So for the last year or so, the 2004 GTP was my daily driver. Did all the maintenance stuff and got her running as good as I could. There are factory freaks (I’ve owned many of different makes models) that just perform so much better than the “magazine” stats, and then there are the cars built on a Friday afternoon that perform well below par. Unfortunately the GTP fell into the latter category, and even though everything was as it should be, I was only pulling just under 8 seconds to 60 mph. After the Intense tune, KR’s dropped significantly, but I haven’t been even able to drop back into the 8’s 0-60 wise. In other words, this car is absolutely the most pathetic performer I’ve owned in at least 2 decades that averaged less than 20 mpg. So I finally decided to task this pile with winter duty. My new daily driver (sans snow) is a 2006 Mercedes S55 AMG. Using the same app, same OBD2 dongle, I’m getting 0-60 in 4.9 seconds on street tires, spinning most of the way, and n the time it takes the GTP to get to 60, the S55 is going triple digits. Much happier now. And getting the exact same average mileage. Definitely better to spend the money on an already good car than to spend the same amount on a crap car modified to try to match the good car. I have just under 6 grand in the very mint S55. And if I need to put 2 grand into replacing struts in the next couple of years (almost a guarantee) it’ll still be worth it!
