativly speaking ] platform.
I think you're trying to compare apples to oranges.
If you want a fast refined car go w/the Caddy
If you want a fast muscle car go w/the Cobra