Before that, drivers needed to find the sweet spot themselves, which could either lead to a really slow start in an effort to keep tire spin low, or just too much tire spin altogether. Sign up to get the latest performance and luxury automotive news, delivered to your inbox daily! I agree to receive emails from Motor Authority. I understand that I can unsubscribe at any time. Privacy Policy. Contribute: Send us a tip Contact the editor. People who read this, also read: Do vehicle exhaust systems need back pressure?
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Porsche reportedly has 3 classic-inspired specials coming. Motor Authority Newsletter Sign up to get the latest performance and luxury automotive news, delivered to your inbox daily! These times are published in every magazine and in every road test, but I struggle to figure out what they really measure.
When was the last time you needed to get to 60 mph as quickly as your car allows? Or probably just that one time when you wanted to see whether your car actually could do it in the 8. That inevitably breaks things. Even Nissan threw out warranty claims of some GT-R owners who had been playing with the launch control systems too frequently.
On your third attempt, the car will snap. Take the BMW i as an example. With the engine running, step on the brake with your left foot. Activate Driving dynamics control.
If you're into cars, or hell, even if you're not, "Zero to Sixty" is a phrase you hear all the time. It's become such a standard phrase it has worked its way into everyday conversation, and media not even loosely related to automobiles. Hell, there is or, err, was a whole magazine called At least in the United States and the UK, mph has become the standard measure of acceleration. But why? And really, why do we care? If common sense prevailed, the standard measure of a car's performance would really be it's power-to-weight ratio.
Nothing determines how a car performs in a straight line more directly than how much it weighs, divided by how much power it has. Well, a bhp vehicle with a 5,lb curb weight like, say, a Dodge Ram SRT is not going to be as fast as a bhp vehicle with a 1,lb curb weight like, say an Ariel Atom But why does the power to weight ratio end up as a statistic only nerds care about, while Rihanna raps about how her "ride" I'm going to say body does in 3.
Dang, Rihanna, you're fast. Also, warning: that song is awful. Well, because manufacturers quote power output at the crankshaft. This is one of the goofiest, most irrelevant things in the whole automotive world. A horsepower engine sending it's power through a non-locking torque converter, TH 3-speed automatic, long metal drive shaft, a Detroit locker, and some half shafts isn't going to put anywhere near horsepower to the wheels, where it matters.
Horsepower at the crank denoted as bhp, or brake horsepower, where a braking load is placed on the crank to keep it at a constant load, and the amount of force required to prevent rising RPM translates to how much power the engine makes is a cool number, but it really doesn't matter. Let's take a look at why.
So why, then, does a stock 2. It has a gearbox, three differentials, four half-shafts, and two drive-shafts to turn. There's more friction, and more power is used up overcoming that friction. The SRT-4's fat wad of turbopower has a shorter path to tire smoke.
It goes through a gearbox, a differential, and two half-shafts. That's it. Other differences include how a manufacturer tests their engines to rate their power. It's been said that Chrysler underrates most of their performance engine's outputs because they test them on the brake dyno in a "worst case scenario" type of situation. Which is why times are popular - it adds together the power-at-wheels to weight ratio as well as how much grip the car has, and spits out a real-world number.
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