Horsepower: Do you really use yours?

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I drove the Camry to work toda after it's been sitting for 14 months.

My god, yes I do use all the power that car has to offer LOL, it's gutless.


But but but, it gives you wings.... (or wing stickers.... )

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: 02SE
Just the effort and cost of switching road signs to metric all across the country, would be huge and arguably unnecessary.


Yep, I was going to say that one. How about all the gas pumps, and any other kinds of meters that read gallons (ie, water meters) or other US units. All of the diffetent industries that might still be setup on a non-metric system, etc, etc.


We switched

I don't recall it being a huge deal.

Regarding pumps and the like, anything with a digital readout likely already does both and just needs to have the setting switched (I'm sure our fuel pumps here can do both, they are just set to Metric). It would be the analog gauges that would be the issue, but their portion of the market would be relatively small in comparison.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I drove the Camry to work toda after it's been sitting for 14 months.

My god, yes I do use all the power that car has to offer LOL, it's gutless.


Hehe, that's my thought too. Nothing more annoying than people who can't maintain their speed on on-ramps, my car can't recover if we slow down! I suspect I'll be the death of this transmission, nothing like it shifting at 5,200 rpm.

I'm pretty sure I've wound out my truck a time or two. It rarely needs full WOT but it does have its moments. Wife's Camry, I find myself flogging more in hill country. I blame the kids, they're getting bigger and heavier as they age.

But it's kinda hard to say, my Toyota's have wicked tip-in and so halfway to the floor may well be WOT for them. Drive by wire might reduce pedal to the metal to quarter throttle (often does in the truck when TC/VSC decides to intrude).

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: 02SE
Just the effort and cost of switching road signs to metric all across the country, would be huge and arguably unnecessary.


Yep, I was going to say that one. How about all the gas pumps, and any other kinds of meters that read gallons (ie, water meters) or other US units. All of the diffetent industries that might still be setup on a non-metric system, etc, etc.


We switched

I don't recall it being a huge deal.

Regarding pumps and the like, anything with a digital readout likely already does both and just needs to have the setting switched (I'm sure our fuel pumps here can do both, they are just set to Metric). It would be the analog gauges that would be the issue, but their portion of the market would be relatively small in comparison.


I know the State of Maine changed their exits signs a few years ago, and I thought it a shame that they didn't use metric. Prior it was simply in sequential order. You had to be a local to know that 50 and 51 were next to each other, but there was 20 miles between 48 and 49 (making that up, been too long since I've been up that way).

Sometimes I wish we'd just make the switch and be done with it. As you point out, with everything being digital (or nearly so) it's hardly more than a software exercise. If anything, it might be possible to code pumps etc with a user preference. Swipe your card (or get into your car with your key) and it displays the units you prefer.

 

[02SE]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: 02SE
Just the effort and cost of switching road signs to metric all across the country, would be huge and arguably unnecessary.


Yep, I was going to say that one. How about all the gas pumps, and any other kinds of meters that read gallons (ie, water meters) or other US units. All of the diffetent industries that might still be setup on a non-metric system, etc, etc.


We switched

I don't recall it being a huge deal.

Regarding pumps and the like, anything with a digital readout likely already does both and just needs to have the setting switched (I'm sure our fuel pumps here can do both, they are just set to Metric). It would be the analog gauges that would be the issue, but their portion of the market would be relatively small in comparison.


The last time I checked, the USA had the largest road network of any Country. Something like 6+ times the size of Canada. There are A LOT of road signs out there that would need to be changed, and for what benefit?

If I really want to know what something equates to in Metric, it's easy enough to do the conversion in my head.

 

[PeterPolyol]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I drove the Camry to work toda after it's been sitting for 14 months.

My god, yes I do use all the power that car has to offer LOL, it's gutless.


I know your pain, used to drive one! "The Tan Turd". Always joked that the pedal had two positions, 'off' and 'floor'

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: PeterPolyol
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I drove the Camry to work toda after it's been sitting for 14 months.

My god, yes I do use all the power that car has to offer LOL, it's gutless.


I know your pain, used to drive one! "The Tan Turd". Always joked that the pedal had two positions, 'off' and 'floor'

Ah, the digital age...

We had a co-worker who took all the controls as digital...accelerator was binary (his speed control was like riding a rocking horse), brakes were digital (retinal detachment risk), and the steering wheel appeared to be -1, 0, +1 in application.

 

[mightymousetech]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: PeterPolyol
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I drove the Camry to work toda after it's been sitting for 14 months.

My god, yes I do use all the power that car has to offer LOL, it's gutless.


I know your pain, used to drive one! "The Tan Turd". Always joked that the pedal had two positions, 'off' and 'floor'

Ah, the digital age...

We had a co-worker who took all the controls as digital...accelerator was binary (his speed control was like riding a rocking horse), brakes were digital (retinal detachment risk), and the steering wheel appeared to be -1, 0, +1 in application.


Ugh. Our shop foreman drives like that. I refuse to ride with him driving anymore.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: 02SE


The last time I checked, the USA had the largest road network of any Country. Something like 6+ times the size of Canada. There are A LOT of road signs out there that would need to be changed, and for what benefit?

If I really want to know what something equates to in Metric, it's easy enough to do the conversion in my head.


OK, and you have 10x the population, so per capita we have more roads? LOL!

Think about it. On a comparable sized land mass, with 10x fewer people, but heavily roaded, we still managed to make a go at it and get it done, and this was during a period where everything was analog, so gas stations had to change, thermometers...etc. It's a far easier job now than it was then. Jesus man, if you can develop a plane like the SR-71 Blackbird, I'm pretty sure you guys can manage to change your road signs over.

Now, to what benefit? That's the issue. I'd say the primary one is standardization like the rest of the world and why your cars and most everything else uses metric fasteners, but maybe you don't want that

 

[PeterPolyol]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: PeterPolyol
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I drove the Camry to work toda after it's been sitting for 14 months.

My god, yes I do use all the power that car has to offer LOL, it's gutless.


I know your pain, used to drive one! "The Tan Turd". Always joked that the pedal had two positions, 'off' and 'floor'

Ah, the digital age...

We had a co-worker who took all the controls as digital...accelerator was binary (his speed control was like riding a rocking horse), brakes were digital (retinal detachment risk), and the steering wheel appeared to be -1, 0, +1 in application.


Hehe the joke being that you simply can't accelerate offensively or abruptly in that Camry

 

[02SE]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: 02SE


The last time I checked, the USA had the largest road network of any Country. Something like 6+ times the size of Canada. There are A LOT of road signs out there that would need to be changed, and for what benefit?

If I really want to know what something equates to in Metric, it's easy enough to do the conversion in my head.


OK, and you have 10x the population, so per capita we have more roads? LOL!

Think about it. On a comparable sized land mass, with 10x fewer people, but heavily roaded, we still managed to make a go at it and get it done, and this was during a period where everything was analog, so gas stations had to change, thermometers...etc. It's a far easier job now than it was then. Jesus man, if you can develop a plane like the SR-71 Blackbird, I'm pretty sure you guys can manage to change your road signs over.

Now, to what benefit? That's the issue. I'd say the primary one is standardization like the rest of the world and why your cars and most everything else uses metric fasteners, but maybe you don't want that

The point, is that we have more roads, WITH road signs. Most densely concentrated around cities. So yes, lots more road signs that would need to be changed.

Here, I Googled it for you: Countries by Road Network size

As for spending billions (or more) to go completely Metric, Why? Anyone should be capable of converting Miles to Kilometers in their head, and if they aren't, they likely have a Smartphone that can do it for them.

So no, I don't see the need or point of converting.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: 02SE

The point, is that we have more roads, WITH road signs. Most densely concentrated around cities. So yes, lots more road signs that would need to be changed.

Here, I Googled it for you: Countries by Road Network size


I didn't disagree that you have more roads? I just said we likely have more per capita if your numbers were correct, given you have 10x the population. However my point was simply that it isn't logistically impossible, given that we did it on a comparable sized land mass given that earlier qualifier about population, to undertake this. It's quite doable, and easier done now than it was when we did it thanks to so much in our lives being digital.

Originally Posted By: 02SE
As for spending billions (or more) to go completely Metric, Why? Anyone should be capable of converting Miles to Kilometers in their head, and if they aren't, they likely have a Smartphone that can do it for them.

So no, I don't see the need or point of converting.


Hence the last part of my post. It's doable, it just seems that most of you folk don't seem inclined to support such a move. That's fine, it's your country and I support your right to do what you wish there. From an outsider perspective, particularly one from a country that went through it, I think I just see it as less of a big deal perhaps.

 

[Nyogtha]

This push lost momentum under the Reagan administration and cost minimization, although there was resistance from unions at the time citing changing to metric would make it easier to offshore jobs.

Overkill, what was Canada's experience in that regard? I wonder if changing to metric standards could actually help return offshored jobs nowadays.

I remember some dual road signs around the USA, according to Wikipedia, some still exist.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Nyogtha
This push lost momentum under the Reagan administration and cost minimization, although there was resistance from unions at the time citing changing to metric would make it easier to offshore jobs.

Overkill, what was Canada's experience in that regard? I wonder if changing to metric standards could actually help return offshored jobs nowadays.

I remember some dual road signs around the USA, according to Wikipedia, some still exist.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_Canada

That's a pretty good read on it. My parents went through it, I was a wee tot by the time the process was "completed" but I remember my grandmother getting confused as her Caddy was in miles and my grandfather's truck (1988) was in kilometres.

I believe the whole process took less than a decade for most stuff to be changed over, probably realistically closer to 5 years as it wasn't until the mid 70's that efforts began in earnest and much was done by 1980.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: PeterPolyol
Hehe the joke being that you simply can't accelerate offensively or abruptly in that Camry


I like to joke that I can drive mine at nine-tenths and no one is the wiser.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Jesus man, if you can develop a plane like the SR-71 Blackbird, I'm pretty sure you guys can manage to change your road signs over.


And it was engineered with slide rules and drafting boards, all in good old US units.

I've seen drawings on a 5th Gen fighter jet that hasn't been in service for very long, and all drawings were in good old US units - no metric going on. Of course this machine is not sold to anyone else in the world, so that might have a factor.

Like said earlier, all the US car makers are metric fasteners, have been a very long time. I never use my US sized sockets or wrenches anymore. All speedos these days can read miles or km, been that way a very long time too. No need to switch over to metric across the board in this country, things have been running fine, as companies that need to use the SI system do, or use both systems if required.

 

[Shannow]

Re F35...true that
https://www.themanufacturer.com/articles/bae-systems-behind-the-scenes-of-the-f-35-fighter/

Edit, LOLing that the plane is US measurements (interesting with Imperial, check out the Lithgow Inch...our small arms factory built in Canada, had a special "inch), but the climate is controlled to 21C...69.8F

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: 02SE
As for spending billions (or more) to go completely Metric, Why? Anyone should be capable of converting Miles to Kilometers in their head, and if they aren't, they likely have a Smartphone that can do it for them.


If that is the case, then why couldn't we put up signs in metric as they need replacing? Might be annoying to have one sign in miles, and 3km down the road have one in km, but as you state, it really is trivial to convert units.

*

The other weekend I came across something on wikipedia: when the Soviets copied our 74 series logic IC's, they changed the 100mil (2.54mm) pitch into a more metric friendly 2.5mm (98.4mil) pitch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7400_series
Quote:
The Soviet Union started manufacturing TTL ICs with 7400 series pin-out in the late 1960s and early 1970s, such as the K155ЛA3 which was pin-compatible with the 7400 part available in the United States, except for using a metric spacing of 2.5mm between pins instead of the 1/10"-based (2.54mm) spacing used in the west.

 

[gizzsdad]

Did not read the whole thread, so apologies if repeating an earlier post. I think a far more useful metric that would inform prospective customers would be a minimum/maximum torque valve from 1,500 - 3,500 rpm. This would tell you much more about the driving experience, than the outdated max HP number.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: Nyogtha
This push lost momentum under the Reagan administration and cost minimization, although there was resistance from unions at the time citing changing to metric would make it easier to offshore jobs.

Overkill, what was Canada's experience in that regard? I wonder if changing to metric standards could actually help return offshored jobs nowadays.

I remember some dual road signs around the USA, according to Wikipedia, some still exist.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_Canada

That's a pretty good read on it. My parents went through it, I was a wee tot by the time the process was "completed" but I remember my grandmother getting confused as her Caddy was in miles and my grandfather's truck (1988) was in kilometres.

I believe the whole process took less than a decade for most stuff to be changed over, probably realistically closer to 5 years as it wasn't until the mid 70's that efforts began in earnest and much was done by 1980.

I think the only real downside to the metric system is using liters as a unit for gas pricing. Gas went up 20% overnight for the initial switch over. Also for years we would pay the same difference price per grade of gas as the US, but of course a gallon is 3.78L, so and would be paying almost 30% more for higher octane...
If the US does switch over to metric at some point, lobby for gas to be priced by the decaliter(10 liters), then the price games draw more attention.