# The Saleen S7 - this is worth $395,000? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 30, 2002, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473 "2002-07-30T02:32:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/41 "2002-07-31T18:16:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Philster \* > \*\*Corvette vs. Talon > > Can you still by crack for 5 bucks in Illinois? \*\* ROFLMAO šŸ˜ƒ I have no idea whether the Corvette vs. Talon is silly or not (although it does sound a bit out there) but the reply was great. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/42 "2002-07-31T18:56:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DougC \* > \*\*Eagle Talons are the reason 4-wheel drive was banned from SCCA racing: they dominated almost every race for two or three years in a row, beating cars that cost several times as much but that only had rear-wheel drive. \*\* I thought this came about because of the Audi Quattro cars? Frankly I have no idea what the hell I am talking about but I had a friend tell me this once and for some reson I remembered it. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/43 "2002-07-31T19:59:00Z")
If you **DO** have the cash to spare, go ahead and buy the S7. My dad designed the transmission. ---
**Author:** ![madcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@madcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madcat)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/44 "2002-08-01T11:34:16Z")
ā€œIf you DO have the cash to spare, go ahead and buy the S7. My dad designed the transmission.ā€ I always _thought_ your dad looked a bit shifty. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/45 "2002-08-01T12:32:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Coldfire \* > \*\* > Donā€™t even get me _started_ on spending $300,000 on a flippinā€™ Volkswagen. Do these people still remember what _Volk_ means? \*\* Hey rick volks are volks, too ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/46 "2002-08-01T12:34:22Z")
Umā€¦pardon. RICH volks are volks, too. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/47 "2002-08-01T22:13:05Z")
- - - I canā€™t find anything helpful at the SCCA website, and most of the Talon fansites seem to be DOA. I donā€™t know all the different types of racing they run now, or ran then. > [@](#): > > Corvette vs. Talon Can you still by crack for 5 bucks in Illinois? - Sorry to rain on your parade, but the less traction available, the more advantage all-wheel-drive is: rear-wheel-drive vehicles have the shocking tendency to stay in one place, and just spin their back tires. At the time that AWD was banned, either Car and Driver or Road & Track did a 3-way comparison of the three-different Talons available at the time: front-wheel-drive, rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive. On a clean track the rear-wheel-drive car did slightly best with the all-wheel-drive #2, but as the amount of traction dropped, the AWD had an increasing advantage over the other two. - And even when the tractionā€™s pretty good, AWD still helps: ever heard of the GMC Syclone and Typhoon? Two other cars with less power but AWD, that accellerated quicker than a Corvetteā€¦ - DougC ---
**Author:** ![UWmite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UWmite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UWmite)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/48 "2002-08-01T23:13:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Monster104 \* > \*\*550 hp at under 3000 lbs? That thing must FLY down the road! \*\* The horsepower to weight ratio is .2! The[Car Talk Guys](http://cartalk.cars.com/About/Rant/r-rlast32.html) must be having aneurisms! Good thing nobodyā€™ll be buying this baby for their kid anytime soon (I hope). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/49 "2002-08-01T23:28:18Z")
From what Iā€™ve read, only 400 will be produced. So if youā€™re a millionaire who likes to own exclusive things, this may well be the car for you. Saleen is well known for his work with Mustangs. It will be interesting to see what this car sells for in 5-10 years. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/50 "2002-08-02T13:05:13Z")
AUDI QUATTRO versus EAGLE TALON I believe Audiā€™s Quattro AWD was banned in the early to mid 80ā€™s because of the AWD advantage, but this was in European racing, and I apologize for not knowing the sactioning body. If the Eagle Talon was banned in SCCA (Sports Car Club of America)racing, that was more recently and in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/51 "2002-08-02T13:16:32Z")
Corvette versus Eagle ā€œaround townā€: I am not suprised that any smaller car feels better than a larger car, especially if the smaller car has decent power. This is a common feel by many drivers and is hardly indicative of a cars potential. Also, you could be feeling the ā€˜zippinessā€™ and be going no faster than in a car that makes it seem easy. Corvettes and larger cars often make things feel easy to the driver, so that very high speeds have to be attained to get the car to feel nimble and respnsiveā€¦things like engine noise, exhaust and body roll make you feel like you are pushing it. It takes a lot to push a corvette, while modest driving could feel very performance oriented in a modest car like a Talon. Subaru knows this, for example, and their AWD WRX is hardly a world class handler in terms of total grip, but the feel is so unique and balanced that you would bet your life savings that it could outperform a vette. Fact is, the feel is wonderful and rewarding, while the actual results versus a corvette would be unimpressive. Is a AWD drive nimble car like the Talnon and WRX great? YES. But, that doesnā€™t mean an AWD Talon is worthy of comparisons to world class hi performace cars like a vette. IMHO ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/52 "2002-08-02T14:13:57Z")
> [@](#): > > ā€¦But, that doesnā€™t mean an AWD Talon is worthy of comparisons to world class hi performace cars like a vetteā€¦ - - - I said, overall, the vette would do better under ideal racetrack conditions. You donā€™t find ideal racetrack conditions very often in the real world, except on the interstate, and _I_ said ā€œWhen it came down to really blasting around city streets, the Talon (turbo, actually) was always a bit quickerā€. Under poor traction conditions, an all-wheel-drive car will accellerate quicker. Letā€™s say it snows six inches, and a Subaru WRX and a Corvette race on regular tires (in six inches of snow). Which do you think is going to win, and why? - DougC ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/53 "2002-08-02T19:51:05Z")
Well, Dougie, thanks for making a fool of yourself. You can re-read your post to figure it out. How exactly do the brakes work in a AWD car that makes them more snow friendly than in a RWD car? ā€œWinā€ ā€¦ā€œCity Streetsā€ā€¦ā€œRaceā€ ā€¦ā€œSnowā€ā€¦(half foot nonetheless) Lotā€™s of things donā€™t belong in the same brain fart. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/54 "2002-08-02T19:52:42Z")
Hey, when it comes to driving on the beach, Iā€™d much rather have the quicker Dakota 4WD truck versus the Porsche Boxster. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/55 "2002-08-02T21:36:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Hey, when it comes to driving on the beach, Iā€™d much rather have the quicker Dakota 4WD truck versus the Porsche Boxster. - - - Your problem is that youā€™re imaging a division which isnā€™t there: comparing a Corvette and a Dakota 4WD, the Corvette will do better on a large clean paved racetrack, and the Dakota would do better in six inches of snow. The reason that is, is because _the all-wheel-drive vehicle has better traction_. The overall power a vehicle has doesnā€™t mean anything if it only spins the tires, and driving in the snow is a perfectly valid demonstration of that. On a clean racetrack the difference isnā€™t significant; in six inches of snow, it is. So at some point, the advantage of more power overtakes the advantage of all-wheel-drive, so, the question here is, , , where does that occur? On a gravel road? On a sandy road? On a paved road covered with gravel? On a paved road covered with sand? On a paved road with sand or grit on the edges? - And why do so many European rally cars have all-wheel drive? - And if 2WD is better than 4WD (as some claim), then wouldnā€™t one-wheel drive be better than 2WD? ---
**Author:** ![Lorenzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4da419/32.png) [@Lorenzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorenzo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473/56 "2002-08-02T21:39:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Philster \* > \*\*ā€¦things like engine noise, exhaust and body roll make you feel like you are pushing it. \*\* This is true. I had a car equipped with a 100 hp 4 cylinder that I totalled and replaced with the same vehicle equipped with a 150 hp V6. I swore to God that that V6 was a lemon because the revs climbed so slowly compared the the 4, I would have bet lots of money the 4 was faster, at least through third gear. Until my friends and I timed my V6 and got within a second of the car mags 1/4 mile times for the V6 and my V6ā€™s 1/4 mile time was faster than the car mags time for the 4. A four cylinder turbo is going to rev very quickly, especially through the power band, but that doesnā€™t make it faster than a lazy ohv V8. Itā€™s not fair to compare two vehicles by ā€œseat of the pantsā€ measurement. Instrumented testing will get a lot closer to the truth most of the time. Iā€™m going to see if these two were ever in the same comparo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saleen-s7-this-is-worth-395-000/121473.md?page=2)