Andy M3

Without going to technical on a bhp thread, i find it astonishing now how much power cars seem to have. I know it is a case of moving with the times, and 20 years ago 200bhp could only be found in road going rally cars, now 200bhp is available in a warm hatch or a people carrier, or a diesel saloon car.

The ford fiesta entry model is 80hp. Only 5 years ago Ford's Sporting Zetec S fiesta only had 100 odd. Supercar power of 10 years ago can now be found in the flagship mercedes model for just under £100000. 617hp and well over 700 lb/ft and you don't need the $1000000 required to buy the 627hp Mclaren F1.

But as far as bhp goes, we haven't really got past the 650 mark really. But ceramic brakes and carbon fibre are materials we can associate with the super car, which means in 15-20 years these items might be standard on the entry model 250hp Fiesta .

Scooby-Doo

Quite true but everything 5-10 years ago weighed half as much. What we need are some 800 Kg/200 bhp hatchbacks.

Patt@firstime

Don't know but sounds

budgie55

Yup ... its called the Skoda Fabia VRS

sorry guys only joking :x

brickboy

Dropping the new FSiT VAG motor from the new GTI into a MarkII Golf shell could be a laugh

Shark Man

Well, there is quite a few avenues you can investigate as to why cars now have more BHP:

First is the NEED for more BHP due to the weight of current cars

2nd They use newer technology allowing for more BHP/efficiency.

3rd the current engines when compared to equivelant hot-hatches in the 80's and 70's is larger in capacity.

However, there is a drawback with modern cars, which dilutes the claimed output of these engines:

Modern high BHP cars are "peaky" or better put, have a narrower rev range at which peak torque and BHP is produced and at much higher revs (eg. Hondas and Scooby's..none of these cars start to pull their weight until well past 3000rpm). So although it is a high amount of BHP, it is far less flexible, and thus, less fun. There is a number of reasons for this:

As mentioned earlier, weight wastes most of this extra bhp.

And finally, emissions and efficiency. This has forced manufacturers to use modern and newer techology (even though all alloy, 16valves, Twin cams and Fuel injection amongst many other engine technologies has been around for half a century, nobody bothered due to the cost), So, to meet their targets they make engines that are efficient and comply to enviro regs by using this technology. The result is an engine that potentially can produce far more power. BUT it is strangled by the newer and more strict regulations and the efficiency targets. So, is nowhere near as driveable as its older non-restricted counterparts, and thus also explains partly to the "peakyness" and narrower useful power range characteristics that modern engines have.

Clett

Ditto. My first car, a Y-reg Mk1 Fiesta 1.1 was great fun to drive - excellent throttle response and nippy too. Went out in a Fiesta 1.4 a while ago and it was absolutely pants. Everything's just too heavy these days!

But I do think progress has been made with diesels - an ordinary 1.6 litre diesel today can give 110hp and 60+mpg, while even just a while ago Ford's 1.6 diesel was only 50hp (and 45mpg).

To be fair though, we ought to acknowledge that the manufacturers have actually done pretty well to double the weight of cars on the road while still being able to improve mpgs from where they were 10 years ago.