View Single Post
Old 09-17-2019, 12:05 AM   #34
JamesNoBrakes


 
JamesNoBrakes's Avatar
 
Drives: 2SS 1LE
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: AK
Posts: 2,292
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mov Ov3r View Post
I bought a 1LE and never looked back
This, and at least where I frequent, Seattle, Texas, AZ and a few other places, I've only ever seen 1 other one. Maybe there are more when you live in these cities and see the traffic every day, but it's more rare than M3/M4s and others in my observations.

The car is a monster in terms of what it's capable of. I see so many other cars go by that I think are nice cars, but I'm not begging to own/ride in them, because I know I can pull something like 1.13Gs.

The car is no more impractical than something like an M4, it's no lower and you have the same issues to deal with in terms of the front end. I got the 2SS to have the added safety of the blind spot monitoring and cross-traffic. The cross-traffic alert is particularly nice, as if there's anything even close to your area moving sideways, it lets you know well before it gets too close. You learn to take curbs/transitions at angles, to avoid bottoming the spoiler or something similar. I started doing that back when I had a WRX, with the engine in front of the axle, the whole front end stuck out pretty far. You learn to not go into places that you aren't sure you can get out of. You park away if you have to and scope it out. This is still pretty rare, but it's the worst-case scenario. Getting and in and out is a little challenging, that is a legitimate gripe, especially if you are running side skirts (which look REALLY good on this car), so you need to be careful and make sure you have enough space to open the door pretty wide.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people park cars by ramming their front wheels into the curb...

All of these concerns are the same as with an SS. I had a 2010 SS with ground effects, so nothing has really changed as far as that is concerned.

The 1LE is a bit stiffer, especially for sway-bars, the tires are expensive and tram-line in ruts, but this is basically what you'll get with any car like this, GTR, GT3, M4, etc.

One big selling point for me was that this car is only offered as a manual.

IMO, this is one of the last great manual cars. Not all cars lend themselves well to an automatic or manual. It has to fit the car and it's other capabilities. The WRX 4EAT (which I did NOT have) was a terrible combo, bogging in between gears and before the turbo borderline, vs. the trans on a GTR or something similar makes the car what it is, lightning fast shifts and massive power for acceleration. This car is pretty forgiving and you can drive for days just at or above 1000rpm, but if you want to go fast in it, you need to know how to drive a manual and make the most out of the powerband. The rev-match function is brilliant and the HUD really comes into play when you are hanging out at those higher RPMs.

The other way to describe this car is that it's basically the ZL1 without the supercharged engine. Interior wise, my 2SS is pretty dang close, but suspension/brakes/etc.-wise, it's basically the same car as the ZL1, save for a few tweaks they make due to the difference in weight between these two cars.
__________________
Everything happens for a reason, except when it doesn't, but even then, you can, in hindsight, fabricate a reason that satisfies your belief system.

2018 2SS 1LE
2023 Colorado ZR2
2022 Stinger GT-line AWD
JamesNoBrakes is online now   Reply With Quote