The Rake Magazine

Sir Edmund Hillary (I am sorry, did I miss something?) was once asked why, in the deepest sense, he risked his life to climb Mount Everest.
"Because it was there," he answered.

I have a corollary when asked about certain cars to buy. Some cars are just waiting there for you to buy. Because certain models of cars can move moutains for peanuts by accepting a few basic modifications.

Consider the lowly Dodge Neon, for example. Did you know that this lump of metal can be transformed for less than 10k into the world's fastest beer run mobile? (You do not need a Lambo for this duty.)

The Dodge Neon SRT-4 model with the ACR suspension package and Mopar Stage 3 upgrade puts out 300 HP and can beat most any car on the track--911s included (I've seen it). While you'll fight a heavy dose of torque steer (mitigated by track handling package), you'll also beat up on cars costing ten times more. I am talking about buying this car for 25k new with full warranty.

Other cars include the John Cooper Works Mini Cooper (pricy but ab fab to drive insanely fast) the 2003 Mustang Cobra and the Volvo V70 TR-5 wagon. The Vovlo wagon, in particular, has a base HP rating of 236 HP--but easily accepts a chip from IPT that adds another 55 reliable HP. All these vehicles are available fully modded for less than 30 k.

So buy one.

Because they are there.

I have never fully grasped the term "waiting out the storm." I can understand doing so during mountaineering expeditions, but not neccessarily during a blizzard in the urban jungle. Not when there are great cars that can plow through snow faster than Tony Montana without blowing a kingpin's fortune.

All it takes is knowledge of a few "new age" hot-rodding tricks and the vehicles that respond best to such techniques.

In the old days, most hot rodding was done with costly tricks like adding hotter cams or boring out an engine block. And even if you did add some HP, you'd be Jon Krakauer book material if you drove your rod on anything less than hot pavement.

Fortunately today a simple ECU chip upgrade can give you maximum HP without robbing you of snow and ice performance. The key is knowing what cars gain the most HP from chipping without costing a fortune. The Road Rake recommends the following two bargains:

The AudiS4 (Twin Turbo V6). This little beast puts out 250 HP to all four wheels. It runs 0-60 in 5.5. sec. Many magazines (like Sports Car Illustrated--the very best journalism on sports cars) have been less than impressed with the driving dynamics of the S4s chassis (too insulated from the road), but generally agree that it is an overall tight and fast ride.

If you live in a place that benefits from 4WD, however, you can forget all this splitting of hairs and take advantage of a far more potent insight---The S4's 2.7 liter biturbo engine can be chipped for around $800.00 or so to produce 330 reliable HP. While Audi dissuades owners from doing this, you can simply check into TotalAudiPerformance (TAP.com), for the chip set.