Why are cars sold in other countries so much more fuel efficient than in the US?!

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by RedDevil

When drivers hold you up in the mountains that's usually not their cars fault, that was my point.
Almost any car should be able to do any slope, just downshift and boot it.

Well, then we have a conundrum. On the flat, my Insight is perfectly adequate: when a light changes, I am moving and up to speed before most of the other cars, I can merge briskly on to the freeway, etc. (Is it because the car accelerates better, or because I have better reactions than the other drivers, though?)

Yet it is kind of underpowered for mountain roads: it'll maintain 55 up a 6% grade unless there's a headwind (which is usually the case hereabouts :-(), but doesn't accelerate well out of curves. (There's a limit in downshifting, where engine RPM meets redline...)

[RedDevil]

There is a thin line between holding other people up and not accelerating fast away from a corner going uphill. Or a rather thick one. Maybe the Porsche behind you would feel being held up. But he's not going to pay your bills.

When the corners get tight that is usually because the slope is getting too steep. As the traffic gets slower anyway the road can get steeper too, as the cars will be in lower gear. You won't accelerate fast from a tight steep corner unless you have something that has a power-to-weight ratio beyond the average.

I think it is possible to build an Insight-shaped car with a powerful engine that would be fun to drive uphill. But it would not do 70 mpg in the flat. You'd be paying every day for that power. Do you really need it that bad?

The 1st gen Insight has an ICE that can produce 50 kW, theoretically allowing the less than 900 kg car to climb over 5 meter per second even without electrical assistance. At that rate you'd climb Mount Everest in half an hour.
Power will go down when the air gets thinner.
Your Insight should be able to climb faster than mine. If not, what's wrong with it?

[Frank Lee]

Spend some quality time in an old Microbus. You'll learn to chill out.