vwbuge,
I think you'd be surprised. I have driven both the '85 versions and I can tell you the CA car is actually no different. Remember, the emissions cars had a slighltly different tranny gearing set up so they leave nothing behind performance wise to the federal cars. As far as drivability goes I have no problems at all, none. One benefit of the CA cars is that all the vacuum stuff the federal cars have on top of the cam cover is updated with a much simpler electric switch setup. That was not updated on the rest of the federal cars until the 603 engines. Also, the CA cars never break the air cleaner mounts. The only difference that I can tell is I get 3-4 MPG less than a federal rig. And, yes, the federal car I drove was running correctly. Don't knock 'em if you haven't tried 'em (or at least a good one).
