Hot Rod Magazine Article
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Senior Member
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From: Cincinnati, Oh, USA
Hot Rod Magazine Article
Here it is, in it’s entirety: The hot rod magazine article from the April 2000 issue:
I have a decent OCR at work, so I scanned it in for all to read, there might be a couple typos, but I checked over the stat numbers and they are all correct.
<Hot Rod Magazine>
It seems absurd at first. A sports car and a half-ton truck? Pitted against each other in the same story? What would it prove? What are we doing comparing two such ridiculously different vehicles? Well, in obvious respects, perhaps they are opposites. But the more we looked at them, the more we realized that they’re awfully similar. Big honkin’ V-8s twisting factory 18-inch wheels. Limited-production vehicles proudly built in America. Two seats. Power ratings around 350hp, give or take. Prices around $35,000, give or take a couple of grand. And of course there’s the lure of the classic Ford vs. Chevy confrontation. Besides, you don’t need another Camaro vs Mustang test.
Even the money isn’t as far apart as you might think. Corvettes start at $39K, though the hardtop coupe body style is a little lighter and can be had for roughly a grand less (though our test car topped the 46k barrier). Lightnings start at $30,000, and once you add some popular options like a CD player and the couple of grand that dealers have been tacking on because it’s new
and popular, you’re flirting with $35K—within four grand of a stripper Vette... assuming you can find a stripper Vette.
Admittedly, we were a little suspicious of our red 2000 Lightning when it arrived. It didn’t come through normal channels; this one was sent to us by SVT in Michigan and was shipped straight to Roush here in Southern California for “cleanup,” whatever that meant. The Corvette, in new for-2000 Millennium Yellow, is a known entity, delivered to us through our local supplier, A&M Specialists: It is already recognized as a world-class sports car, one with a waiting list as it enters its fourth year of production.
Corvette
VS Lightning I
Precious few of either will ever be built; Corvettes are limited to 25,000 per year, more or less—a comfortable level that will keep demand rightfully high at the Bowling Green plant. Still, that’s positively common compared to our truck. The Lightning is limited to just 5,000 copies per year, plenty of which are destined to either tow Mustang race cars around or, if our seat-of-the-pants impressions are any judge, replace those Mustang race cars altogether.
On the Street
As it turns our, our pair have fairly opposite characters—nor only opposite of each other, but opposite of what you may think they ought to be. In an era where tucks and SUVs strive to be more like buicks of old than the trucks they were designed to be, Lightning is more rough-and-tumble: big, brutish, simple, devoid of all gimmicks and gadgets (no CD player)—a device for pounding pavement. Actually, it behaves like you’d think a Corvette ought to. The Corvette, however, with its image if uncompromising sports cars past, is a perfectly sane, comfortable machine that runs like Jesse Owens in Berlin. With power everything, memory sears, plenty of twinkling buttons and lights (at night, anyway) and plenty of doodads to keep you out of trouble (like traction control), it makes a fine choice for bumping about town during the day.
Sitting up high with a lordly view over the landscape seems against any fast car’s nature; indeed, while in the Lightning, it was unnerving to be on eye-level with the negligent, cell phone-caring SUV drivers who litter the streets of LA. The windshield is panoramic. The white-face gauge cluster includes a little boost gauge on the upper-right. Seats, a combination of a perforated charcoal-colored leather and gray faux suede with SVT stitching in the headrest, are some of the best buckets ever committed to a pickup. They offer fine lateral support and don’t make us seek our a chiropractor after a trip across town. Pity the color is so glum. Both pack four-wheel discs. Lightning takes advantage of ABS and discs that measure 12 inches in front and 13 in back (presumably to help quash dive). It works. The Vette’s rotors (12.6 front, 11.8 rear) seem a little wimpy in comparison—but then again they have less mass to bring down, and work splendidly.
To call the Lightning’s ride characteristics truck-like would be silly, but admittedly it calmed down some with 500 pounds of unassembled, freshly powder-coated car body rotisserie in the bed. Un-laden, the ride is choppy on all but fresh pavement, and a little unsettling when you get on it over bumpy terrain. The tradeoff is cornering ability that (thanks to full-frame construction and 18-inch rubber) is without drama and completely car-like. This is no mean feat considering the Lightning is nearly 2 feet taller than the Vette at the roof. It’s quite enough to make you think you’re not driving a truck. The Vette by contrast, is low, inside and out. Almost too low. Here in choppy LA, it scraped on nearly every rut and driveway opening it found. Yet it managed to have the superior ride, even with a wheelbase that’s a foot and a quarter shorter than the truck’s. The Vette is so much smoother on real roads and, simultaneously, more fluid and tenacious in the turns. That’s center of gravity for you. Still, you can’t tow or catty much with one.
Inside, the Vette is surprisingly large-large enough that some decry the new car’s lack of intimacy over previous versions. Plenty of elbowroom and fore-and-aft movement is available for all shapes and sizes of drivers. It will automatically do everything—from set your seat to work the heater controls; the Lightning, in grand truck tradition, makes you do it yourself. The Vette’s inner sanctum was very black. The starkness of the Lightning’s interior is broken up by the sheer fact that it’s a lighter shade of gray, while the Corvette’s black-on-black interior is a somber, funereal affair that cries for something—anything-to brighten things up, whether it be a slab of body colored trim on the dash, or a touch of aluminum here and there. Driving at night reverses the image somewhat, with all the lights dotted about the cabin glowing and twinkling.
Track and Dyno
Mash either one’s loud pedal on the street at anything approaching 2,500 rpm, and you’re bound to have rivers of expensive smoke billow behind you and wheel-wells you’ll need to clean off with a putty knife. (Oh, the price of fun...) The Vette weighed in at a relatively svelte 3,150 on LACR’s scales; Lightning tipped them at exactly 4,250 pounds, which seems awfully light (factory estimates rip it at a full 10 percent more). But the Corvette’s weight seemed so close to being correct... 11.8 pounds per rated horsepower in the Lightning, as opposed to a feathery 9.1 in the Vette, and assuming you believe the factory claim of a 4,670 curb weight, the disparity grows larger still. The Lightning ought get creamed—assuming roughly equal power, the Lightning should rake a second more to reach the end of the track thanks to its sheer bulk and barn-door aerodynamics.
Somehow, though, the blown, intercooled Lightning is a consistent threat. Running the standard Palmdale correction factor, the Corvette posted a best of 13.27 at 107 flat via its 3.42:1 transaxle. The Lightning, with its 3.55s, posted a 13.68 at 99.3 mph. That’s nearly a second and more than two mph faster than the manufacturer’s performance estimates. The automatic-only Lightning is an easier launch than the six-speed Vette; simply power-brake it between 1,500 and 2,000 rpm, and bang—you’re gone. The Vette, with its clutch and myriad suspension settings, had a smaller window for reaching ultimate traction, and it’s a fine line between bog and wheel spin at the tree. So clearly something is afoot. To the dyno! Once again Mike Morgan at Morgan Mororsports accommodated our last-minute request for time on his Dynojet. Our Corvette spun its wheels first, and spat our 295.7 hp at 5,400 rpm and 308.6 lb-ft of torque at 4,100 rpm at its GS-Cs—certainly within the parameters we’ve come to expect from CS Vettes. Roughly, it factors our to the advertised 345 hp at 5,600 rpm and 350 lb-ft at 4,400 rpm. The Lightning, however, was a wild card—we’ve never played with one before. Our suspicions were confirmed, more or less: How does 320.8 hp at 4,900 rpm and 410 lb-ft of torque at 3,100 rpm sound? After factoring in the 20 percent driveline loss, this Lightning is putting our nearly 385 hp at the flywheel, and the boost gauge in the dash (designed to measure a stock 8 psi) had the needle pegged straight-up at 10 psi under foot-on-the-carpet acceleration. SVT folk insist that between 13.7s and 14.Os are the norm for stock Lightnings, and that the 14.7 quarter-mile time is a bit of a red herring designed to give even the most hapless Lightning owner the feeling that he can beat the factory numbers in his truck. We have since heard stories from owners regularly breaking into the 13s with their stock trucks as well, so our suspicions are put to rest. For now, anyway
Sex Appeal
Author Jackie Collins once made news (well, OK, Auto Week news) by saying that the then-new two-seat ‘88 Buick Reatta wasn’t a sexy car... simply because you couldn’t have sex in it. (This news was greeted at the time with great laughter by flexible friends who drove Fieros.) So it’s time to consult with Miss Michelle, who is endlessly amused by the variety of bizarre machinery that turns up in my carport and is always willing to go along for a ride. First, to the ‘Big Red Truck,” as it was called. The Lightning, quite the girthmonster, scored points for a high-up searing position and ones that you could get busy in, though the downside was that we had to have our arms nearly outstretched in order to hold hands across the console. The 60/40 split semi-bucket sears would be “fun to get naked on.” The grab handle on the passenger’s side A-pillar could also come in handy.
The Corvette, however, caught her in a more serious mood; she thought the overall shape and the view down the hood was too overtly phallic. She did notice the Vette’s ride was better, which has nothing to do with sex appeal, except it was less likely that her ample bosom would heave over bumps. Sigh. Pedal-to-the-floor acceleration elicited a squeal of delight in the Lightning; the Vette got the same squeal and an “oh my God!” to boor. The truck inspired more (and more interesting) ideas and responses, but the Vette made her see God. Vette wins this one, though a ride in either one makes for fine foreplay.
(In)decision
The question, then, is one of judgment. Does Chevy take the laurels in terms of sheer performance, or does Ford take bragging rights because they can generate similar numbers in a pickup truck weighing half a ton more? Is Ford brilliant for offering this kind of power in a hauler, or ridiculous for nor putting it in a proper car? Is Chevy a moral victor in the power wars because its engine is normally aspirated, or do Ford fans claim victory because power is power and the Lightning has more? Is the Lightning the bargain of the two for giving more power for less money, or is the Corvette the wiser one for being able to do more with less? Is $33,000 a ridiculous amount of money for a pickup, even if it performs like a Corvette? Or is it a bargain, because it performs like a Corvette for $5 grand less? Is Chevy smart for offering a vehicle that is so single-minded and excellent at what it does, or is Ford smarter for offering a multipurpose vehicle with roughly equal grunt, no matter its other dynamic flaws? The arguments can, and likely will, run on forever. Ultimately, the only winner is whoever is writing the check, as both are amazing vehicles, factory-issued boredom killers with off-the-showroom-floor potential never dreamed of even 10 years ago. In the end it may come down to a question of, simply, Ford vs. Chevy. And everyone’s got an opinion on that one. HR
</Hot Rod Magazine>
------------------
* 99.5 Black Lightning (The fastest color I don’t care what Christy Ann Thinks)
* Personal Best ¼ Mile 13.99 @ 97.75 Mph. (Bone stock)
* Ohio Plate SVT2GO
* Waiting on a chip and filter from Sal.. I wanna go faster!
* Factory CD Changer
* Class 3 Towing Hitch
* Factory Tonneau Cover
* 8" Bazooka Tubs
* Kenwood 80 watt *2 amp
* Viper 550 Alarm w/ remort start
* Often found in the bed: 98 Yamaha Banshee/Pro Design Cool head/ Toomey T-5 Chrome Racing Pipes/ Wiseco Power Pistons / Boyesen rad valves
Injection is nice, but I'd rather be blown. 99 Lightning, the best of both worlds!
I have a decent OCR at work, so I scanned it in for all to read, there might be a couple typos, but I checked over the stat numbers and they are all correct.
<Hot Rod Magazine>
It seems absurd at first. A sports car and a half-ton truck? Pitted against each other in the same story? What would it prove? What are we doing comparing two such ridiculously different vehicles? Well, in obvious respects, perhaps they are opposites. But the more we looked at them, the more we realized that they’re awfully similar. Big honkin’ V-8s twisting factory 18-inch wheels. Limited-production vehicles proudly built in America. Two seats. Power ratings around 350hp, give or take. Prices around $35,000, give or take a couple of grand. And of course there’s the lure of the classic Ford vs. Chevy confrontation. Besides, you don’t need another Camaro vs Mustang test.
Even the money isn’t as far apart as you might think. Corvettes start at $39K, though the hardtop coupe body style is a little lighter and can be had for roughly a grand less (though our test car topped the 46k barrier). Lightnings start at $30,000, and once you add some popular options like a CD player and the couple of grand that dealers have been tacking on because it’s new
and popular, you’re flirting with $35K—within four grand of a stripper Vette... assuming you can find a stripper Vette.
Admittedly, we were a little suspicious of our red 2000 Lightning when it arrived. It didn’t come through normal channels; this one was sent to us by SVT in Michigan and was shipped straight to Roush here in Southern California for “cleanup,” whatever that meant. The Corvette, in new for-2000 Millennium Yellow, is a known entity, delivered to us through our local supplier, A&M Specialists: It is already recognized as a world-class sports car, one with a waiting list as it enters its fourth year of production.
Corvette
VS Lightning I
Precious few of either will ever be built; Corvettes are limited to 25,000 per year, more or less—a comfortable level that will keep demand rightfully high at the Bowling Green plant. Still, that’s positively common compared to our truck. The Lightning is limited to just 5,000 copies per year, plenty of which are destined to either tow Mustang race cars around or, if our seat-of-the-pants impressions are any judge, replace those Mustang race cars altogether.
On the Street
As it turns our, our pair have fairly opposite characters—nor only opposite of each other, but opposite of what you may think they ought to be. In an era where tucks and SUVs strive to be more like buicks of old than the trucks they were designed to be, Lightning is more rough-and-tumble: big, brutish, simple, devoid of all gimmicks and gadgets (no CD player)—a device for pounding pavement. Actually, it behaves like you’d think a Corvette ought to. The Corvette, however, with its image if uncompromising sports cars past, is a perfectly sane, comfortable machine that runs like Jesse Owens in Berlin. With power everything, memory sears, plenty of twinkling buttons and lights (at night, anyway) and plenty of doodads to keep you out of trouble (like traction control), it makes a fine choice for bumping about town during the day.
Sitting up high with a lordly view over the landscape seems against any fast car’s nature; indeed, while in the Lightning, it was unnerving to be on eye-level with the negligent, cell phone-caring SUV drivers who litter the streets of LA. The windshield is panoramic. The white-face gauge cluster includes a little boost gauge on the upper-right. Seats, a combination of a perforated charcoal-colored leather and gray faux suede with SVT stitching in the headrest, are some of the best buckets ever committed to a pickup. They offer fine lateral support and don’t make us seek our a chiropractor after a trip across town. Pity the color is so glum. Both pack four-wheel discs. Lightning takes advantage of ABS and discs that measure 12 inches in front and 13 in back (presumably to help quash dive). It works. The Vette’s rotors (12.6 front, 11.8 rear) seem a little wimpy in comparison—but then again they have less mass to bring down, and work splendidly.
To call the Lightning’s ride characteristics truck-like would be silly, but admittedly it calmed down some with 500 pounds of unassembled, freshly powder-coated car body rotisserie in the bed. Un-laden, the ride is choppy on all but fresh pavement, and a little unsettling when you get on it over bumpy terrain. The tradeoff is cornering ability that (thanks to full-frame construction and 18-inch rubber) is without drama and completely car-like. This is no mean feat considering the Lightning is nearly 2 feet taller than the Vette at the roof. It’s quite enough to make you think you’re not driving a truck. The Vette by contrast, is low, inside and out. Almost too low. Here in choppy LA, it scraped on nearly every rut and driveway opening it found. Yet it managed to have the superior ride, even with a wheelbase that’s a foot and a quarter shorter than the truck’s. The Vette is so much smoother on real roads and, simultaneously, more fluid and tenacious in the turns. That’s center of gravity for you. Still, you can’t tow or catty much with one.
Inside, the Vette is surprisingly large-large enough that some decry the new car’s lack of intimacy over previous versions. Plenty of elbowroom and fore-and-aft movement is available for all shapes and sizes of drivers. It will automatically do everything—from set your seat to work the heater controls; the Lightning, in grand truck tradition, makes you do it yourself. The Vette’s inner sanctum was very black. The starkness of the Lightning’s interior is broken up by the sheer fact that it’s a lighter shade of gray, while the Corvette’s black-on-black interior is a somber, funereal affair that cries for something—anything-to brighten things up, whether it be a slab of body colored trim on the dash, or a touch of aluminum here and there. Driving at night reverses the image somewhat, with all the lights dotted about the cabin glowing and twinkling.
Track and Dyno
Mash either one’s loud pedal on the street at anything approaching 2,500 rpm, and you’re bound to have rivers of expensive smoke billow behind you and wheel-wells you’ll need to clean off with a putty knife. (Oh, the price of fun...) The Vette weighed in at a relatively svelte 3,150 on LACR’s scales; Lightning tipped them at exactly 4,250 pounds, which seems awfully light (factory estimates rip it at a full 10 percent more). But the Corvette’s weight seemed so close to being correct... 11.8 pounds per rated horsepower in the Lightning, as opposed to a feathery 9.1 in the Vette, and assuming you believe the factory claim of a 4,670 curb weight, the disparity grows larger still. The Lightning ought get creamed—assuming roughly equal power, the Lightning should rake a second more to reach the end of the track thanks to its sheer bulk and barn-door aerodynamics.
Somehow, though, the blown, intercooled Lightning is a consistent threat. Running the standard Palmdale correction factor, the Corvette posted a best of 13.27 at 107 flat via its 3.42:1 transaxle. The Lightning, with its 3.55s, posted a 13.68 at 99.3 mph. That’s nearly a second and more than two mph faster than the manufacturer’s performance estimates. The automatic-only Lightning is an easier launch than the six-speed Vette; simply power-brake it between 1,500 and 2,000 rpm, and bang—you’re gone. The Vette, with its clutch and myriad suspension settings, had a smaller window for reaching ultimate traction, and it’s a fine line between bog and wheel spin at the tree. So clearly something is afoot. To the dyno! Once again Mike Morgan at Morgan Mororsports accommodated our last-minute request for time on his Dynojet. Our Corvette spun its wheels first, and spat our 295.7 hp at 5,400 rpm and 308.6 lb-ft of torque at 4,100 rpm at its GS-Cs—certainly within the parameters we’ve come to expect from CS Vettes. Roughly, it factors our to the advertised 345 hp at 5,600 rpm and 350 lb-ft at 4,400 rpm. The Lightning, however, was a wild card—we’ve never played with one before. Our suspicions were confirmed, more or less: How does 320.8 hp at 4,900 rpm and 410 lb-ft of torque at 3,100 rpm sound? After factoring in the 20 percent driveline loss, this Lightning is putting our nearly 385 hp at the flywheel, and the boost gauge in the dash (designed to measure a stock 8 psi) had the needle pegged straight-up at 10 psi under foot-on-the-carpet acceleration. SVT folk insist that between 13.7s and 14.Os are the norm for stock Lightnings, and that the 14.7 quarter-mile time is a bit of a red herring designed to give even the most hapless Lightning owner the feeling that he can beat the factory numbers in his truck. We have since heard stories from owners regularly breaking into the 13s with their stock trucks as well, so our suspicions are put to rest. For now, anyway
Sex Appeal
Author Jackie Collins once made news (well, OK, Auto Week news) by saying that the then-new two-seat ‘88 Buick Reatta wasn’t a sexy car... simply because you couldn’t have sex in it. (This news was greeted at the time with great laughter by flexible friends who drove Fieros.) So it’s time to consult with Miss Michelle, who is endlessly amused by the variety of bizarre machinery that turns up in my carport and is always willing to go along for a ride. First, to the ‘Big Red Truck,” as it was called. The Lightning, quite the girthmonster, scored points for a high-up searing position and ones that you could get busy in, though the downside was that we had to have our arms nearly outstretched in order to hold hands across the console. The 60/40 split semi-bucket sears would be “fun to get naked on.” The grab handle on the passenger’s side A-pillar could also come in handy.
The Corvette, however, caught her in a more serious mood; she thought the overall shape and the view down the hood was too overtly phallic. She did notice the Vette’s ride was better, which has nothing to do with sex appeal, except it was less likely that her ample bosom would heave over bumps. Sigh. Pedal-to-the-floor acceleration elicited a squeal of delight in the Lightning; the Vette got the same squeal and an “oh my God!” to boor. The truck inspired more (and more interesting) ideas and responses, but the Vette made her see God. Vette wins this one, though a ride in either one makes for fine foreplay.
(In)decision
The question, then, is one of judgment. Does Chevy take the laurels in terms of sheer performance, or does Ford take bragging rights because they can generate similar numbers in a pickup truck weighing half a ton more? Is Ford brilliant for offering this kind of power in a hauler, or ridiculous for nor putting it in a proper car? Is Chevy a moral victor in the power wars because its engine is normally aspirated, or do Ford fans claim victory because power is power and the Lightning has more? Is the Lightning the bargain of the two for giving more power for less money, or is the Corvette the wiser one for being able to do more with less? Is $33,000 a ridiculous amount of money for a pickup, even if it performs like a Corvette? Or is it a bargain, because it performs like a Corvette for $5 grand less? Is Chevy smart for offering a vehicle that is so single-minded and excellent at what it does, or is Ford smarter for offering a multipurpose vehicle with roughly equal grunt, no matter its other dynamic flaws? The arguments can, and likely will, run on forever. Ultimately, the only winner is whoever is writing the check, as both are amazing vehicles, factory-issued boredom killers with off-the-showroom-floor potential never dreamed of even 10 years ago. In the end it may come down to a question of, simply, Ford vs. Chevy. And everyone’s got an opinion on that one. HR
</Hot Rod Magazine>
------------------
* 99.5 Black Lightning (The fastest color I don’t care what Christy Ann Thinks)
* Personal Best ¼ Mile 13.99 @ 97.75 Mph. (Bone stock)
* Ohio Plate SVT2GO
* Waiting on a chip and filter from Sal.. I wanna go faster!
* Factory CD Changer
* Class 3 Towing Hitch
* Factory Tonneau Cover
* 8" Bazooka Tubs
* Kenwood 80 watt *2 amp
* Viper 550 Alarm w/ remort start
* Often found in the bed: 98 Yamaha Banshee/Pro Design Cool head/ Toomey T-5 Chrome Racing Pipes/ Wiseco Power Pistons / Boyesen rad valves
Injection is nice, but I'd rather be blown. 99 Lightning, the best of both worlds!
Thread Starter
|
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 377
Likes: 0
From: Cincinnati, Oh, USA
I have just 2 things to say about this article..
1: Doesn't 4250 sound aweful light for a lighting? I know my personal wighs 4700 without driver.
2: I wonder if Miss Michelle is a hottie???
------------------
* 99.5 Black Lightning (The fastest color I don’t care what Christy Ann Thinks)
* Personal Best ¼ Mile 13.99 @ 97.75 Mph. (Bone stock)
* Ohio Plate SVT2GO
* Waiting on a chip and filter from Sal.. I wanna go faster!
* Factory CD Changer
* Class 3 Towing Hitch
* Factory Tonneau Cover
* 8" Bazooka Tubs
* Kenwood 80 watt *2 amp
* Viper 550 Alarm w/ remort start
* Often found in the bed: 98 Yamaha Banshee/Pro Design Cool head/ Toomey T-5 Chrome Racing Pipes/ Wiseco Power Pistons / Boyesen rad valves
Injection is nice, but I'd rather be blown. 99 Lightning, the best of both worlds!
1: Doesn't 4250 sound aweful light for a lighting? I know my personal wighs 4700 without driver.
2: I wonder if Miss Michelle is a hottie???
------------------
* 99.5 Black Lightning (The fastest color I don’t care what Christy Ann Thinks)
* Personal Best ¼ Mile 13.99 @ 97.75 Mph. (Bone stock)
* Ohio Plate SVT2GO
* Waiting on a chip and filter from Sal.. I wanna go faster!
* Factory CD Changer
* Class 3 Towing Hitch
* Factory Tonneau Cover
* 8" Bazooka Tubs
* Kenwood 80 watt *2 amp
* Viper 550 Alarm w/ remort start
* Often found in the bed: 98 Yamaha Banshee/Pro Design Cool head/ Toomey T-5 Chrome Racing Pipes/ Wiseco Power Pistons / Boyesen rad valves
Injection is nice, but I'd rather be blown. 99 Lightning, the best of both worlds!
Rest In Peace
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 2,075
Likes: 0
From: anchorage, alaska, usa, north america, earth, solar system, milky way
I paid about $38k for mine and thats with a $4k dealer markup. I guess they shoulda called me up for the pricing because they could have mentioned my rhino lined bed, underlined body, paint shield, interior shield, and my 100k mile warrantee. oh and don't forget the tonneau cover. Do we have to pay a gas guzler tax? That ever so popular cd changer costs a whopping $250. You need lots of cash for that option. And If I remmeber correctly don't our Lighnings have only 3 options? Tonneau, CD changer, tow package. 2000 base model is as much as the 'loaded' model, no options, right? Oh well, can't wait 'til I come across a Corvette now... Driver error = Corvette loss!!
Forgot to mention the 50,000 quality care service (free regular maintenance) $1000
[This message has been edited by Tundra (edited 04-04-2000).]
Forgot to mention the 50,000 quality care service (free regular maintenance) $1000
[This message has been edited by Tundra (edited 04-04-2000).]
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 203
Likes: 0
From: Sugarland, Texas
Here is my .02 on the weight. My title says 4006 lbs. as well. My truck has all three options. The scale at my track showed 4740lbs. with half a tank and me in it. 1/2 a tank is about 100 lbs. and I weigh 180 lbs. That equals 4460 lbs. for my L.
Anyone come up with something else?
[This message has been edited by 1BADFRD (edited 04-04-2000).]
Anyone come up with something else?
[This message has been edited by 1BADFRD (edited 04-04-2000).]
Thread Starter
|
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 1999
Posts: 377
Likes: 0
From: Cincinnati, Oh, USA
I work for an Asphalt and Aggerate company, and have weighed my truck on at least 4 different set of scales. Now mind you were are required by law to have our scales recalibrated at least once a year, so I would say our scales are rather accurate. Each time I have weigh my beast I have been +- 60 lbls of the 4700 I mentioned earlier. Now thats with all the options, a bed liner and no driver. I can't say for sure what the gas tank level was but at 7 pounds per gallon, times 25 gallons, that could be up to 175 pound weigh swing high to low.
I just think 4250 sounds light, even if you remove hitch, bedliner, spare tire, and are low on a tank of gas.
Just my $.02....
------------------
* 99.5 Black Lightning (The fastest color I don’t care what Christy Ann Thinks)
* Personal Best ¼ Mile 13.99 @ 97.75 Mph. (Bone stock)
* Ohio Plate SVT2GO
* Waiting on a chip and filter from Sal.. I wanna go faster!
* Factory CD Changer
* Class 3 Towing Hitch
* Factory Tonneau Cover
* 8" Bazooka Tubs
* Kenwood 80 watt *2 amp
* Viper 550 Alarm w/ remort start
* Often found in the bed: 98 Yamaha Banshee/Pro Design Cool head/ Toomey T-5 Chrome Racing Pipes/ Wiseco Power Pistons / Boyesen rad valves
Injection is nice, but I'd rather be blown. 99 Lightning, the best of both worlds!
I just think 4250 sounds light, even if you remove hitch, bedliner, spare tire, and are low on a tank of gas.
Just my $.02....
------------------
* 99.5 Black Lightning (The fastest color I don’t care what Christy Ann Thinks)
* Personal Best ¼ Mile 13.99 @ 97.75 Mph. (Bone stock)
* Ohio Plate SVT2GO
* Waiting on a chip and filter from Sal.. I wanna go faster!
* Factory CD Changer
* Class 3 Towing Hitch
* Factory Tonneau Cover
* 8" Bazooka Tubs
* Kenwood 80 watt *2 amp
* Viper 550 Alarm w/ remort start
* Often found in the bed: 98 Yamaha Banshee/Pro Design Cool head/ Toomey T-5 Chrome Racing Pipes/ Wiseco Power Pistons / Boyesen rad valves
Injection is nice, but I'd rather be blown. 99 Lightning, the best of both worlds!
Trending Topics
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 1,487
Likes: 0
From: Oak Point, Texas
These Hot Rod Magazine test drivers must be phenominal.
<The automatic-only Lightning is an easier launch than the six-speed Vette; simply power-brake it between 1,500 and 2,000 rpm, and bang—you’re gone.>
Give me a brake! (no pun intended)
<The automatic-only Lightning is an easier launch than the six-speed Vette; simply power-brake it between 1,500 and 2,000 rpm, and bang—you’re gone.>
Give me a brake! (no pun intended)
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 2,328
Likes: 0
From: Houston, Tx, USA
You gotta remember that Hot Rod is a GM Bowtie Mag and always has been because that what the majority of their readers are and want. They are not about to do a GM bashing article. All in all I thought they were as fair as they could be under the circumstances and the article was fun to read. 
Cigar
Cigar
Senior Member
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 2,297
Likes: 0
From: New Hampshire
I just think it is funny how they are comparing a pickup truck to chevrolets top off the line sports car.You got to remember The corvette is like the trademark of chevrolet.I dont see thm comparing it to an R/T or any other wanna be sports truck
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 2,328
Likes: 0
From: Houston, Tx, USA
There aren't any. We are all still waiting for the "400" HP 350 SS Silverado. Looks like Chevy wrote a check with their mouth that their a$$ can't cash. I've got an old 454 LS-6 that has over 400 HP. Maybe Chevy would like to buy it and see how good they use to make engines!!!!!!!!!!
Cigar
Cigar
Member
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 38
Likes: 0
From: sanclemente
It seems that the article
did its best no to P.O. too
many bow tie boys by
attempting to cast some
doubt as to whether or not
the L was stock, with its
reference to Rousch
preparation. They also
seriously inflated the L's
price to "about" 35 thousand
"loaded" and a stripper
vette for under 40K to
minimize the L's value. In
real world we know the
actual difference is about13
grand, "about the same. They
mentioned twice that the
truck did not have a C.D.Of
course that would bring it
up to 35 grand if it was
added. Riiight.
Even when they see what the
L can do they try to
minimize it.
did its best no to P.O. too
many bow tie boys by
attempting to cast some
doubt as to whether or not
the L was stock, with its
reference to Rousch
preparation. They also
seriously inflated the L's
price to "about" 35 thousand
"loaded" and a stripper
vette for under 40K to
minimize the L's value. In
real world we know the
actual difference is about13
grand, "about the same. They
mentioned twice that the
truck did not have a C.D.Of
course that would bring it
up to 35 grand if it was
added. Riiight.
Even when they see what the
L can do they try to
minimize it.
Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
From: Austin, TX
Interesting article--thanks for the post!
Just a thought: I wonder if any of the mags would ever consider a "Lightning vs. Honda S2000" comparo. Similar MSRP, production quantities, straight-line performance (almost), all while using two wildly different approaches. Of course, they would quickly realize the L's (and their owners) are the best and lose interest, but still.
However, no comparison article could ever top the "Syclone vs. Ferrari" duel from C/D a few years back...
Just a thought: I wonder if any of the mags would ever consider a "Lightning vs. Honda S2000" comparo. Similar MSRP, production quantities, straight-line performance (almost), all while using two wildly different approaches. Of course, they would quickly realize the L's (and their owners) are the best and lose interest, but still.
However, no comparison article could ever top the "Syclone vs. Ferrari" duel from C/D a few years back...
