It seems Scion like all the Japaneese car companies have been rating their HP higher than the actual amount.
There is a new standard in place now. When the Scion xB was tested, it show about 102 HP, NOT 108. In fact ALL the rice burners out there have been overated when it comes to power. Acuras flagship is down about 20 ponies..
The American cars have been UNDER rated. They are producing about 20HP on average HIGHER than advertised.

I knew my xB felt slooooow for a reason... and why my other car feels MUCH faster than its rated ...

It's a new SAE test method. All the "Japanese" vehicles used older SAE method. Japanese automakers switch to the new protocol because of some law in California. What matters is WHP not bHP. The average dyno I've read on stock xBs average around 92-93WHP.

It's a new SAE test method. All the "Japanese" vehicles used older SAE method. Japanese automakers switch to the new protocol because of some law in California. What matters is WHP not bHP. The average dyno I've read on stock xBs average around 92-93WHP.

They were comparing the older SAE method to the new for ALL cars. Everyone was under the "old" SAE method of testing. My point still stands... the Japanese cars have been over-rated and the American cars under-rated.

are u kidding me...

ur telling me that you thought ur xB was slow because you could just feel that it didn't quite seem like 108 horse power, and it that 5 horsepower makes that much of a difference.
I find that very hard to believe that your gonna jump in a car and tell me that it feels like 102 and not 108.

are u kidding me...

ur telling me that you thought ur xB was slow because you could just feel that it didn't quite seem like 108 horse power, and it that 5 horsepower makes that much of a difference.
I find that very hard to believe that your gonna jump in a car and tell me that it feels like 102 and not 108.

Get real... I didn't lose 5Hp because of what someone wrote. My xB is still the same... its just as slow as its been from day one. :) But still adequate....

5HP from 108 is almost 5% ... we're not talking about a 5HP drop from a 405HP machine... which would be diddly..

No cars of any make/model/type actually lost or gained power. It's just being measured differently.

imports--> Overrated to attract customers
Domestics--> Underrated to reduce insurance premiums

imports--> Overrated to attract customers
Domestics--> Underrated to reduce insurance premiums

Ah... finally, someone who understands....

Good read.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0508/17/A01-283759.htm

Good read.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0508/17/A01-283759.htm

That says it well..

It's a new SAE test method. All the "Japanese" vehicles used older SAE method. Japanese automakers switch to the new protocol because of some law in California. What matters is WHP not bHP. The average dyno I've read on stock xBs average around 92-93WHP.

Not so.. it is the same measure, they are just making sure everyone tests the same for compliance. Many have been cheating..

I want a 5% refund. bassturds.

imports--> Overrated to attract customers
Domestics--> Underrated to reduce insurance premiums

:clap:
so obious yet it never came to mind.

are u kidding me...

ur telling me that you thought ur xB was slow because you could just feel that it didn't quite seem like 108 horse power, and it that 5 horsepower makes that much of a difference.
I find that very hard to believe that your gonna jump in a car and tell me that it feels like 102 and not 108.

do we not know how to do math anymore?

the only underrated car your talking about is the SRT-4

plus we only start off with 108HP so i wouldnt worry too much on what horsepoer we have anyways, were all too slow to notice or care about it anyways.

the underrating and overrating is mostly for insurance companies and such. plus the public would turn away at too much horsepower also.

It seems Scion like all the Japaneese car companies have been rating their HP higher than the actual amount.
There is a new standard in place now. When the Scion xB was tested, it show about 102 HP, NOT 108. In fact ALL the rice burners out there have been overated when it comes to power. Acuras flagship is down about 20 ponies..
The American cars have been UNDER rated. They are producing about 20HP on average HIGHER than advertised.

I knew my xB felt slooooow for a reason... and why my other car feels MUCH faster than its rated ...
that's a lie. at least on the domestic part.

hell the new cobalt ss supercharged is grossly over rated.

it doesnt matter anyways it's all rated at the crank which is bs no matter what.

the only underrated car your talking about is the SRT-4

plus we only start off with 108HP so i wouldnt worry too much on what horsepoer we have anyways, were all too slow to notice or care about it anyways.


No ... we only start off with 102HP which is the point of the post, we have been decieved.

the underrating and overrating is mostly for insurance companies and such. plus the public would turn away at too much horsepower also.

Yeah.. we all hate HP and would never buy a car with too much... yeah right

It seems Scion like all the Japaneese car companies have been rating their HP higher than the actual amount.
There is a new standard in place now. When the Scion xB was tested, it show about 102 HP, NOT 108. In fact ALL the rice burners out there have been overated when it comes to power. Acuras flagship is down about 20 ponies..
The American cars have been UNDER rated. They are producing about 20HP on average HIGHER than advertised.

I knew my xB felt slooooow for a reason... and why my other car feels MUCH faster than its rated ...
that's a lie. at least on the domestic part.

hell the new cobalt ss supercharged is grossly over rated.

it doesnt matter anyways it's all rated at the crank which is bs no matter what.

Its not a lie. Thats what the new testing proves. It shows the domestics are actually reporting lower numbers than what they are producing. And the japanese reporting higher. At the crank or at the wheels, who cares? It is still power being measured. So you don't care if you have 250 or 200 HP since its measured at the crank?

from what i've heard....... that means u can't yell at me if i am wrong..... but i heard that everyone measures it by the crank shaft and not to the wheels..... therefore.... it is 108hp but not to the wheels aft bringing it to the wheels u get to around where someone said 92-93hp and i jsut dyno'd my car a couple of weekends ago.... and i got 98hp bc i had a CAI and a sports exhausts

Horsepower is not measured at the wheels...

OMG people, this is benchmarking. Two different cars with the same horsepower will pull different 1/4 mile runs. The point of rating hp is to compare changes made on the same vehicle and to get an extremely rough estimate when comparing to another vehicle. Use the info as a tool, not a definative argument. :P You can pull a 5% margin of error between two dyno runs with the same car anyways.

imports--> Overrated to attract customers
Domestics--> Underrated to reduce insurance premiums

I totaly agree great point :lalala:

Horsepower is not measured at the wheels...

Well, there are two ways to measure horsepower. An engine dynamometer measures the HP at the Flywheel or crank. A chassis dynamometers measures the HP at the wheels, a 'real world' level of usable HP. There is a loss of HP between the flywheel and the wheels. An automatic trans loses more HP than a manual trans does. But for the best measurement of usable HP, a chassis dynamometer is the one to use.

Horsepower is not measured at the wheels...

Well, there are two ways to measure horsepower. An engine dynamometer measures the HP at the Flywheel or crank. A chassis dynamometers measures the HP at the wheels, a 'real world' level of usable HP. There is a loss of HP between the flywheel and the wheels. An automatic trans loses more HP than a manual trans does. But for the best measurement of usable HP, a chassis dynamometer is the one to use.

Thank you captain obvious.

Technically, horsepower is not "measured" at all, but is derived from torque and RPM by formula.

Regardless, who here shopped for their xB based on the HP rating? Probably as many that had rigid wheelbase specifications. Would you not have gotten it if it only had 103 HP? It's a rating, a way to compare and is useless when taken as a lone measurement. The fact that it has been shortened to the point that the RPM isn't even listed is a perfect example of that. How often are you hitting 6000 RPMs? The fact that we're getting max torque at 4,200 RPMs is slightly more relevant to What Moves You...

I may be captain obvious, but if you didnt notice, there are alot of people on SL that dont know alot of things. I was just providing them with the information they could use. "Keeping my post relevant and helpful". . . . something more people on SL should do