If you guys are gonna talk badly about a car please know waht you're saying. The reason why they are heavy is because they are meant to be touring cars so they are meant to be as comfortable as possible and still have performance. take a '93 vr4 for example, 300bhp stock, 5spd, AWD, power leather seats, active exhaust, active aero (which the only other car that has anything like this is porsche; very elite company to be compared to), electronically controlled suspension with sport and touring modes...and this is a 1993 car, and it didnt' cost you 100,000. You can run mid - very low 12s 1/4mi with just simple bolt ons and stock turbos...the lowest on stock turbos for that car has benn 11.7....i would have to say thats a lot better than just "OK" especially for stock turbos as far as the tranny's they are perfectly fine....there is a problem with the transfer cases leaking, but there is a recall for it and the only other problem is a 1-2 synchro that wears down but there is a replacement for it now....besides that these tranny's have proven to be very good for autocrossing and the 5spd has proven very strong for sum good traps in the 1/4mi all in all a great performance vehicle, with comfort and style to boot.