What do you consider to be fast?

David S. Wallens wrote: This thread got me thinking. In 1992 I picked up a brand-new Nissan Sentra SE-R. Published 0-60 was like 7.4 seconds. OMG that was so fast. Remember, at the time, a Miata was like 9 seconds. Today, a minivan could probably smoke both of them. So, today, do we care? And if so, what's your definition?

Under 10 seconds in the quarter is a pretty good tickle.

For things that require turning and stuff, fast is when I can't keep up with the car anymore. Any less than that, and I figure that the car can be better.

Keith Tanner wrote: Nothing's fast in a straight line the second time you try it.

We are the dealers. We'll bring you everything you need.

I have two cars that are returned because they wanted More. Supercharged LT1 Camaro is now a supercharged 383 with much better heads and a smidge more boost, we're going to try to limit it to 650hp for sanity reasons.

The Hummer is back, too. We're shooting for 750 on that...

Appleseed wrote: If you want to feel what fast is, do north of 160 on a bike...on the street.

No.

I don't like exceeding 20 on two wheels...

Kia_Racer wrote: Fast is subjective. A bugeyed Sprite feels faster at 60mph than a C5 does at 100mph.

Exactly. A Lotus 7 replica feels fast no matter what you do with it, whereas some cars today are hazardous because they're really fast and you don't appreciate it till you're overcooking a corner.

That said, 6.0 in the 60 was my magic threshold for years. That was about what a 5.0 Mustang would pull. The legendary 930 turbo in it's first iteration was factory timed at 6.3! Now I put "quick" at 7, but "fast" requires the first digit to be a 4 or better.

bludroptop wrote: Feeling "fast" may be subjective. Top speed is not.

But at what point does top speed become "fast" if not for the subjective feelings we get through all of our senses? Relative to the center of the earth I'm going ~700mph. Relative to the Sun, I'm going ~67,000mph. Yet, it feels like I'm not even moving.

For the record, the "fastest" I think I've gone was a passenger in a beater 94 K1500 V6 farm truck circa 2010, on a top speed run on a 2 lane road at night. We can't have been going more than 90-95mph, but between the dead shocks, loose front end, broken exhaust that put ~50% of it out the 3" pipe at the axle, 4.3 SCREAMING, and the chance of a deer jumping in front of us, it felt like this.

kreb wrote:

Kia_Racer wrote: Fast is subjective. A bugeyed Sprite feels faster at 60mph than a C5 does at 100mph.

Exactly. A Lotus 7 replica feels fast no matter what you do with it, whereas some cars today are hazardous because they're really fast and you don't appreciate it till you're overcooking a corner. That said, 6.0 in the 60 was my magic threshold for years. That was about what a 5.0 Mustang would pull. The legendary 930 turbo in it's first iteration was factory timed at 6.3! Now I put "quick" at 7, but "fast" requires the first digit to be a 4 or better.

I was thinking that back in the day my LX 5.0L was a 0-60 in the low 6 sec. range and that was fast. Now a Honda Accord V6 could smoke it. But the sensation of speed is still there as is that glorious noise. Still on the autocross circuit my MINI Cooper feels fast, though HS is usually the slowest class.

In reply to David S. Wallens:

I think almost everything sold new today is fast. All technology eventually reaches a point where it surpasses normal human processing or need. Like monitor refresh rates at some point our eyes cannot see the difference. Having a new SUV launch all over your late 90's sport compact car is just a sign of the times. But how often is it used? Or needed? Are all 7 passengers ready for that launch or were they about to sip some nice hot coffee?

Crazy that even my stock 2004 Evo would have a hard time with some modern beige family sedans.

Fast is not the measure of a car. My NA Miata and neon acr were just as fun as the Evo is.

So my answer is.

It doesn't matter.

Advan046 wrote: In reply to David S. Wallens: I think almost everything sold new today is fast. All technology eventually reaches a point where it surpasses normal human processing or need. Like monitor refresh rates at some point our eyes cannot see the difference.

But I need 120FPS! When it drops down to 100FPS the chunking is too distracting!

(Bored one day, I stared up at a consistent water drip from a decent height and, with some basic timing and math, along with paying attention to how motion is not smooth if you watch closely enough, confirmed persistence of vision in the 24fps range)

Having a new SUV launch all over your late 90's sport compact car is just a sign of the times.

One of these days I will scan the timeslip. There I was, retuning the bridge ported RX-7 at the dragstrip. Brap brap bok bok bok BOKBOKBOK ANGRY NOISES GRRR sounding car. On the "tolerable if you don't make eye contact" level of anti-socialness. Idle at nothing vacuum, rev to five figures. 13.69 at nearly 103, which is not unrespectable given the relative quietness compared to what kind of obnoxious noisebeast it could be.

The Tesla Model S in the next lane, a car which combines being electric and being a gigantic luxobarge into what is theoretically a perfect storm of suck performance-wise, ran a 12.66 at 110.

You can buy new cars, right now, with over 600hp and a 100k warranty. That's 600 real HP, not 600 "no accessories or exhaust and we readjusted everything at each discrete RPM point, then the marketing department fudged the numbers" gross HP. All while producing emissions that, as Mr. Tanner has said, are unicorns and rainbows...

Isn't living the future COOL??

Fast is contextual. You can go plenty fast with 130hp up Mt. Ascutney.

A note concerning fast. I believe it was Sir Sterling Moss, but it may have been Dan Gurney or even another famous driver who said. Fast is going 40mph into a corner you cannot possibly negotiate at more than 25mph!

Forget about all these straight line numbers. You don't even feel or understand fast without corners or curves. Even in a Phantom Duece where Mach 2 is a given.

Weekends are the fastest thing I've ever seen. Gone in a flash.

My last car had 82hp over 3300 lb. It felt fast enough to me. My current car has 105hp over 2500 lb. It feels like a rocket.

Anything less than 7 seconds to 60 is fast in my book, no real reason, just driving experience. Some cars slower still feel fast. Some things faster don't impress with speed without any NVH. I have never owned are driven a particularly fast car.

Go-kart at 60mph is fast.

Go-kart at 100 mph can be terrifying.

Just about anything I have gotten to drive on track has felt fast until I had to point someone faster by. Fast for me is so slow by modern standards that it cannot be quantified.

Joe Gearin wrote: I recently drove a 1981 Plymouth Champ (80hp) from the Midwest all the way home to Florida. Once home I jumped into my 1982 Ford Truck (5 liter straight six) and was amazed at how quick it was. My truck is not fast......at all ---- but after using 90% of the Champ's potential just to keep up with traffic for 2,400 miles, the old Ford felt like a rocket ship! It's all relative----- if you think your daily is too slow---- buy a cheap beater from the 80s, when you get back in your regular car--- it will feel amazing!

I used to love driving a 26,000 lb GVW box truck, only because it made my Miata feel like a literal go-cart, both in acceleration and cornering. It's all relative to what you are used to.

Fast = whatever you may think.... divided by driver ability.

I've seen 40hp Beetles being too fast in some hands.... same thing with 90hp Corollas... and 500hp Vipers...

I was just having this very conversation with a friend of mine the other day. We both have cars that will do mid-13s and I think both of us accept our cars as adequate, but are they fast?

This all came to mind because the other day I was out and about on my Bandit and a kid was next to me in one of the smooth pre-New Edge SN95 Mustangs. It was obnoxiously rumbly and loud. I've had Mustangs and they don't all have to be obnoxious in their being loud. Some can be loud quite nicely. This particular one was so loud as to be obnoxious.

Anyway, the light turns green and he accelerated away at what had to have been WOT in an unholy racket of 4.6. "BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" But there he was, still just sort of going and accelerating. I didn't even hit 10k on the tach in first and I launched past him, even having waited for at least a full second watching him go.

The Bandit 1200 and the Ducati 999 are not the fastest launching or best drag-racingy bikes in the world, but the thing is, once you get used to fast on a motorcycle, fast in a car just seems like a lot of noise with no real results.

On either bike, I still have no space on public roads to go WOT anywhere. And launching hard, front wheel just barely keeping contact with the pavement is still enough to make my eyes go wide and realize that this could damage me if it goes wrong.

So I guess 0-60 in under 3.3, 1/4 mile in under 11 is fast to me.

mistanfo wrote: I used to love driving a 26,000 lb GVW box truck, only because it made my Miata feel like a literal go-cart, both in acceleration and cornering. It's all relative to what you are used to.

That is, in fact, the automotive equivalent of hitting yourself on the head with a hammer because it feels so good when you stop.

My dream when young. 0-60 in 10 sec. top speed 120. Now I have one. It is fast enough for me, at least on the highway.

Personally, I've always used the "Mustang Line" to define fast.

Slower than a V6 'Stang = not fast.

Faster than a V6, slower than a GT/V8 = sort of fast

Faster than a GT = fast

Faster than a Shelby = something special.

Sort of covers "fast" over the past five decades if you think about it. (Assuming you skip the late 70's, were almost nothing was fast)

Lugnut wrote: once you get used to fast on a motorcycle, fast in a car just seems like a lot of noise with no real results.

^this^

A 15 year old 600cc sport bike is faster than anything with 4 wheels and a license plate this side of super car territory and even then - it's only marginal. A modern liter bike is mind blurring on the level of DSR or CSR race car.

When I think fast - it's bikes, shifter carts and real race cars (not tin tops).

To me anything that has lower than 10 sec 0-60 is quick and anything with lower than 6 sec 0-60 is fast.

Fast to me is faster than I've been. I've owned a mid 12 second car so that's where I'd put the line at. I've been to 150 mph so I'd put anything that feels comfortable above that speed as fast.

All that aside the most fun I've had across country was a big roley poley 76 cutlass. Raw and loud with a big nasty Lunati cam and Mondello ported heads. Soft and squishy suspension. But coming through a nice set of switchbacks with the sounds of that rowdy engine echoing off the hills of southern Ohio on a crisp fall morning is basically automotive nirvana to me.