Raced the 240hp Honda Accord and won...

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#1
Last night, I raced the new 240hp Honda Accord from a stoplight on four different occasions and beat him by 2-3 cars up to 70mph each and every time. At the final light, the other driver honked his horn for me to roll down my window. I rolled it down and he said "Man, that thing can MOVE! I have burned up many fast cars with this, but I could not keep up with you." I told him that I thought my AWD made my car slower than FWD or RWD. How could I have beat him so easily if he has 240hp and I have 225? I have the steptronic and I simply redlined in all of the gears. I was able to get incredible traction off the line with my AWD.
 
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#2
Saweet! Killing a car thats higher HP than you is a great thing [thumb]. Never done it though [:(]. As for why you did I have no idea [???1] its all good though [:D] [^] [driving] [bmwkick]
 

bmwrocks

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#3
What mode was your steptronic in?

I firmly believe that 225 BMW horses will beat 240 Honda horses every day. You gotta remember your 225 horses are mated to other BMW drivetrain components, not to mention your BMW suspension and electronics. It's a Honda Accord for cryin out loud.....not the Ultimate Driving Machine......
 
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#6
I just had a pleasure of test-driving a loaner fully loaded V6 Accord. It's a very nice car inside, quality interior. I was surprised how far Honda has progressed.

But flooring it, nah, gutless. It pushes you back in the seat hard, but not because of power (look at the speedo and frown), but because of the soft suspension. The weight transfers to the rear more easily as the springs compress, the car tilts back giving you the impression of high power.

Bimmers are better "suspended" with very linear weight transfer hiding the acceleration. M3 and M5 are especially "sneaky", but check the speedo and smile.

[thumb]
 
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#7
Nice job, AWD330XI! Those new Accords are certainly no joke...240hp is nothing to laugh about. And the Accord Coupe has a sport suspension and is available with a 6-speed manual transmission, so it is not Honda's typical "practical" vehicle. I think the FWD is what really holds it back. When you accelerate hard in any car, a lot of the weight is transferred to the rear. Now the Accord, being a FWD car, loses a lot of traction in the front. Plus, I'm willing to bet those Accord Coupes come with all-season tires rather than performance summer tires, so that doesn't help traction and acceleration, either.
Either way, good run!
 
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#8
On the flip side, I just raced my co-worker's worked 2002 Camaro SS with over 400hp. He let me go first but by 40mph he passed me and was way ahead of me by 70mph. Can't win 'em all I guess!
 
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MrElussive said:
Nice job, AWD330XI! Those new Accords are certainly no joke...240hp is nothing to laugh about. And the Accord Coupe has a sport suspension and is available with a 6-speed manual transmission, so it is not Honda's typical "practical" vehicle. I think the FWD is what really holds it back. When you accelerate hard in any car, a lot of the weight is transferred to the rear. Now the Accord, being a FWD car, loses a lot of traction in the front. Plus, I'm willing to bet those Accord Coupes come with all-season tires rather than performance summer tires, so that doesn't help traction and acceleration, either.
Either way, good run!
Xi's also come with the all-seasons, nothing special unfortunately.

FWD is also an issue, you're right. But it's still not all. I seriously suspect that BMW underrates the HP/Torque numbers. When dynoed, a 330 produces close to 200HP at the wheels with a step.... That means a ~14% loss of power through the drivetrain? [confused] No way, BMW's do not have magic trannies, differentials and superlight driveshafts and axles. So the losses are the same as for every other car, but the crank output is higher for sure.

BMW claims to have -1% - +10% power output manufacturing tolerance. I suspect that most our cars fall into the upper tolerance territory. [thumb]
 
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#10
my mom has the new accord, its a very nice car. the interior is so nice and just overall interior features make it a very clean and cumfy car. i'm glad to know that the bmw beat it though. good job.
 
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#11
my dad has a new accord as well, it does feel pretty weak under the hood, but the climate control rocks (had to compliment something[;)]) anyways, nice kill!
 
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#12
AWD330XI said:
How could I have beat him so easily if he has 240hp and I have 225? I have the steptronic and I simply redlined in all of the gears. I was able to get incredible traction off the line with my AWD.

The specs you are quoting are PEAK horsepower, but an engine only puts out peak horsepower at a higher, narrow RPM. In a race your engine speed is not always at the peak RPM/HP. So a big part of why you won is the BMW torque curve. In line sixes inherently generate, flatter more consistent torque/hp. Vs start off lower and tend to develop a higher peak output. Very *rough* analogy - BMW HP is a nice sloped, straight line, Honda HP is more like a bell shaped curve.

Way to go!
[thumb]
 
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#13
AWD330XI said:
On the flip side, I just raced my co-worker's worked 2002 Camaro SS with over 400hp. He let me go first but by 40mph he passed me and was way ahead of me by 70mph. Can't win 'em all I guess!
But take your BMW and his Camaro to an SCCA Autocross event and compare times. Your BMW WILL KICK HIS BUTT!!
 
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#14
MrElussive said:
Nice job, AWD330XI! I think the FWD is what really holds it back. When you accelerate hard in any car, a lot of the weight is transferred to the rear. Now the Accord, being a FWD car, loses a lot of traction in the front. Either way, good run!
I agree. Even a Yugo can spin the fronts.

Nice kill![thumb]
 

epj3

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#17
Another thing to consider is the Honda probably has higher torque within maybe 1500 rpm, the bmw has a ton of torque throughout the rev band.

Which is why my 167 hp 325is can beat a newer comaro with 220 hp (yes i know weight has some to do with it, but think about overall displacement... the comaro has what, 3.4 liters? i have 2.5.)
 
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#18
Was this Accord a 6-speed manual? Maybe it's possible that the driver didn't do such great shifting, because I thought the 0-60 of a Accord Coupe 240hp 6-speed is really low 6-second range.
 


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