antonio1988

I agree on looks the gt500 but performance and more "bang for your buck", the Terminator

seniorsmith

Thanks for all the great insight guys. Now I remember why I use to spend sooooo much time in this forum. You all made excellent points. I know I’ll be extremely happy with either one. It sucks that the Terminators were only around for two years. One thing that has been weighing heavily on my mind is that even if I find a well treated Terminator with extremely low miles, the car is going to be at least five years old (considering I wont actually be purchasing it until spring).

Oh well, as someone mentioned, I’ll have that much more money to mod and replace if I get a Terminator. I have a feeling, it’ll boil down to what kind of deal I can find on either one when I’m ready to buy.

Thanks again everyone.

pascal

I'm not jabbing at you onederful.
I'm just saying that with the correct mods on the Terminator, the S197 won't match it.

onederful100

I have to agree w/ you there. the Terminator is a better car performance wise, and takes very little to make big power and handle that power compared to our s197's.

paydirt

if your going for pure street performance, I would do the termi for sure. I know I want one so bad. that thing is a monster, and even though in that magazine article or whatever it made the least amount of power, it will still eat the s-197's lunch all day. The termi has an independent rear suspension far superior to the piece of junk our cars have. It plants power like no other and is a lighter car. I know a friend of mine has a full bolt on '03 terminator and he always takes me by 1 or 2 car lengths, from 60 rolls, 40 rolls. and on digs he just flat out murders me. that thing just hooks.

the gt500 is great too but its more of a collector thing than anything.

Rubrignitz

The S197 has a near 50/50 f/r weight distribution due to it's aluminum block and chassis design. Both the termi and gt500 have iron blocks which are 150 lbs heavier. An S197 (with a 4V aluminator engine?) will not only ride and handle better but will transfer weight better at the dragstrip.

I'm keeping my S197...

Rubrignitz

Were you racing him with those wheels/tires in your sig picture? Cobras roll on 17's and most put really huge meats on them. That would give him a huge advantage.

pascal

It's actually the weak point of the Cobra, its IRS...
Although the car wasn't designed for pure drag racing, it's rear axle halves, have a tendency to snap off under hard traction.


And what's wrong with the current 8.8 solid axle? I wouldn't call it junk.
S197s race cars are winning a lot in road course racing in the US and in Europe...
All have solid axles!

The Terminator platform never did much in road racing, despite its IRS.

SirKnightTG

I'd rather have a solid axle any day.

Derf00

mmm..last time I checked a car is not an investment. :-/ all cars depreciate and considering the production numbers of a GT500 it's going to take a couple of decades to "gain" value which is an oxymoron if you consider how much you will have "invested" in keeping it insured and maintaining it during that time.

That being said, from a handling point of view, IRS is defintely where it's at for twisties, solid rear is great for drag racing. In the end it's all about what you WANT, not what you think you'll want or "the future of the car" etc.

It's a car, what are you going to be happy driving today and for a while?