I hate the new cars only for being heavy, I think it is ridiculous. But in the end I guess it just means more powerful motorswaps for Z's
BTW gollum I don't think muscle cars run 2.0L turbo fours so, the rules out rally as a basis for american performance.
Although I think it would be totally sweet if one of the Big 3 came out with a light american car powered by a 2.5ishL v8's with twin turbos, would be sweet to beat the japanese at their own low displacement game. Alas that won't happen until I become ceo of one of those companies so keep your fingers crossed for now.
Note: About the japanese improving the performance and all that. I totally agree, the american companies don't do enough in the way of updating their performance technologies and evolving their cars. Although I see their reasoning, it must be very hard for the Big 3 to justify making a really fast, light, strong car when the majority of the population wants a room on wheels. In japan I think they appreciate cars more for their performance compared to the average joe out here. I could be wrong though.