Unprecedented increase in average car's horsepower

[James S]

2006 Civic, 210hp 142 ftlb
2006 Eclipse, 263 hp 260 ftlb
2006 VW GTI, 200 210
2005 Mustang, 210 240
2005 Mustang GT, 300 315

My 160hp, 7.5 sec to 60, car is feeling lonely these days. What do you car guys in here think about this sudden surge in power, while still maintaining the same old emission levels and gas mileage?

[Jadam]

wtf? when did this happen!?

Anyways, that Civic is a Civic Si, big difference there.

Secondly Mustangs have always had around that much horsepower.

The Jetta, I dunno, weren't they previously around 184hp anyways?

[Maf54]

Is it really unprecedented?

[Chad]

It is really quite remarkable in the power/economy side of things... cars that get good gas milage are also putting out decent power, to the point to where they probably become fun to drive. It puts my 335 HP GT to shame, seeing how some of the fuel economic cars are getting close to the same power as my GT. My mom's Neon was built in 2000, and it only has 130~ hp and is rather gutless with the SOHC 2.0. In only 5 years they've come really far.

Still isn't enough to make me get an economy car though... I'm looking at a 1997 Silverado 4x4 with the 350 (5.7l) I really like the 5.7, it has a good mix of power and economy, especially the fuel-injected ones. But, the 327's (5.3) are very nice too, with marginally less power and better fuel economy.

[eminefes]

My '04 Corolla has a blisteringly fast 130 hp engine. It's so fast I tend to turn off the AC when I'm merging onto the interstate.....just to make sure I can get up to speed.

[Mechcommander]

I don't even know what the my engine in my '97 Civic is rated at in terms of horsepower. Probably not much.
And that's fine. It gets me where I need to go, at a decent 30mpg. I'm rather have one of those new Hybrids, but eh.

[David Horn]

[James S]

[David Horn]

[James S]

[David Horn]

[Chad]

[damian]

[tomdon]

Americans really should embrace disel cars. Modern diesels are very good. They need no pre heating before starting, they dont sound like a tractor. Best of all they give very good mpg. Our family car is a Ford Focus Cmax. It has a 1.6 turbo diesel and easily does 45mpg+ driving around the Island. Island driving is pretty much urban cycle, its constant gear changing stopping and starting and going slow round narrow country lanes.

45mpg is good when you see the car is not small either.

[David Horn]

And even when you compare your own cars to European or Japanese cars the engines are horribly unrefined. They have massive engines but tiny power outputs compared to an equivalent European or Japanese engine.