The Fast and The Furious Cars Were Actually Pretty Slow

Movie magic helped sell the illusions of speed and horsepower.

By: Anthony Alaniz

Jun 16, 2024 at 2:00pm ET

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If you want further proof that movies aren’t real, just listen to Craig Lieberman, a technical advisor on the first two Fast and Furious films. He peels back the curtain to reveal the movie magic that makes all those cool cars look far faster than they actually are, showing how fast and slow many of them were in the first two films.

Brian’s Mitsubishi Eclipse from the first movie looked like it could click off 10-second quarter-mile times, but it actually only made about 125 horsepower from its slightly modified, naturally aspirated 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. The car needed nine seconds to reach 60 miles per hour in the real world and completed the quarter-mile in an abysmal 16 seconds.

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Jessi’s Volkswagen Jetta was built to be a show car, with just 150 horsepower on tap and a 10-second 0-60 time. It took 18 seconds to finish the quarter-mile, but the vehicles never needed to be fast for filming. Lieberman reveals that 90 percent of car stunts in movies happen below 60 miles per hour, and stunts that require speeds over that use remote controls or cables to achieve those speeds. Editing, sound mixing, and other tricks help create the illusion of speed for moviegoers.

However, some of the cars packed some punch. Dom’s Mazda RX-7 delivered 305 horsepower and could achieve 0-60 times in the 5-6 second range. Leon’s Nissan GT-R R33 was also quick, achieving a 10-second quarter-mile time in the real world.