Has anyone test drove one of these yet or consider buying one? I've read the article on c&d it gave the srt-4 an run for its money. I really can't say much about the looks but the performance isn't bad for a 20k ride.

 

This car looks like some serious bang-for-the-buck. I smell awesome aftermarket support for the ION Redline.

 

Its a decent looking car IMO...

Specs

 

supposedly the cars gearing is bad and it was a disapointment

 

yea it was .3 second slower than the srt-4 on both quarter mile and 0-60. I would think since its a sced it wouldve ran better 0-60 time than the srt-4.

 

It does have less power overall than the Dodge does, so the fact that it's slower is not all that surprising. I think that the Ion Redline is going to be quite a nice car for the money, especially with regards to performance. The performance sport compact scene looks to be getting better and better every year. Thumbs up to GM on this one.

 

The Redline has "on paper" 30 less horsepower. I say "on paper" because the SRT has been known to dyno AT the wheels 225-230 so it's probably got closer to 40+ hp more.

Also, turbocharged engines tend to have a broader power band with a big torque peak early in the rpms (~3000) followed by a slow tapper in torque. This leads to a broad flat horsepower band. Where as a supercharger tends to give a linear power increase. All this means that the SRT4 should be much faster...if it was only 0.3 seconds behind in the 1/4 then I'd say it's doing pretty good.

 

R&T compared them this month and here's the bottom line

They were about dead even in the points, price and fuel economy.

Dodge is faster (obviously) but much more harsh suspension and poorly balanced although the LSD helps it out (saturn doesn't have one), its louder than crap (no mufflers)

Saturn handles much better, smoother ride, controllable with the throttle, better brake feel, uncomfortable interior despite "recaro" seats, guage cluster in terrible center position (this alone would **** me off enough not to want one)

The comparison is actually strikingly similar to the 350z vs RX-8 debate. Do you want more power or better handling? Looks are subjective but I think they both look like ***. Ion is slightly more interesting looking because its new and has a better wing and front end.

The Ion seems like it would be the better base to tune. All you have to do is give it more power and it will womp the dodge.

I still would never consider either of them to be good cars. At the end of the day the FWD cripples both of them. You could get one hell of an FD or supra for $20,000 and not look like a wannabe white trash ricer but some kids just never learn.

 

Nice, thanks for the clarification.