Comparing cars by horsepower just isn’t fair. For example, the 420-horsepower 2015 Cadillac Escalade hits 60 mph about as quick as the turbocharged 259-horsepower 2014 Chevrolet Malibu. Why? Because the Malibu’s lighter.
As such, the quickest cars aren’t the most powerful, but the one’s with the best power-to-weight ratio. According to Autoblog, half of the top ten cars costing under $100,000 with the best power-to-weight ratio are made by General Motors.
Though crosstown rival Ford took the top billing with the Ford Shelby GT500’s 5.808 pounds per horsepower, the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 wasn’t far behind, with each of its horses saddled with 7.103 pounds – enough to place third overall. The Corvette Stingray followed it with each horse pushing 7.248 pounds of Vette around.
The other three General Motors models on the list were the Camaro Z/28 (7.564 lbs/hp), Cadillac CTS-V coupe (7.585 lbs/hp) and Cadillac CTS-V sedan (7.590 lbs/hp).
But Autoblog didn’t stop there. The automotive website looked at the top 10 cars that offered the best power-to-weight ratio for less than $50,000 and $25,000, where the Chevrolet Camaro SS and Chevrolet SS sedan placed among the former, and the V6 Chevrolet Camaro among the latter.
Comments
This really is not so much a indication on how light GM is but how heavy the entire market is with their models.
GM will see much improvement with each and ever new platform. Each model will lose weight and or grow in size and not gain any weight like the CTS.
Put them on the track!
Z06… Nothing else matters!!!
Do you hear me Hellcat?
I’ll bet it, the “Hellcat” is no match for the Z/28!
Do you hear me Hellcat?
How does that vers go, “Get in the (RING) mother F’r, i’ll kick your bitchy little ass!
I’m calling you out Fiat aka, “FCA”!
“GET IN THE RING”
Well before you pick too much of a fight you had better chose the venue.
The Z/28 is not a quarter mile car and while it has good 1/4 mile times it is not a drag car and so it is not the fastest there.
Now get on a road race track and the Z will take the Hellcats lunch and eat it.
There is a right tool for the job here. The greatest key is how Dodge gets the power to the ground as the tires are not massive on this car and all the power in the world is of little real value unless the car hooks up. This was taught to me by a guy with a Duster who was able to run 9 second while still looking pretty stock with no tubs. His car hooked up while everyone else had wheel spin because the chassis was tuned and the tires were sticky.
The Dodge is an axe while the Z is a Scalpel.
Scott, lol that last sentence was kind of funny.
Well it is true. Sometimes less is more.
All the power in the world is of no use if you can not use it all. This is true of many cars with big numbers.
This is something I learned from my friend a long time ago. While many get excited with smoky burnouts he was winning races.
It takes a complete package to have a complete car. Come up short in weight, suspension, brakes or other area and you have a car that does not take advantage of everything it has. The Z is the first true Camaro that takes advantage of the whole package to a point but yet it has room for improvement that the Alpha will bring due to the limitations of the Zeta.
The new C7 is a good example of the complete package with good results with everything working together.
I see it at work all the time where some guy buys a cam that sounds lumpy and then installs it only to find the car falling on its face. He failed to adapt the proper gear and converter to the car and it can not make use of the mid to upper range of the cam. Sure it sounds cool but it just will not run right without the complete package to support it.
In other words do not leave something on the table if you want it right.
Just a note I saw this car in the photo this weekend. They had the wheel turned out on the front. Boy you just don’t realize how big it is till you see it across the tread. I anticipate the neg gen will do as much or more with a smaller and lighter wheel. Less mass is a great enhancer of performance.