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

[kafer65]

I drove an Opel Kaddett primer queen with a 1.2 in high school and it sure didn't have 55 hp when I drove it I'd be surprised if it actually had 30hp because it was such a tired car at the time. If you drive them like a German cab driver (conserve momentum at all costs) they were nominal

[kafer65]

I drove an Opel Kaddett primer queen (Corsa's ancester) with a 1.2 in high school and it sure didn't have 55 hp when I drove it I'd be surprised if it actually had 30hp because it was such a tired car at the time. If you drive them like a German cab driver (conserve momentum at all costs) they were nominal I was told it could do 160 KPH...........no, no it could not!

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Fingie

Instead of this early Corsa, in Brazil a restyling was applied to the old Chevette, the local equivalent to the Opel Kadett C. That model had been eventually fitted with a 52hp 1.0L (Isuzu G-series design) engine for a while but that had been deemed too underpowered. Sure the weight and drag from the driveline killed some of the horsepower...

[ThermionicScott]

Every car I own would be considered "underpowered" to some. The '67 Beetle (44hp) and '74 Thing (48hp) are fine in most scenarios, but there are certain uphill on-ramps that I avoid because it's not a sure thing that I'll be up to the prevailing speed when I go to merge.

On the other hand, I think that's what makes VWs and other "underpowered" cars fun to drive -- you're pushing them closer to their limits more often than you would other cars.

[Fingie]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Instead of this early Corsa, in Brazil a restyling was applied to the old Chevette, the local equivalent to the Opel Kadett C. That model had been eventually fitted with a 52hp 1.0L (Isuzu G-series design) engine for a while but that had been deemed too underpowered. Sure the weight and drag from the driveline killed some of the horsepower...

You Brazilians like to use what is good and proven

[Cardinal Grammeter]

Originally Posted by skyking

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

I think it was the elimination of Side Fumbling

Few people realize what you did

[ThermionicScott]

Originally Posted by Cardinal Grammeter

I think it was the elimination of Side Fumbling

Few people realize what you did

I'm digging it, too.

[kafer65]

Originally Posted by ThermionicScott

Every car I own would be considered "underpowered" to some. The '67 Beetle (44hp) and '74 Thing (48hp) are fine

Seems I read somewhere a fellow was regularly driving a very tired old 1200 Beetle around and they dynoed it at 15hp but it was still usable for puttering around town. How about an old Zundapp 25cc moped that I had to pedal assist going up hills. That was a nice looking bike and fun to drive as well

Used to be a joke telling folks their blinker fluid was low or the muffler bearings were shot. Now we have exhaust fluid, flaps, injectors to worry about.

I always thought trunnion was a funny sounding word like corpuscle and einfahrt.

[Fat Charlie]

What was always funny was when we were checking alignment of every part of the howitzers, one of the steps was "level the trunnions." Nobody ever asked what a trunnion was or why it was important, they just knew that level the trunnions was what we called of one of the steps.

The trunnion was just the location for the jack because they were in line with the sights.

[ThermionicScott]

Originally Posted by kafer65

Seems I read somewhere a fellow was regularly driving a very tired old 1200 Beetle around and they dynoed it at 15hp but it was still usable for puttering around town. How about an old Zundapp 25cc moped that I had to pedal assist going up hills. That was a nice looking bike and fun to drive as well

I could believe it! By modern (post 1973 or so) standards, the old "40HP" 1200 only measured 34HP, and that would be when fresh and without other drivetrain losses. My VWs and Subaru are no doubt down a little from their ideal, too. You really don't need a whole lot of horsepower to putter around town, especially the way we drive.