5 Reasons You Shouldn't Care About Horsepower (As Much)

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Maybe you're all midgets.

Ultra's theory of relativity?

[86prime]

Originally Posted by new2subaru

I'm fairly certain they all bolt up to 17+

I think you missed the CARB legal part of the conversation

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

…………….

The fun part is that the majority of drivers of the higher powered cars will never use even a fraction of that power on the streets. This and most other performance car forums make it seem that everybody wants and uses the power all the time. The reality is that the vast majority never will. My father in law used to brag about how powerful his Infinity was but I doubt it ever went 1 mph over the speed limit. In fact it probably spent 99% of it's time doing well under it while people in Ugos and Geo Metros zipped around it. Of course the same applies to agility.

I reckon all that power is not as important today as it was back-in-the-day, before freeways were built and turnpikes were few and far in between.

When one was traveling on two lane roads, if you got stuck behind a truck, you just may stay there until he decided to pull off at a truck stop, if you couldn't pass.

Then when you slammed it up into second gear or mashed down on the gas to kick it into passing gear, you wanted some power in order to pass.

I doubt many drivers today would have survived some of those situations.-


humfrz

[J1Avs]

Originally Posted by humfrz

I reckon all that power is not as important today as it was back-in-the-day, before freeways were built and turnpikes were few and far in between.

When one was traveling on two lane roads, if you got stuck behind a truck, you just may stay there until he decided to pull off at a truck stop, if you couldn't pass.

Then when you slammed it up into second gear or mashed down on the gas to kick it into passing gear, you wanted some power in order to pass.

I doubt many drivers today would have survived some of those situations.-


humfrz

What are these two lane roads you speak of???

[Cole]

The real question is who is willing to plunk down the cash for a higher HP twin?

IMO it’s a tough sell at what they’re asking now, given that 30k can get you into some much nicer cars with more power, more bells and whistles, and almost the handling you get out of a twin.

[Goingnowherefast]

Originally Posted by Cole

The real question is who is willing to plunk down the cash for a higher HP twin?

I would gladly pay a 3-5K premium to have this vehicle with the FA20DIT if they made it an option in addition to a lower NA base model.

Originally Posted by humfrz

Back in the 50's, when I first started noticing cars, affordable sports cars didn't have all that much power. They were known to be fun to drive and agile.

Porsche - 46 HP
MG - 54 HP
TR - 65 HP

You realize full size trucks made slightly over 100 hp at that time right? (1950's Chevy half-ton made 105 HP). Those cars were considered very powerful when taking into account weight. Maybe let's not use 1950's standards to justify technology today. A lot has changed...

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by humfrz

I reckon all that power is not as important today as it was back-in-the-day, before freeways were built and turnpikes were few and far in between.

When one was traveling on two lane roads, if you got stuck behind a truck, you just may stay there until he decided to pull off at a truck stop, if you couldn't pass.

Then when you slammed it up into second gear or mashed down on the gas to kick it into passing gear, you wanted some power in order to pass.

I doubt many drivers today would have survived some of those situations.-


humfrz

Most of the cars of that time would be at or around 80 to 100hp. Something with 200HP would have been a supercar. You can not go from published HP numbers from any car pre 1972 because they used SAE Gross HP which meant no drain on the engine such as alternator, water pump, etc, as the standard. In 72 they switched to SAE Net which accounts for everything except transmission and drive train. The difference could mean anything between a 10% to 20% reduction in ratings by the modern methods. This means that a 1955 Chev 265 V8 that was rated at 162HP could actually be making between 130 and 145 HP at the current measurement standard. When you consider the weight and inefficiency (can anybody say two speed Powerglide?) of them it is hard to understand why people in cars half the weight and twice the power can't pass anybody!

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Cole

The real question is who is willing to plunk down the cash for a higher HP twin?.

I would have done it when I bought mine, just because...

It was one of the problems I had when cross-shopping the FRS. Anything else that started in the same price range had engine options and I couldn't leave the HP on the table, so by the time I was happy with a configuration I had usually doubled the price.

I wouldn't do it now though. As my buying history suggests, I wouldn't be buying a second one regardless.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Most of the cars of that time would be at or around 80 to 100hp. Something with 200HP would have been a supercar.

Yep. My previously mentioned '64 Polara had a 318CI V8 that output 230HP (SAE gross) and 340lb-ft of torque. Even with a 3-speed push button automatic pushing 3300 lbs, there wasn't much that could outrun it in the high school parking lot.

Not that I ever raced or anything....

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

Yep. My previously mentioned '64 Polara had a 318CI V8 that output 230HP (SAE gross) and 340lb-ft of torque. Even with a 3-speed push button automatic pushing 3300 lbs, there wasn't much that could outrun it in the high school parking lot.

Not that I ever raced or anything....

When I got it my 64 Impala SS had a 0 to 60 of about two weeks and could be passed by a pregnant armadillo! I found out that some prior owner had swapped the four barrel for a two. Once I swapped it back it was back where it was supposed to be with a 0 to 60 of about a day.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

When I got it my 64 Impala SS had a 0 to 60 of about two weeks and could be passed by a pregnant armadillo! I found out that some prior owner had swapped the four barrel for a two. Once I swapped it back it was back where it was supposed to be with a 0 to 60 of about a day.

Yea the Polara (when new) did 0-60 in 9 seconds. I'm not really sure what mine did when it was 13 years old and had 50,000 miles on it. It was still fast enough I got myself into trouble and sideways on more than one occasion.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by J1Avs

What are these two lane roads you speak of???

When I was a kid, my family would drive down to Florida from Ohio about every winter (after the crops were in).

So, to get there, one had to drive through Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia, going through every small town along the way. In towns weren't so bad, but going out of town could be expensive, if you didn't see the redneck sheriff hiding behind the billboard on the outskirts of town -

Yep, your speed didn't matter, what mattered was the sheriffs perception of your speed. Yep, pay in cash on the spot or spend the night in jail to see the "judge" in the morning, who was also the chief of police and the mayor.

Georgia was the worst state -


humfrz

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by humfrz

When I was a kid, my family would drive down to Florida from Ohio about every winter (after the crops were in).

So, to get there, one had to drive through Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia, going through every small town along the way. In towns weren't so bad, but going out of town could be expensive, if you didn't see the redneck sheriff hiding behind the billboard on the outskirts of town -

Yep, your speed didn't matter, what mattered was the sheriffs perception of your speed. Yep, pay in cash on the spot or spend the night in jail to see the "judge" in the morning, who was also the chief of police and the mayor.

Georgia was the worst state -


humfrz

Would think the sheriff would be the least of your worries.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Interesting tidbit, those aren't the actor's hands. He couldn't play banjo. The hands belong to a banjo player playing through the arms of the shirt.