0 to 60mph in 4.8s - realistic?

I have an 02 911 and the official Porsche stats say it does 0-60 in 4.8s. Is this realistic, accurate or conservative>

Is it a coupe or cab. If its a coupe realistic. Drop the clutch at 5k rpm and you might get 4.5

That sounds about right, and very achievable. I get +/-5secs with my Tip.

Feels like it, and I have driven other cars that are rated similar (vette,evo,cobra,m3) and got the same feedback on the feel- never have actually tried to time it however.

very realistic

The 2002 911 brochure has it at 5.0 sec., but yes it's very realistic. Porsche's numbers are notoriously conservative. In my '01 C4 cab:

Porsche has a great reputation for delivering on published specifications. Often you'll see that the testers can exceed those specs. A great example is the HP rating of the 996 GT-3. 380... uh huh. That's very conservative. Many guys are getting 365 or better at the rear wheels. less than a 5% parasitic loss through the trans? pretty unlikely.

I wish magazines would stop publishing 0/60 and 1/4 mile times because for 95% of car owners they are meaningless. There aren't that many Porsche owners taking their cars to the dragstrip, and who in their right mind drops the clutch at 5K+ RPM just to knock off a few tenths of a second. On the street however many of us have taken on a challenge from another car, but this is almost invariably with a rolling start. So in order to see how our cars may perform in these real life street encounters, it would be far more useful for the magazines to publish 5/60 and 30/80 times. These times would be far more useful for the majority of car owners. Moreover, these times would be far more uniform since it eliminates the abuse that some magazines are willing to subject their tested cars to.

I'm the guy who conceived and developed the G-Timer product for Escort. What's really surprising is that when you do the math, you find that the first 12 inches the car moves takes about .3 seconds. As such, 0-to-60 and 1/4 mile times are HUGELY affected by the launch, and few of us have either the experience, or the willingness to abuse our cars, that the car magazine testers do.

That is true, 60ft time is very important in 1/4 times. Maybe he should focus on the 5-60mph times some magazines post. My question is, Porsche posts it's own 0-60 times independent of magazines. Is Porsche thrashing the car to get those numbers too?

Using a lot of practice and finesse you can launch a car quickly without abusing the drivetrain. I learned the technique while roadracing short wheelbase motorcycles and entering hundreds of races over nearly 10 years. Rev the engine high enough where a lot of torque is produced and engage the clutch to the friction point. As the clutch is released slowly and friction increasing the throttle is raising the RPMs. The clutch becomes fully engaged as the throttle is fully depressed. As you become more proficient at this, there is minimal clutch slippage and virtually no shock to any of the driving components, just the quickest possible launch.

If you use an engine dyno you'll get the same HP numbers that Porsche quotes...

Yes. And in fact, the manufacturers will tell the magazines the best methods for getting the best times. After I got my Audi S4 in 2000, I spoke to the late Don Shroeder at Car and Driver, who told me the method that they used to get the best 0-60 time on that car was suggested by Audi. The method was run the engine up to 5000 RPM, then simultaneously side-step the clutch and floor the gas. 0-60 and 1/4 mile times are so important for marketing that manufacturers design many car's gearing specifically for this. For example, high-power cars such as the Ford GT and Z06 are designed to get to 60 without a shift. There is a great article about this here: http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/ed..._technobabble/

Porsche posts times that anyone can achieve. They OBVIOUSLY don't powershift or burn the clutch when they get those times we see Porsche posting- like 5.2 for a 99 C2 etc. Porsche has never been part of the 1/4 or 0-60mph wars that most other car manufacturers are in, since they would obviously use magazine data as their marketing- like you see many other car manufacturers do. Usually other car manufacturers will show their 0-60 time, and there is an asterisk on it indicating it was from MotorTrend or some other mag. Not porsche- they just post conservative times. Same with HP wars - Porsche has never been into the whole "my hp is bigger than yours" thing.

Interesting..

Does porsche use the same strategy as Audi?

All manufacturers have the same strategy, which is to help the magazines get the best times possible. Ferrari even explained an undocumented launch procedure for one of their new clutchless paddle shifter cars. Different cars require different launches for the best times, but as a general rule, any car does go faster if you beat the **** out of it.

What is even more interesting is the 0-100 time. I have a Saab Viggen that is front wheel drive, pushing 310ft /lb torque. The 0-60 is not as impressive as the 0-100 time due to poor launch with lots of wheel spin. Now that I own a 02 996 C2, I've seen 0-100 times ranging from 10.9 to 12.2 in a 6 speed, whats up with that.

Magazine tests I saw had it 4.7 to 4.9 seconds to 60 so that seems realistic. As previously mentioned, to get that time you need to bring it up to 5-6k revs and sidestep the clutch. It is fun to try it once but more than that will probably get expensive.

Centerpunch, I'm having a ton of fun playing with my tiptronic C2 and a G-tech. A factory mechanic who I respect, told me that the tip is pretty indestructable. Am I causing damage elsewhere? Is the G-tech as accurate as I think it is? My best 0-60 time is 5.4 and 13.5 in the 1/4 mile. I know that my car wasn't designed for the dragstrip.....but it's still puts a smile on my face.

A little bit of brake torque wont hurt the tip. Do you know at what point the converter begins to stall?

DC, I don't know at what rpm the converter begins to engage. If you tell me how to find out, I'll let you know.