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  #1  
Old 07-25-2001, 10:53 PM
Marlin Marlin is offline
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Default Poinked an...Intrepid

Never thought I'd see the day I raced -and beat- the very car which inspired my passion in Mopar. Anyhow, my buddy has been tooling around in his Mom's 2000 Dodge Intrepid ES with the autostick for a week or two now because his FORD is DOA. Anyhow, we're on a quiet stretch of highway this afternoon and well, he catches up to me, his passenger flips me off, and its on. I'm doing 55mph, drop it from 5th to 3rd and romp on it. I catch up at about 80mph, I shift into 4th at 85mph and at 100mph he gives up with me 1 car length ahead. Later on after all this was over, he blew past me when I wasn't expected and actually thought he had done something worth BRAGGING about! His excuse for me beating him on the highway? "I had a bad COP vibe and slowed down..." Broke the car's triple-digit virginity and it felt Oh So Good.

2001 Neon SE, 132hp, 2450lbs, 5-speed
2000 Dodge Intrepid ES, 221hp, 3500+lbs, 4-speed autostick.

He had me beat on power and torque, hell in the days I owned a '95 Intrepid ES I'd regularly spank Mustang 5.0's, so I guess it must be half driver-half Mopar... <GRIN>.

Only question I have now is whether I modify this car (intake, cams, exhaust, computer, etc...) or just wait till they put out the 2002 models and order an ACR Neon.

Sam
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  #2  
Old 07-26-2001, 11:28 AM
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Lguy Lguy is offline
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You got him beat on power to weight ration plus a 5 speed over an auto.
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  #3  
Old 07-26-2001, 11:45 AM
Marlin Marlin is offline
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That's where I'm kinda foggy, calculating the power to weight ratio... I divided the hp by the gross vehicle weight as posted on Carpoint (pretty damned accurate) and it came out to 0.05 for my car and 0.06 for his... Was I right in how I came to that or is there a different way to find out the numbers for p/w?

Sam
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  #4  
Old 07-29-2001, 04:54 PM
Bighead Bighead is offline
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Good kill.

I must admit though, I find it very hard to believe an Intrepid could be a match for a 5.0 powered Stang...the bottom end torque of a 5.0 would simply be too much for the two fewer cylindered V6.

Bighead
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  #5  
Old 07-30-2001, 09:01 AM
Marlin Marlin is offline
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You find it hard to believe? Try driving the Intrepid ES when it happens... They'd get me off the line every time but I'd catch up and either nail them or it'd be so damned close it was just about a draw. Now I'm talking pre-'98 or '99 GT's, never touched one of the new ones, but anything before that was a good match for the Intrepid.

Sam
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  #6  
Old 07-30-2001, 06:08 PM
Mopar_nutz Mopar_nutz is offline
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5.0's are easy kills. I used to take them out regularly in my Shelby Z. it was always funny to see their faces when their badass v8 gets ripped up by a 4 banger
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  #7  
Old 08-01-2001, 11:09 AM
Bighead Bighead is offline
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Forgive me...I love MOPAR's, but I had a 1990 LX Notchback...Off the showroom floor, I took out the jack, spare, iced down the intake, and ran a 14.10 at 99 mph.

I THEN threw on a set of 3.73 gears, pulleys, and exhaust, and ran a 13.7 at 102 mph. It ended up getting a GT40 upper and lower, ported heads, E303 cam, larger injectors, etc.

Granted, this was a 5 speed car that had NOTHING power in it, but still...there is not an Intrepid that I've seen that could come close to what I was running off the showroom floor.

As for whipping a stock 94-97 GT...I guess I could see where it would be possible, but ultimately, there is no replacement for displacement, and those 2 more cylinders will equal more torque, and I still think I would rather have a North South V8 and RWD instead of an east west FWD.

As for your Shelby Z...that little Turbo 4 banger was quite an engine...to me, it was the equivalent of the 340...small, unassuming, and ridiculously powerful. I imaging that with a few mods, that litle 4 banger could run. My wife used to dirve a Spirit RT...had the same little 4 banger, and it was quick...high 14's in the quarter.

Bighead
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  #8  
Old 08-01-2001, 11:53 AM
beepbeepsrule beepbeepsrule is offline
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Those LX's were the ticket back then! Lighter, same powertrain options as the GT. Most of the really fast Mustangs in the early 90's were that combo. Anyway, just want to clear up any misunderstood powertrain configurations here: Intrepids have the engine mounted longitudinally, so using the North-South or East-West terminology they are a North-South FWD setup. They have a lot of top-end so I can see where they could keep up with a V8 car from 100 or so on, but in a drag race the lack of low-end combined with the lack of a 5 or 6 speed manual tranny the V8 RWD's usually walk off from them handily (assuming the V8 driver is actually racing!). I have owned all of these combinations and raced nearly all and this is my experience. If the 3.2l Interpid I have now had a 6 speed manual it could easily run low 15.00's in the 1/4 but the transmission and gearing available just does not match up well with the engine's powerband.

PS: A friend of mine ended up with a modded Spirit R/T TurboIII that screams! It blows away (by 4-5 car lengths) modded late model Z-28s and SS's. It is kind of scary. A Dodge mechanic hot-rodded the thing then had some family crisis and had to let it go. It is red, so look out for it here in the middle of the USA ...!!!!
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  #9  
Old 08-02-2001, 10:13 PM
Mopar2You Mopar2You is offline
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hey Marlin, the way you find power to weight is by dividing the weight by the power.
So, the Neon = 18.56 lbs to 1 horse

Intrepid = 16.29 lbs to 1 horse (3600 lbs)
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  #10  
Old 08-03-2001, 03:22 PM
LHSer LHSer is offline
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Just to make a point, LH cars (Intrepid, Concorde, LHS, Vision) are north-south FWD not east-west like most out there.
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  #11  
Old 09-11-2001, 01:17 AM
grubinson grubinson is offline
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Biggrin

that's why you want to have someone else do all the work when the tranny goes.

anyway, let's be real. intrepids are fast as hell, i own one (3.5/autostick, intake mods). i wouldn't feel comfortable racing a 5.0 mustang. i have an acquaintance here that has a japped zx2, he runs 15.5s and another guy that has a stock VTEC prelude that runs 15.2s. this is both by their claims. i've raced both of them, the prelude toasted me and the zx2 edged me. the intrepids can't bust 16 without a lot of work, exhaust and weight-reduction. one guy at dodgeintrepid.net claims a 15.6 or something in a 1st gen, but he also had to take the entire air cleaner off and rig a ram-air in the wheel well, took out the headlights, back seat, and speakers.

rustangs are slow, but they can beat 16 flat. z28s are just as slow but again, the extra torque and straight-up displacement they have is a big advantage. it's not fair to blame it on weight, either, the LH cars scale up at nearly 3600 pounds.
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  #12  
Old 09-11-2001, 05:36 AM
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HemiAdda2d HemiAdda2d is offline
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LHS'er
I didn't know that!
Thanks for the info. Ya learn something new every day.
BTW, what do LH cars run, stock in the 1320?
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  #13  
Old 09-11-2001, 08:10 AM
Marlin Marlin is offline
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The only way you learn to win is by trying, to hell with being comfortable. I ran dead even with a 1997 Mustang GT and had FOUR PASSENGERS in my 1995 Dodge Intrepid ES... I also had well over 130K on the odometer. I'd say if you see a pre-2000 Mustang GT that *appears* stock, try it, you may be pleasantly suprised (and don't waste your time with the autostick, keep it in D). As for a Z28, that's 275hp so I wouldn't dare touch those, unless I just wanted to drive fast.

Try beating a Mustang, it has been done repeatedly.

Sam
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  #14  
Old 09-11-2001, 10:02 AM
beepbeepsrule beepbeepsrule is offline
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What car were you in when you won against a Mustang GT, an older Intrepid or the Neon? After re-reading your original posts it sounded to me as if you said the older Intrepid was as fast as a Mustang GT and your new Neon was faster than the old Intrepid (which would make the new Neon able to kill even a new GT). My 2000 Interpid ES 3.2l can take a new Neon easily but the GT's walk away from me pretty handily. They have to get all the way into it but they can always win. I would suggest maybe you are the only one racing in some of your "kill" runs.
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  #15  
Old 09-12-2001, 12:36 AM
grubinson grubinson is offline
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i would try you and take you any day in my 97 intrepid 3.5. no damn way a neon 5 speed can take an intrepid. even though the 3.2s have more torque and hp than the 1st gen 3.5s, many a 3.2 kill has been posted by the old 3.5 jockeys. i have driven both and guarantee that the old 3.5 is faster.

no doubt in my mind that you could probably even take a neon in a base 2nd gen intrepid (200hp v6). seriouly. you're trying to tell me that the same neon in which you took out an intrepid takes out mustangs? a v6 mustang i can believe but nothing more. if you actually did take these type of cars out then i would hope that you have modded the hell out of your car, i/h/e/chip/etc. did the intrepid guy forget to take off the E brake?
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Old 09-12-2001, 09:01 AM
Marlin Marlin is offline
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Beating the GT was up in West Milford, NJ. I was driving my '95 Intrepid ES 3.5l with 4 additional passengers. The Mustang never got past me and we were nose to nose at 100mph when he slowed down.

Beating the Intrepid, a 2000 ES with the 3.2l, was on route 23 South of West Milford, NJ. The Intrepid had 2 additional passengers, and I had 1 additional passenger in my Neon. The Intrepid (driven by my friends) blew past me, I downshifted from 5th to 3rd at 55mph, caught up to them at about 80mph, shifted to 4th, passed them, when I hit 105mph they stopped trying to catch up.

When a Mustang GT is right next to you from a standing start through 40-50-70-90-100mph, I think it is safe to say they were ALSO racing. Not quite sure what'd happen with the Neon and the Mustang, probably nothing in my favor. We're talking 2 entirely different situations with 4 different cars. So I am NOT saying that a Neon could take a Mustang and I'm sure a '97 3.5l could give me a good run. Considering the pretty damned close power-weight ratios I hate to break it to you, but someone like me who knows how to drive a 5-speed right could run the race a little closer than you would like.

If I had the money I'd go back to an Intrepid, but I don't so I have a Neon with a 5-speed, and I am making the most of it. When the next gen Intrepid comes out with a 5-speed and a 5.7l HEMI, that's when I'll take the plunge. Of course, if something happens in Stutgart that stops it from happening, I'll be the first at my friendly Ford dealer to buy a Mustang.

Sam
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  #17  
Old 09-20-2001, 09:59 PM
grubinson grubinson is offline
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they're not putting a 5.7 in it, they're putting a 4.7 in it and it will have a 5 speed RWD manual. when you get that mustang ring me up so i can blow your doors off with my intrepid r/t.
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  #18  
Old 09-20-2001, 09:59 PM
grubinson grubinson is offline
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they're not putting a 5.7 in it, they're putting a 4.7 in it and it will have a 5 speed RWD manual. when you get that mustang ring me up so i can blow your doors off with my intrepid r/t.
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