If anyone tells you torque doesn't mean anything, Then explain this Options

[darksecret]

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?se...4&page_number=1

For the stock RSX owners here, unless you plan on running around at 7,000rpm I wouldn't try running the new Cobalt SS.

[darksecret]

Yeah weight, traction, blah, blah, blah even R&T said the Cobalt isn't much worse than the RSX on handling and pulling out of the curves makes up for that. Now they are close enough that one mistake in the Cobalt and you'll be passed, but it's funny how the king of muscle car manufacturers and probably the originator of the mullet (most people blame Dodge) is the only company to go for the RSX instead of the Civic (Dodge has the SRT-4 but come on peope it's still a straight line car and was suppose to be the Evo and STi competition).

[Kwanza26]

Yeah weight, traction, blah, blah, blah even R&T said the Cobalt isn't much worse than the RSX on handling and pulling out of the curves makes up for that. Now they are close enough that one mistake in the Cobalt and you'll be passed, but it's funny how the king of muscle car manufacturers and probably the originator of the mullet (most people blame Dodge) is the only company to go for the RSX instead of the Civic (Dodge has the SRT-4 but come on peope it's still a straight line car and was suppose to be the Evo and STi competition).
[right][snapback]338402[/snapback][/right]

If that's your argument... "pulling out after a curve"... the RSX still holds the advantage. When entering a corner, typically on an FF car, you brake/downshift, make the turn, then accelerate out at the apex on a lower gear. This is where laggy turbos and poor torque curves can hurt a track car. Given the RSX has a high revving engine and peaks its torque somewhere around 7000 rpms, even though the car slows down to make the turn, the downshift places the engine right back into its sweet spot. It'll make the turn without losing a beat (not even mentioning its better suspension than the Cobalt's torsen beam rear). Notice in the article even the R&T reviewers say the RSX catches up with its top-end VTEC pull... same thing will happen coming out of a corner. The torque advantage is nullified especially since it peaks and most likely drops off significantly in the 4000-5000 rpm range... why? Because when the torque is located mostly down low, the downshift during corner entry will pop the engine back into the higher rpm band. The 200 ft lbs of torque suddenly becomes something more mild, and since the Cobalt's Ecotec doesn't rev anywhere as high as the RSX's K20... the RSX can hold its acceleration longer (refer to galcobar's link). If torque were the deal... take the 7gc Celica GT and 7gc Celica GTS as a comparison. The GT makes more torque, but is definately not faster because its torque doesn't maintain as deep into the rpm band.