i was doing research on different year model 3g's and saw that the 2000 year model gs comes stock with more hp to crank than mine which is 2003 gs.. why is that? why would the same car with same body and same engine in a older year have more hp than a newer model? anyone?

Fed spec vs cali spec. Emissions control, pre-cats I think. Search the forum there's info here. Lookup Cali-spec.

i would suggest you do more research on the provided information you found. first of all like skribl said, it could just be cali spec verse fed spec ecu tunes.

the cali spec i think comes with 5 less HP and 5 less ft-trq (i know this is the case for the V6 trims.) the 5 speed model RS came in fed spec only. i happen to know that the 5 speed fed spec RS has no problems passing the California smog tests so i'm wondering if they even down tuned the GS for the cali specs. .

i have found only two hp specifications for the 3G eclipse RS/GS trims 150hp and 147hp the first number relates to the factory specs. while the second rating relates to the actual specs. as far as i have seen my 01 RS had 147 stock hp.

i checked my vin number and it shows it is a fed spec eclipse. if your car has the same then i would say that whatever the specs where on the other car was either a misprint, or a different engine trim than what you or i have. also was the article you read on in relation to stock specs?