Question for those of you who drive vehicles with "low power" engines

[skyking]

I had a 1981 VW caddy diesel with 52 HP. It would go 70 all day long, and if you rapped it up good it would hold a hill. Let it get down in RPM and it was game over, down to 4th and hope to hold that. You learn to drive with intention. It will keep up fine but don't put yourself in the position of trying to accelerate up a hill by being lax at the wheel.

[Cardinal Grammeter]

I drove a 91 Metro for 3 years with no compression in SW Pennsylvania where there are lots of hills.

#1) If you run taller tires, all bets are off and you will have problems pulling out on hills. Not necessarily problems, but you will abuse the clutch.

#2) I've learned a lot about energy management driving a low powered car. For one, taking the correct "line" through a corner, as if you were racing on a road course, will preserve the most energy for the hill that follows.

#3) You must not be bashful running to redline. That is where the HP is and you need to get there to make the car scoot.

#4) Still enough HP for aggressive driving which is a must have for me.

#5) It is exciting driving on the Interstate - you have to make "racing type" decisions almost constantly. No time to fall asleep at the wheel which I am notorious for (!)

And MOST IMPORTANT: It's NOT about HP. It's about HP/Weight Ratio. 70HP in a 1600# car is like 105HP in a 2400# car. The Metros and Sprints are in Lotus Land when it comes to weight. There are no other "modern" makes/models that come close - in fact under 2000# is nearly impossible. The 1600-1700# achieved by them is truly amazing.

[skyking]

I think they achieved that weight by the liberal application of Nofer Trunnions.

[Xringer]

Super MPGs in town, and great MPGs on the highway.
I'm able to merge on US-95 here in MA, where everyone speeds..

On flat ground going 30 MPH, it's possible to get 70 MPG on short trips.
We don't hypermile that much.. Mostly just driving normally in our hilly area,
and we average 50 to 60 MPG every day..

[AlexanderB]

Slowest car I owned was my Citroën AX 1.5L diesel, 57 hp.

Including driver, codriver and camping gear, probably about 1300 kg, and I took it over the Alps. Topped out at about 60 kph in second gear up the hill (9% gradient average, probably more like 10+) of the Grossglockner.

The most annoying part was the unlimited autobahn, faster drivers would come up behind me, I'd move over, and they'd accelerate veeeery slowly and box me in behind a slower driver (or truck) and bleed off all my speed, and then all the cars I managed to overtake in the past half hour, would all blow past me again and then proceed to go 20-30 kph slower than my top speed.

In regular traffic the car was fine. Most drivers accelerate really slowly in regular traffic by the way, so even a slow car is more than fine if you don't expect to shift at 2k rpm in every gear.

The only real downside to having a slow car with a heavy load is people who don't speed up on the on-ramp. They do half the speed limit when they merge, and then you have two options: they either have a powerful automatic car and suddenly fly off as soon as they actually do hit the gas leaving you their spot, or they have a manual car and attempt to accelerate from near-idle rpm in the highest gear, in which case, even a slow car can get ahead of them by shifting between peak torque and peak power.

[dancam]

I dont have a problem merging onto a busy freeway with this. It has 63hp. I have good brakes as well as a gas pedal. No problem getting up to speed on an onramp. Passing on a 2 lane isnt gonna happen unless its not busy but with no trailer its fine. And its totally worth it. 29mpg is the lowest fuel milage i can get floored in 5th doing 60-65mph.

[dancam]

Need 5 posts to post a photo.

[dancam]

So i am going to do this. Sorry.

[dancam]

But heres the photo i tried to attach 3 posts above
Again, no issues merging. But its a manual transmission. Not sure what an automatic would do. But it would get worse fuel milage regardless of how it towed.

[ECO-AKJ]

I had a 1991 Festiva that I towed a 750cc Polaris Waverunner to the lake the whole summer, could run 75 in 4th all day long, never towed in 5th, got about 34mpg running in 4th, I have also had a 1989 Carb Festiva 4-spd, towed a Polaris 500cc scrambler 4x4 4-wheeler from the middle of arkansas to just north of branson mo, that car hardly ever saw 4th gear, I did better behind semi-trucks because they were smooth on how they cornered through all the twisty 2-lane roads as to where drivers in cars were so herky jerky, that trip I got 26mpg flat on the floor in 3rd gear doing 70mph for 200 miles, mind you this was all before ecomodder site was formed, wish I would have had this knowledge when I had these cars!!!