LS1 F-Body vs 2 DSM

Im thinking about buying another car in a few weeks for my daily driver and to talke to auto-x and to roadrace. ive decided that it will be either a 2nd gen AWD dsm or a LS1 fbody buy I cant decide which one i like more.

As far as looks go i dont really care, but performance wize, when mildly modified, they are both about the same as far as i can tell. they can both be insanly fast in a streight line, and on the track they both seem to handle decently. i like the fact that the eclipse has great all around performance, and i realy llike the ls1 top-end power.

i dont like the bad reliability the eclipse has though and i dont like the fact that the ls1 is a bit heavy. those are the only things i dont like about each car.

Whatever car i get, i want it to go at least mid 12s and with light suspension modification, it should be a good autox/roadracer.

What one should i get?



*Edit: for some reason it says "2 DSM" and wont let me change it to "2G DSM" its strange..

dam man you just started a war.

i personally would go w/ the DSM just because you can mod it for less. there are AWD DSMs that run in the low 8's high 7's and are still street legal. i absolutely cannot stand the weight and length of the Camaro's and Firebirds. just wondering, if you got the LS1 would you be keeping it all motor or would you run FI a setup?

It would be all motor but i might add nitrous later on to use at the strip. but it would mainly be a n/a car.

The only reason i will stay away from the superchargers and turbos on the LS1 is because they're too involved to set up and install and they cost too much.

The LS1 im looking at is owned by a friend who will sell to me for $4000 because he just wants to get rid of it. so the turbo/SC would cost as much as the car and wouldnt leave any room for other mods because i dont want to put more than $3500-4000 worth of modifications in to them.

i also know a guy who owns a dealership with 2 GSX/Tsi AWD and he will let me have one of them for about the same price as the Fbody.

dont stock LS1 f-bodies already run low 13's from the factory?

the only plus i see for the DSM is AWD, it will allow a novice driver to get away with more on a road course...and will generally make for a better auto-xer because power doesnt play that big of a role. i think on an auto-x course a RWD LS-1 F-body will be more tail happy than anything.

not saying the F-bodies is a bad handler. it probably handles better than the DSM's but on a tight small course like auto-x the DSM would have the advantage.

i would personally decide what is more important. brute power and fast car that can also be DD with modifications or a AWD car that suffers from below par reliability but will be more effective on an auto-x track.

you make a lot of good points, and now that i think of it i wont be going to many autox events anyways since its expensive

I happen to have the opposite opinion when it comes to AWD and autocross. Whoever said that AWD improves handling on a road course is on drugs. I see it time and time again on forums like this people saying something about AWD improving handling. This is a load of crap. AWD cars tend to understeer on the autocross tracks which is a big negative. RWD cars can swing the rear end around with the throttle which helps with the tight turns.

I happen to have the opposite opinion when it comes to AWD and autocross. Whoever said that AWD improves handling on a road course is on drugs. I see it time and time again on forums like this people saying something about AWD improving handling. This is a load of crap. AWD cars tend to understeer on the autocross tracks which is a big negative. RWD cars can swing the rear end around with the throttle which helps with the tight turns.

I know this is offtopic but it popped into my head, my area of gaming expertise on GT4 in the road rally race where you can with the 260k rally car from, I always use RWD cars, currently Iroc-Z and a 240sx hatch, and the car you chase is usually a lancia, something AWD turbocharged. around a really tight corner it can slow down and grip into corner where as in a RWD you need to brake harder and it slows you down too much, so AWD can help grip...virtually anyway

Please never use video games as a reference to real world situations again, thank you.

Please never use video games as a reference to real world situations again, thank you.

yes, usually not a good representation but in this particular situation, it is true.

in most cases, a car with RWD will not be able to enter a turn as fast as that same rank of car with AWD. AWD can really benefit an auto-x car...especially in novice driver's cases.

I think the GT series of video games has done wonders in teaching people how different cars behave on the track. Loads of understeer in a Civic, loads of oversteer in a Viper. Granted, there are other factors in real life and you can't feel what the car is doing in the game, but generally the game is pretty darn accurate. Too bad they don't have the AWD DSM in the game or we could do a comparison test :smile:

I had a 2G Eclipse, fun little car but DAMN that thing was unreliable. I had wheel bearings going out left and right...front and back, a couple alternators, idle issues, and a lot of really small things that just really bothered me. The thing is, I didn't really have that big of a problem replacing all that stuff except that i had to pay shops to do it. My hands are pretty good sized and I just couldn't fit my hands in there to change out the damn alternator...that pissed me off beyond all else because I had to pay $250 to have Mitsu do it and then they decided it would be a good time to drive my car for 50+ miles over the weekend, got a couple free oil changes out of that one though.
My next car will probably be an LS1 F-body. I like the SBC and I know a lot of people that know them inside and out so when I do have a problem someone will be there to help me out and learn. But they're a lot more reliable, newer, pretty easy to modify, and I can fit my hands in there to change out the alternator.
Also if you live anywhere that it snows (I didn't check your profile) I would not recomend the F-body in the winter...find a winter beater.