One of the things Michael Loasby mentioned at Eurofest was the fact that many design changes added weight to the car and the gear ratios were raised to maintain gas mileage figures. The Lotus Esprits of the 80's used the same transaxle with but with different gear ratios and the final drive gear ratios from the Lotus would benefit the DeLorean. The DeLorean used a 3.44:1 final drive while the Lotus used a 3.88:1. Unfortunately the ratios for first through fifth in the Lotus would be too high for the low powered DeLorean. One thing that is obvious is that horsepower isn't the only area the DeLorean would need adjusted to become a true performance car. On the other hand, the higher final drive makes the DeLorean a great cruiser for higher speed over the road trips. Bruce Benson > I have a stupid question. Why is the DeLorean so slow? I have an 81 > automatic, and I don't expect it to be a race car or anything, but the > acceleration off the line is laughable I was thinking it might be the gear ratio of > 1st gear is better on the Golf for acceleration, but (unscientific > observation) they seem feel relatively the same. > > Thanks, > > Aaron King > Kirkland, WA > vin#1217