Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Forced Induction Okay, so I bought my way in to the club.

and im thinking of throwing mine on the auction block too!
though mine's not turbo'd
i thought about getting one but then thought, hell, i might as well get that cobra i always wanted and vert to boot!

Yeah I'll do the 3L and bigger snail and then see how I feel.

WHOA!!!! I like Tom's old car, and I am sure it is powerful, but to call a BMW owner an idiot?

Come on...there is way more to a BMW than performance.

I know you are excited Ray...so I forgive you.

I have a turbo SVT. I know what they are...and yes I realize that Tom's has more power. I am on my 2nd turbo build now...I am just saying...

It's true in most things...you get what you pay for.

It depends what you are looking for. What driving experience do you like? So little traction that it's tough to drive? Or a solid smooth, controlled one?

Don't get me wrong...I don't have a BMW, I am not saying they are even better. It's just relative.

Although I do have to say..."fit and maybe interior quality" come on...go see how long the BMW leather lasts compared to ford's pleather.

Again please understand...I love my SVT. I have spent SO much money and time on it...it's unreal. Just don't make judgement calls for other people and what their preferences might be.

Well, I used to own a BMW and I loved it! I would buy one new but that wasn't the point I guess.
You would really have to drive my (old car) because I had pretty much the same philosophy that BMW had....which is:

-Understated
-Lots of power
-Handling
-All the creature comforts
-logical layout
-No compromise on stock functionality

So you really couldn't buy a car of similar size with all the amenities that I put into it. It isn't a racecar. It is a drivers car. From the suspension to the wheels to the interior comfort like retaining AC and high quality stereo to tastefull gauge mounting, switch mounting, etc. Quiet ride with sound deadening....I mean it is all there. Not "Boy Racer" wings or yellow paint and [censored]. You can race it but then it performs admirably as a touring car without any discomfort.
As far as traction, if you modulate the throttle, there is NO problem with accelerating fast and retaining traction. This car isn't hard to drive, the turbo is sized perfectly for a 3L engine with SVT cams. With the escape cams it was hard to drive and hook up, but not once I returned the SVT cams. There is only one BMW that has beat me by the way. It was a supercharged M3, about a year 2000 and he beat me by 0.02 seconds in the 1/4 mile because he got the launch on me but I had him by 3mph in trapp speed. When we got done he was oohing and ahhing over my simple SVT Contour, even though I told him I would have bought an M3 instead if I could have afforded it. This was early on in my turbo days with less drag racing experience and that was the last time too.

I think what Ray meant is that there is no affodable BMW, and I say this lightly as the M3 is nice but new or used it's out of the price range, but there is no affordable BMW that could compete with my old car when you take ALL categories into account. I say that hands down, bet money on it!
And no, I'm not

To give you an understanding, that car rode almost as quiet as my brand new Volvo. Interior is almost like it was new, just broke-in a little. It was a night and day difference riding in mine after riding in another CEG'rs SVT with less miles, talk about road noise and rattles! I sound deadened and tied up everything under that dash and every panel that could move years ago and never looked back or even realized how good a job I'd done until I rode in a 2000 SVT with none of that attention. Huge difference.

This stuff is more or less what I've hinted at and mentioned over the years but is not truly understood unless you have the chance to just live with the car.
You find over and over again that you just choose to drive it over other cars even when they are newer and sitting in your garage.
I almost never drove my Volvo when I had the SVT. I like the Volvo and it is fun to drive; it was supposed to be a future project car, but it is nowhere near as fun to drive as the SVT and it doesn't have any creature comforts above the SVT other than dual climate controls.
I just had several things that happened in the last two years ...like have two MORE kids, the newest of which is 1 month old now that forced me to buy a larger capacity vehicle and the fact that getting stationed in different places makes keeping 3+ cars a big expense and problem.

I've always found BMW interiors to be a bit...inscrutable. Oddly labeled buttons and dials that fit practically flush to the center console don't make for quick and easy adjustments when you're driving. So far, the Contour console has been the easiest panel I've ever used, probably even a bit simpler than my old Integras were.