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How much horsepower is enough and isn't there a more
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Posted by J (more from J) on Tue, 24 May 2005 16:25:34 Share Post by Email
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meaningful measure of a car's ability to provide power when you need it?

Compare for example Saab 9-5 Aero vs. BMW E46 M3. The Aero has 250 HP and costs around $35,000 in real dollars. The M3 has 333 HP and costs around $55,000 in real dollars.

Forgetting that the 9-5 Aero has a real back seat and a cavernous trunk. Forgetting that 9-5 comes standard with leather, sun-roof and premium
sound system, E46 M3 does not have a significant amount more useable power
than the Aero. I know. I test drove the E46 M3 and was at times
very underwhelmed by the amount of power on tap. At times, I would press
down on the accelerator and get nothing.

And what of the sound of the engine? Couldn't we just put the Aero engine
in a sound proof container and play a recording of a Ferrari engine? :-)
Is the sound of the engine and the admitted superiority in handling worth
the $20,000 premium?

So, what I'm wondering are two things. First, how much horsepower is
enough? All of a sudden, there are a lot of cars within reach of
average Joe that produce in excess of 300HP. Now, with the new Corvette
boasting 400HP and the Z06 boasting 500HP, just how much horsepower
will satisfy us?

255HP of the 9-5 Aero is enough for me, but then we're comparing turbo
charged swedish horses against wimpy naturally aspirated horses. It's
like comparing Clydesdales vs. donkies.

So, isn't there a better measure of useable power? Peak torque isn't it
either because the E46 M3 has beafy peak torque but at times it was gutless and had less useable power than my 9-5 Linear.

We human beings can get caught up in incorrect metrics like GHz or MIPS
for computers and horsepower for automobiles.

Of the new crop of automobiles that boast horsepower ratings in excess
of 300HP, how many actually have more useable power than the 9-5 Aero?

Cheers,

Jae

posted by 172.157.16...


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