I always hear people talk about how the 03/04 cobra's are severely underrated horsepower wise and it got me thinking. Does pretty much every manufacturer do this, and if there's an advantage to doing this (insurance if I had to guess), why wouldn't every manufacturer of sporty cars do this?

 

they have been doing it since the 60's

how much they do it will just get them unwanted attention

mustang/camaro's have always been under-rated

 

I dont' know so much for insurance purposes but I know most people don't complain if their car makes MORE than the factory spec. So the factory low ***** it to keep their ***** out of hot water. You figure there is a 5-7% fudge factor in most sports cars/muscle car specs in the HP and TQ department. That way if one car dynos at say 301 and another is 298 but the car is only rated at say 295, no one bitches.

 

Same question has already been asked this month
https://mustangforums.com/m_1915276/tm.htm