Hey Dean, I am just as disappointed about Stage 2 as you are. I had hoped that DC would get CARB certification on the Stage 2 and I was going to drop that little puppy into it as soon as it was released. I love my PT-GT but agree that more HP is always a good thing. I am frustrated that DC has the warranty policy they do on their Stage kits while Toyota and other manufacturers are willing to stand behind their power enhancement kits.
The EPA calculations are from
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/sbs.htm. I made the automatic to automatic comparison to have more apples to apples comparison. By changing the default miles/year, and cost of fuel you can play "what if" games on their site but their calculator always uses the EPA mileage (although you can vary the % of City to Highway mileage).
As far as the "low tech" hemi, one of the reasons it does as well as it does in fuel economy is the ability to drop out cylinders under low load conditions. I had a 1981 Cadillac V8-6-4 that dropped out cylinders and it made an amazing difference in fuel mileage for a large heavy car with a big engine. Incidentally, I put about 100,000 miles on that car with NO drive train problems whatsoever and never had to wait longer than 1 day for ANY parts from Cadillac while it has taken my Chrysler dealer a week to get in new brake calipers and 4 days to get in a new steering rack from Chrysler. Yep, they know how to treat you like a "Chrysler owner".
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2003 Almond GT AutoStick, body colored rear splash guards and hood struts, chrome gear shift, AC & vent knobs, billet steering wheel spokes and pedals, AMX1397 Turbo-Intake Pipe.