mmarshall

Motorweek tests their vehicles like adults, and doesn't abuse or tear up the drivetrains on their test-vehicles trying to shave every last tenth-of-a second off the 0-60 and quarter mile times. At the D.C. Auto Shows of past years, I have spoken to John Davis myself about new vehicles and how the testers at Motorweek drive them....although I haven't seen him at the show the past couple of years.

Fizzboy7

I've observed several of these recently and I feel they look worse in person. The front has a nasty overbite. The front of the hood reaches too high. The taillight cut-outs are an old-fashioned shape. Ford executed the body of the Expedition far better.

SW17LS

0-60 is 0-60. Its a WOT test. If they do as you claim (which they dont) they shouldn't even publish a 0-60 time because it would be meaningless.

WOT wont hurt a car, nor will a handling test.

LexBob2

WOT, 0-60 tests etc. is expected when the manufacturers turn over their cars for testing.

SW17LS

And Motorweek does a pretty thorough set of handling tests. 0-60, 1/4 Mile, 60-0 braking with multiple applications to test for fade, slalom, emergency lane change, some cars they even will do a track test at Roebling Road.

Not sure how that makes them "test cars like adults" vs other publications

mmarshall

It's a figure of speech (I thought you'd be perceptive enough to see it), meaning that they do acceleration tests with at least some moderation, without abuse of the drivetrain.

mmarshall

Well, tell that to Consumer Reports. They do more or less the same thing with their 0-60 tests. It's mostly enthusiast mags like C&D, R&T, Motor trans, etc.....that often get the lowest 0-60 times, usually by abuse to the tires and/or drivetrain.

LexBob2

When they take cars to the track they're not above getting them sideways, braking hard and using launch control.

SW17LS

They don’t do that. They do 0-60 tests just like everybody else. CR does them the same way, just like everybody else.

If they used moderation the test would be meaningless. A driver can make every vehicle do 0-60 in the same time with “moderation”

WOT does not abuse the drivetrain.

AJT123

If anyone sees the test, watch the launch.

(Sorry for no link, saw it on TV)

Looks to me like the driver didn’t even floor it lol, or rolled into the throttle, or had it in some “drive mode” not optimal for max acceleration.

My ancient Yukon with 285hp leaps off the line faster than that, at least for the first second. Not kidding. Lol.

Don’t get me wrong, not saying MW is always wrong....but they are inconsistent. 7.1 seconds 0-60 with that 6.2 engine, uh wrong.

mmarshall

Unless (?) CR has made some very recent changes, they have explained, in the past, that they don't do their 0-60 ad quarter-mile tests at 100% throttle or using max-perfrmance features like launch-control.

One must also remember that even using max-performance tests can be meaningless under varying conditions, since many different things affect those times...vehicle weight, road-surface, temperature/humidity, fuel-grade, vehicle-center-of-gravity, tire tread/compound, drag/weight of FWD/AWD...the list goes on and on.

SW17LS

You will have to show me a source that they don’t do 0-60 runs at WOT.

The entire point of a 0-60 test is how quickly the car gets from 0 to 60. If you’re choosing how much throttle to put in on each car, then the test has no comparative value.

pbm317

I should start a new series of 0-60, at no more than half throttle, and in the flow of traffic on the Beltway.... in rush hour.

LexBob2

I think you're on on to something. You'll need something to stick under the pedal to make sure you don't go beyond 1/2 throttle in the tests.

mmarshall

On the Beltway? LOL. What traffic-flow?