The 600 Club: A Celebration of Horsepower (2024)

“Horsepower wars” might be the most overused phrase in automotive journalism (aside from “award-winning 3-series”). Like most abused terminology, it’s a little inaccurate, reflecting some laziness on the part of the user. In a war, there are battles; there are strategies, movements, fronts. What we’ve been experiencing since the late 1990s is more of a horsepower revolution, a wholesale overthrow of slow by maniacal power mongers. It doesn’t matter what type of car you’re building or what segment of the market you’re playing in, there’s ludicrous horsepower everywhere. (Go ahead, check the bottom of your shoe. Aw, you stepped in horsepower.)

When faced with the staggering number of humongous-horsepower cars out there, 400 ponies almost seems like too little to care—until you consider how fantastically thrilling that output can be. Including body-style variants, there are almost 60 400-plus-hp cars for sale in the U.S. There are nearly that many again with 500 or more hp, and if your only criterion for buying a new car is that it must have more than 600 hp, then you can still choose from almost 20 vehicles—and that’s speaking strictly of factory offerings. Below, we highlight a few notables at each milestone.

Least Expensive
Ford Mustang GT
412 hp
$30,495
0–60 mph: 4.6 sec
¼-mile: 13.2 sec @ 109 mph

Ford’s Model T was the car that put the world on wheels, but the Mustang is one of the cars that introduced those wheels to positive slip and melted the rubber off them. The Mustang has spent its entire life peddling affordable power, but never before has its speed been so quickly gathered, herded through corners, or immediately dispersed. At $30,495 for 412 ponies, the Mustang puts heroic horsepower within reach of Everyman, but the 4.6-second 0-to-60 sprint is only a part of its skills set.

Quickest
Nissan GT-R
480 hp
$85,060
0–60 mph: 3.3 sec
¼-mile: 11.5 sec @ 124 mph

From the moment of its launch, the Nissan GT-R was flambéed in a controversy that would have even a reality-TV producer sweating. Much of the hullabaloo centered on the car’s disputed output, with readers of our magazine crying foul upon seeing the (supposedly) 480-hp car warp to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds and through the quarter-mile in a scant 11.5 seconds at 124 mph. In subsequent tests, we recorded 0-to-60 times ranging from 3.2 to 4.1 seconds. Nissan explained this as a result of running programming changes but claimed—surprise, surprise—that the quick numbers were the right ones. With three of the five cars we tested turning 0-to-60 times within 0.1 second of one another, however, we believe the company.

Our Pick
BMW M3
414 hp
$59,275
0–60 mph: 4.1 sec
¼-mile: 12.6 sec @ 113 mph

Shocked? Probably not. For four generations, the M3 has been converting drivers into BMW disciples. The current generation, introduced in 2008, houses the M3’s first V-8, an engine that alone can create converts. Its 414 hp aren’t fully realized until 8300 rpm, and although the engine lacks the low-end torque of many larger-displacement engines, winding it out to its 8400-rpm redline is a life-changing experience. As is virtually any turn behind the M3’s wheel.

Don’t Underestimate Its Awesomeness
Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG
451 hp
$58,225
0–60 mph: 3.9 sec
¼-mile: 12.3 sec @ 116 mph

Mercedes-Benz’s AMG stable houses the Founding Fathers of modern horsepower. For a fully nuclear experience, strap into any of the three vehicles packing AMG’s 604-hp twin-turbo V-12 with 738 lb-ft of torque. On the tamer end of the scale, though, is the outstanding 518-hp, 6.2-liter V-8 AMG crams into no fewer than seven vehicles—not counting, for just one year, the completely absurd and totally drool-worthy R63 AMG minivan. Even though the C-class gets a detuned version of the 6.2-liter, AMG is perhaps at its best with the bawdy C63, which mixes Mercedes polish and presence with an unexpected—and excellent—rough-edged snort. It’s also the best-handling car to currently wear the three-pointed star.

Least Expensive
Ford Shelby GT500
550 hp
$49,495
0­–60 mph: 4.1 sec
¼-mile: 12.4 sec @ 117 mph

Another horsepower milestone, another Mustang. As much as the 2011 Mustang GT has us singing the 5.0’s praises, the Shelby GT500 also gets a new engine for 2011, one that lifts about 100 pounds from the front axle of what used to be an understeering, nose-heavy mess. Relieved of the old engine’s additional poundage, the GT500 is transformed into what feels like, for the first time ever, a real sports car. And for $49,495, it provides a world-class arsenal at a (relatively) working-class price.

Quickest
Porsche 911 Turbo
500 hp
$133,750
0–60 mph: 2.9 sec
¼-mile: 11.0 sec @ 128 mph

For about $1.7 million, the 1001-hp Bugatti Veyron provides a Top Fuel accelerative experience, going 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 seconds. If you’re willing to wait 0.4 second, Porsche will save you $1.5 million or so. In a comparison test with the Corvette ZR1, the 500-hp 911 Turbo ran from 0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds, to 100 in 6.8, and through the quarter-mile in 11 flat at 128 mph. Thank the quick-shifting PDK dual-clutch transmission, all-wheel drive, and the car’s launch control function. An 11 flat for $133,750 should be criminal, but we’re glad it isn’t. Expect this car to quickly surpass heart disease and homicidal mistresses as leading killers of rotund old rich dudes.

Our Pick
Ferrari 458 Italia
562 hp
$226,000 (est)
0–60 mph: 3.3 sec (est)
¼-mile: 11.5 sec @ 128 mph (est)

Horsepower writes straight-line scripts, but there’s more to a great car than drag-strip derring-do. Ferrari has penned the sports-car gospel since the ’60s, and the company’s latest mid-engined idol will induce palpitations with more than just its slinky shape. As with its predecessors, the 458 Italia transports its driver beyond merely the destination to a vehicular nirvana where the driver’s thoughts are translated to the car’s reactions seemingly before hands and feet direct the vehicle. And it doesn’t hurt that the car looks so good.

Don’t Underestimate Its Awesomeness
Porsche Panamera Turbo
500 hp
$133,575
0–60 mph: 3.3 sec
¼-mile: 11.7 sec at 119 mph

Plenty of performance cars, including Porsche’s own 911, have four seats. But show us two passengers who can split the 911’s 16 cubic feet, and we’ll show you a particularly gruesome webisode of “Will It Blend?” the internet meme featuring a man, a blender, and things not normally puréed. The Panamera’s back seat is worthy of a diplomatic limousine, but to turn over control of its 500 hp to anyone but yourself is a travesty. Those who claim a four-door Porsche is blasphemy will quickly clam up after a turn behind the wheel and a single 3.3-second scoot to 60.

Least Expensive
Dodge Viper SRT10
600 hp
$91,935
0–60 mph: 3.5 sec
¼-mile: 11.6 sec @ 126 mph

Only the nation listing the right to bear arms as its number-two civil priority would hang a price so low on a car with such a well-earned reputation for volatility. The current Viper not only offers the cheapest 600 hp in the land but is also the one car most likely to evacuate the driver’s bowels. It is a throwback to a time when sports cars were dangerous and racing killed off its greatest heroes regularly; and it takes an expert hand to drive fast without driving sideways off the road. With heavy-duty torque—560 lb-ft—the Viper’s throttle doesn’t merely demand respect; it cultivates worship.

Quickest
Lamborghini Murciélago LP640
632 hp
$362,395
0–60 mph: 3.2 sec
¼-mile: 11.5 sec @ 125 mph

That the quickest 600-hp car can’t beat the quickest 500-hp car in a drag race speaks to the awesomeness of the Porsche 911 Turbo (and its launch control) and to the limit traction places on performance. But few people launching a 632-hp LP640 through the quarter-mile in 11.5 seconds are going to have room for disappointment as the 6.5-liter V-12 screams to 8500 rpm behind their heads. Opt for the manual transmission, and the Murciélago is one of few cars left that offers a gated aluminum shifter, one of the great tactile experiences in all the automotive world.

Our Pick
Ferrari 599GTO
661 hp
$450,000 (est)
0–60 mph: 3.1 sec (est)
¼-mile: 11.0 sec @ 135 mph (est)

It’s the second Ferrari on the list, but before the angry Backfires begin, consider one thing: It is not our fault Ferrari makes the best 500- and 600-hp cars on the market. It would be our fault, however, if we failed to recognize that fact. It’s not just the 3.1 seconds we expect the 599GTO will take to get to 60 mph—the Lambo sits as the quickest 600-hp car because this Ferrari’s time is an estimate—or the 208-mph top speed; it’s the feeling and sound the car generates at every turn of the wheel and each firing of every cylinder. Not many cars feel worth the 599GTO’s $450,000. This one does.

Don’t Underestimate Its Awesomeness
Bentley Continental Supersports
621 hp
$272,195
0–60 mph: 3.6 sec
¼-mile: 12.0 sec @ 118 mph

Bentleys always have been powerful cars, but power was never their first priority. It was simply a means of ensuring the customer never found the car inadequate in any way. Now, with the Supersports, Bentley has its first slobbering beast of the modern era. Starting with the Continental GT Speed, the Supersports drops about 250 pounds and gains 21 hp, becoming in the process a wholly different and more focused brute. The fact that this comes from a company whose image is as stuffy as Bentley’s makes the Supersports that much more satisfying.

The 1001 Club—————————————————————————————————————————

Bugatti Veyron
1001 hp
$1,675,700
0–60 mph: 2.5 sec
¼-mile: 10.1 sec @ 142 mph

There’s only one Bugatti Veyron. (Actually, there are more than 200 of them, and there will eventually be 450. But you know what we mean.) If none of the above has convinced you that the ’60s were merely the Silver Age of horsepower, then consider that we now have a 1001-hp factory-built option that will run the quarter-mile about as quickly as the state-of-the-art, purpose-built dragsters of the early ’60s; will cruise at the rough top speed of those cars’ 1980s counterparts; will do it on pump gas; and doesn’t require the driver to risk his scrotum by straddling the differential. Here’s hoping 40 years from now we’ll be able to look back and redefine today as merely another Silver Age.