At what point does a stock-car become a 'fast car'

[MrIcky]

I was discussing this with a friend and I thought it was a good question. At what measuring point can you start to call a stock car a 'fast car'. My ideas are any car that in stock form can break 100 mph in the 1/4 is fast. Surprisingly few cars can do this using the R&T summary as a guide. It looks like it's roughly the top 10-15% of production cars. Even some cars with quick 0-60s can't make this number. If you move up to 110, you start excluding all but very rare cars- probably the top 1% of cars being produced.

What are your thoughts?

[Mr Twisty]

How wet is wet? ...I agree with you pretty much.

[10redrocket]

I would say anything under 10Lbs per HP is pretty good.

The Camaro LS3 is roughly 9Lbs per.

[dieseldave24v]

What is your definition of fast? I mesure fast on the drag strip, some do it on a regular track. To me fast is bieng able to outrun any production car "with in reason" Lets say under 80K in the 1/4 mile. A street car in the 11's is fast to me. A 12.80-13.00 second stock 5th Gen is quick. Just my opinion.

[The_Blur]

Fast is a term that can't be measured adequately in terms of numbers. It's a comparative thing. For example, a fast economy car is much slower than a fast exotic because a fast economy car is only faster than expectations of an economy car. A slow exotic is still faster than other cars by comparison.

Defining how fast something is requires you to measure what is average. You can only call something fast if it is faster than the norm, so you need to establish a norm. If you take the most commonly sold cars or the most common performance numbers for used cars that are on the streets, you can come up with the performance of an average car. For something to be fast, it has to beat the average car by a significant amount. This creates another problem because you have to decide what is significant. If you can define significant as a percentage of improvement and average, then you can come up with a universal definition of what is fast. The categorical way to measure whether a car is fast is to stick with its class. For example, the Mustang would be considered slow for a current pony car even though it is much faster than previous generations out of the factory. Once again, you need to define what is average for that group and what is a significant increase in performance. This is much easier because there are less cars to compare. In the Mustang's case, you only have to compare 3 pony cars and a couple of outsiders that would be likely competitors, like the Genesis and 370Z.

You could also use the Camaro method of defining what is slow. Since the Camaro, by definition, is fast, all cars that do not hang with the Camaro are slow.

[CatiaJockey]

Fast is when "you" get a big shiteattin grin on your face when you mash the gas. Nothing else matters.

[MCPOAJ]

Originally Posted by CatiaJockey

Fast is when "you" get a big shiteattin grin on your face when you mash the gas. Nothing else matters.

that's exactly it right there

[liquidfire350]

the very first time i went to the track i ran a 13.8, ever since then, i go by this-

12s and down fast, 13 is average, 14s and up is slow

[CamaroScotty]

Anything with a CHEVY badge on it.

[TonytheTiger]

anything over 300hp and under 3900lbs is considered "fast"

[JJ#48Racing]

Fast is a relative term, but for me it roughly goes like this:

14 sec 1/4 and up, below 100mph = slow
13 sec range, above 100mph = decent
12 sec range, above 110mph = quick
11 sec range or less, above 120mph = fast

My car has run a best of 12.44 @ 114 (not stock). I tell people it's "pretty quick" when they ask me if it's fast. Then some of those same people say it's "scary fast" and some say it's "not bad" after I give them a ride.

[JJ#48Racing]

Originally Posted by CamaroScotty

Anything with a CHEVY badge on it.

Haha, I don't know if I'd go that far, Aveo's come with Chevy badges.

[TonytheTiger]

Imagine a aveo ss

[CamaroSpike23]

wooooooooooooooooow....


have any of you seen the infiniti or whatever car commercial where the voice over says "300 horsepower is fast"



I seriously LMAO everytime I see that commercial. cus it continues to prove my creed that horsepower sells cars and torque wins races.

a 300hp I-4 could be faster than a 300hp v-6 or even a 300hp v-8

just like 300hp v-8 could be slow (see stock 4th gen f-bodys)

using hp to measure speed is ignorant.

and dont get all butt hurt about me calling you ignorant, its not a direct attack at anyone on here, just stating the obvious.


now as far as what I consider fast for a "stock" car..... define stock?
stock motor/interior
stock motor + bolt-ons
stock motor+bolt-ons+trans/rear/slicks
stock motor+bolt-ons+trans/rear/slicks+gutted interior


for off the showroom floor, I consider fast anything running 12.49's. (12.5-13.00 is quick, everything else is slow....lol)

now for bolt-ons... 11s is fast
10s is stupid fast
9s is crazy stupid fast
8s is crap crazy stupid fast
7s is holy crap crazy stupid fast
6s is holy jeebus crap crazy stupid fast
5s and below is holy jeebus crap crazy what the hell are you doing going that speed in a car are you stupid fast.



but then again, look at my sig.