American Vehicles vs European Vehicles

[Singhson]

Sorry, i've got to do this, i see Americans think thier cars are cool, when they're not!
>American cars Stink, all they know is how to consume furl
>American cars are much bigger, with no point? All that size for no reason, European cars have much smaller engine's that kick out huge amount's of torgue and BHP! The vehicle over here, have super charged turbo enigine's, Americans just make the engine's bigger
>I spent time in America and everyone drive's WELL slow! Over here no-one drives below 80mph thats 130kmh btw, and @ night everyone driving 90-100mph, especially on the bigger motorways, whats the point of having all of that power if your not going to use it?
>Americans have to use automatics, over here the standard is manual, because Eauropean cars are much better, especially when accelerating like we do, round roundabouts, and messy junctions! Manuals both are better for performance, handling around turns, fuel economy and plain enjoyability of driving!
>LOL, 35 mpg don't make me laugh SERIOUSLY, I saw this soooo many time on American adverts, saying how amazing 35MPG was, LOL. An average Econimical vehicle runs about 65mpg, Our poorest vehicles do around 40, and they have an excuse, either they're vans, or people carriers, LOL, Plus lately we've had realeases of vehicle that can do upto 100mpg, our mini's did that, check out the details of this vehicle:
http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/press/Lupo_3L_in_Guiness_World_Record
This vehicle would leave lots of American cars for dust, plus it's a diesel!
>Over here there allot more diesel vehicles, about half and half in some areas, Diesel vehicles in America are well rare, (diesel engines are the one that big Lorries/trucks have), aaaahh i'm out!

 

[[DT]]

Wow, is that short bus you rode in on American or European?

:lol:

 

[Trulen]

It's all about the Japanese-made cars

 

[Singhson]

I aint got a clue what your on about [DT], and yeah, Japanese cars are heavy, and they drive on the right side just like the engwish!

 

[[DT]]

I aint got a clue

Exactly. QFT :lol:

 

[Spinty]

...and yeah, Japanese cars are heavy, and they drive on the right side just like the engwish!

Sorry, have you ever even been to Britain?

 

[Singhson]

I live in Britain, it says on the side! West Midlands?
If your referring to the spelling of English i did it deliberately for a joke!
Plus what are you on about [DT]?
If you got something to say spit it out?

 

[K LoLo]

Who cares?

 

[Singhson]

For the guys who wanna debate about it?

 

[[DT]]

what are you on about [DT]?

Well your comments about engine dynamics, packaging, efficiency let alone the omission of historical relevance to displacement make me chuckle.

European cars have much smaller engine's that kick out huge amount's of torgue and BHP!

Do you know that in Europe and Japan, there have historically been taxes leveed against the displacement of road cars? It was a way to deal with older inefficient designs, and a simple mechanism for measurement (that can't easily be modified).

Anyway, Torque is primarily a function of displacement (it's more complex, things like DCR/SCR, etc., affect it as well, not need for this conversation).

We know that small displacement is the status quo in Europe (based on the aforementioned government edicts), so improving torque gas and thermo dynamics (to increase and harness cylinder pressure). There are many ways to do this, involving a trade off somewhere in the power curve. (i.e. smaller displacement engines are "peaky"). Smaller engines kicking out huge amounts of TQ? Hahaha, not by definition.

Remember: HP = Torque * RPM / 5252

So sure, the lower CI motors can make good HP up top if you spin them, or increase their effective displacement with forced induction.

Also note that nearly ALL performance models from Europe are migrating toward more displacement. The new M3 is a larger V8, the 5.0L V10 from the M5/M6, etc. Those engines are heavy, complex, the OHC design means higher center of gravity, etc.

The vehicle over here, have super charged turbo enigine's, Americans just make the engine's bigger

This sounds suspiciously like a HP-per-Liter argument which has *zero* relevance on overall packaging and efficiency.

A terrific example of this is the base 911 vs. a case C6 Corvette - the Vette engine weighs 10lbs less and has 85 more HP and 100 more lb/ft of torque which means better gearing for MPG with the same or better levels of performance.

Turbo 911's (996) add ~100lbs of dressed engine weight and have *horrific* gas mileage (I know them well as I had an X50 variant on deck to buy a couple of years ago). Plus much more physical packaging size (which forces certain design requirements on chassis, suspension, costs).

For the record - and I might ask what you've actually owned personally - I've had 4 Vettes, a Supra TT (750HP before sold), a 2nd and 3rd Gen RX7, an Opel, a TR6, a Nova (w/ a 355ci HO), 3 BMW's, a Lexus, a Land Rover Disco II, a Daytona Shelby Z and probably several other cars I'm not thinking of right now.

So I've had Japanese, US, German, British, sedans, roadsters, SUV's, performance cars in wide ranges of tunes from stock to 750HP super tuned monsters, so I have what I'd consider a reasonably decent perspective on automobiles.

 

[Gaz]

singson your a fool. your talking rubbish... what cars do 60+mpg?? most cars don't even do 40mpg... yes american cars are well known on the whole for not doing that many mpg than others.

Your comments on auto vs manual...

In america the roads are quite straight, and speeds are what, 55mph max? whats the need for a manual? i could do that in second gear in a 1.3l engine. + if there is a lot of traffic, your gunna have to stop and start at lot more, and unless you actually drive, then i doubt you know how much that hurts your left foot after 30 mins.


1 thing i will say is that american cars don't really know how to go around corners hence drag racing and nascar *yawns*

 

[Spinty]

I live in Britain, it says on the side! West Midlands?

Well in all your time of living in Britain, have you noticed we actually drive on the left of the road?

 

[Gaz]

maybe he meant right as in wrong.

 

[[DT]]

1 thing i will say is that american cars don't really know how to go around corners hence drag racing and nascar *yawns*

While I definitely agree with your sentiment about NASCAR (and more or less about Drag Racing), there are some US cars that handle spectacularly. FYI, I was just at the 24 Hour race at Daytona, fantastic field of cars from the US, Germany, Italy, Japan, etc.

Anyway, there are cars that are designed to handle, and some that aren't so much, but it's not some domain based on where it sourced.

Corvette/Corvette Z06/Corvette ZR1
Ford GT
Dodge SRT Viper/Viper ACR
Saturn Redline
Pontiac Soltice GXP
Caddy CTS-V/CTS-V Coupe
Neon SRT

These are fantastic performers, and of course the Z06/ZR1/SRT/ACR can perform as well (especially the up-and-coming Corvette ZR1) as any car being made short of a few super-exotics.

Go take a look at any track event around the US nearly any weekend, and you'll see a ton of Domestic cars ripping out great laps right next to the Porsches, Nissans, BMWs, Lotus, etc.

I think some manufacturers like BMW probably have more "sporty" options and a more vertical focus on the sport component of their products (since they offer a much smaller choice vs. some of the bloated US manufacturers like Ford and GM).

:thumbsup:

 

[Gaz]

yeah i know about ZR1, it's pretty sweet...
shame about the GT40 tho... keeps braking down from what i've heard off.