I haven't seen a 0-60 number on the TL since last year, and even then I think it was a 6MT. C&D has a comparo out now, but again it's a 6MT.

So what's the latest "official" 0-60 time for the automatic tranny TL?

 

i think its around 6.8ish-7.0, i would assume so because even though we have Sport Shifting, it dosn't give you the full experience and power of manual and 1st gear automatically shifts into 2nd which cuts it down drastically

 

It's faster than 6.8-7.0... more like 6.3-6.4

 

I believe it was 6.3 or 6.4. Check the "Motor Trend" road test review from a couple of months back; it will give you 0-60, quarter mile and a few other #s on the 5AT TL, along with the date of the full MT review.
I believe Consumer Reports also has some numbers on the 5AT from within the past year; you can probably find the date of the edition from MSN Autos website. CR usually tests conservatively, i.e. no dropping clutches at 4500 rpm on manuals or brake torquing on automatics.

 

Wow. Car & Driver pulled a 5.9 in the 6MT, so I guess I would have expected the A/T to do it in the 6.3 range on a good day. Surely it can do better than 6.8!

 

(Sorry, the two posts above my last one appeared while I was replying to the first one!)

 

thats probably the time you get each...but normally its around 6.1 to 6.3..learn how to press on the gas a little better in the future

 

i know how to manipulate the 1st gear, its quite fun, but the torque steer kills me. i was under the impression the 6.2-6.3 numbers on the TL were MANUAL numbers not the auto. and i saw somewhere that said the TL's 0-60 was 6.9!!!! damn, im much happier that its 6.3

 

anotha magazine pulled 5.7 in MT..........

 

Do they do these tests on new cars or those that are broken in?

 

Varies. Mags sometimes get pretty new cars and other times, they get testers that have been around the block several times.

Good mag testers will make sure a new car gets a few miles on it before testing, so the rings are bedded in and compression is up to where it should be.

 

It takes about 10-30k miles for engines to really loosen up, so that obviously is not practical. Since most cars tested are pretty green, it tends to level out. More important to compare elevation and ambient temps, and whether the tests were run at the same track (for similar grip).

 

October 2005 issue of Motor Trend (Long Term Test wrapup - I think it's on page 156) has the '04 TL with 5AT @ 6.9 for 0-60....... I have an '05 MT, and can't see how they can only muster a 6.9 out of this car?? The AT and MT can't be that different....

I can see a bad driver with the 6-spd..... but how do you screw up the AT times? Could the VSA (being on) be the culprit?

 

Who cares about 0-60 anyways, the 1/4 time is what really counts, especially in a car like the TL. If a stock auto TL runs high 14's that means its 0-60 is about 6.3 - 6.4, if a 6 speed runs the normal mid 14's that puts it about 5.9 - 6.0.

 

what do you guys use to time your 0-60???

 

A stopwatch.

 

You probably care more about 0-60 times than you think, since that's the range in which most people do 98% of their acceleration.

Think about it - taking off from a stoplight, getting up on a freeway, passing a line of slow cars, etc., etc. You do that a lot more than you do full-throttle sprints for a quarter of a mile. The 0-60 bracket is a standard part of road tests for that very reason.

In fact ... except for people who actually DO race their cars ... I think 0-60 is the important number and 1/4-mile times are just for bragging rights and don't have much relevance for most people.

 

For the real world and the average driver, 0-60 is the important, and easiest, figure to determine. You only need a stop watch and a speedometer to let you know when you reach 60 and need to stop the stop watch.

For 1/4 mile times, you need a measured distance, and where do you find these except on the track, where most of us will never go.

 

If you're going to use a speedometer to measure a car's speed, then you might as well use an egg timer to time it.

 

What is the prime shift RPM?

How much would the AEM CAI improve the 0-60?

 

When I got my TL, I did what I do with every new car I get. I got on the interstate and used a stopwatch to measure the time, using the mile markers. But before you say anything, I went 5 miles each time, and did it twice, to eliminate any inconsistencies in the distance between consecutive markers, and averaged out the results.

Both times, my speedometer was less than 1% off, which is acceptable for my purposes. If I get a 0-60 time of 6.7, or whatever, 1% of this would not make much difference to me.

Is that what you meant by using a speedometer to measure a cars speed, that it might not be accurate? If not, what else would you use?

 

The problem is that even after you calibrate the speedo to measure 60mph, you're never going to eliminate the latency that determines when it indicates 60.

If you're not going to use an accelerometer (which, IMO, is the most accurate way to measure) I would think you'd be better off measuring with the tach because of the higher sampling rate.

I could be wrong on this, but it seems to make sense.

 

1. A stopwatch is not even close to being accurate. You cant accurately judge the speedo climb, react to the watch, and drive at the same time. I would much more believe even the cheapo G-Tech reading, since it takes out driver error for the most part.

2. I'm not saying 0-60 isnt important, I'm saying that when you buy a low tq, fwd, lux sedan its shouldnt be the basis for whether or not it is "fast". I mean hell, 60mph isnt even 3rd gear in the 6 speed, and in the automatic its just the middle of 2nd. At that speed the car is just starting to get moving, as highway pull is much better than off the line speed.

And 1/4 is not just for bragging rights, its the recognized spec for acceleration for every car ever made, 0-60 is a magazine number. Ever see a track show 0-60? No, because its not nearly as important as a full 1/4 mile, or even 1/8th mile.

Just because people on here dont go to the 1/4 mile (which is lame, btw) doesnt mean that 0-60 is a better judge on performance. Get your asses to the track and really see what your car runs, experiment with it, talk to other people how to make it faster. Thats what really is fun about owning a semi-quick car like the TL.

 

Joe, I think you're making my point for me. For people who race, or are big "into" drag racing, the quarter-mile is important. For the rest of us, the "real-world" specification of 0-60 means more, since that's where we drive. And it isn't just a mag stat, it's also used by car manufacturers and even performance shops.

There just aren't many places on public roads where you can do a smokey burnout and hold it to the floor for a full quarter-mile (+ runout distance). And if you DO do that very often, you will undoubtedly attract a lot of unwanted attention from uniformed officials.

You can, however, sneak in lots of little squirts to 60 or 70 (or even 80, maybe ), and that's the fat part of the everyday performance curve. In that first 60mph, you'll probably win or lose any stoplight battles you might want to engage in. But since most of us won't take our cars to the strip, the published 1/4-mile times are just for the "bragging rights" I mentioned.

BTW - I really think those few road tests that quote passing times (like 30-50, 40-60, 60-80, etc.) tell you as much as anything about a car's performance, since it lets you know if the car has any guts after it gets rolling.

 

Well mike most of those interval numbers are in top gear, so its usually to show how fat the tq curve is, since 6th gear is a dog at 30mph. Now in an auto of course it'll downshift into the proper gear (at least u hope so anyways), so yeah its nice to see, but not many people can decifer those figures. But I agree most street racing is done 0-60, from a light etc. I was just saying that a car like the TL that is much better once moving that the 1/4 mile will be more rewarding. I bet that I could easily beat even a turbo'd 400whp TL with my mustang 0-60, it just means it launches better not that its faster.

0-60 is more of a test how well you can launch than how fast the car is, imo. Like I said 60mph in the 5AT is only halfway through 2nd, where it is just starting to move decently. 3rd is where it really pulls, from my experience with the J32.

 

How is your CL-S barely slower than the Mustang despite the huge torque difference and RWD?

 

Because it also was on dr's, has a longer powerband, and makes about the same whp, plus the gearing is just about perfect for the 1/4 mile. My mustang is not extremely fast past 5k rpm, so I'm always short shifting into the next gear, it really needs longtubes & an intake. With about $700 worth of those 2 items it'd run 13.5's pretty easily.

From a stop (ie 0-60) my mustang would WOMP on my CL though, its hard to beat off the line due to the wide dr's (315/35/17 Nitto's) & 3.73 gears. After its past 5k in 3rd though it starts to weez a little.

 

A car like the TL is hampered by magazine testing because it's higher reving. Most of the time they dont torque the launches and ease into the throttle, they stomp and go. The TL sucks from a stomp if you do that. (Try it sometime)

 

What's amazing to me is that they pulled off a 5.9 in 110+ degree weather... pretty impressive. Their earlier test pulled a 5.7 I believe...

 

I think that the most important gauge of speed is when they do the highway passing #s, Car and Driver Magazine does this, they test the amount of time it takes to go from 40-70, which in my opinion is a good figure although many people find this impractical since they have no way of guaging how fast the time means.