List: The Top 10 Lightest 300 Horsepower Cars
Caption:
Subaru Impreza WRX STI – 305hp, 3395 lb.
All-wheel drive, sick turbo power, and looks only a mother (or many, many import tuners) could love. Get the gold BBS wheels or you can't be in the real STI club.
300 horsepower is still a significant benchmark within the auto world. (As we found out last year when we created our list of 300 horsepower cars under $10K, check it out here.) That’s enough power that some serious performance is usually on tap, especially when the curb weight is kept low in concert with the output. So which cars with at least 300 ponies are the very lightest? Our list seeks to answer just that, with cars that are on sale in the U.S. today, and being limited to just the lightest example of any one particular model (sorry 911 and Corvette). Check out the top ten hardest punching lightweights, in our gallery above.
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Tony_Jazvo
1971 AMC AMX V8
- 3244lbs
1967 Camaro V8
- 3070lbs
1967 Mustang V8
- 2800lbs
In forty years we haven't managed to shed weight? You know we have a problem when we consider 3000 lbs light. It seems that the baseline has shifted and today we consider 3300 lbs an acceptable weight for a sports coupe. Used to be, many years ago, that sedans weighed in at 4500 lbs and smaller sportier cars weighed in at about two thirds of that. Today many full size sedans are weighing in at 3300 lbs and in some cases the coupes are much heavier:
2008 Challenger 4140lbs
2008 Charger 3727lbs
2006 Mustang 3467lbs
2006 Taurus 3343lbs
If car companies kept to the old benchmark we'd be driving 2100 lb coupes. Which would consume less fuel and be much more fun to drive. No doubt some of the handling issues that seem to plague American cars, like body roll and under steer would be better held in check too. From an Engineering perspective I get why they're so heavy, the consumer wants longer, wider and taller cars. With less road noise intrusion blah, blah, blah. If that we're true why would anyone ride a motorcycle or drive a convertible?
Consumers when given good options will make good choices. We need to demand better options from the car companies and pull the plug on them if they can't deliver! I think North American car companies have fallen out of touch. If they started designing cars for the world market and offering them in the U.S. We would likely see many improvements, including better quality cars and healthier car companies.
russ.bellinis@v...
Weight gain is not only the result of consumer desires. I suspect that just as much of the weight gain of modern cars is the result of government safety regulations. If you are buying in the $100k+ price range, then manufacturers can reduce the weight by using more aluminum and carbon fiber in the structure of the vehicle, but for an affordable car, those sorts of weight reducing measures are not available. Of course within the constraints of government safety, smog control, and mileage regulations, most consumers opt for power robbing and weight adding accessories. If you want truly light weight, I guess the only option is Lotus.
BillS
Torsional stiffness is also a factor. Those '60s cars were cooked pasta.
terrym
driving courses
Horsepower may still be a large benchmark, but looking back to the days when these cars were rare they did not have the materials at hand to make the cars so light in comparison to now. These days we are able to make cars much lighter which results in much faster cars - even with less HP.
designergenes
I don't understand. Why are there three (3) Porsches on this list of "10 Lightest Cars with at Least 300 HP," with the GT3 the top Porsche at 435 ponies. A GT2 (3150 pounds) at about the same weight as the Z06 Corvette delivers 530 HP, and would be the only turbocharged Porsche listed.
When I started looking at the cars, I thought, well, there'll be one Porsche and the Turbo (all-wheel drive) is too heavy, so the turbocharged GT2 will be the single Porsche. I think you need a more complete specification of what this List is all about.
dturnbaugh@aust...
It seems like you guys always ignore the Rossion Q1 for some reason. It fits the "light cars" description and has 450HP.
I have never noticed this car mentioned in Winding Road or NextAutos. The magazine should provide good coverage of all the cars available. www.rossioncars.com