Top 10: New cars with the most power per kilo

In between all the strong news of this moment, it is occasionally nice to dream away. Dreaming about particularly fast cars, for example. Cars that – especially in relation to their weight – are very powerful. We have listed the ten ‘most efficient’ contemporary powerhouses for you.

A look at the current national new offer shows that there are quite a few cars on the Dutch market with a horsepower / kilo ratio of around 1 in 2. Relatively light cars with a huge impact capacity. That is of course what you prefer to see. A Bugatti Chiron is supreme in power and speed, but also very heavy. For better steering you want a relatively light car, with a lot of power. In this respect, three brands stand out head and shoulders: Ferrari, McLaren and our ‘own’ Donkervoort.

The best contemporary street-legal car in terms of power to weight ratio, is the Ferrari 488 Pista. The even lighter successor of the 488 GTB weighs approximately 1,280 kilos about the same as a Volkswagen Golf, but has no less than 720 hp at its disposal. This leads to a ratio between power (hp) and weight (kg) of 1 to 1.77. The ultra-fast Italian is at 2.85 from a standstill at 100 km / h and reaches 200 km / h after only 7.6 seconds.

McLaren is also doing good business in this area. The recently presented 765LT will soon overthrow the 488 Pista, which is why it is already printed in italics for completeness in the list below. For the time being, however, McLaren still has to mention the 675LT in this top 10. The ultra-light version of the Sport Series puts, as the name suggests, a whopping 675 horsepower at a weight of just 1,230 kilos. A quick calculation shows that per hp only 1.82 kilos of weight need to be moved. You can see that in the 2.9 seconds that are only needed to shoot from a standstill to 100 km / h. The McLaren 720S is also doing well. It has 45 hp more at its disposal than the 675LT, but is only 89 kilos heavier. With 1 horsepower at 1.83 kilos, that is also a lightweight rocket.

However, the McLarens are quite pricey, at around € 390,000 for the 675LT and around € 320,000 for the 720S. In that respect, the Donkervoort D8 GTO Performance may be a better choice. It costs roughly half. For that you get, however, more than half of the power of the McLarens for: 380 hp. With its absurdly low weight of 695 kilos, the Dutch sports car is by far the lightest car in this top 10. Just like the McLaren 720S, the Donkervoort only needs to move 1.83 kilos per horsepower. In terms of lightweight fun, you can actually see the D8 GTO as the big winner in this top 10.

The rest of the top 10 is largely completed by various different Ferraris. Ferrari still lives up to its aim for a favorable power-to-weight ratio. The F8 Tributo is, after the 488 Pista, the cream of the crop in that respect. In terms of specifications, it is almost the same as the McLaren 720S. As with the Pista, the Italians get 720 hp from the V8 in the F8 and the F8 keeps it relatively modest with 1,370 on the scale. At 1.9 kilograms per horsepower, the Ferrari is a fraction less efficient than the McLaren. However, the F8 is roughly € 20,000 cheaper than the McLaren.

The full top