Im a die hard GM fan and I ended up choosing the Tahoe over the L for 2 reasons. 1. Our other 2 cars are 2 seaters and 2. I thought the old L interior was terrible.
Im now toying with the idea of doin a few more little things to my truck and then giving it to my brother and getting a new L. I really dont like Fords, but making a chevy comparably fast just requires so much work, waiting and downtime. Besides, I think the new interiors are sharp. Add to that the factory body kit, lowered, bigger wheels, factory blower, built tranny and rearend, ****, with 5-8K I could have a killer truck. Ive already got near 14K in upgrades to my truck and I doubt I'll be able to get into mid 13's before the tranny goes and thats running 12# probably, tack on the 42K sticker and Ive got 56K in a vehicle that really isnt that quick at all.
What do you guys think??
Maybe you guys could give me a breakdown of what you would do to compete with a new L. Say you have about 40-45K total. Dont forget to add in some labor costs since I dont have that kind of mechanical knowledge and my friends dont work on Fords.

 

Well I also came across this dliema. Lightning are awesome straight out of the box. I didn't get one for two reasons 1. Insurance was going to be outrageous. 2. It's a ford. 3. I wanted to see the new production ones before they come out. All I know is the new lightjing are pretty much suppose to have the Cobra engiens in them. I have seen a cobra 2004 put down 500rwhp with no problems at all. Change the pulley put on headers, exhaust, better tune, and some slicks and oh damn our in the low11's maybe high 10's in a freakin street car. Sorry of topic. But if they are going to have the same engines it will be a great performance base. the 03 lightning are limited on their motors but once you can get a forged 5.4 your all good. also need to upgrade the supercharger to put out more air. Well you need to talk to HITMAN.

 

ey dood... you wanna buy an L?.... heheheheh.

 

I go through vehicles pretty quickly. Im just getting discouraged with making this Tahoe quick. My other option woud be a RCSB GMC with a Denali front end, but then Id need wheels, suspension, Radix (Ive learned), tranny, rearend, gears, need I continue?? I want something fast now, not Im 3 years. Dont get me wrong, it wouldnt stay stock for more than a week, but the lease on the vettes is coming up fast and I need something fast and I want a truck.

 

ok so if I were you and could afford the insurance becasue god knows i can't, go with the 2005 lightning. But I have first dibs on the VIG2800 and the vortech if the price is right. (BOB)

 

I didnt even check on insurance. Maybe I'll check on that first.

 

good idea.

 

Honestly. Buying a L never crossed my mind. When the 3rd generations first came out the only thing that was going through my mind was "How am I going to get a Chevy to go that fast?". As for them being eaisier to get fast and cheaper, I dissagree. Well getting them to go fast is simple: pulley, intake, exhaust, et streets= pretty fast. But where is the fun in that. With my truck I have tried so many different things to get it to where it is and it still isnt as fast as i want it. And as for them being cheaper to get to go fast, I live close to a lot of JDM Lightings. The guys have over $15,000 in engines alone. They have alot of money in those things. No matter what it takes alot of money to make anything to go fast. And I think that you would get alot more respect for a surprisingly quick Tahoe than just another modded lighting. just my .02

 

I looked into insurance on one...good news if you are with USAA. They give the same rate for the L as they do for any other F150. I was adamant that the CSR on the phone (called two different times to be sure) knew that the L was SC'd and was a 'performance' vehicle. No matter, it was no more than a normal F150 regular cab. This was over 2 years ago, but I would call to check BEFORE I just said "I couldn't even afford the insurance"... Didn't go with the L since my wife agreed to the Whipple and some other goodies. She also "hates Fords" ever since she had to drive her dad's F150 with the dog box in the back when we were in college

 

I NEVER considered the L because I just don't like Ford. Had many problems with the family owned Ford's over the years. They were just crappy. Perhaps we got lemons
Anyway, if I had $30-33k, I'd get my same truck ($24k), add a Radix ($5k), 80E swap (~$2k installed?) and a posi (~$500 installed ?) and kick the **** out of an L.