Quickest cars for 2007 in the $25K-$30K range

[mhoward1]

The Quickest Cars of 2007

Introduction

There's an arms race among auto manufacturers, with weapons of displacement, compression, and boost being waged segment- and industry-wide. It's no surprise that most entries in this list are not cut from traditional sports-car cloth; of the 10 vehicles here, one is an SUV and six have four or more doors.

The Quickest Cars of 2007: $25,000 to $30,000.

Tenth Place: Subaru Forester 2.5XT
Ninth Place: Pontiac Grand Prix GXP
Eighth Place: Pontiac Solstice GXP/Saturn Sky Red Line (manual)
Seventh Place: Chevrolet Impala SS
Sixth Place: Nissan 350Z
Fifth Place: Mazdaspeed 6
Fourth Place: Subaru Legacy 2.5GT
Third Place: Pontiac Solstice GXP/Saturn Sky Red Line (automatic)
Second Place: Ford Mustang GT
First Place: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution RS
BY JARED HOLSTEIN, PHOTOGRAPHY BY AARON KILEY, MORGAN SEGAL, AND THE MANUFACTURERS

For all the coolness of a car that goes 180 mph, that has about as much relevance to the average driver in this country as a 180-foot yacht. Accelerating from a start, on the other hand, is sort of legal in every state in the U.S., barring law-enforcement officers with an inflated sense of purpose (don't ask how we know about "Unsafe Start" statutes).

Below are the 10 quickest vehicles available with a base price between $25K and $30K, ranked in order of 0-to-60-mph time. Ties were settled first by quarter-mile time, then by which was quicker to the highest speed both cars achieved (usually 120 or 130 mph), in that order. Most cars at this price point offer basic luxury or at least decent amenities and looks in addition to speed, as buck-banger boy-racer models are thousands less, maybe having something to do with the fact that burger-flipper wages haven't budged in nine years.

The WRX is under $25K, and the STi is over $30K...which is why it's not on the list.


Here are the 1/4 mile times:

10th: Subaru Forester 2.5XT
14.3 sec @ 96 mph

9th: Pontiac Grand Prix GXP
14.3 sec @ 98 mph

8th: MANUAL Pontiac Solstice GXP/Saturn Sky Red Line
14.2 sec @ 98 mph

7th: Chevrolet Impala SS
14.2 sec @ 101 mph

6th: Nissan 350Z
14.2 sec @ 99 mph

5th: Mazdaspeed 6
14.0 sec @ 99 mph

4th:: Subaru Legacy 2.5GT
14.1 sec @ 97 mph

3rd:: AUTOMATIC Pontiac Solstice GXP/Saturn Sky Red Line
14.0 sec @ 98 mph

2nd: Ford Mustang GT
13.8 sec @ 103 mph

1st: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution RS :
13.5 sec @ 103 mph

[SWortham]

Nice. If I wanted a daily driver that's also good on a road course there are only a few cars I'd consider from this list:

Mazdaspeed 6
It is a bit of a heavy pig, and the turbo runs out of steam at high RPM's. But assuming you do something to reduce weight and perhaps upgrade the turbo it could be a good track car. One beautiful thing about this car is that it has a front double wishbone suspension (a suspension design most of these other cars are lacking). So once you lower it a bit, the static negative camber will be increased and it'll put the car at a more aggressive point in the camber curve.

Subaru Legacy 2.5GT
This car has a Macpherson strut setup in front which is not as good. But the car is about 300 pounds lighter than the MS6 and it is still a very capable car. Brian and Chris Lock have proved that with their GOTO:Racing team, as has ICY Racing with their Legacy GT wagon.

Ford Mustang GT
Handling isn't the greatest and it is heavy but it's easy to get a lot of power out of this car, the aftermarket is great, and it can be quick on a high speed track.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution RS
This car still just has a Macpherson strut-type front suspension but it's still easily the most capable car in the list.

[Skeen]

Originally Posted by SWortham

Nice. If I wanted a daily driver that's also good on a road course there are only a few cars I'd consider from this list:

Mazdaspeed 6
It is a bit of a heavy pig, and the turbo runs out of steam at high RPM's. But assuming you do something to reduce weight and perhaps upgrade the turbo it could be a good track car. One beautiful thing about this car is that it has a front double wishbone suspension (a suspension design most of these other cars are lacking). So once you lower it a bit, the static negative camber will be increased and it'll put the car at a more aggressive point in the camber curve.

Subaru Legacy 2.5GT
This car has a Macpherson strut setup in front which is not as good. But the car is about 300 pounds lighter than the MS6 and it is still a very capable car. Brian and Chris Lock have proved that with their GOTO:Racing team, as has ICY Racing with their Legacy GT wagon.

Ford Mustang GT
Handling isn't the greatest and it is heavy but it's easy to get a lot of power out of this car, the aftermarket is great, and it can be quick on a high speed track.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution RS
This car still just has a Macpherson strut-type front suspension but it's still easily the most capable car in the list.

Have you driven the Mustang GT? Pure crap. They improved the shifter, but that's about it as far as I'm concerned.

I definitely like the Evo best out of that list, but I've driven some variation on the other two and they'd work for DDs for me.

[kbrew8991]

Originally Posted by Skeen

Have you driven the Mustang GT? Pure crap. They improved the shifter, but that's about it as far as I'm concerned.

I definitely like the Evo best out of that list, but I've driven some variation on the other two and they'd work for DDs for me.

how many Mustangs have you driven?

its a pretty marked improvement from the seat of my pants...

[SWortham]

Originally Posted by Skeen

Have you driven the Mustang GT? Pure crap. They improved the shifter, but that's about it as far as I'm concerned.

I haven't driven the latest one, no. But I've raced against them and they can be fast around a road course despite its ancient solid rear axle. I almost considered the '05 Mustang GT myself since I used to have a '97 and I liked it. But ultimately I wanted something better around the corners and for autocrossing which the Mustang is not so good for.

[Warpedcow]

Originally Posted by SWortham

Nice. If I wanted a daily driver that's also good on a road course...

... I'd buy used not new - actually that's exactly what I did. The money you save can go towards track fees and replacing wear items... and an extended warranty There's also lots of cars not on this list that are gonna be better on a track, but just not quite as good 0-60MPH.

[Conan]

kinda interesting, but I wish people would get away from 0-60 and 1/4 mile times as the basis for performance and go to the 0-100-0 benchmark. Much more applicable from a performance standpoint.

[Warpedcow]

Originally Posted by Conan

kinda interesting, but I wish people would get away from 0-60 and 1/4 mile times as the basis for performance and go to the 0-100-0 benchmark. Much more applicable from a performance standpoint.

Exactly. 0-60MPH is all about AWD and how high an RPM you can dump the clutch at. Throw in a skidpad rating to that 0-100-0MPH as well. Actually, better still, lets just use laptimes at a track with a professional race driver.

[Rob.wisniewski]

Originally Posted by Warpedcow

... I'd buy used not new - actually that's exactly what I did. The money you save can go towards track fees and replacing wear items... and an extended warranty There's also lots of cars not on this list that are gonna be better on a track, but just not quite as good 0-60MPH.

I think that goes without saying. they can't exactly write an article about the used car market.

And not to instigate or anything, but if you're in the market for a used daily driver track-oriented car, a FWD volvo is an interesting choice.

[mhoward1]

One of the reasons I like top gear is they post laptimes on a known track.

Heck, for this kind of comparison, rent a track for a day that has both a tight section and longer areas. Post lap times a section times.