As far as power goes, I know an Ls1 is an Ls1...

But is there much difference in the feel as far as handling goes between a regular TA and a WS6? I know if I want a car for handling Id be better off with a Vette but thats not in the budget. I just want my car to drive nice and tight, so is there much difference in the feel of driving a regualar TA compared with a WS6?

 

Does a duck have a water tight ***?
j/k
no *major* difference really, but a WS6 looks like its coming to kick your ***

 

a long complicated beaten to death anser, by a hair. worth the extra 100's you'll fork out. hell no. jsut get a normal T/A buy the WS6 hood put some bigger sway bars and such and a few bolt ons it and away you go

 

It depends on your plans for the car IMO. If you plan to get semi-serious into 1/4 mile drag racing then get the regular Trans Am or Formula. The OEM hood is heavy and the fibre glass aftermarket ones weigh less. It makes more sense to have an aftermarket hood here anyway because drag racers are very weight conscience

If you just want to have the car as a daily driver/street toy then just get the WS6. This way you don't have to come up with $500-700 out of pocket on a new hood (not to mention shipping and painting costs). It could easily be over a grand when it's all said and done.

Good luck.

 

Im not really concerened with the hood... More of how the car drives and feels.. Would I tell a difference between a TA and WS6 just by driving them? Is the WS6 a much tighter feel?

 

no, they feel the exact same

 

 

I have a Formula and my boyfriend has a WS6 ...he says he can feel a difference in the suspension ... I don't notice anything ...

Go to your local Pontiac dealer and test drive one ... if they see you in a TA already, they won't think you're just screwin' with 'em!

 

They shouldn't feel exactly the same. The ws6 comes with bigger rims and bigger tires. I know it's nothing major, but stock for stock the ws6 will feel different. If i'm not mistaken the ws6's also have a different suspension set up. I'm pretty sure overall the ws6 is going to feel tighter and more solid, stock vs stock.

 

With the money i saved buy not buying a WS6 i was able to mod my car and buy a Ram Air Hood

 

i looked at the ws-6 and the reg. t/a for over 2 years and picked the ws6. it does have a much tighter feel. and from the things that i have heard that you don't have to change out the suspension if your going to autocross or drag. where as the reg t/a with just a bit more power you would. i like the fact that i have a true ws6 and not a clone. but to each there own. plus the ws6 will resale higher than a reg. t/a but if that has no bearing then go the reg t/a and mod it

 

I got a WS6 because I wanted a WS6. If you want to build a fast track car don't waste your money on a WS6. If you just want to own a WS6 because it is one of your dream cars then go ahead and buy the WS6.

 

Only difference in handling will be due to the 17X9 wheels and larger 32mm front sway bar. If you put some 17X9s + 32mm front bar on a base TA, you will have exactly the same suspension as the WS6.

PS. The sway bar makes little to no difference. You will feel a little improvement by going with the bigger wheels though.

 

I have had 4 Trans Ams, 2 were regular and 2 were WS6's. There is a great difference in handling and feel of the car. The regular TA's kinda wable around the corners and the WS6's feel more stable. If someone says there is no difference in handling and its only a hood its b/c they own a regular TA. The WS6 just feels better all around driving it.

 

Trust me, unless you're talking about an SS/Firehawk with SLP/Bilstein suspension, or a 1LE car, it's all in the wheels/tires. I've had a lot of these cars too (3) and even when brand new the non-SS/WS6 cars drive just the same as the SS/WS6 cars once you put the same size wheels/tires on both. After swapping wheels back and forth over the years, I can say that from experiance. The bigger front sway bar does very little.

 

No offense to you but you heard wrong. Anyone who seriously drag races (I'm talking 11.49 and lower ET's) will want aftermarket suspension upgrades such as SFC, LCA, PHB, ect. This goes for WS6's and SS's as well. Plus many of the serious drag cars also need bigger rims in the back and smaller ones in the front. This also applies to SS's and WS6's.

Honestly, I would only want a SS or WS6 for the hood. The rest of the "upgrades" the package includes are all things I want to further upgrade any way. But that's just me

And before I bought the Formula I test drove a 2000 WS6 that was on the same lot. I didn't notice any "tighter" feeling. They both felt the same to me. Of course I wasn't taking corners at 50 mph on a test drive either. Still, the Formula takes corners very well so no complaints here. Maybe the WS6 logo is like a placebo. If you believe the ride will be noticeably superior hard enough then the mind tricks you into believing it really is

 

As said above, you heard wrong. There is no real difference in the suspension. If you are test driving used cars, then you really can't compare them directly as you have no way of knowing how abusive the previous owner was to the car.

I've bought both an LS1 Z28 and an LS1 WS6 brand new, and I can tell you that all you need is a wheel change for them to handle nearly identically.

 

That was the most foolish thing I've ever read.

If that's the case, the same can be said for WS6 owners like you who says theres a "great difference in handling" because you bought the WS6. What it comes down to is the facts, and the facts are there is literally zero-difference outside of the 32mm sway bar and the very slightly larger wheels. The rest is in your head/pride.

 

Well said

 

Isnt the shock valving and spring rates different in the WS6 too?