Topic: Motoring Memories: Ford T-Bird Turbo Coupe

[Scaerio]

It always amazes me how a 0-60 time of 8 seconds was considered fast in the '80s and today a Toyota Siena minivan gets from 0-60 in almost the same time...

[avtoller]

Standard test times for the original Minis were about 13.4 0-60 mph for the Cooper and 9.9 for the Cooper S, and they were about the hottest pocket rockets of their day. 

[mdxtasy]

An average family sedan (Altima, Accord, Camry) will put a 1990's Porsche 911 into a sweat in a 0-60 contest. 

[Mitlov]

Car and Driver had a great editorial about this once, answering the question of why fuel economy hasn't improved over the years even though engine design is so much more sophisticated now.

[initial_D]

I remember those T-birds.  Turbo 2.3L with 150ish HP in the earlier models, ... can't even challenge a Mazda3 nowadays. 

[safristi]

Initial i d id not know ya were so KOOL LOOKIN'.............. ..NO STRINGS ATTACHED compliment...

[99 Silver]

My in-laws had a 1978 Silver Anniversary Corvette when they came out.

I had never driven a vette before and was excited when my wife and I took it out for a run.  The view out the front was awesome, and the sound was classic, but the car ran like a pig.  It would barely spin the tires around a corner!

That experience changed my opinion about vettes forever and I have never wanted to own one since.  It had a 350 cubic inch V8 and was no quicker than my 1979 RX8.  It just shows you how bad engine tuning was back then just after more stringent pollution regulations were brought in.

[Ex-airbalancer]

Hp back in '70 was low
But somehow people were able to get around
"1978 was the 25th anniversary of the Corvette, and all 1978 Corvettes received 25th anniversary badges. The car had a new "fastback" rear window that provided better rear vision and more storage behind the seats. A 350 ci V8 was standard, and the base version produced 185 horsepower"

http://www.sportscarmarket.com/affordable-classics/2000-December/1978-corvette-pace-car-replica.html

[Arthur Dent]

I had a 78 Z28 with origionally came with the 185hp - a few choice mods - headers, ported heads plus a cam and it make much more.

[random006]

I have visited your site 535-times

Web  crawling "bot" or crank poster?  Either way, delete please.

[mmret]

Would be interesting to plot the 0-60 times of cars over the years.

In another 20 years, would a Corolla be able to go 0-60 in 6 seconds? 5?

[Cord]

I had a 78 Z28 with origionally came with the 185hp - a few choice mods - headers, ported heads plus a cam and it make much more.

In 1975 my dad bought a Chevy Nova with a 262 cu. in. V8 that produced a staggering 110HP! Torque was something like 260 lb ft, but still.

[B2]

In another 20 years, would a Corolla be able to go 0-60 in 6 seconds? 5?

Considering most compact cars already are closing in on the 7 second range, I'd say a couple more generations of Corolla's, Civics, and Mazda's will be in the 5-6 second range.  That's maybe 5-10 yrs.

But I suspect new engine technologies (electric, hybrid, hydrogen) will 'reset' the performance to be slower for the advantage of fuel savings.  Of course, there will always be fast cars, but maybe not the common compacts.

[mmret]

In another 20 years, would a Corolla be able to go 0-60 in 6 seconds? 5?

Considering most compact cars already are closing in on the 7 second range, I'd say a couple more generations of Corolla's, Civics, and Mazda's will be in the 5-6 second range.  That's maybe 5-10 yrs.

But I suspect new engine technologies (electric, hybrid, hydrogen) will 'reset' the performance to be slower for the advantage of fuel savings.  Of course, there will always be fast cars, but maybe not the common compacts.

Econoboxes are closing in on 7 seconds? Not counting the Civic Si, GTI, Cobalt SS, MS3, and other such cars, what car that you can buy well equipped for $25k tax in can push 7 seconds?

[Rolling]

I remember those T-birds.  Turbo 2.3L with 150ish HP in the earlier models, ... can't even challenge a Mazda3 nowadays. 

I wouldn’t generalize all Turbo-Tbirds that way. That 2.3 was a very strong engine and was found in many other vehicles like the Merkur, and the Mustang SVO.

I have fond memories watching IMSA GTO races in the late 80’s watching how those Cougar XR7’s (T-Birds twin model at that time) totally dominated the field. They raced against Mazda RX-7’s and Nissan 300ZX’s and won the championship outright for two consecutive years.

Sure they were racing cars, and were modified, and the displacement was enlarged to 2.5 liters, but it was based on that 2.3 you can find in that T-Bird turbo.  Sure technology has improved since then but I think 600+ Horsepower from a 4 cylinder wasn’t too bad in those days.

[B2]

Econoboxes are closing in on 7 seconds? Not counting the Civic Si, GTI, Cobalt SS, MS3, and other such cars, what car that you can buy well equipped for $25k tax in can push 7 seconds? Huh

Car & Driver went from 0-60 in 7.4 seconds in a 2004 Mazda3 sport:  http://www.caranddriver.com/roadtests/7566/mazda-3-page3.html

They got 7.7 seconds in a Civic: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/12846/2007-honda-civic.html

Pontiac G5 GT hits 60 in 7.1 seconds!  (base price on this is about $22k CAD) http://www.caranddriver.com/features/12862/2007-chevrolet-cobalt-ss-and-pontiac-g5-gt.html

Actually, just read this article: http://www.caranddriver.com/features/12843/the-quickest-cars-of-2007-less-than-20000.html

The other cars you mentioned (Si, GTI, SS, MS3, WRX) are around the 6 second range, from 0-60 mph.