Case in point.. 2005-2006 GTO, 4 Speed Automatic is actually faster 0-60 and 1/4 mile by 1/10th second than the 6 speed manual. Both have the same factory 400 horse 6.0L V8 and same rear differential gearing of 3.46. Only negative of the 4 speed automatic is that highway gas mileage is noticeably lower, 21 vs 25 EPA.

 

What I am saying is that most people aren't bringing a generic SUV like a Audi Q5 with it's base 2.0T or a RDX to a dyno shop or modifying it. You are usually seeing cars that are high performance/fast to begin with like the SRT8 Jeep Grand Cherokee, etc, in my experience of going to these shops over the years with my mods.

My RDX only feels avg to sometimes sluggish, I'm used to the stock 4.6 seconds of my GTO, 4.6 was before I added 50+ horsepower.

Isn't the 3.0 supercharged? If that is the case it should be very easy to mod, just a pulley swap and tune. (At least it was that way on my previous supercharged American cars). We will look forward to seeing real world tests of the 3.0.

 

You would think that automakers would want to properly rate or in some cases Over-rate their HP ratings for marketing reasons. I don't know any that would purposely under-rate the power # which is always displayed in their advertising. There are many cases of auto mfg being caught over rating HP ratings. Remember the 2000 Ford Mustang Cobra R? They got caught over-rating hp ratings.

 

Insurance premiums are affected by published HP numbers - even more so in Europe from what I understand. It can also be beneficial when you're trying to put some perceptual difference between powerplants. Fewer people would pony up an extra couple grand for a V6 if the actual gain is only 20 or 30 HP. Underrating a base engine addresses that marketing problem, at least on paper.

When we drove the 2.0T and 3.2 back-to-back, our seat of the pants impression was that the 2.0T was the better engine for around town and stop-and-go driving because of the low end torque. It launched harder and actually felt more powerful when driven the way most people drive a crossover. High speed acceleration and passing power clearly favored the V6, but it was far less important for my wife's commute. I have little doubt that if we tested the Q5 again today, the new 3.0 TDI would be our engine of choice over both the 2.0 turbo four and supercharged 3.0 V6. The TDI has even more low end grunt with the added benefit of highway economy reaching well into the 30's. Of course the SQ5 would be the one to have for speed freaks, but I'd opt for an A7 if I were going to spend that kind of money.

 

You don't want to over-rate the power numbers, cause then you'll run into problems when someone does dyno the car and gets a low number. One low run will lead to more, and if all of them are well under the factory spec, the company is in for problems. However, if the power is under-rated, no one complains when they get more power than expected except maybe tuning companies, as it's harder for them to sell their products then.