Speaking of 0-60...

With my 79 KE30 Corolla 4 speed, 0-60 wasn't a time it was a question. I had a cop in Misery once tried to give me a ticket for going 81 in her. I was never able to get her over 75 without a good stiff tail wind and a long downhill slope. . . .

Charles of Schaumburg.

Toyotas book speeds are often a little on the conservative side too. Book time for mine standard is 7.8 but in stock form i managed 6.5 with ease. Buy a gtech pro unit ($80 ish) to be sure :)

Is your tC "a preproduction model that was modified with a polished AEM cold-air intake and a TRD exhaust?" I don't read car magazines much anymore (mostly because they have turned into infomercials) but in the old days it was common for manufacturers (especially GM) to slip the magazines "special" models so that the magazine would get really good performance numbers that were not necessarily related to production models. The tC article you referenced at least acknowledged that this was not a production model. Do you feel your tC has this level of performance? The magazine article was claiming that the acknowledged modifications added 10 hp (or at least 6% more than the production version). When Consumer Reports tested a tC, their

0-60 was 8.8 sec. Their 1/4 mile time was 16.7 sec. Their 1/4 mile trap speed was 85 mph. People often dislike CR's conclusions (I know I do), but in general I think their performance tests are fair and consistent (except for some of the stability tests) - since they buy standard production vehicles and test them on their own track. Enthusiast magazines often get cooked vehicles from the manufacturers and use a variety of test sites to make the performance measurements. This makes vehicle to vehicle comparisons unreliable even when the tests were supposedly done by the same magazine and especially suspect when you are comparing vehicles across a number of magazines.

Ed

Thanks, Ed...burst my bubble...

(Um, it sure FEELS that fast!) It is also as fast as my 240SX (tested without any mods...) and even faster than the Supra (um, 18 years old!)

I did not mean to burst your bubble. Even the CR numbers are about as good as anything I persoanlly have ever owned. CR also listed a 200HP Supercharged engine as an option - is that true? I wish they had the numbers for that. Can you put that much power through the front wheels of a relatively light car and keep it a straight line?

Ed

Missed qslim's post about how it throws the balance of the car off...

How much interior room is there in a tC?

And slightly off topic - my SO just put a deposit down on a new RAV4 - anything to look for when we pick it up? I should have let her do my truck shopping,. She got a better deal on the RAV4 in 3 days than I could get on a Tacoma in two months (which explains why I am driving a Frontier).

Ed

C. E. White wrote: Can you put that much power through the front wheels of a

Friend of mine has a 300bhp (200lbft) front wheel drive that doesnt suffer from torque steer - its designed with very similar-length front shafts. It does suffer from just sitting on the spot and not being able to get off the line if its even lightly damp outside :)

If I recall correctly, it was also their policy to drive it as if it were their own car. For example, their tester lifts his right foot for a shift. That's how I drive my car, even if I want "maximum" acceleration.

I never find flat-shifting helps anyway - my clutch just slips like hell.