RIDICULOUS!!! Toyota Highlander vs. LS V8

R

raylisiak

Guest
I was never so embarrased about losing a race to a vehicle before until yesterday. Earlier in the day I raced a Supercharged Monte Carlo and beat him every bit of the way up to 90mph coming out of a toll booth. Later that night I was spanked pretty hard by a Toyota Highlander SUV with Dealer plates on it. It was pulling on me all the way to 60mph and I started to give up. I have a 2002 with 40K, custom fabbed cold air intake k&n, 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust with X pipe and Dynomax mufflers, lowered 2 inches with 255/45/17 tires for traction. Is the LS that underpowered that SUVs can kick its butt? Anyone have 0-60 and 1/4 times for this Highlander?
 
Some Highlander specs...

3.3-liter double overhead cam (DOHC)
24-valve VVT-i V6
230 hp @ 5800 rpm
242 lb.-ft. @ 4400 rpm Available Standard
Ignition system Electronic, with Toyota Direct Ignition (TDI)
Transmission
4-cylinder models 4-speed electronically controlled automatic overdrive transmission with intelligence (ECT-i) and Snow Mode
V6 models 5-speed electronically controlled automatic overdrive transmission with intelligence (ECT-i) and Snow Mode
Body construction Reinforced unitized body
Drivetrain Front engine front-wheel drive (2WD) or full-time 4-wheel drive (4WD)
Suspension 4-wheel independent MacPherson strut suspension with front and rear stabilizer bars
Steering Rack-and-pinion with power-assist
Turning circle (ft.) 37.4
Brakes Power-assisted ventilated front/solid rear disc brakes with Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) with Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD) and Brake Assist [1]
Coefficient of drag (Cd) 0.34 (2WD and 4WD)
 
Do these come with any TRD supercharged packages? It did have a colored emblem on the back but couldnt catch up to see what it was.
 
I work over at toyota and I have drove the highlander its quick for an SUV, It was a 4WD Sport edition with a hood scoop. Its the fastest toyota at the dealer. I dont know are you sure they didnt put the 4.7 liter engine in them

But anyways very shameful loss, Im sure the family in the highlander is laughing at you all the way to Chuckie Cheese
 
One thing I do experience with my LS is after driving for a while and it gets to warmed up the car lacks power. Is this normal? Its a pretty huge difference in power. No engine codes.
 
raylisiak said:
One thing I do experience with my LS is after driving for a while and it gets to warmed up the car lacks power. Is this normal? Its a pretty huge difference in power. No engine codes.
Click to expand...

That is nowhere near normal.
 
Don't know on LS, but some cars will lose performance as the engine gets hot. The Chebby LT1 series was like this. If you were in stop and go traffic or a hot day, the engine would not have quite as much power as you were used to. Maybe not noticable by seat of the pants, but enough that Mustang drivers knew to catch an LT1 you had to get them hot in traffic. The car ran best when the engine was just up to operating temp and or a cold day.

Also you would see guys at the track putting Ice around the intake manifold to cool it down, that is where the lost power came from, hot intake air due to a heated up manifold. I would guess the LS may have a similar problem.

Plus in hot weather the air will give an engine less power anyway regardless of the engine type. That's why people spend so much money buying cold air intakes, even though it isn't usually enough to make a big difference for day to day driving.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson
 
After my defeat, I took apart my custom air intake and noticed the intake hose I was using was crushed causing my car to not have enough air through the high RPM's I took the hose out and took her out for a spin and she came back to life. I will have to get some better hose material that wont collapse pulling in air from the front bumper. Time to find the Highlander again, hehe
 
dude never give up at 60... go all the way. somewhere that suv's fuel cut off will kick in then you will start to pull. i raced my friends 04 V8 4-runner 4x4. that thing got me good off the line, then about 65-70 i was next to him, then i started to pull away probably around 80-85. bro never give up! its a suv their fuel cut off is most likely around 70 or so.
 
raylisiak said:
After my defeat, I took apart my custom air intake and noticed the intake hose I was using was crushed causing my car to not have enough air through the high RPM's I took the hose out and took her out for a spin and she came back to life. I will have to get some better hose material that wont collapse pulling in air from the front bumper. Time to find the Highlander again, hehe
Click to expand...

seek and destroy!
 
I wouldn't say there is a fuel cutoff on an SUV versus gearing a physics take over. I haven't heard any vehicles having fuel cutoffs at anything under say 100mph. I would think a cut off at 70mph or so could lead to lawsuits due to safety issues of not keeping up with traffic or unexpected shutdowns.

I had a 96 Impala SS which was a pretty fast car, but in races against the typical F150 trucks, they would get me off the line, many trucks have low gearing so they have an acceleration advantage. Once we got around 50 or so, the SS horse power took the advantage. Anything at freeway speed, the SS also had the advantage of not being shaped like a brick.

So yes, if you race an SUV, they may get you off the line due to gearing, but you should overtake them once your horsepower comes in and also at freeway speed your slick silhouette will give you the advantage.

My 94 F250 had a 460 engine(about similar HP as SS and better torque) which made it accelerate better off the line than my SS. It also did well accelerating at low freeway speed to maybe around 80 or 90, but the SS had the advantage once it was rolling. After that the flying brick effect took over and I would guess the truck would top out at maybe 110 -120, never tried it tho.

But of course a crushed intake pipe is a power robber.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson
 
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