“The Times They Are a-Changin”

Times are a changing and I don’t mean the Bob Dylan song from the 60’s, I’m talking about the Zero to 60 times of the cars on the road today. 

Let me ask you a serious question……have you looked closely at the times of how fast cars are today?  I’m not talking about the high-dollar exotics that fetch millions.  Some of the average daily driver type cars on the road today are laying down some serious numbers in the Zero to 60 and the quarter mile categories. 

Lyrics in the song put it this way:

The line it is drawn, The curse it is cast, The slow one now, Will later be fast

As the present now, Will later be past, The order is, Rapidly fadin', 

And the first one now, Will later be last, For the times they are a-changin'.

The slow one now, will later be fast may have given us a hint of what he was talking about in the catchy little tune, but some have suggested the meaning of this song was simply the faster moving culture and the paradigm shift that was occurring during the 1960’s.  You can listen to the song and decide for yourself, but I’m about to enlighten you as to the blinding speeds on the street today.

Volvo has a new 4 door car set to hit the streets in 2015 that blew me away with its stats.  The 2015 Volvo S60 T6 Drive-E sedan boasts about its twin forced induction and rightly so, it comes equipped with a turbo and a superchager!  If that did not get your attention then please keep listening……it has a 2.0 liter direct injection four cylinder engine that puts out 302 HP and 296 ft. lbs. of torque.  But wait for the punch line…….Car and Driver magazine tested this car at 0-60mph of 5.4 sec. and a ¼ mile track time of 14.0 sec. flat @ 102 mph!  By the way this car as tested was just under $48,000, so we are not breaking the bank here too bad.

                                                                                 (photo courtesy of Motor-trend)

Let’s see how this car stacks up against some well-known bad boys who ruled the streets just a few years ago (you will be surprised at the numbers*)

Dodge Challenger R/T 426 Hemi (1970) Zero to 60 = 5.4 sec.

Porsche 928 GTS 5.4 liter V8 (1991) Zero to 60 = 5.4 sec.

Ford Mustang 428 Cobra Jet 7.0 liter V8 (1968) Zero to 60 = 5.5 sec.

Mitsubishi 3000 GT (1992) Zero to 60 = 5.5 sec.

Chevy Camaro SS 396 Coupe/4-spd (1967) Zero to 60 = 5.6 sec.

Nissan Skyline R32 GTR (1990) Zero to 60 = 5.6 sec.

            *all times from www.autosnout.com

Okay I hope that puts things into perspective as to just how impressive the Volvo’s stats are….and remember I limited my list to cars under 6 sec.  Trust me there were plenty of fast cars that were slightly over 6 sec. that I will save the embarassment!

I just read where its rumored that Ford’s answer to the newly released 2015 Dodge Challenger HellCat’s stats of 707 HP at 204mph, is going to be a 2016 Shelby GT500 Mustang at 750 HP, but I guess time will tell if those rumors are true...it does make you ask the question, “Where does it end”? 

(photo courtesy of Motor-trend)

In case you were curious at the new Challengers stats, it has an estimated time of Zero to 60 in 3.5 sec. and a ¼ mile time estimated at 10.8 sec. @ 126 mph.