Folks,

Isn't interesting how all the car companies these days are pumping more and more horse power into their engines of the new models?

Seems to me this started to occur when the WRX started to get more well known and also get rave reviews from the various magazine and other car media outlets.

Does anyone else think this?

Any thoughts / comments?

 

I don't think that the WRX has much to do with this. I think were just going through another stage of high horsepower vehicles. Right now we have the technology to make pretty efficient almost environmental friendly cars. The technology is just coming around and we're getting the benefits.

 

I first noticed it several years ago with the larger Mercedes models getting massive doses of horsepower and torque to make up for the mass they carry. This has been a criticism from magazines like Car & Driver, too. Instead of using more composites and lightweight aluminum in the chassis, they simply add (literally) tons of steel, glass, and rubber, then realize that even with 300 horsepower the thing will be a lead sled.

Look at that bloated Porsche Cayenne Turbo. Nice bling factor but I'd buy an XT and pocket the extra bucks for future mods.

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

 

werd!!!

 

I don't think the HP "race" has anything to do with the WRX; remember, car designs are made 3 to 5 years before they actually roll off the assembly line -- that's a conservative estimate. I actually think it had a lot to do with the fact that gas in the US dropped under $1 a gallon (I paid 89 cents a gallon for gas in 1996) in the late 90s; during that same period, many US states raised the speed limit on highways to 75 in rural areas. Those two changes were HUGE compared to the "drive 55" and $2.00 a gallon days of just a decade before... The auto industry got a taste of freedom and decided to see what they could do with it. The SUV craze came straight out of this period of CHEAP CHEAP gas, IMO.

Another big reason that we are seeing high HP engines is the advent of computer-controlled A/F mixture and valve timing; you can coax a heck of a lot more HP out of an engine these days (safely!) through variable control of the spark. fuel mixture and valves than you could in the carbourated engine days, when the only way to get more HP was to throw cubic inches and more cylinders at it. When a ECU-controlled flat-four 2.0 liter can generate more HP than a non-computerized v-6 3.5 liter or inline-6 5-liter, it is obvious that engine technology is still rapidly improving. I think a lot of the HP increase on the market is just due to good tuning and ECU programming. Cars such as the 05 Altima and Accord have extremely mundane and boring engines that have been 'ECU overclocked' in order to give them a little pep, and meet LEV requirements to boot.

 

Too true. Imagine how fast that e55 would be if it didn't weigh over 4000 pounds.

 

Interesting.

 

I know what redbaron is saying. It seems that import companies have been doing this. and completely seperately American cars did it, then europe caught on. It seemed like when one company did it with success the others followed, just like the SUV craze. I mean on the import side the WRX relaese into the US sent mitsu, and dodge into a frenzy, then acura, then Nissan etc... you get my point. Dodge had the viper, and GM releases the new C5, then C6, then Z06, ford said ha and gave us 390hp cobra. It is getting ridiculos. Saturn is now in the game with the redline vehicles. This is a really cool time to be a car enthusiast just like back in the 50's,60's, an early 70's. then the gas crunch hit(kinda like it is now) and the manufactures folded. Now with new technology they can get around steep gas prices and emissions. I think were in a golden age. Just think 30 years from now we will bw saying yeah i had an STi, or EV0, i wish i would have kept it. It might have been worth something. I say hooorah to the HP wars, thats whats driving manufactures and SEMA companys work harder and making better products for us, the enthusiast, everyday. Sorry if this post kind of wanders, but i think you get my point.

 

Yeah, it's damn fast now!!!!

 

I hope I can hold on to my car as a classic as the years progress.

 

Remember, for a car to be a classic model (i.e. show car) it has to be 100% stock! In the auto auctions they hold here in Scottsdale (Barret Jackson, etc.) the totally factory cars go for much higher value and prestige than any of the cars that have been modified in one way or another; even a new paint job and wheels lessens the value of a car as a classic.

 

Doubble Werd!