Ongoing General Automotive Thread 2.0

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

This just ain’t true. I’ve driven 7 seater SUVs with sub-300hp and can rip just fine on the highway with them, including quick, safe passing.

More hp = more fun but the above to me indicates a driver issue rather than an engine/power issue.

Everything is heavy these days. And with the turbo charged 4 cylinders now yeah you can zip along just fine in big SUVs with sub 250hp. But your sucking a large load of fuel to do it.

Just ask the new Ram owners that have that inline 6 how their fuel economy is while doing truck things...it's two or three times worse than a 5.7L Hemi V8. Weight to power ratio is real. And should be considered when buying a new vehicle. I'd hate to buy a new tundra with a new Iforce Max.

Or any 1 ton with a 4 banger. That's awful.

[woob]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Horsepower is relative to era. Civics and Corollas in the 90's only needed 120 hp because they weighed in the neighborhood of 2200 lbs. Today those vehicles weigh 3000 lbs.

Our Sportwagen is listed at 3358lbs, according to the Google. It's been our primary road trip vehicle, so we load it down with 2 adults, 2 kids, full wagon cargo, roof cargo, and often bikes on the back. At 170hp it'll still get us past people quickly, often with commentary from the kids asking why am I going so fast. Again, a big chunk of that is the DSG and using it to my advantage. I'd love to have 250 in that wagon, but suspect my mail would be full of tickets.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

You sayin' my jalopies are old???


In fairness, the truck is almost an antique in Alberta. The other is just a reasonably sized car(Impreza. No, not white).

Blue with the Gold wheels, enormous 'muffler,' blow-off valve and a rear spoiler wing the size of a 747s.

[DoubleF]

Circling back, I have no issues for someone who is an enthusiast who wants more than 250HP. But to say 250HP isn't a lot is a bit out there, especially if there's also the concept of 350HP+ which on cursory glance eliminates certain models of Porches for being slugs. One of my favourite exotics is the Lotus Elise, so that's why I brought up power to weight vs raw HP.

I also question that 50-70 mph time for the V90 of 4.5 seconds. It makes no sense to me and seems to be ridiculously off. If the 0-60 mph time is 6.5 seconds or around 1.1 seconds per 10 mph from a stop, and then 50-70 mph at 4.5 seconds is closer to 2.2 seconds per 10 mph. I further got an AI response that 0-70 mph for the V90 T5 is 9.7 seconds, which also seems ridiculously off. So it takes 6.5 seconds to reach 60 mph and then an additional 3.2 seconds to reach 70 mph? There's no damn way. I am pretty sure it doesn't take me 4.5 seconds to go from 80-115 kmph in the van, let alone a car with better power to weight ratio.

I got a search result saying that a GTR R32 with 280 HP takes about 6 seconds from 0-60 and 1.6 seconds for 50-70 mph. These numbers make more sense to me than the stated V90 taking 4.5 seconds to do 50-70, which I agree is objectively abysmal, but logically also seems very inaccurate.

[Fuzz]

Wind resistance squares with speed, so you need a lot more power to accelerate at higher speeds. Also, you are probably in a higher gear so less torque.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Wind resistance squares with speed, so you need a lot more power to accelerate at higher speeds. Also, you are probably in a higher gear so less torque.

From 80-112 kmph though? 120+ kmph, certainly I'd believe that.

But I'll take the L on that though. I thought about it and i guess I didnt factor in turbo lag.

[Fuzz]

Spoiler!

https://fastestlaps.com/models/volvo-v90-t5


I think the curve starts to bend more above 80-90. It does make sense, because they are going to optimize the gearing and engine performance for efficiency at the speed you are travelling most on the highway. But it is also just physics.

[TorqueDog]

We started the discussion talking about heavy modern vehicles — like a >4,100lb Volvo sport wagon — with only 247 horsepower being insufficient, I guess it was only matter of time before we jumped the shark and the power-to-weight ratio of the Lotus bloody Elise was brought up.