I currently own an '04 Volvo S60R 6-speed, and I'm considering selling the car for something with a bit more 'sport'. My car perfroms very well for a car of it's size, but it just doesn't feel sporty at all. It feels like a family sedan that happens to grip amazingly well, and have awesome power. Steering response is very precise, but completely numb. Same with the chassis.
I test drove a G35 SC 6MT today, and a much prefer the way it handles. I was very impressed with it in that regard. Though the power just wasn't there compared to the R. I know turbo makes you percieve acceleration as faster than it really is, but the R really is quicker. I did a few timed runs. 20-80 roll timed at 9.2 in the G vs. 8.2 in the R (though the G might not have been COMPLETELY warmed up then. It was only about 10 minutes after I started the car, and though the needle had been in the middle of the temp gauge for at least 2 minutes). Also did 20-70 on an on-ramp (slight downhill slope) using a sign as a landmark for where to start accleration. R was 6.6, G was 7.2, and it was definitely completely warmed up then too.
I'm considering trading my R for the G, but what would be required to get it up to the R's level acceleration wise? Full intake (CAI, Z-tube, and plenum), headers/race cats, dual exhaust, light weight flywheel, and ECU do it, or would the G need FI to hang?

 

umm.. ur missing ONE BIG THING...
S60R is AWD and G35 is RWD... no wonder S60R beats 20-70... around70-80 is where RWD starts to catch up AWD cars and leave AWD behind at around 100mph... and S60R max tq is at 1850RPM which helps 20-70 also... now if you race S60R VS G35 at 60-70mph G35 will beat S60R for good... there is a reason why WRX(AWD) don't race on the highways... oh and G35 power band is very linear where S60R gets burst of power as soon as turbo spools up.. in G35, you won't feel sudden burst of power, but rather very linear...

 

so much misinformation on these forums...

You'll close the gap with some moderate ($5k worth) of NA mods.
Z intake, cams, headers, exhaust.

Or simply go FI.

Turbo cars will exhibit their advantage in these roll situations - as there's little spooling involved.
AWD oinly matters on a launch.
I would LOVE to know how which wheels being driven affects vehicle speed and acceleration anywhere above 20 mph...

 

i think u r the one who misinfo hugely...
"Turbo cars will exhibit their advantage in these roll situations - as there's little spooling involved"
what your talkin about turbo cars with RWD.. such as RX-7 or supra TT... but Volvo is not RWD... it's AWD... so you think STi will match better against M3 from a roll since u said turbo cars has advantage from a roll?? u gotta be kidding me... even s2k or 350z hang with STi from 80 -120...

"I would LOVE to know how which wheels being driven affects vehicle speed and acceleration anywhere above 20 mph..."
AWD has huge disadvantage from a roll situation... i wonder why WRX wins against g35 from dead start but get SPANKED from a roll... like u said WRX should get advantage due to turbo lol...

have u seen any AWD race from a roll?? if you are buying a turbo car with "AWD" to beat people from a roll you are making serious mistake... u need turbo with RWD in order to get full potential out of turbo...

 

i almost bought an r, but they wouldnt' let me test drive it, so i didn't.
by me, the r's were going out as soon as they came in. now you can test, but i have my g

04 6mtC, DG - possibly most babied G on the board.

 

Sorry I had to reply as I have an AWD turbo car and I know for a fact that the advantage is always from a stop and not from a rolling start....there are alot of things to take into consideration when talking about turbo cars for example what size turbos they are running and what rpm they spool up at.
Of course I never lose from either a roll or stop but hey after almost 20,000 in modifications I should win...lol
Paul.

2004 G35 Sedan with sports package .
1995 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 completely modified
1999 VW Jetta
1998 Lincoln Navigator
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/baj...dir=/My+Photos

 

The reason I chose 20-70 and 20-80 is because it WOULDN'T give the AWD and unfair advantage. The G had full grip at all times during my accleration runs, save the 2-->3 shift. I've pulled on 350Zs in high speed rolls all the way up to 120 before, but I always thought it was possible that they didn't downshift to the lowest possible gear because they didn't expect a Volvo to pack any sort of a punch. But it seems the R is a bit quicker. Though my guess is at high speeds (125+) things would be reversed because the G is much more aerodynamic. So headers/racecats/exhaust/intake/cams/plenum/ecu should be good enough to close the gap in your opinion?

 

Lucky I was trading up in performance, guess if you trade down... on another forum there was a guy who got an ATI Supercharger and by all accounts his ride was very quick. Having researched all the add on bits over the years - there is always a compromise - nothing for nothing and mostly chips and exhausts give you that little extra but not that much and always at higher rpm only, so the overall character of the car changes - In my mind mostly for the worse, the supercharger adds a big fat HP and Torque increase evenly right across the RPM range (but takes more gas - yikes and a bit of noise - already a little too much at times) - still happy pondering.

 

uhm...i thought that AWD's only advantage was from a dead start compared to RWD. Also, the reason why the R pulls on the 350z or G35 is that it has more power...have you guys considered that as an option instead of turbo vs na? Turbo cars generally tend to dyno with more torque then advertised so considering the R has 20 more horses and 30 more ft/lb of torque, the R will pull. However, with intake, exhaust, headers, high flow cats...I think these mods would be more than enough to make up the difference.

'03 G35c DG/G 6mt, full options

 

don't forget the weight...
volvo has 300hp 295tq but 3690lbs compare to 3400lbs... that's almost 300lbs differences... and i never heard AWD pulls better in top speed(70+mph) when RWD car and AWD car have same hp and tq... from my experience, when i race my friend's stock WRX from 25ish, WRX pull on me until i reach 60 or so then i finally catch him and pull on him from there... my point is still 20-70 isn't good comparison with these 2 cars.. sure 20 will eliminate luanch advantage but still in low speed AWD pulls better when both cars are about same hp and tq... like i said b4, unless you race starting at around 60 or so S60R will pull on G35couope till about 80ish... AWD is all about launch and low speed acceleration(until 60ish) and RWD is all about top end speed(60+)...
RWD will always play catch up against AWD cars unless race start at high speed(like 60+)
to prove my statement i got this info from http://www.car-videos.com/performanc...D1=272&ID2=169
if G35coupe 6spd VS STi race from a roll starting at 70-110
STi needs 9.69sec and G35coupe needs 9.71sec... BUT like u compared 20-70(i'll use 30-80 since i don't have any data for 0-20), STi needs 6.77sec where G35coupe needs 7.29sec... see even from 30mph roll STi pulls a lot harder than G35 but not from 70mph... now if you consider STi is only weigh around 3000lbs and geared more aggressively, it's darn close... now volvo being more heavier than STi and less aggressive gearing, i still go with G35coupe take volve from top speed(70 - whatever speed) in "stock form"... and even 20-70 should be really close also...

 

My 60-90 in the Volvo is 5.8. 20-100 is 13.0. Never got to test either of those in the G. Has someone timed those in their coupe? The after 4500 or so, the engine in the G FEELS stronger to me, but that might also be because of sound. It's also hard to judge acceleration that way, because the way the G accelerates is much much smoother.
I don't see why AWD would make a difference at 20 if both cars had full traction. If anything, wouldn't RWD have an advantage so long as both cars had full traction, given RWD cars tend to loose less to parasitic drivetrain loss?
The weight difference should definitely factor in. I was suprised the G didn't beat the Volvo 20-70, actually. Though I guess at those speeds the great low-mid range torque of the Volvo shines through and lets it wind through 2nd a lot faster.

 

oh yeah i actually never answered ur question lol...
with those mods, it should be prety close but u know AWD is huge factor down low so... i think it's good enough to hang with S60R 20-70 comparison... but i'm no expert when mods come in to play though...

 

hmm i'm not sure if i can explain this well cuz i'm not good in explain things..
even from 20mph roll, AWD still has more advantage, think like this, AWD cars usually split powers in half front and half rear... so from 20mph is still very low speed and you still need to move heavy 3600lbs car but 150hp front and 150hp rear will help much more to get things moving compare to push all the power from rear... but after 60mph, you want all the power to be either at front or rear not split in half... you need all the power to push... great example will be let's say you need to move your heavy refrigeratior... you(push from rear) and your friend(pull from the front) start pushing from dead stop... it will be much easier to get things going with your friend helping so AWD is better(u and ur friend) than just yourself from the rear(RWD).. even though refrigerator just started to move(samething with AWD car in 20mph roll), you still want your friend's help to get some more speed rather than just push by yourself.. which explain even 20mph AWD will let the car increse speed faster... but now you are pushing refrigerator in fast walking speed(it will be 60mph in AWD car)... now your friend who are pulling(which means walkin backward) can't catch the pace when you start running and you can't increase speed as from dead stop but if you just pushing yourself you will accelerate faster...
hmm i don't think i explain this well... perhaps someone else can explain better..
but hey! i tried

<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by uheenada on 02/06/04 10:10 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

huh?

G35 Coupe. Diamond Graphite, Graphite, Premium and wheel and Tire package. Zaino Baby.

 

So did the fridge get moved or not?