Saleen S281E vs 03 Cobra, who in their right mind would buy a saleen!

[silvercoffin]

uhh

All Mustangs are awesome but ...Personally, I am not crazy about the look of a saleen. I think since all the different body kits and parts available now have kind of ruined the novelty of Saleen/Roush/Steeda. So many people have modified their stangs that the average person cant tell what is Saleen/Roush/Steeda or imposter!


I would rather buy a stock Gt or Cobra and do the appearance thing.

BUT I bought my 03 cobra with the intention of going fast...mostly at the track and all that extra glamour stuff just weighs you down. For $600 I got 2.80 pulley and a chip that brought me to 12.0 1/4 miles!

So $35,600 for a 12.0 sec car? or god knows what for a Saleen?!?!?

Also I havent seen a Supercharged Saleen run in the 12s at the track yet..although I have only seen a few run.

The two people I know had trouble with the Saleen Tune in their car and had to have work done on the CPU. One person still doesnt have his car running right and has never seen 12s

 

[MightyMo]

best bite for the buck= Cobra wins by a mile !

 

[D a m i e n]

BAH, who cares about how "rare" this car is... i can take a crap on a plate and it will be one of a kind, but will anyone want it?? NO, becuase it's still nothing special, just like this car!! (IMO)

 

[OCCOBRA]

Saleen makes a nice car but not for the money. It is a overpriced status car that is a big waste of money in my book. It is another collector car that the owner will cherish and hold on a pedestal and never drive it, kind of like a few corvette owners.

 

[StangD281]

Re: uhh

Originally posted by silvercoffin
Also I havent seen a Supercharged Saleen run in the 12s at the track yet..although I have only seen a few run.

I saw a black one with 18psi & a 150-shot turn 10's. Of course, that was at a premium price tag.

 

[OCCOBRA]

That is an expensive platform to make a mistake and run into the wall with.

 

[StangD281]

Originally posted by OCCOBRA
That is an expensive platform to make a mistake and run into the wall with.

Same goes for some of these Cobras running around, doesn't it?

 

[ltv1]

Originally posted by D a m i e n
BAH, who cares about how "rare" this car is... i can take a crap on a plate and it will be one of a kind, but will anyone want it??

Bwwaaaa!
That one made me blow coffee out of my nose:lol:

Some chick at work had a Saleen, a guy I know kept coming down and asking me 20 questions all the time about the Cobra for her when they first came out.

It had something to do with them getting "retrofitted" so they would not be weaker engine wise than the Cobra. I didn't care enough to research it. I don't know or care about any of the conversion companies, but if I dumped that kind of jing on a car I most *certainly* wouldn't want a tool like myself with a far cheaper car nipping my heels or beating me.

The slotted rotors, "racing packages", ground"FX", etc, and all that shite mean nothing really if you get your arse handed to you. I am sure they are grand cars, but it is just an expensive Ford. I usually end up blowing up or ruining everything, so "collectable" is just a word to me.


Even in SVT magazine the GT 40 engineer said that the price reflects that - It's a Ford.

 

[hj16]

the saleen may run that 12.24 out of the box, but i dont think it would take that much $$ to get a 03 cobra there.

Lets see: they're both forged motors, one more built (Saleen) than the other (Cobra). But the E has a twin-screw where the Snake has a roots. You could pulley the hell out of both to equal boost and the Saleen will always make more because of efficiency (sp?). Saleen Wins

How about tires? Lets see: Slicks on a bonestock E will get you 11.70-.90 all day long. Slicks on a stock Cobra will get you 12.3-.5 a couple times before the IRS self destructs on you. Saleen Wins

Both cars would benefit equally from a chip, as the Saleen tune is Shit. So thats a push

Exhaust: Cobra wins easily thanks to a super restrictive CB.

Gears: Saleen has the stock 3.27s where the Cobra has 3.55s. When MM&FF tested the E they said that they thought 3.73s in the E would make it a true beast. Whereas running other gears in the Cobra with the IRS isn't that big of a difference while stock.
Push, the E would get a huge kick in the pants with gears, while the Cobra doesn't even need them.

Weight: Saleen wins hands down.

and it just keeps on going, and going


Its all preference, let the people who want a S281-E get it. Why should you care? They are both amazing machines, and they both serve different purposes.

Later.

 

[roushraven]

Nicely put.

 

[03ShadowCobra]

I know a local guy at the track with a 98(i think maybe 97) S351, car is totally stock black hard top with all Saleen options, very very nice. It runs 11.30's with ET streets @120+ all day long. The car is very impressive. If money were no object (which it always will be) I would take an S281E anyday over the cobra, that car is badass. But I would never pay 65-70k for a mustang.

 

[OCCOBRA]

Same goes for some of these Cobras running around, doesn't it?

But saleen is twice as much money, and i bet saleen parts are twice expensive to replace. And it is a collector car to boot, why would you drag it?

 

[OCCOBRA]

Saleen better have an edge after they fleeced you. You could do the same thing for a whole lot less money. Still an overpriced Ford.

 

[03DOHC]

:bored:

 

[Wolfie351]

Why would someone buy an '03 Cobra when you can get an older fox body, throw in a stroker 351 and blower. Costs less, more power, less weight, lower insurance, cheaper registration, no gas guzzler tax, etc. All in good fun, don't flame...

The '03 and E are both nice cars so who cares? No one gets into this hobby to save money, right? With the amount of cash most of us have put into our cars, we should have our heads checked :-D 99.9% of E owners aren't going to mod their cars so I doubt we'll even see it's potential anyways.

 

[87FOXGT]

some great points...

Alot of great points made here guys. There seems to be 2 ways people look at the saleen s281e in general :

a) a collectible car that will hold its value much better then a cobra and has many advantages over an 03 cobra.

and

b) an overpriced aftermarket tuned car that is not entirely worth the 60-65k price tag it holds.


Here is my take on the argument. I have always dreamed of having an authentic saleen for the exclusivity and the performance that the car has always had. (talking s281e and 99-00 s351 only)

With that said, along came the 03 cobra, and it changed my whole perspective of what i will do to get what i want out of a car to make me happy. Yes the saleen is lighter, yes it has other features that perhaps enable it to take a better advantage of the power it harnesses, but no it does certainly not have a 35k price tag.

I guess that is the deciding factor for me. I am thinking along the lines of many people on this forum. Seeing how these cobra respond so magnificently to such "minor" mods (minor as in not a motor build up, internal motor upgrades, etc), i reasoned that i could both reliably and economically have the performance i always wanted from a saleen in the form of a cobra for considerably less money.

Now as for the looks, theres no reason why i cant still get the look that i love, the speedster cover, all the saleen stuff that makes me love the stance, look, and the road presence that a saleen speedster has. This is just my opinion but i beleive the saleen is much more eye catching a car then a 03 cobra, and the 03 is in itself a mean machine that will also grab your attention. I think you guys can sorta see my point here. The saleen just owns me in the looks department, and i can still get the performance i want from the cobras powerplant with no problem, so why not have the best of both worlds in a much less expensive package.

As for resale value, sure it wont be anywhere near an actual saleen, but i just dont care. Im going to keep the car for so long, it wont matter to me one bit. One day i will pass the car on to my son if i have one and i plan on keeping the car in the family for many years. Even since i was very young, i have been very good for planning for the long term, that is why i will have the money to do this in the first place in the near future.

For example, ive had my 87 GT since i was 16. The new bodystyle came out in 94, and everyone loved the new saleens, but as much as i loved them, i knew i still wnated to keep my car and do what would make me happy with it. I did and dont regret it one bit.

Then in 99 i saw the s351 speedster from saleen and absolutely fell in love. I planned on getting my hands on one somehow, but the rarity and extremely high price tag made it highly improbable my dream would come true. Enter the 03 cobra. The performance is finally great enough to match the great looks and attention that a saleen gets. Game, set, match ive got my mind set and know what i need to do to fulfill my dream Can anyone honestly argue against that? If i can find a way to make one of my dreams come true, why not do it?

Anyways, sorry for my rambling but this is something i feel passionate about, because it's something ive worked hard to have the opportunity to do. Any comments and replies are welcome and i just wanna say thanks to all the replies so far, its been a very interesting read!

p.s. thanks dan for reopening the thread! i think youll see we can keep this going with everyone making their points but respecting other peoples views :thumbsup:

 

[norcal_cobra]

Originally posted by Wolfie351
Why would someone buy an '03 Cobra when you can get an older fox body, throw in a stroker 351 and blower. Costs less, more power, less weight, lower insurance, cheaper registration, no gas guzzler tax, etc. All in good fun, don't flame...

I've got what used to be an 11 sec 93 in my garage, but I got an 03 Cobra because it was more refined and driveable... A 5.0 with a .512" lift cam is a bitch to commute in. The 03 is way more streetable and I get fewer people pulling up next to me flipping me off, or yelling F%#& you! at me.

It always did confuse me as to why people do that when I am just sitting at a light or cruising down the street... :shrug:

-norcal_cobra

 

[Scream'nCobra]

God i love this site.

Andrew

 

[Brad]

The problem is saleen as a company can't even stand behind their products anymore, so that in itself is enough for me to rule out owning any saleen.

Am I wrong about the company? From what I have seen around here, they can't even get their people out here to fill a damn warranty claim. People who deal with them out this way, want nothing to do with them anymore. If looks could kill a saleen would be leathal though:thumbsup:

 

[87FOXGT]

Norcal,

I know what you mean. My 87 used to have a b303 cam with 1.7s and a mac prochamber h pipe with a chamber flows and no tail pipes. I would get older muscle car guys pull up to me all the time and tell me that my car sounded like their built 67-69 camaro/firebird/mustang

Scream'n,

Me too man, meeee too !


Anyone have any comments on me last reply? It was alot of work typing it up someones gotta say something haha