^^ I wont go into politics, but his underlying point is a good one. Average drivers get a difference of around 0.8s in the 1/4 time between the cars, SI ahead. 8/10ths is pretty damn huge in the 1/4.
A very good driver will obviously extract better times from the SVT than a high 15. And, logically, the same cannot be true for the SI; being an import it is clearly inferior, right? Hopefully you can sense the sarcasm. Driver skill can't be considered in figuing which machine is faster.
The SI is a faster car for plenty of reasons. It does weigh more and the peak torque is lower, but 2 key things to remember; it is geared MUCH tighter, which will only help it until triple-digits. Also, talking about the lower torque has a dubious amount of value. Torque and HP are inseperable (as I recall, (HP = (torque*RPM)/5252) ) and HP is the net amount of work the engine is performing. Besides, yes we have low end torque, any dyno shows that, but the feel of the engine more closely matches the HP curve, steady linear building. I know my engine doesnt feel 80% as powerful at 2200rpm as it does around 7000.
[/end rant]