Originally posted by pete01:
I know this isn't a contour question, but is horsepower basically the main factor in determining if one car could beat another? I mean, i hear a lot of people talk up mustangs and how the haul major a** but according to carpoint.com the stock 4.6L V8 pulls about 260hp. Not that i'm saying that it's not very much horsepower, but an '02 Nissan Maxima (hopefully my next car) has a 3.5L V6 that runs 255hp.
So, what else makes one car faster than another?? I mean, if it's just horsepower than the Maxima should be able to give the 'stang a run for it's money. I guess i'm just ignorant when it comes to cars but i thought 'stangs, camero's, vett's, (and other 8 cylinders) where in a class of their own when it comes to being faster than other smaller cars.
I'm just curious and need educated
-pete
This basically becomes a math problem. You've stumbled into one of the problems with looking at ad copy. The ads (as well as the car rags) frequently post peak HP. The question is, where does that HP peak occur? Is it at 2000 RPM or 6500 RPMs. (Or like the F1 cars, at 12K+ RPM
just can't drive that on the street, yet.)
You really need to see the dyno plots, and the car with the most area under the curve, has the most potential to go fast in a short drag race.
However, the other factors mentioned as well, driver, traction, FWD v RWD also come into play here.
So you gotta look at more than just peak HP.
Let's also understand quick vs fast. Quick is basically a measure of acceleration. How quickly can the car accelerate. The Mustang is probably quick as well as fast. Fast is basically, what is the top speed of the car.
It is possible that the Mustang is Quick, and the Max is fast.
TB
