Edmund Storms wrote:
> > ... A normal car needs at least 100 hp to meet > the needs of speed and hills in the US. This is a startling statement. I submit that the word "needs" is an UNDEFINED TERM in the sentence, as is the word "normal". Speed limits are no higher than they were a few decades ago, and the hills haven't gotten any steeper. How come people used to drive VW Rabbits, VW Beetles, and assorted other compacts with less than 100 HP, and somehow managed to negotiate both hills and highways? Do cars, for some reason, "need" more power to climb the same hills today? (Must be the obesity epidemic!) How come Hyundais were introduced with substantially less than 100 HP (with speed limits as high as today, and hills as steep as today) and they sold so well that Hyundai became an overnight success? I suppose all these cars must have been "abnormal", or they must have had "less power than they needed" .... but really, all that supposition does is point up the fact that the way you used the terms "normal" and "need", they are undefined placeholders, which, I submit, just replace the words "I like" and "people might want". Certainly, all else being equal, most people want more power, more interior space, and more "stuff" in the car (electric windows, radio, tape deck, moon roof, driving lights, cartop carrier, trunk space, etc). That is not equivalent to saying that a car with less power, less interior space, or less "stuff" is in some way "abnormal", and it does not in any way give meaning to your undefined term "needs". In particular, all else is *not* equal, and more power, space, and stuff must be traded off against other costs. Incidentally, the actual value I've heard for how much power a car "needs" to keep up at highway speeds is more like 15 to 20 horsepower for cruising, and somewhat more for accelerating. A VW Rabbit or Bug with a 35 horse engine could cruise just fine on the highway, as I know from direct experience (the Rabbit was a diesel, which gives it a leg up on low-speed torque, but a compressed air motor probably has an even bigger advantage in that area).
