test drove 04 Cobra

[wk4alvn]

Need some advice i test drove a 04 cobra and was not very impressed. Does the car take some time to break in the ecu? I turned traction control off as soon as i fired it up and left the dealership. It ran good but not 400 HP good if you know what i mean. I kinda expected it to smoke the tires when i was in first at about 5 mph and stomped it. I pulled it into second not too hard and it churped. I pushed third a little harder and got the same churp out of the tires. All of my other cars took some time to start running, but they are imoprts. This will be my first domestic if i buy it. Any advice or stories are welcome. Thanks in advance

[Cobragia]

I don't know about a 04 but my 03 with street feet from a roll will turn side ways. Try again.

[wk4alvn]

will it do that in gear and stomping the gas (that would be inpressive) of sidestepping the clutch? Don't get me wrong I did like the car and honnestly think it just needs breaking in. Thanks for the info.

[cobrabitn]

Well, feeling like an idiot, I hit the gas while making a left turn at a 6 lane intersection and the car almost did a 180 with me in the middle of it. Needless to say, I hid my face from embarrassment the rest of the way home.

Personally, I'd rather have a car that has "grip and go" then one that's for "smoke em up" and go nowhere. Doing the showboat thing is nice but scorching the competitor is even better.

I'm not sure how many miles the car had on it but the S/C is controlled not to come on till you have 20 miles on the car I believe??

Tony

[scocher]

Originally Posted by Cobragia

I don't know about a 04 but my 03 with street feet from a roll will turn side ways. Try again.

[scocher]

Originally Posted by cobrabitn

Well, feeling like an idiot, I hit the gas while making a left turn at a 6 lane intersection and the car almost did a 180 with me in the middle of it. Needless to say, I hid my face from embarrassment the rest of the way home.

Tony

Good one, fearless leader

[scocher]

Originally Posted by cobrabitn

Personally, I'd rather have a car that has "grip and go" then one that's for "smoke em up" and go nowhere. Doing the showboat thing is nice but scorching the competitor is even better.

Tony

Can't argue with that

[wk4alvn]

yea i did that spin around thing in a 91 turbo rx7. I'm 27 now 18 at the time. The worse part about it was dad saw me! He had some choice words. I have no doubts that the car will smoke the tires tacking it up and sidestepping the clutch or turning a corner. Thanks for all the info. I have read all the mags and will probably lease one so just incase i decide i do not like it (by some chance)BUT 471WHP for less than $2500 in mods i have to try it!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot find a import to do that

[wk4alvn]

by the way did it spin around with traction control on or off? nover had traction control on a car.

[cobrabitn]

I don't believe in traction control unless it is raining, so it was off. Had it been on, the car probably would have bucked and slowed down a lot.

[cobracrazy]

Traction control will NOT allow wheel spin. If traction control is on and you launch hard you will get a huge face plant. (been there done that)

Need some advice i test drove a 04 cobra and was not very impressed. Does the car take some time to break in the ecu? I turned traction control off as soon as i fired it up and left the dealership. It ran good but not 400 HP good if you know what i mean. I kinda expected it to smoke the tires when i was in first at about 5 mph and stomped it. I pulled it into second not too hard and it churped. I pushed third a little harder and got the same churp out of the tires. All of my other cars took some time to start running, but they are imoprts. This will be my first domestic if i buy it. Any advice or stories are welcome. Thanks in advance

Remember: The car IS NOT 400 RWHP stock... Not even close. You are also at a high altitude (Colorado right?) and that takes a bite out of the HP as well. The car has nice tires for a stock motor and so from a roll you might not get as much spin as you think you should. Trust me on this one however... Go get an exhaust, CAI, smaller pulley, chip and tune. Then try the 5mph roll on stock tires.

I guess what I am trying to say is.... you won't be disappointed. My only gripe with my 03' is weight. These cars are bit heavy.

Good Luck and Have Fun!!!!

[davelegguy]

I have read somewhere that you need to have some miles on the car (less than 100) before the cpu will let you spool up full boost.

[Mirage]

wk4alvn~ My drive home from the dealership in my '03 was nice and easy. I was more concerned with breaking in the motor correctly than smoking the tires. I will say that even within the first few miles you knew the power was there. Although my Cobra has been altered (and subsequently broken in) it will easily break the tires loose without traction control. That said, I agree with the aforementioned statements that I would rather "hook-up" off the line then leave rubber just for show. I'm sure if you decide to purchase an '04 you certainly won't be disappointed and will enjoy the whole experience of owning a Cobra.

[Mystic Cobra]

A few things to note:
As was previously mentioned these cars are shipped with a restriction that keeps the Super Charger from spooling up until after 50 or so miles. There is a Technical Service Bulletin about this.

Second (also previously mentioned ) if you have not disengaged traction control (the default has TC on) then the car will feel doggish if you stomp the gas.

These cars average 360 to 370 dyno proven RWHP and can quite readily spin the tires (not that I've ever done this myself mind you, I've read about it in magazines, yea thats the ticket).

With less than $1,000 in mods that can easily be brought up to over 400 RWHP. The are not guess numbers they have been proven again and again on dynos.

I've seen quartermile timeslips on these cars at 12.5 to 12.8 and 110-113 BONE STOCK.

Not as fast as some but definately faster than most.

Finally, (you were wondering if I would ever shut ok, go ahead admit it ) one thing to keep in mind is that these cars are smoooooth so they are often very misleading when your are romping on the gas. To prove that just stomp the gas and watch the speedometer skyrocket......

[Elapidae]

Originally Posted by wk4alvn

Need some advice i test drove a 04 cobra and was not very impressed. Does the car take some time to break in the ecu? I turned traction control off as soon as i fired it up and left the dealership. It ran good but not 400 HP good if you know what i mean. I kinda expected it to smoke the tires when i was in first at about 5 mph and stomped it. I pulled it into second not too hard and it churped. I pushed third a little harder and got the same churp out of the tires. All of my other cars took some time to start running, but they are imoprts. This will be my first domestic if i buy it. Any advice or stories are welcome. Thanks in advance

This sounds just like a post on SVT Performance about a month ago. Anyway...

It might be that the imports you're used to were experiencing the 1 - 2 chirp at 20mph instead of 52mph and the 2 - 3 chirp at 45mph instead of 78mph.

I had a friend in an un-named import that was bragging about how much more responsive his car was and how he could 'row' through the gears happily chirping away. We had a rare opportunity to line them up and sure enough, he was shifting and chirping with about the same frequency as me, however, he was bus lengths behind by the second chirp.