Not about HP (necessarily)

• Get rid of torque dip
• Have enough power to out accelerate a mini-van and/or camry
• Have enough power to compete at track against similar priced cars that are >600lbs heavier
• Have enough power to highway pass without redlining motor

It might sound strange, but I don't mind the lack of torque and high redline. It gives me an excuse to stretch out the engine on my daily commute, even if just to pass.

I had been driving a 987.2 Boxster S for a few days, and while the engine is quite good, if you wind out a few gears, you'll quickly be at license revocation speeds. Sad because the engine sounds incredible in the higher revs, but you'll rarely hear it in normal driving.

To me, the bigger issue with the FR-S is the torque dip. I'm not a big fan of that non-linear power delivery. Almost feels like VTEC kicking in around 4500 rpm as you rise out of the torque dip. Not much happening from 3200-4500 rpm. Interestingly, you can feel a torque surge with the Boxster S engine as well. It's just not as pronounced with more torque overall (3.4 L).

Thankfully there are UEL headers that will eliminate the torque dip on our cars.

Because 90% of people associate modern sports car with speed. All your average Joe cares about is fast acceleration from point A to B on a straight away. Why would anyone buy a new Miata if your 1990 one is just as good in performance wise?

Especially since they still look the same.

Probably because few people know what a sports car is and the ones who complain about the HP in the 86 should probably be driving a muscle car.

I don't think thats really fair. Its not that black and white. If I complain about torque dip or lack of power then I don't deserve to drive my FRS? Thats asinine.


I can still love this car and still thirst for more power.

Are sports cars not supposed to go fast, then?

Minivans and camrys are the new sports cars :bonk:

I still feel that they should offer a higher HP version 220-230 just to shut everyone up but it is not going to happen until a few more years when sales start to really decline.

since engine efficiency went up.

its acceptable to have a very similar mpg as our cars, yet have more POWA!

That's actually far more recent than the real start of the HP wars. I'd put the start to be ~1990. In '89 the RB engined Skyline GTRs came out along with the Z32 300ZX twin turbo. '91 saw the introduction of the FD RX-7 turbo. And while officially they all made 276hp, I don't think you'll find anyone in the know that doesn't quote that number without either including air-quotes, or a nudge and a wink. That was really the start of the modern HP wars, especially since (unlike the earlier HP was in the states in the 60s/70s) all those cars were turbocharged, which made them a good bit easier for the average joe on the street to increase the power.


Plus, the reality is that modern engineering and technology makes it FAR easier to get high HP numbers out of engines of a given size, especially if they've got help on the breathing end.

Read

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63503

I didn't say they don't deserve to drive it. I said they probably should have bought a different car.

They go fast in different ways. A sports car is meant to be light, nimble and quick in the corners with sharp handling. That's what the FR-S/BRZ is. To include that and make it fast in a straight line is what you get from a supercar and we all know what the price of that is.

I suspect low speed limits and the related more and more expensive tickets (see $$, time dealing with it, possible license suspension, etc...) have something to do with it, too. A defacto 60mph limit means that straight line acceleration from 0-60 is most of the fun that a person can legally have in a car on the street. Even on a very curvy local road with the not-so-grippy stock tires, pushing the car anywhere vaguely close to the limit requires that I drive enough over the speed limit that I'd get a reckless driving ticket if a cop was around.

Of course, if a cop sees you REALLY get on the throttle in a 400+hp car, you're likely to get a ticket, as well... but it probably won't be as costly as if you got a ticket for 20+mph over.