I was reading Car and Driver and one of the benchmark numbers they always test is 50-70mph in top gear and was wondering what some of your guy's times were since it's really easy to test and the Z has a stopwatch built into it. I know this test doesn't really mean a whole lot other than lazy passing power on the highway in top gear

so what are your guy's times? Next time you're on the highway and have some room away from cars, keep it in 6th gear (5th for autos in manual mode) and time it with the stopwatch - then come here and post your time and car setup and power levels etc



for reference from Car and Driver:
C6 Z51 does it in 9.1 sec
C6 Z06 8.8 sec
Viper SRT10 9.8 sec
the new cobra mustang GT500 does it in 8.8 sec
Ferrari F430 does it in 6.4 sec
Saleen S7 does it in 5.6 sec
lotus exige 8.5 sec
porsche cayman 6.7 sec
Pontiac Solstice 13.5 sec
Mazda MX-5 8.9 sec
mazdaspeed MX-5 7.6 sec
honda accord hybrid 5.1 sec
2004 mustang GT 9.5 sec
Land Rover Range Rover Sport Supercharged 4.4 sec

 

haha wow so the accord hybrid beat the sallen s7, ferrari F430 and all of the other super cars?

 

those things don't have much power coming out of the engine, so they need aggressive gearing.

the Range Rover I'm guessing has a roots supercharger and a big engine that makes most of it's power down low as is so it gets 4.4 sec

 

I imagine my Z would take just as long as the C6 simply because i'm not making any boost in 6th gear at 50mph lol.

 

I'm not sure what even the stock Z does for it. But even stock compared to the C6, it's final drive and tranny gear ratio are 64% stronger then the C6 when multiplied out so I think there's a chance even the stock Z would outdo the C6 in this sorta test

 

Car and Driver does both 30-50 and 50-70 top gear tests. The Z was a shade under 8 seconds for both tests, which impressed them with the low torque of the engine.
The reason the Accord and the Land Rover destroyed the other cars is because they are automatics that kick down. While this test is good to see highway passing capabilities, you shouldn't compare automatics to manuals, unless you have a manual override to keep the tranny in top gear.

While the Accords are nice cars, nice, smooth engines, think about how quickly the Z goes 50-70 in third gear, and that would be a better comparison to that car.

 

See above .. Autos will kick down and quickly accelerate.

This really isn't much of a test honestly .... it just kinda will gauge how big your overdrive gearing is.

 

oh, I assumed the accord and range rover were in some sort of manual mode since it said "top gear 50-70" - but yeah I suppose they might clarify that in the articles or something.

yeah it is mostly a test of top gear overdrive and low rpms engine speed and it isn't all that important, but that does mean a little something when on the highway and wanting to pass someone without bothering to downshift

 

I gotta go with Chimmike... if I am doing 50mph... I need to be in either 4th or 5th gear.. 6th is WAY to high a gear at that speed. I never pass in 6th unless I am going silly fast.

 

I mean, at 80mph in 6th I get full boost, but still, lol. Top gear passing is the dumbest test I can possibly think of. What does it prove? Nothing. autos will downshift if you floor it, and if you don't downshift at 50mph from 6th gear to pass, you've got 4 miles of empty road ahead of you lol

 

I agree that driving in 6th gear at 50 mph is questionable why you'd do that and not downshift.

But we all know in the real world on the street sometimes we're lazy and don't want to bother downshifting to pass someone cause just up ahead you'd have to upshift just a second later. That and sometimes I don't feel like scaring the **** out of the nearby cars with how loud the car gets at 5000+rpms at WOT and honestly don't need to pass them in .6 seconds if 3 seconds would do more than fine.

yeah I know I agree it's a BS test that doesn't REALLY mean anything, but at least it's interesting and easy to test with not much room for error - gearing vs engine power

 

It's less of a real-world type test as opposed to a test of gearing and the tractability of the engine. Especially the 30-50 test, to see how the car pulls and how bad the engine lugs. It's just to show overall driveability. And, yes, commuting to and from Chicago, you're not necessarily passing someone in
6th gear, but traffic always speeds up and slows down between 30-70, and it's nice to have an engine with strong torque to decrease the number of shifts needed during rush hour. Much easier commuting car vs. my old Integra.

 

this would put a lot of unecessary load on the motor. I won't particapate.
I try not to boost in 6th unless I am doing a highway pull and redlined 5th.

 

Alright, so my question is at what point do you shift to 6th… I really only use 6th when I am above 80 and cruising. If I am passing or driving hard I leave it in 5th and even if I am doing 80 – 85 and am in traffic, I just leave it in 5th. It gives me the power curve I want and really allows me to cover 40 – 90mph+ easily.

 

think it's all personal preference, how aggressive you drive on the highway, how much traffic there is, how loud your car is, how much attention you want to or not want to attract, how much money you want to spend on gas, etc

 

I get in 6th when ever I can even in the city so I can save on gas. If I want fast acceleration I down shift the oppropriate gear.

 

so no one wants to post up times to compare just for the sake of curiosity?

we've already established that none of us would ever normally use 6th gear going 50-70mph. But magazines often use that as a standard test anyway


my car right now does it in 6-6.1 sec

 

This is silly, and times would be highly questionable even those with GTECHS/Bel timers, a slight slight decline or incline in the road would skew the #'s...like Brent above I always use 5th for spirited driving and try not to boost in 6th-too much uneccessary strain on the motor.

 

i guess i don't understand, how is flooring it in 6th gear at 2500 rpms anymore strain on the engine than flooring it in 5th at 4000 rpms?

I guess I don't get it, but I would think flooring it at 4000 rpms would stress the engine more, especially so if you have FI and run higher boost at 4000 than at 2500 rpms. I guess it's the fact that you'd be flooring it for 6-8 seconds at lower rpms instead of 3 seconds at higher rpms?

obviously you'd do something like this on a reasonably flat road.


come on, all the guys with turbos are always going on and on how much low end tq the turbos have and how they begin spooling up as early as 1800-2500 rpms. Is everyone saying that's all worthless crap now since you're going to downshift anyway? I guess it's odd that people will drive to 160mph, and do sub 12 sec quarter mile passes, but are afraid of too much uneccessary strain on the motor doing 50-70mph in 6th gear?

 

This has been discussed in great detail before(boosting in 6th gear). Many knowledgable people expressed their opinions-opinions I agree with and respect. All you want to do is try to play up your 3.9FD and S/C being able to pass as fast as a turbo Z your always comparing the two--->its getting old