Embarrassment! Need more low end HP!

[whataboutbob]

Lead them off onto a curvy road and let them try and keep up.

[Chimpo]

I'm still surprised by people who missed that this car isn't a horse power terror. You read about this car before you bought it right? You should fully be aware that straight line speed was never the point. The one caveat i would have with this is if you always planned to stick a turbo on, but it seems like that isn't the case.

[Mikem53]

Oh the horror... maybe its time to trade up to a two decade old grand am so you can beat
the twins at stop lights.. Im sure the grand am driver would have happily swapped cars if you asked him to..

[Demandred7]

Originally Posted by DJCarbine

A Grand Am from anywhere within the last decade (or two) can come with a 3.1L V6 with oodles more torque than you. They have plenty of torque to keep up/pull away from an FRS at anything below double the speed limit

If he was an enthusiast, he might even swap in the GM L67 supercharged 3.8L V6 from other cars that share the same chassis.

Even in a heavy car like that they run high 14's with nothing done to them, and when you start to do pulley swap/supporting mods they can get into the 13's

I owned a 2000 Grand Am GT with the 3.4 L and despite the FR-S being 300 lbs lighter, the Grand Am has more than 50 lb-ft torque advantage (albeit a 25 hp disadvantage). All summed up, it could give many a run for their money.

However, the OP had to contend with a Grand Prix. Not sure what level of Trim, but, if it was the base grade and you couldn't beat him, you were likely in the wrong gear. Yeah, I know it has 195 lb-ft of torque, but, 600 lbs is a lot of weight to overcome. If it was the GT, it has enough to make it pretty hard for you to just pull away from him. The GTP, you wouldn't stand a chance in a straightaway. That bad boy is packing 280 hp and 240 lb-ft of torque with its supercharger on full blow (I've test driven one, and the power just knocks you back in your seat).

[Quentin]

Downshift. My "torquey" MKV GTI was a dog when just mashing the pedal when I was in too high of a gear.

[Demandred7]

Originally Posted by Chimpo

I'm still surprised by people who missed that this car isn't a horse power terror. You read about this car before you bought it right? You should fully be aware that straight line speed was never the point. The one caveat i would have with this is if you always planned to stick a turbo on, but it seems like that isn't the case.

I had a total stranger ask me about the car and that was one of the first things I said to him. The FR-S is no slouch, but, it is a drivers car above all else. You want cheap power, get a Mustang.

[Dake]

Yeah, I got beat by a Cobalt SS the other day. I'm sure it made his day but I wasn't surprised. Afterall, the Cobalt was about 100lbs lighter with sixty more horses. Had I been in the right gear I don't think it would have been a foregone conclusion (but I was balancing my giant smoothie in one hand around a corner, so I couldn't downshift to second ).

That being said - I'm also not driving a Chevy Cobalt, so I win anyway.

In the end, there will ALWAYS be someone faster. You could be driving a Veyron and still get beat off the line in a short enough distance. If it's really important to you, then you just need to always be ready and launch right every time. For me personally, that seems like a lot of work.

[njccmd2002]

Please dont street race, or post on public forums. All your doing is calling the cops attention to our cars and the forum.

[Rampage]

After he "beat" you did he slow back down to 45?

[Ingen]

Downshift to pass, like to third.

[Dake]

Well, to expand on the story, we weren't street racing. It was approaching a green light at maybe five over the speed limit followed by a left onto an access road and then an on ramp, so he just beat me to seventy (which was the speed limit on the highway on to which we were entering). I left it in third for the corner (due to the aforementioned smoothie) which gave him just enough time to make the pass once we came onto the straight since I was out of the power band.

More low-end torque would have helped, but it's not the car's fault I had it in the wrong gear.

[D4S]

Sorry to say dude, but you bought the wrong car. If you want to win
stop light races then buy a Mustang GT or Camaro SS. Believe it or not
the 86 can be outdone by a Dodge Caravan in a straight line. The best way
to embarrass "racers" is to take the scenic route and watch their cars
spend quality time with guard rails. But if you do find yourself in that situation
where you're expecting some tool to floor it, just build the revs to ~4500
and drop that clutch.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=17fo2...%3D17fo2DT-77U

Warning: this review is riddled with douche but facts are facts.

[shiumai]

i actually traded in our old family car for my BRZ - a 2001 grand prix GTP (supercharged). it was actually pretty quick off the line for a 4-dr sedan, but handling was nothing to write home about.

OP - if you want to make your car go faster, start saving your $$$, or just accept that this car isn't very quick in straight line acceleration.

[paros28]

You need one of those. Virtually, all other street-legal cars will slower.