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Humdrum Horsepower Numbers

157. That was the horsepower number the 1982 GT Mustang touted. And many people, me included, were excited. Okay, we knew 157 wasn't exactly pure thunder, some of the late 70's/early 80's V8s made 170-200

-- and we were still mesmerized by the 60's gross horsepower numbers of

300 and 400 -- but still, for that era the number was decent. From that 157 the Mustang's numbers continued to grow nearly every subsequent model year until it hit the "respectable" power figure in 1987 of 225. Wow, two hundred and twenty five horsepower! Now we're talking (what a difference a decade later or so makes, huh?). Only Buick's Grand Nation/GNX and Chevy's Vette made more -- they made 245/276 and 240. The next 5 years, the numbers just inched along with the Buick V6 going to 250 in the Turbo T/A and the Vette's 5.7 liter to 245. GM's LT-1 in 1992 got the numbers rolling again with 275, 285 and eventually it jumped over 300. Ford's quad-cam 4.6 saw the ante in 1996 and jumped up to 305. For the next few years the low 300s was enough to give you some street creed. But, now, the low 300s is just about humdrum -- the base Mustang GT has 300, the EVO, WRZ/STi have 300, the base Hemi has 340, and even the upcoming SRT-4 Caliber cross-over thing will have 300. The GTO only stayed at 350 for a year and needed some separation from the pack and quickly went to 400. The base Hemi got a big brother version packing 425. The Terminator 4.6 only sat at 390 for 2 years before jumping to 5.4 liters and 500 horsepower. The Z06 jumped from 385 to 405 in one year, and then jumped all the way to 505. The Viper not to be out done went from 450 to over 500, and now, GET THIS in its [Viper's] 2008 redesign the number will go over 600 -- a number the next Z06 is also promising to leap frog. Geeze, automotive horsepower power is increasing faster than the power of PC computer chips. With big dogs soon to go over 600, will the most muscular pony cars go to 500+ and will their base models pack 400 or more? At the rate things are going, you got wonder. What do you think... where does it end? When will the horsepower numbers level off?

Patrick

Reply to
NoOption5L
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When someone in the Congress gets the great idea that it's out of control and makes a meal of that, coupled with a few 'innocent mini-van driver' street racing deaths, then the media will pick it up, find a 'Cindy Sheehan'....and we'll be back at a self-policed 250hp rating limit for every car sold under 75,000.

And severe penalties for hopping up street cars.. trust me, it never fails.

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

It seems to me that the performance of the vehicles is not keeping pace with the hp numbers. Why does the 500 horse Shelby GT 500 produce the same 1/4 mile times and trap speeds as the 390 horse Terminator cars. And why do people who have driven the Shelby say "it just didn't feel that fast."

I've heard the same thing about the 400 horse GTO ("it's just not all that fast"). Are the numbers somehow outpacing the real-world performance?

Reply to
jmvannoy

I've only noted that in one road test -- Car & Driver's. In all the other tests I seen the Shelby GT500 runs quicker and faster in the 1/4.

In comparison to what? The Terminator cars? If so, then the "feel" could be attributed to the difference in chassis -- the older Fox not feeling as button down as the '05 and ups.

In all the road tests I seen, the 400HP version is noteably quicker/faster than the 350HP cars.

The only thing hurting the bigger HP numbers is the increasing weight of newer models.

Patrick

Reply to
NoOption5L

snip

I know that the weight is increasing along with the hp. It's a shame that we've seen accounts (even in our own ramfm) of folks test driving, or even buying, an 05+ GT and saying "it just didn't feel as fast as my

01 GT" or similar. I saw a post the other day on a forum comparing a guy's stock 92 LX and an 06 GT, and he says the LX feels faster. To me, this is a seriously bad sign. The car gets more hp and along with it more weight, and the end result is a car that doesn't "feel as fast" (whatever that really means).

I personally have not subjected myself to a test drive of an s197 car because I fear I would wind up owning it. I'm old enough now to protect myself from myself. :-)

John

93 GT (now with 3.55s)
Reply to
jmvannoy

Maybe it's the added refinement that makes the newer car feel slower. I know when I drive/drove and older 60's car they feel/felt faster than they really were. So perhaps it's the same now comparing an older Fox to a new S197. Because we know the magazine numbers all show the newer GT much faster than the old Fox (S197 GT magazine numbers are always over 100 mph, usually 103 or so and the old LX Foxes where lucky to even crack 100. Most ran higher 90s. Mine ran 98.

I've test driven them. I want one!

Patrick '93 Cobra (also running 3.55s)

Reply to
NoOption5L

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