You are forgetting a big factor which is the driver.
I used to race an ex girlfriend of mine in her 200 hp prelude. I had a probe GT with considerably less power. I would pull on her by car lenghts almost everytime. I've ran 'faster' cars like C5 vettes, M3s and cobras in the z and walked away from them..... and seen srt neons loose to much 'slower' cars...
Not to mention, the times you read in the car mags are achieved after launch after launch by experienced drivers who are used to driving everything from turbo neons to F40s. Most average drivers don't get these numbers, especially after you put 20k on the car.
Back to the ion, they are pretty quick, but again it all depends on the driver...I watched one beat a v8 camaro, however the ion was slightly modded.
