Engine power
 

So, why do we all like powerful engines in our cars?

It never used to mean much to me, but when I got to Australia (home of the 'rev heads), I went native and bought a OTT 4.0 litre Turbo-charged rear-wheel beast.

Wierd, when you consider I only commute about 12km to work, across city traffic, once or twice a week.

So, what powered engine did you spend your money on?


Mr Mephisto

Uh...i have like 80 horsepower...and realistically, i probably put 55 to the ground, if that. I swear to god, when you floor it, in 3rd gear, the car doesn't noticably move faster. Its insane.

1982 reliant K w/ a 2.2l 4 cylinder.

2003 quadcab Hemi ram. I havent dynoed it but they claim 345hp and 375tq. Either way, it gets my 6,000 brick moving right quick.

95 camaro z, 285 stock, got some mods on it so its over 310 easy...dont really know what it is for sure

02 Accord Coupe V6 - 200hp
04 Accura TL - 270hp

300 hp - 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner
Quite the beast.

Just under 200 HP in my SLK. It's not that I wouldn't like more, but that's enough to make the car plenty fun.

'88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe - 190hp stock, probably around 210-ish after opening up the intake and cranking up the boost a bit.

'93 Lincoln Mark VIII - 280hp

What is the most underpowered car you've ever owned/drove?

Mine would be a friend's '90 Taurus with the 3.0 V6. I think something might have been wrong with it. I know they're not exactly Ferraris, but this particular one was dumbfoundingly slow. I'll never forget taking off from a stoplight up a hill with the pedal almost floored, only to be outrun by a Pinto towing a small trailer. That's just sad.

2003 Daewoo Matiz

3 cylinder making a massive 40Kw

Damn that thing flies!

Massive 150Hp 1999 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4 3.0L ... heh, but I still love it. :)

This baby sounds beautiful.

Please tell me you have some pics?!


Mr Mephisto

Sheesh... That's kinda funny and sad at the same time.

My XR6-Turbo puts out 200kw MORE than that Daewoo; ie, 240Kw in total.

Not that I use it though...

Boys and their toys, eh?



Mr Mephisto

Even know my Shelby-Z has a somewhat blowin engine it still must be up over 100hp...but I think stock power was 175hp....hoping after I getting the new engine to put some mods on it and get it up over 200hp!

if its not already there!


and my 82 Chevy G20 Van w/ a 89 5.7l 350, probably like 80hp's right now, the motor isn't running on all 8 cylinders I think I got a dead plug!

My new motor for the bird did 687.1 FWHP and 522.0 FWTQ. You got to love a SBC that will rev to 7k :D

Jeep is quoted at 195hp, 215lb/ft i believe.. Nothing impressive, but in a car just under 3000lbs, it gets it moving pretty quick.

Must under powered.....hmmm, we breifly owned a 88 Ranger with a crappy tiny 4 banger that supposedly had 82hp, or something tiny like that. Prolly made like 40 at the wheel. It was horribly underpowered.

1987 Cadillac Deville 4.1L V8 a very sad 130hp
1984 Mustang...hoping I can push at least 350hp out of a 302..

you should slap a Supercharger on the Deville :D

99 Grand Am GT coupe, 175 hp. It gets the job done.

93 ford explorer
160hp at 4200 rpm
4.0L 6 cyl

i wish it had a bit more power... the whole thing about not being able to hold highway speeds up a hill kinda blows....

My 89 that I just sold had about ~270 ish to the wheels (based on similar combos)

My new 96 Ford contour has 140 Hp at the flywheel.

435rwhp/455rwtq on my barely modified '95 Supra which is normal for turning up the boost on this turbo car. Factoring in about 16% drive line losses, that makes 517 bhp compared to original factory rated 320 bhp. Not bad for hardly any modification cost.

Spyder_Venon,
That's damn serious power you have there. I can understand that with all the front drive around now you could get confused. Unless yours is strangely modified, Firebirds never had FWHP front wheel hp or fwtq since they are rear wheel drive, so you have rwhp and rwtq. Maybe just an abbreviation or terminology misunderstanding.

I'm astounded at the numbers of cars here with 175+ BHP that posters are describing as "not bad" or "ok" etc...

No offense meant, but American motor engineering must be pretty shit if you can't get excellent performance out of a car with that power. Just goes to show you that BHP is not the measure of all things.

I guess it's kinda like comparing clock speed on CPUs!

You have to take into account the whole package. The quality of the breaks, the torque (Nm or lbs you Americans) and the actual weight of the car.

All very interesting (in a minor male kind of way). To the amusement of my wife, I think I'm slowly turning into a rev head myself...


Mr Mephisto

Flywheel HP -sorry I should have clairied a little better

FWD= front wheel drive

but wait!

FWHP= front wheel horse power or in my case, fly wheel hp....

:crazy: acronyms suck....

Well weight matters just as much, but I don't think its any engineering failure. We in the US don't have true POS cars like europe does (I don't know about Oz), so we have higher standards on what's fast and what isn't.

Poorly programmed auto trannies are also a lot more common here (and most people don't know that you can and should shift them manually).

Anyway, I have a Corvette with ~300 hp. The slowest car I've ever driven was a 1978 Mercedes 240D - 70 hp and over 3200 lbs. 0-60 in >25 seconds!

Europe doesn't have POS cars, they're just more practical and economical for their environment than some other cars out there. Realistically, to maintain highway speeds, a car of moderate weight shouldn't need much more than 40 hp with a properly geared transmission.
These cars are also small, which is convenient in European towns. If any of you have ever been to Rome, you know how much a pain in the ass it is to create room to let an suv down a narrow cobblestone road. The opposing lanes have to pull over to let the suv through.
Plus, gas prices in North America are only now reaching the levels Europe has had for a long time. Suddenly, a displacement of under a litre producing close to 50 miles per gallon doesn't seem like such a bad idea after all.
The SMart car is ideal for Europe for all of these reasons.

i probably have the slowest vehicles here. 305 hp dodge ram 3500 4x4
and a 81 mercedes 240 D lol

I know that there are good reasons that Europe has cars like that, but it still stands that they offer a very poor driving experience by american standards (on american-style roads). That's what I meant by "POS" :).

New budget roller motor, conservatively about 525 horse before spray.

I enjoy driving fast. But 300 HP seems to be just about enough I guess.

`04 Audi A8L - 330 HP
`98 Audi A8 - 300 HP
`99 Lexus GS400 - 300 HP

I want to upgrade the brakes, and maybe the engines on the old A8, but I just don't have the time.

On the low end, I've got a `90 Miata and a `something MG Midget (that I'm storing for someone).

2004 TL- 270
2003 EL- 127

'97 Buick Century - 165 when it's running right. Weighs damn near two tons with me in it, and the transmission sucks, so I don't get a huge amount of enjoyment out of it. Being 6'8" sucks when you're looking for a fast car.

My current truck ('94 F-350 with a 460) is listed at 245 HP. I beleive my old '86 F-350 with a 460 had more than that, since you could drop the hammer and make all 4 rear tires break loose on a 7000 pound truck. :)

MrselfDestruct- You need a truck. I'm 6'6", and I look real silly trying to drive a car. :p

I find this amusing. Let me simply list the following EUROPEAN car manufacturers.

BMW
Mercedes
Audi
VolksWagon
Maserati
Ferrari
Lambourghini
Lotus
Briton
Jaguar
Rolls Royce
Bentley
Porche
Aston Martin


all this just off the top of my head.


In the US you have... erm... let's see... what about?... no.... erm.. Ford?



Mr Mephisto

Heh, all i know is i just got my baby. I found a 98' 3000GT VR4, stock and it pulls 300bhp stock. And with the little mods i did i think i pull around 345bhp, that area.

Mr. Mephisto, I much prefer the European cars you mention over american (or japanese) ones. I wasn't saying Europeans can't make good cars. I meant that if you go to Europe, dinky little crap cars that would never be sold in the US are very common. Those are the things I'm talking about. Your average person doesn't own the cars you mention in most European countries.

damn it must be hard to find a car you fit in!

210 Horse Power for my turbocharged 98 Jetta 2.0.

200hp 1996 ford windstar mini van...Big, great low end pickup and can I cruise all day doing 80mph on the highway in my captain chair...and so can my other passanger...the thing has 4 of those lovely seats.

My car
 

100HP Toyota Corolla (4k-c 1290cc engine)

It has a 42/88 cam (wheeee)
32/36 Downdraft weber
2.25" exhuast system

Not the fastest car in the world :P

http://www.rollaclub.com/gallery/mem...t/Dscn2817.jpg

Will end up as a rally car in the next 12 months... Daily driver for now

175hp is great in something like a VW Golf. In a large American car, it sucks.

Hmmmm.... I have a 2.3 turbo Thunderbird that I don't drive much anymore. My dad has a little Triumph TR7 with a dead engine. Now that could be a fun combo! :D