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Every single time ive seen a stopping distance comparison between cars, every single car without abs always loses badly to every other car with ABS. Be it reviews of early vipers in mainstream media or user reviews, or situations like the SCC ultimate street car challenge. ABS wins, every time, by enough of a margin to matter. PORSCHE 911 TURBO 111 ft
FERRARI F355 114 ft
TOYOTA SUPRA TURBO 115 ft
CHEVROLET CORVETTE 116 ft
MITSUBISHI 3000GT VR-4 116 ft
ACURA NSX-T 120 ft
DODGE VIPER GTS 129 ft Despite rolling on the biggest production car tires in the known universe, the Viper ate up the most real estate while stopping from 60 mph. Achieving its 129-foot best stop required heightened concentration and fine pedal control, and even then the Dodge was prone to lockup as it neared a halt. In other words, it has the potential to be among the best-stopping cars here, if ABS-equipped. Time and technology march on, and not only do the current ABS systems milk the most possible stopping power out of the tires fitted, but stability logic, which governs application of the rear brakes, makes many cars more stable under braking than they otherwise would be. This can be a big help when things are quickly going sour and a loss of directional control seems imminent.
The secure predictability of ABS made our 60-0-mph panic stop easily the least thrilling of our performance tests-the only test run during which you can munch on a donut and in no way affect the outcome (not that we would ever do such a thing, of course). The ease with which six of our cars attained their shortest stops in no way lessens the importance of their braking performance. A five-foot difference in stopping distance between two cars seems insignificant, unless that five feet is occupied by the tail end of a flat-bed truck.
Braking
Stopping a car from 60 mph is a black art. It's a difficult test to conduct and an even more difficult test to prepare a car for. And without anti-lock brakes, it's almost impossible to execute effectively. Those are the reasons the owners drove their own cars for the USCC braking test. And why those with ABS had a significant advantage. Purists may argue that a sharp driver can beat ABS any day of the week, we're here to tell you that's hogwash. ABS is good. Very good. Modern ABS cycles quickly enough and consistently shortens braking distances enough that, with few exceptions, there's no longer any reason to leave it off your must-have list. Nothing illustrates this fact more than the braking results in USCC.
Fifty feet separate the first and last place finishers in 60 mph to zero distance in this test. To put things in perspective, that's more than 14 Acura Integras lined up nose to tail. Mark Allen's Integra Type R, the car that won this test, stopped from 60 in 117 feet. Not bad, but certainly not record-setting by any stretch of the imagination. The last stock Toyota Celica we tested did the deed in 113 feet on street tires-Allen's Integra used Kumho race tires. This is an indication that the surface halfway down Los Angeles County Raceway's drag strip offers very poor grip, even after being swept--twice. Less than one foot behind Allen's Type R was Mani Jayasinghe's Supra, another ABS car fitted with huge tires. Bringing up the end of the field was Tod Kaneko's rotary-powered Datsun 510 a lighter car than the winning Type R. Kaneko's 30 year-old Datsun used ultra-sticky Hoosier R3S03 race tires and Wilwood brakes all around, but didn't have ABS. What's that tell you?
 datsun 510 on big R compounds gets SPANKED by heaver cars on worse brakes and smaller rubber with abs. 30 feet longer than a street Just look at the skidpad numbers vs the braking distance? ABS wins. by a lot.
Antihero |
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