Formula
Weight becomes mass. Horsepower becomes watts, then loses the drivetrain percent unless you entered wheel horsepower, then loses the share of peak the gears never hold. Traction-limited acceleration is grip times gravity times the fraction of weight on the driven tires. Force is mass times that acceleration. The crossover speed is power divided by that force. Below it, the tires are the limit. Above it, power is the limit. The clock adds the shift and launch allowance.
a = μ × 9.80665 × f
v* = P / (m × a)
t = v* / a + m × (v² − v*²) / (2P)
0–60 = t + shift
If the crossover is already past the target speed, the whole run is traction-limited and more power does not shorten it. An electric car often launches hard because torque is there immediately and all-wheel drive can use the whole weight. Average power during a geared run is well below the peak on the dyno sheet. Many U.S. magazine 0-60 times subtract a 1-foot rollout. Car and Driver prints that omission on the sheets below, usually 0.2 or 0.3 seconds, which makes the printed time quicker than a standing start.
Worked examples
3,000 lb, 150 hp, front-drive, street tires. 8.50 seconds, power-limited. 3,300 lb, 300 hp, rear-drive. 5.44 seconds. 3,800 lb, 450 hp, rear-drive. 4.83 seconds. 4,000 lb, 300 hp, all-wheel drive. 5.58 seconds. 4,800 lb, 1,000 hp, all-wheel drive. 3.12 seconds, launch 1.00 g.
A measured 5.0 seconds to 60. 0.547 g, about 67.1 m (220 ft), if acceleration were constant. Eight seconds is 0.342 g and about 107.3 m (352 ft). Real acceleration falls off, so the distance is an approximation.
6.0 seconds 0–60. About 6.44 seconds 0–100 km/h, from the 1.0725 rule of thumb.
Reference
Defaults left in place after eight Car and Driver instrumented tests. The model time includes the 0.3 second allowance. The published time has already removed the rollout in the last column. Three of the eight land within about half a second of the rollout-adjusted published time. Launch control, a dual-clutch, and a hybrid powertrain move the others. The power factor was not raised to chase those, because that would miss the Civic Si the other way.
| Test | lb | hp | Drive | Published | Model | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 Honda Civic Si | 2,937 | 200 | FWD | 6.8 s | 6.85 s | -0.25 s |
| 2022 Volkswagen Golf GTI | 3,154 | 241 | FWD | 5.1 s | 6.4 s | 1 s |
| 2024 Ford Mustang GT | 3,947 | 486 | RWD | 4.2 s | 4.77 s | 0.27 s |
| 2024 Volkswagen ID.4 Pro S AWD | 4,888 | 335 whp | AWD | 4.8 s | 5.43 s | 0.33 s |
| 2025 Honda Accord Touring hybrid | 3,507 | 204 | FWD | 6.7 s | 7.98 s | 0.98 s |
| 2025 Toyota Camry XLE AWD hybrid | 3,746 | 232 | AWD | 6.9 s | 6.67 s | -0.53 s |
| 2023 BMW M3 Competition xDrive | 3,929 | 503 | AWD | 2.8 s | 3.82 s | 0.82 s |
| 2025 Audi RS Q8 Performance | 5,394 | 631 | AWD | 3.1 s | 4.04 s | 0.64 s |
The gap is model minus published time minus the rollout Car and Driver says that sheet omitted. Street tires use μ 1.00. The ID.4 and the two hybrids use 0.85. The ID.4 power is treated as wheel horsepower.
Questions
How much horsepower for a 5-second 0-60?
There is no single number. A 3,300 lb rear-drive car at 300 hp is about 5.44 seconds with these defaults. A heavier all-wheel-drive car at the same horsepower is about 5.58 seconds, because the launch is shorter and the power phase is longer. Tires and weight move the time as much as the peak horsepower.
How do I calculate 0-60 from horsepower and weight?
Turn weight into kilograms and horsepower into watts, then take off drivetrain loss and the share of peak power the car actually uses. Traction sets a maximum acceleration until the power can no longer push that hard. After that, time follows constant power. Add a shift and launch allowance.
Does all-wheel drive make 0-60 faster?
At the launch, yes, when the tires were the limit. This page gives a front-drive car 55 percent of its weight on the driven tires, rear-drive 65 percent, and all-wheel drive all of it. Once the run is power-limited, the extra driven tires stop helping and the drivetrain loss still costs power.
What is a good 0-60 time?
A number by itself is not a grade. The worked examples here run from about 8.5 seconds at 150 hp to about 3.1 seconds at 1,000 hp. Magazine tests of ordinary cars often land between those. Compare cars on the same surface.
How is 0-60 different from a quarter mile?
0-60 is the start of the run. A quarter mile also cares about speed at the far end. The quarter-mile calculator uses Hale’s and Fox’s elapsed-time formulas. This page does not.
How do I convert 0-60 to 0-100 km/h?
100 km/h is 62.14 mph. If power is roughly constant, time grows with the square of speed, so multiply a 0-60 time by 1.0725. Six seconds becomes about 6.44 seconds. A shift that falls between 60 and 62 mph can move the real gap.
Why is my real time different?
The power factor is 0.70 of peak, because gearing and the rev range do not hold peak power for the whole run. Launch, tires, and a 1-foot rollout move a magazine time by a few tenths. The calibration table shows where this estimate landed against eight instrumented tests.
Sources
- Newton’s second law, F = ma, and power as force times velocity. The two-phase split is this page’s. The constants are the defaults in the spec: driven fractions 0.55, 0.65, and 1.00, μ 1.00, 15 percent loss, power factor 0.70, and 0.3 seconds of shift and launch.
- NIST SP 811. 0.45359237 kg/lb. 60 mph is 26.8224 m/s. 100 km/h is 27.7778 m/s. Standard gravity used here is 9.80665 m/s². One mechanical horsepower is taken as 745.7 watts.
- Car and Driver instrumented tests, each sheet’s curb weight, horsepower, and 0-60, including the printed 1-foot rollout: 2022 Civic Si (6.8 s, 0.3 s), 2022 Golf GTI (5.1 s, 0.3 s), 2024 Mustang GT (4.2 s, 0.3 s), 2024 ID.4 Pro S AWD (4.8 s, 0.3 s), 2025 Accord Touring hybrid (6.7 s, 0.3 s), 2025 Camry XLE AWD hybrid (6.9 s, 0.3 s), 2023 M3 Competition xDrive spec box 503 hp (2.8 s, 0.2 s), 2025 RS Q8 Performance (3.1 s, 0.3 s).