6 Cars That Lied About Their Power Outputs
BMW M5 (F10)
While it was jolly exciting when the M5 broke the 600hp (592bhp) mark with the 30 Jahre version of the F10, it perhaps wasn’t as big a deal as it might have otherwise been. Why? Because the standard car was already hitting that figure. Lord knows how much the special edition was actually putting out.
Various dyno tests have put standard F10 M5s around the 600 mark, well in excess of the official figure of 552bhp. We still feel sad about the death of the V10 version, but that power is one hell of a way to make up for it.
Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34)
When looking at a lot of Japanese performance cars from the 1990s and early 2000s, a figure will come up quite frequently: 276bhp. Allegedly, it’s all part of a gentleman’s agreement that saw the major Japanese car manufacturers producing cars with bang on that figure on paper, but the reality is many were putting out over 300bhp.
In the case of the R34, the actual power output from its twin-turbo RB26 straight-six is more like 322.
Toyota Century
It wasn’t just performance cars that had some less than realistic power figures in the 1990s. The V12-powered Toyota Century officially made - you guessed it - 276bhp, when it actually developed over 300bhp. So this 5.0-litre lump was still producing a fairly modest, understressed output for such a big engine - just one that was slightly higher than advertised.
Porsche 959
One of the most exciting and technologically innovative supercars of the 1980s was the legendary Porsche 959. It had four-wheel drive, active suspension, and even active tyre monitoring.
With 450bhp developed from its turbocharged flat-six, it was no slouch either. However, rumour has it the cars left the factory with closer to 500. There isn’t quite as much solid info on the veracity of the claims compared to other cars here, but it’s a rumour that persists.
Ford Mustang Cobra Jet
There was a period during the 1960s and 1970s when muscle car engines were given hilariously understated power outputs. The biggest liar of them all? That’d be the Mustang Cobra Jet.
It came packing a performance version of the Blue Oval’s 428 cubic-inch big-block V8, officially making 335hp. In reality, it made 410. Yep, an additional 75 horses Ford neglected to mention.
Chevrolet Camaro (fourth-gen)
Stock LS1-powered Chevrolet Camaros from the car’s fourth generation are supposed to make 305hp at the crank. The reality is most put out around that figure at the wheels.
The same goes for the Pontiac Firebird, which used the same LS1. The same LS1 was used in the C5 Chevrolet Corvette with some very slight differences, but that time a more accurate official power output of 350hp was given.
What other understated engines can you think of? Let us know in the comments!
Comments
And then you have Renault, the one who give you 20 less HP in the 3rd gen Clio RS
Buick GNX and Terminator Cobra as well.
The 426 hemi was claimed at 425 hp but in reality made around 500
Like a lot of different sporty engines back in the days
Lol 😉
The R34 had to lie to be a sports car because at the time, 276hp was the amount for all the sports to compete against each other
NSX was also rated at 276hp but actually dinoed about 300+
That mustang reduced the death rate in America; as the population was setting the ‘psichological’ barrier of power within 335hp.
The 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt was a limited-production dragster-platform for Ford racers. Due to isurance regulations it was “only” rated at 425hp, in fact it had close to 600hp as Dyno tests prooved. Ford was pretty much the biggest liar in the business.
The engine was the famous 427 high riser engine with a claimed 13,5:1 compression ratio. With such a beast someone made it to get an 8.55s @154mph at the quarter mile. (SS/A, NHRA, modern tires)
None compare to the L88 Corvette Stingray. It was rated at 435 horsepower from the factory, but in reality it put out nearly 560 horsepower stock. That’s 125 horsepower unstated. The L88s were fully built race engines that were restricted from factory, so simple mods like intake, tune, and exhaust lead to near 600 HP. 600 HP in the late 1960’s, is like 2000 today.
http://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/1969-Chevrolet-Corvette-L88-626x375.jpg
I’ve read that it had such a low figure not only because of insurance and emissions, but also to keep all the rich guys away from it. They wanted this car to be a racer’s insider track car.
Those were amazing cars, still are…
https://tenor.co/yb5m.gifhttps://tenor.co/yb5m.gif
Oh yeah, the Mustang is a god damn liar. The peak was in ‘69 with the Cobra Jets and Super Cobra Jets as mentioned. The BOSS 429 was a lie as well and later in the year FORD officially admitted that the powerfugures might be a bit underrated. In the papers it had 375hp, in fact north of 500hp. A lot of people though were very disappointed by the BIG BOSS, because it had beento slow. That’s because they had to set a rev limiter at about 6,000rpm, nothing good for a high-revving engine that could reach 9,000rpm…yes 9,000 with a 429, that was a big headache for emissions testers. It also was detumed with a small carburetor, but noone today would change that gem again.
Manufacturers place rev limiters way below what they test them at to increase engine life. Unless Ford tested that thing at like 14k RPMs a rev limiter at 6k is pretty reasonable.
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