S4 (stock) vs. 1999 Bustang Cobra (long story)
08-02-2001, 06:57 PM
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S4 (stock) vs. 1999 Bustang Cobra (long story)
I was cruising on the highway tonite, light traffic, going about 60/65. All of the sudden I see this car come screaming up behind me in my lane (middle lane). Instead of changing lanes, he gets right on my @ss and sits there for about 1/2 mile. Then slowly creeps up on the left and hangs in my blind spot. A truck is coming up in my lane, and I can see a nice "weave" around the truck, so I downshift 6->4 and pull out in front of the mustang, around the truck, returning to the middle lane, going about 65. Same **** - he flys up behind me, and then creeps over to my blind spot. This time, after a couple seconds, he hammers it, pulls way ahead, and then slows down until I catch up (I stayed around 65 the whole time). When we are bumper to bumper, I drop 6->3 and take off. I got a litte jump on him, but he just kept slowly falling behind. By the time I got to 90, he was 1.5-2 lengths behind me. I slow down, he catches up, this time he drops it when we are even. He got about a car head start, but by the time I was at 6000 in 3rd, we were even. Shift into 4th and blew his doors off. This happened 2 more times before I had to exit. I thought Cobras were faster than that. Maybe the guy couldn't drive, but it was only a downshift and one upshift, straight road. Whatever, all I know is that Audi S4 is the ****.
08-02-2001, 07:22 PM
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Funny thing about 2001 Cobra ...
Is when Road and Track (or was it Car and Driver) tested it they didn't believe the numbers they got (4.7 0-60/13.5 1/4 mile). So they requested another Cobra figuring Ford gave them a ringer, and they got the exact same results with the second Cobra. Funny thing is I don't remember them ever requesting another test vehicle from any other manufactor who gets unusually high numbers.
So look out for the 2001 Corba, its faster than a stock S4.
So look out for the 2001 Corba, its faster than a stock S4.
08-02-2001, 08:07 PM
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Details about 1999 and 2001 Cobras (long)
Ford has acknowledged a couple of defects in the 1999 models that prevented them from reaching the advertised 320 HP (a class action law suit helped Ford to "recognize" this problem).
As a result, Ford halted production of the Cobra for 2000 and spent the year studying and fixing the problem through a recall. Ford now claims that the fixed 1999s should be identical in configuration and performance to the 2001s. This little glitch was also the reason that at least one car magazine tested a second 2001 to ensure that it ran as well as the first.
Strangely, around here, I have seen 2 or 3 1999 Cobras at the track and none of them went faster than 14.0. I don't know if they were fixed however.
In general, the Cobras are reputed to have fairly weak low RPM performance and must be wound up to red line to provide good speed and power. Perhaps the Cobra driver you encountered short shifted in which case he had no chance.
Still, its nice to know that we can hang with or beat a 13.5-14.0 car.
On a side note, at least until recently, stock Cobras could not come close to keeping up with stock LS1 Camaros and Firebirds. I'm still a bit skeptical that the 2001 Cobra could run 13.5 which is equal in magazine testing to the LS1s.
As a result, Ford halted production of the Cobra for 2000 and spent the year studying and fixing the problem through a recall. Ford now claims that the fixed 1999s should be identical in configuration and performance to the 2001s. This little glitch was also the reason that at least one car magazine tested a second 2001 to ensure that it ran as well as the first.
Strangely, around here, I have seen 2 or 3 1999 Cobras at the track and none of them went faster than 14.0. I don't know if they were fixed however.
In general, the Cobras are reputed to have fairly weak low RPM performance and must be wound up to red line to provide good speed and power. Perhaps the Cobra driver you encountered short shifted in which case he had no chance.
Still, its nice to know that we can hang with or beat a 13.5-14.0 car.
On a side note, at least until recently, stock Cobras could not come close to keeping up with stock LS1 Camaros and Firebirds. I'm still a bit skeptical that the 2001 Cobra could run 13.5 which is equal in magazine testing to the LS1s.
