On the way to work this morning I saw a Lincoln LS racing a Nissan Altima SE from a stoplight. When the light turned green the LS jumped about 2 car lengths while the Altima spun for about 20 feet. Once the Nissan got traction it kept a reasonable pace until about 50-60mph when the Lincoln starting pulling hard. They shut down at what I would guess was about 80-90mph with the Lincoln ahead by a good 5-6 car lengths. I consider that a pretty good kill. Both cars looked and sounded stock.

Now I know those Altimas are no joke. They've been known to do very low 15's with the occasional factory freak dipping into the 14's. So, by comparision, I'm guessing that would put the LS either deep in the 14's or possibly into the very high 13's. The Altima driver did launch terribly however, so maybe what I was watching had more to do with the drivers than the cars. Just the same, I was very impressed by how hard that LS pulled.

 

the SE is a 2.5L right?

I know the LS w/ the V8 is quite torque-y :D

 

I think the Altima SE has a 3.5L V6. I couldn't see the badges on either cars but I saw the dual exhaust tips on both of them.

 

Not even close.

The Altima SE with the 3.5, presuming it's MTX, will pull mid 14s pretty easily with the occassional freak one pulling a 14.2-14.3. An SE-R will run rather consistent low 14s You'd have to try to go so slow as to get 15s. Hell, I can run 14.8s all day long with my Mazda6s when it was bone-stock and it's got 30 less horses.

 

When a car accelerates, the weight transfers to the rear wheels. The Altima is FWD, so hence the spinning. One of the many things I really can't stand about FWD, although let's not get into that.

 

Wow. I had no idea. So that LS is quicker than I thought. Anybody know what kind of times you can expect out of a V8 LS?

 

Personally I can't see an LS breaking into the 14s. So I'd have to assume that the Altima was either, 1> Not trying, 2> a 2.5SE, or 3> a ATX 3.5SE (externally identical to the 2.5SE). Or some combination thereof. Hard to say really. An LS is quick, and a respectable car for what it is, but not that quick -- it does weigh 3800lbs.