horsepower peaked

[pickmeup]

Looking at Ram and Ford offerings seems pretty much same engines and h.p. for 19. Even GM states keeping 5.3 and 6.2 although no numbers released yet. All this leads me to believe that maybe mfg's have taken h.p. and torque ''wars'' about as far as their going moving forward.

[redwngr]

The 'war' will never end. 

 

 

[gtbigup01]

I highly doubt that. Just remember the increase comes with increase in technology which comes at a price. GM could put 300HP in a Chevy Spark of they wanted, but for what it would cost, who would buy it?

[2017SierraSLT]

The only thing that will put an end to the HP war is government/CAFE regulations. What happened in 1972 could happen again. Technology overcame those regulations-eventually.

[Boardmember]

Thoughts on this:

 

CAFE (for IC) has been relaxed a bit and, more and more, manufacturers are adopting EV technology and batteries are improving at a remarkable pace (and getting cheaper).  

 

I might share the belief that hp promotion will wan one day but not sure when. 

 

Who’da thunk someone would be selling the heck out of aluminum half-tons with the premium plant being a V6....?

[muddkatt]

2 hours ago, gtbigup01 said:

 GM could put 300HP in a Chevy Spark of they wanted, but for what it would cost, who would buy it?

You would be surprised at how many people would buy a 300 HP Chevy Spark. The ultimate Mustang Eater!!!

[redwngr]

Fuel crisis didn't end the war, it just caused a pullback.  All the doom and gloomers said  the peak is past.  We'll never see that again.  

 

But it's 45 years later and the fight for performance specs is still going on.  

 

We're well past the typical performance from back when, only now we get much better fuel economy and much less emissions to go along with the performance.

 

And the typical economy vehicles today are also much much higher economy than the ones from the 'fuel crisis' era.  And they've added the creature comforts that were unheard of in the econoboxes of that era.

 

 

 

 

[KARNUT]

I remember when a friend in the late 70s came to my house with his new trans am. I’m newly married just pick up a fairly clean 66 442 for 200$. I just finished doing the once over and freed up the secondaries on the factory 4bble. It definitely look like a grandma car hubcaps and all. Can’t remember engine size but it had a power glide trans. He was a show off and laughing at me. Before getting hitched I was the one to beat. We went to our spot, I usually had sticks so I just left it in drive. He had a grand am prior I would smoke him with my barracuda so he thought he had me, honestly I did too. Nope the 442 smoke him not even close. The mid- late 70s through the 80s not good.


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[pickmeup]

So far 2 0f the big 3 are not upping h.p. for 19. I just thought maybe Ram with a new offering would be good time to bring it ...they did not . Ford knew both Ram and GM were coming with new platforms and timing would have been good for Ford to bring it ...they did not . All the Buzzword is about luxury and more refinement. One hundred thousand dollar F-150 and silverado trucks may be seen a lot more in a few years. Look how these trucks have transformed from a tool of ''work'' to luxury highly appointed family ''people'' movers. All the mfg's are saying people want more higher end appointments in their family haulers. I am not saying h.p. may not creep up a tiny bit but it is not trending now .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[diyer2]

I will take dependability over H.P. every time.

[Boardmember]

Hp, Torque = kW?

[2017SierraSLT]

11 hours ago, KARNUT said:

I remember when a friend in the late 70s came to my house with his new trans am. I’m newly married just pick up a fairly clean 66 442 for 200$. I just finished doing the once over and freed up the secondaries on the factory 4bble. It definitely look like a grandma car hubcaps and all. Can’t remember engine size but it had a power glide trans. He was a show off and laughing at me. Before getting hitched I was the one to beat. We went to our spot, I usually had sticks so I just left it in drive. He had a grand am prior I would smoke him with my barracuda so he thought he had me, honestly I did too. Nope the 442 smoke him not even close. The mid- late 70s through the 80s not good.


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A 1966 442 would have had a 400 CID Olds engine. A late '70's Trans Am had either a 403 Olds with the auto, or 400 CID Pontiac engine. While one of the quickest cars of the time, a 1979 T/A with the 400 4 speed was a 15.3 sec car in the quarter mile, with a great driver. The Olds 403, normally a mid 16 sec car. The 442 even with the Jetaway 2 speed would have ran better than either of them.

[NWI Denali]

Im betting we'll see 380hp and 440hp in the 5.3 and 6.2 in the 2019's.

[KARNUT]

I remember when we used to use gear venders in our one tons we pulled with. Their advertising was leave the engine stock ad more gears. We did both. They would advertise for every gear split it was like adding up to 50hp. So you math genius figure it out, we started with 3-4 gears now we’re up to 10 and double the HP.


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[Donstar]

A major change since the 60's is the ease of access to information.  Unless you were keenly interested in a topic and educated yourself through traditional means,  you often relied on the advice given by respected peers and elders.  Now there is a lot of easy reading on the internet regarding torque and horsepower. Consumers are generally better informed and appreciate that these numbers are exceeding  even the potential of being used.  We all want reserve horsepower ("just in case") and appreciate that there is a limit.  I wonder what impact a DIC feature indicating hp being used would have on "hp wars"?