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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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

 

Good read.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosins...A01-283759.htm

 

That says it well..

 

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.

 

so obious yet it never came to mind.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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...