How Fast Are Fast & Furious Movie Cars in Real Life?

Real World Test

Every car enthusiast worth their salt knows that movie cars aren't what they're cracked up to be in real life. Generally, they're simply made to look good on screen, but in reality, they're poorly constructed, slapped together hoopties that can barely run under their own power. Thus, with the latest installment of the Fast & Furious franchise - F9 - hitting theatres, MotorTrend decided to take a look back at the time it tested a series of F&F builds to see just how fast and furious they really were.

Photos: MotorTrend

To the Test

Back in 2003, Sport Compact Car was able to borrow six cars used in the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious at the California Speedway in Fontana, California with one goal in mind - to see just how fast they really were. They tested each car to determine its 0-60 time, 60-0 braking, skidpad, and quarter-mile time.

Photos: MotorTrend

Curated List

The rag was able to choose whichever vehicles they pleased, apparently, but wound up with the film's Nissan Skyline GT-R, Toyota Supra, Mitsubishi EVO VII, Honda S2000, Mazda RX-7, and 1969 Chevrolet Camaro. They also chose the most authentic of each, as the movie crew had four to five extras of every car for obvious reasons.

Photos: MotorTrend

Disappointing Performance

Slap Jack's Supra is purported to run high 11s in the movie, but in real life, performance didn't even come close to that. The car only managed a 14.5-second quarter, 0-60 in 6.4 seconds, and a sloppy 0.90 g on the skidpad. The R34 GT-R didn't fare much better, taking 14.1 seconds to complete the quarter-mile and just 0.91 g on the skidpad.

Photos: MotorTrend

Fast, but Furious?

Next up was the RX-7, which mustered a rather slow 14.6-second quarter-mile, 6.4-second 0-to-60 time, and 0.91 g on the skidpad. But what about everyone's favorite pink S2000? Well, Suki's ride also proved to be neither terribly fast nor furious, covering the quarter-mile in 13.9 seconds, 0 to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds, and pulled 0.94 g on the skidpad, which made it the fastest import of the bunch, anyway.

Photos: MotorTrend

Quickest of the Bunch

The EVO proved to be a slug as well, recording a 15.3-second quarter-mile and 7.3-second 0-60, though it did match the S2000's 0.94 mark on the skidpad. However, the big block Camaro out-accelerated everything with a 13.7-second quarter and a 5.8-second 0-60 run. The old muscle car wasn't so great in the turns, however, with a skidpad result of just 0.73 g.

Photos: MotorTrend

Never Meet Your Heroes

In the end, these results certainly aren't terribly surprising. We all know that movie studios don't bother to build proper cars, because they simply don't need to. But it's still undoubtedly interesting to see how these junk boxes perform in real life, and like the old saying goes, never meet your heroes.

Photos: MotorTrend

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