My brother-in-law used to play with a 2002 Neon he had a few years back. CAI, throttle body, high flow cat, flow master exhaust. He thought it was some seriously cool stuff. On a 50 MPH road, from a red light, him and I got into it (I only had the '94 Grand Am with the 3100 v6 at the time, only "mod" was a K&N air filter). I didn't leave him behind, but I was pulling away without a problem (only way he could catch up is if I let up on the gas).

I told him it's sad that he is still paying on the Neon, dumped a lot into mods and is just coming close to catching an old, stock, v6 with over 100K miles, bought used and was paid for. Point I was trying to make to him was either:
A. - If you are going to mod a 4 cylinder, figure out what it takes to mod it to BEAT a larger engine stock vehicle.
B. - Or, just start with a much better base car (perhaps don't go for brand new, buy used and mod it).

IMO - Modding a 4 cylinder is pointless if all you can beat are other stock 4 cylinders. There are people and companies that have done REALLY cool things with 4 cylinders (so I'm not trying to say they are pointless), but it takes a lot of time, knowledge and money to make it happen. So really cool 4 cylinders are out there, but 99% of people who mod them are unable to reach that point.

 

I agree. For the money it would take to make a 4 cylinder compete with a V6, I could do a L67 top swap and they wouldnt know what hit them!

 

My old roommates 4 cylinder TSX would stomp my Monte and alot of other cars. Another kid I went to school with had an old civic hatch with a b18 that beat every car ive seen him race except a Z28 camaro. There are pretty good 4 cylinder cars out there that can be pretty fast. What bothers me is people who buy a 4 cylinder tuned for max economy and low power and throw expensive but pointless mods at it to have a car that is still slower than most anything on the road.

 

Well my friend's GTI is a 4. He has me just by a bit, but that thing has a stock turbo and a few custom mods.

 

That stock turbo is a killer. . . i'd race every 4 banger i came up on if a turbo charger wasn't a stock option. . . . makes em a lot harder to judge

 

Definitely! Them little suckers are tricky.

 

those TSXs are quick. My brother had an 05 RSX type S and that thing would move. With a CAI and full exhaust, and a 120 shot of nitrous that thing walked several camaro ss and mustangs

 

Even the cobalt SS has a stock turbo doesn't it? pretty sure they run about 13.8 in a 1/4

 

They have a VERY tuned back turbo. Just a simple tune adds SO MUCH for their cars. That's why you see most Cobalt SS owners opting for the Stage 2 package, or getting that option afterwards.

 

All of the Cobalt SS's that I have seen use a supercharger... I haven't seen a turbo'd one yet.