Horsepower. Less is sometimes more!

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: NateDN10
It has often been said that it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a fast car slow.


Not for me, I get real [censored] when I don't have "instant power" on hand for merging, passing etc... Beside the Marauder I have two Grand Marquis, can't say either are fun but perform the daily transportation duty quite well...

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: morepwr
To heck with needs, more is better!

Unless you don't want to pay for something you never use.

I also owned from new a 1984 VW Rabbit GTI, and it only had about 90 hp. But it was pretty light and a blast to drive, not to mention it was absolutely bulletproof and only needed regular maintenance. The purchase price was very reasonable too. It was stolen with 112k on it!

I still miss that car today.

If they made those cars today I would buy one again.

 

[fdcg27]

Instant power?
Grand Marquis with the shuffle box transmission?
I've driven a couple of CVPIs, and they aren't at all fast.
A good running four cylinder Accord of the last decade or so would leave any 4.6 for dead, especially at more than city street speeds.
They do make decent taxis, though.

 

[Loobed]

The original VW Bug had 36 Horsepower.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: DBMaster
Originally Posted By: Coprolite
Merging in Texas can be a bit scary. It never hurts to have some power to spare.


I don't know what part of Texas you live in, but here they must all drive sub 100hp cars. I'm lucky if the bozos in front of me get above 40 before they merge.

If I were king it would also be a ticketable offense to make an abrupt lane change to be first at the light and then putt away side by side with the car next to you.

Every time I see this garbage I say out loud, "So glad you sprung for the bigger engine, jack-o-lantern! You really need that extra horsepower."


This drives me nuts as well. Here it is common to see a 250-300 HP car merging on to the highway at dangerously slow speeds.

 

[Spazdog]

My Triumph Spitfire had like 53 horsepower.

It was a little lump of pushrod OHV cast-iron. Primitive. Oh, but the sounds it made!

Having 4.11:1 rear end ratio didn't hurt a bit. With one's posterior inches off the ground and the tach racing to redline, it felt pretty fast. Just ignore the speedometer. The number displayed does not match how it feels.

4.11:1 rear end means 3000 rpm at 55 mph. About 2600 with the O/D on. Actual freeway speeds wrap it up pretty high and it can get pretty raucous on a long trip. I never found out if it would get to 6000 rpm in 4th at 110 mph....probably not. It was wrung out pretty hard at 90mph indicated

 

[javacontour]

Reliving my vacation in Italy this past summer, our rental was a Ford Fiesta with the 1.25L engine. I don't know if it was the 60HP version, or the 80HP version, but it had no problem doing 130KPH on the Autostrada with the A/C on. We had no issues merging into traffic, leaving from stop lights, etc.

It was pretty quiet too.

I really don't see the need for large displacement engines for most folks.

If you want one, great, buy one.

I've owned ONE V8 powered car, and didn't really see the need. So I went back to V6 and I4 powered rides. In fact, all four of our current cars are 4-cylinder examples, ranging from 1.8L to 2.5L displacement.

 

[ls1mike]

Originally Posted By: NateDN10
It has often been said that it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a fast car slow.

That is because those people have not actually driven a fast car.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Originally Posted By: NateDN10
It has often been said that it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a fast car slow.

That is because those people have not actually driven a fast car.

The thing about fast cars is you can't really push them on public roads without risking a big ticket. I think day to day enjoyment is where a lower power, but good handling/driving car can be a plus.

A few years ago one of my friends bought a pristine '96 Mustang GT and did a number of mods to it including PI heads. We were a lot dumber with cars then, and I was riding shotgun when my friend decided to open it up on a highway one night. The speedo went to 150 or 155 MPH and we ran out, the needle was pegged. The car could also do some really good donuts. It was a LOT of fun, but anything legal was boring in it. The only safe way to really have fun with it was to take it to a track.

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: TFB1
Originally Posted By: NateDN10
It has often been said that it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a fast car slow.


Not for me, I get real [censored] when I don't have "instant power" on hand for merging, passing etc... Beside the Marauder I have two Grand Marquis, can't say either are fun but perform the daily transportation duty quite well...


Turbo or rev it out. A properly sized turbo provides nearly instant power where it's most commonly used, ie, not redline. It also widens the powerband so that an engine can make peak torque at silly low RPM's. Likewise, a rev-happy engine combined with a properly sorted transmission can deliver good power at higher RPM's.

 

[stang5]

try passing a semi up hill on a two lane highway in 150 hp 5000 lbs suv it'll make your toes curl...

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Originally Posted By: NateDN10
It has often been said that it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a fast car slow.

That is because those people have not actually driven a fast car.

The thing about fast cars is you can't really push them on public roads without risking a big ticket. I think day to day enjoyment is where a lower power, but good handling/driving car can be a plus.


Bingo. My brother has a C5 Corvette. It has a Maggy-Lingenfelter roots blower, 4.11 gears, headers/exhaust, and has been dyno'd at 490 hp at the wheels. It's insanely fast...nearly as fast as you can reasonably get on the street.

I've driven it a lot. It's certainly fast. And it's "fun" in the sense that you can get your giggles out on a deserted road (139 mph with the top down is windy).

But it's not satisfying as a daily driver, and it's not all that enjoyable to just "drive". My Corolla was more entertaining for me to drive on 99.8% of the roads I normally drive. Rev the Corvette through three gears and you're at 90 mph...double what you can normally drive around here. It's wide and low, with 335-series tires on the rear and (I think) the stocker 275-series tires on the front. It gets pulled by every rut in the road, every texture on the pavement. Its absolute handling limits are very high (near 1G on the skidpad I'm sure), but transient handling isn't all that great, and it's not very tossable. It doesn't have a "light feel" to it.

He himself rarely drives it. He prefers his 220 hp CTS, the "slow" model with the 3.0L.

There are certainly more ways than one to enjoy cars. To say that you have to want 400 horsepower to qualify as an "enthusiast" is an incorrect generalization. Just as saying you have to own a CPU of so many GHz to qualify as a computer enthusiast, or you have to use an oil that costs $x to qualify as an oil enthusiast.

 

[rjundi]

The most fun car I have owned was my 1988 VW GLI 16V (GTI with a trunk).

It was very light, incredible handling, felt beyond quick with gearing(very short throws) and only had 120HP at 5800RPM. I remember distinctly though spinning 3000RPM to go 60MPH. This made the motor feel stronger.

I have owned far more powerful cars with much better 0-60 times. However I just enjoyed it far more. The 1988 GLI was 0-60 8.4 seconds.

 

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
The most fun car I have owned was my 1988 VW GLI 16V (GTI with a trunk).

It was very light, incredible handling, felt beyond quick with gearing(very short throws) and only had 120HP at 5800RPM. I remember distinctly though spinning 3000RPM to go 60MPH. This made the motor feel stronger.

I have owned far more powerful cars with much better 0-60 times. However I just enjoyed it far more. The 1988 GLI was 0-60 8.4 seconds.


My 96 SL2 was the same idea for me.
Fun little high revving DOHC engine, 124 HP, but only not much more than 2600 lbs curb weight. The 0-60 for that car back new in 96 was something like 7.6 in manual trans trim. That car was also tossable in the corners. I miss it all the time. Wish my insurance wasn't so high, I would have just kept it. It wasn't worth much to sell privately.

 

[Vikas]

Everybody should get an instantaneous / average mpg gauge for their vehicle. You will soon lose the appetite to use all of your horses.

 

[addyguy]

I spent years driving nothing but 4-cylinder cars. They work fine in most day-to-day scenarios.

However, now that I have a 200HP V-6 in my Tribute, I wish I'd gone this route way earlier.

The 'ease' at which you can get out of tight situtations with more power (short on-ramps or passing lanes) makes the POM factor worth it for me.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: ls1mike
Originally Posted By: NateDN10
It has often been said that it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than to drive a fast car slow.

That is because those people have not actually driven a fast car.

Liz enjoyed her 65hp Festiva as much as her 765hp Grand National.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Absolutely true!

Power is only one of many facets of a car's personality.

My little 98 Neon R/T was only 150 hp but was a great commuter car and made every trip more fun!

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: addyguy


However, now that I have a 200HP V-6 in my Tribute, I wish I'd gone this route way earlier.



200HP is very achievable by most current 4 cylinder motors used in small SUV's and sporty small cars and family midsize cars. I think they dialed back(170HP-190HP) a bit though for more MPG.

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
Everybody should get an instantaneous / average mpg gauge for their vehicle. You will soon lose the appetite to use all of your horses.


We have on our Subaru Legacy GT (turbo 250HP 4 cylinder) with manual transmission. Yes it drops to 9MPG under full acceleration however the power is very addicting and puts smiles on our face still after 8 years. The car only averages 23MPG but the pleasure of driving it overrides that factor.

Consumer Reports found that folks are generally far more satisfied in their "would you buy it again" surveys with the more powerful version of car vs the base motor. At the same time high MPG vehicles also get high satisfaction rates also.