Why Your Car Isn't as Fast as the Magazines Say ( note: couldn't reduce the copied font size,sorry)

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...0Non%20Openers

 

I'm happy they mention cars like the WRX specifically, too many people are seduced by the 0-60 time of that car due to its AWD. Sure, it will hit 60 in 5 seconds if you do a diff shattering clutch dump, but try that 5 times and your cars toast. In my experience the WRX is no faster than a GTI or Civic Si. This is also the reason why high grip, low torque cars like the RX8 can have such varied magazine times.

 

0-60 time could definitely be deceiving. The C8 Stingray is a prime example of this. Due to the MR setup it has, it can lay down a 0-60 time of 2.9 seconds, which C8 owners are actually able to replicate. This is better than C7 Z06's 0-60 time, but when traction is not a problem(at high speeds), a C7 Z06 will smoke the C8 Stingray.

When you get into cars with lots of torque(NA V8 or turbo 6-cylinder), getting traction can become a challenge and you have to have dry ground with good temperature, good tires, etc. to have everything work out. Manual trans adds another layer of uncertainty due it being more prone to driver errors than auto trans.

Then there is the S1 vs. S2 RX-8, where the S1 RX-8 actually has a better 0-100 kph time than the S2, but this is due to S2 having a shorter 2nd gear and therefore needs another shift to get to 100 kph, which impacted the time. In real life, however, S2 will be a little bit peppier around town due to the shorter 2nd gear. RX-8s are not designed to be drag strip specials stock anyway.

At least it's not as useless as the "top gear 60 mph to 80 mph" test, where every manual car gets incredibly stupid times because the test involves lugging the engine(flooring it while in top gear) while automatics get to downshift. If you can't be bothered to drop a gear or two when passing on highways, why are you driving a manual? Supposedly the test made sense when automatics had 2 or 3 gears while manuals had maybe 4 gears, but with today's 8+speed automatics, it makes zero sense.

 

I haven’t read most of those magazines for the last 15 years. It’s all overblown boloney.

The S2 will hit 60mph in 2nd. it was just slower for a bunch of reasons. Mostly just being a redesign cluster. Again, overblown bologna.

 

I would take them with a grain of salt. Obviously the only way to really find out about a car is test driving it yourself.

I can't remember if it was 60 MPH or 100 km/h(62.5 MPH). Personally I haven't tested that, not that I bought an RX-8 for drag races.

 

they probably own a Camaro or something

they hear the beep and don’t realize the tachometer is indicating 500 rpm higher than actual.

Put it on the rev limiter in 2nd and let us know what the speedometer indicates ...

 

Yeah, I am aware of the lying tachometer. I have made an Excel sheet for gearing, RPM, and speed. It looks like the S2 will just barely pass 100 km/h in 2nd gear at rev limiter. I recall making the sheet, comparing the RPM to my car, and finding out that the error is about 7% at any given RPM, so at redline, it's reading about 700 RPM higher.

Even my current car isn't that great for a drag strip race. If that's my goal, I would have picked the 10-speed auto rather than the 6-speed manual.

 

well you made the right choice for popping the clutch, kicking sideways, and then running over the people on the curb that cheered you on to do something stupid. There’s some justice in there somewhere.

 

That would be a Mustang.

Realistically it's just about not being dumb with the gas pedal on a public street.

I have seen a short clip where a Mustang GT drifts around and leaves the car scene without crashing then a BMW comes along and crashes. Shocking, I know, but it happens.