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It's not the engine age, but the car age. Posted by Gene N [Email] ![]() ![]() ![]() In Reply to: Re: Engine age vs e performance questions get me upset, Richard Chang, Fri, 6 Jun 2008 12:31:31 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
I don't think it is engine age so much as the era the car was built in. 13 years ago, the average car had much less horsepower and torque, so 225 HP and 258 ft-lbs at the relatively light weight of 3400 lbs made for a sedan faster than 99% of the cars on the road. The current BMW 335xi has 300 HP and 300 ft-lbs with about 400 lbs more of curb weight. And, there are a whole host of German and Japanese competitors with similar power/torque to weight ratios. A better comparison would be with a 13 year old BMW. 189 HP and 181 ft-lbs of torque (3100 lbs curb weight) meant that a BMW 325is spent a lot of time admiring Aero tail lights, and CSE tail lights if it was a rolling start.
When I was young I thought that a 1969 Porsche 911 was the pinnacle of automotive design. I had a chance to drive a 15 year old example in 1984 and I thought to myself "What a piece of crap!" The handling was all over the place and the engine was always wheezing--I think it had 160 hp, about as much as a Toyota Corolla these days.
It's just perspective.
posted by 157.127.12...
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