[flash968]

way off topic, but a moment for clarification:

comparisons to a 928, while in the same GT class, are not relevant - you might think the 944 suspension is stiff, but i happen to feel that the stock 944 suspension is mushy - i feel the 928 is VERY mushy - but then i spent 25 years driving sportscars, so my perspective is different - take a long ride in an elva, an old triumph or even an mgb and then, after you get back from the chiropractor, come back and talk to me about how stiff your stock 944 is

you can wish and dream all day long, but the reality is that the car is what it is, and while a smaller version, it's a GT - that isn't a bad thing either - i'm not slagging the 944 at all - in fact i happen to think very highly of the car - it was one of the transitional cars that set us up for many of the cars of today

somewhere in the 70s, when the gas crisis hit, we were on odd and even days, and car sizes changed, as did the overall availability and construction of performance cars, we started calling coupes and hatchbacks sportscars - car manufacturers wanted to appeal to the buyer who still wanted a fun car, in spite of how politically wrong it was to own one - the marketing strategy was amazingly effective, and opened the door for a lot of crossover cars we have today

again, not a bad thing

but, they are not sportscars - they can be sports exotics (ferraris, lamborghinis, etc), sports coupes (bmws, nissan 350s, etc), or sports tourers (jaguar xk, aston martin, etc), or they can be GT cars like the 911, 928 and 944

perhaps not by today's standards, but 2700lbs is incredibly heavy to those of us who grew up in much lighter cars - even my 77 toyota corolla 4 door was only 2200 lbs - the turbo version had 145hp - was that a sportscar? a sportscar, by definition is much smaller and lighter, and has no intrinsic purpose beyond pure sport driving - a sportscar is basically a race car with passenger accouterments - typically a sportscar will not weigh much more than 2300lbs in full trim

clearly the car does not fall into the sports exotic category

by definition, having a back seat precludes it from being a sportscar, and would put it in either sports coupe or GT

by definition being a hatchback precludes it from being a coupe, since there is no trunk, and all coupes have trunks

by definition having a roof precludes it from being a true sportscar

that leaves GT

by the way, take a spin in either one of my cabs and you will have a very different opinion of the chassis and the top - very stiff, and in fact now stiffer than a standard 944 - i have a pic of a single floor jack lifting 3 wheels well off the ground, and still able to open and close the doors without any binding - no leaks on the tops either

however, neither of those cars qualify as a sportscar either, as they are both too heavy, and not sporty enough (though the blue one is getting pretty fun) - that's ok - i'm old and cranky now, and really don't think i want to drive a sportscar anymore (though i am looking forward to playing with the TR-4A later this year)

back on topic, as to the cost of the dynamat, i think i spent about $300 on the entire car - almost free, especially considering the results