One of Carsut’s readers emailed us with a question “How much horsepower does my car have?” after reading our yesterday’s article What is horsepower and torque in a car? In his email, he mentioned he always wanted to know what exactly horsepower is as well as how much horsepower his car really has. So, how to know or determine the horsepower your car have? It could be as little as 30hp up to 300hp for ordinary cars we often see on the road. However, exotic car like the Ferrari 458 Italia is having 562 horsepower under the hood.

Generally, there are few ways to know how much horsepower does a car have:

• Look in your owner’s manual, user manual, or the new car brochure under engine specification. Most of the new car brochure today comes with hp ratings the manufacturer claims.
• Make a call to the nearest dealer and they are able to tell you based on your car make and model year.
• With the internet today, you can simply go online to the official website of your car brand and look for the hp ratings based on your model and model year, for example, www.Ford.com. If you are driving an old car, Wikipedia is another great source.
• If your car engine has been modified, the only way to get an accurate horsepower rating is to go for a dynamometer testing.

Does a car engine lose horsepower over time?

Unknown to many, horsepower in a car engine lose over time in its lifespan. This is because the internal parts of an engine and those auxiliary components are constantly working to produce power. When they work, they are wearing against each other and material will be lost at a microscopic level over time. It leads to compression lose as well as horsepower. A car may lose 5 to 10hp after several years although it has 300hp when it was new. However, some car engines are built with better quality thus they have better tolerances and able to last longer. A good example is the engine under the hood of Honda Civic that still works like a new car after 100,000 km.

Horsepower rating for some general cars

The car make, model, engine type, and horsepower shown above is the standard rating from manufacturer. If your car engine has been modified, upgrade with performance parts, added turbocharger or supercharger, the horsepower will be different from the results shown above.