Off Topic - Why do americans need such big cars???

[Supermicha]

I hope you can help me. Maybe my german brain is too slow, but i can´t understand why americans buy cars with big engines with 200 or more horsepowers, when they can only go 55 miles per hour with them? Thats not normal for me! My car has only 75 HP, but it runs 100 MPH and its fun and legal to run at this speed here. Have you ever ran an Audi A6 with 240 km/h? No, i did, and it was amazing. So normally, we in germany would need big cars with big engines and the americans just need small engines. In my opinion most of your cars are overpowered for your slow maximum allowed speed. Or not?

Micha

[tree68]

Believe it or not there are huge numbers of 4 bangers running around the country, comparable in size to your Audi. A lot of them won't do 100 either.

My full sized pickup, on the other hand, has a V6. I'd have to check the actual HP, but it's not overpowered by any stretch of the imagination. Why a big vehicle for just me? As a fire chief and EMT, I carry a lot of "stuff." Your Audi would be quite full.

Where are the high HP engines? Mostly trucks and sports cars. And we just can't let go of our muscle cars and SUVs.

[BaltACD]

I can only speak for myself.

I own a 235hp SUV that I use to tow a trailer to support my hobby of Sports Car Racing. I need the SUV cargo capacity for the tools and accessory equipment, I need the horsepower and torque from the engine to hold the trailer at cruising speeds of 70 MPH (which are legal on most Interstates). As a toy car (different from the race car) I have a 2..0L 4cyl Sports Car that puts out about 96hp. A fun car but not capabile of the utility functions that the SUV performs.

Supermicha - don't know if you have ever seen the TV show 'Home Improvement'. If you have Tim Allen's role is a near portrait of the American mentality on all things that move, be they tools or vehicles....
MORE POWER!

[Modelcar]

...Yes we Americans love our vehicles....and a good many Germans must like lots of horsepower too..re: Mercedes with 2.3, 3.2, 5.0L engines, etc.....And as stated above we have many miles of interstates of 65 and 70 mph speed limits and out west some highter. Many of us like horsepower to have to use when one might need it in passing and just feeling the power moving away from the stoplight. In my case I drive as my daily dirver around town...a small pick up with 180 hp and 245 '# of torque and an automobile [Lexus], at 200 hp and 214 '# of torque....and that makes it cruise at any speed you care to drive. We just happen to like our cars...

[Anonymous]

I am 5' 10" and 220 not skinny and not overweight (maybe just a little) but trying to make a trip of 3 or 4 hours in a small car is just not comfortable by any means. My pickup is a 4 cyc. It most definately IS NOT overpowered. [}:)] [;)]

I cannot pull a hill with the a/c on without dropping down a gear. So it most definately is not your gas hog on the road. [:0]

[Anonymous]

There are many people who buy a big SUV just to own that type of vehicle, and never really use the capacity and power.

I own a V6 car, and it is very powerful and nice to drive. I didn't want a four cylinder because they are too slow when passing. I don't really need the v6, but it is only 2.7L and it gets 30mpg in a 4500 lb car. Not bad.

My last vehicle was a toyota truck. It had the 4 cylinder 22r-e engine. I had slightly bigger tires, but only maybe an inch or two bigger. It did not have enough power. I had to hold the pedal down most of the way to cruise at 70. Any hills required dropping a gear and not being able to drive 55.

Maybe they rate horsepower different over there. They rate the engine horsepower here, not the power to the ground. Drawbar HP on a tractor is an example of this. My car has a 200 HP engine, and a JD 4020 puts out about 100. On paper, my car is much more powerful. Try hooking them up end to end. Even if my car had enough traction, the tractor would easily drag it backwards. Part of this is gearing, but power is work divided by time. A tractor might pull something that weighs 50,000 lbs 5 feet in one second. This would be the same as a 5,000 lb object moving 50 feet in one second, so it should all relate back to each other.

[Anonymous]

More power, more room, more cargo area, more towing capy., .....shall I go on ?

[Anonymous]

Oh yea, And out here in the west there are plenty of places where speed limit is determined by how bold you are / how fast your car will go. Of course the speed limit by law is 75 MPH in Nevada and 70 in California, but the area is so vast in some places that the chances of seeing another car are slim ,and chances it's a cop are almost none.
As for myself I can't stand small cars. Just this morning I went on a 250mile trip with my dad in his Ford Ranger and I'm still sore from being cooped up. Give me a full size car / truck any day. And I don't care if I have to pay a few dollars more in gas to be comfortable.

[jchnhtfd]

Just another response... I need, on occasion, a big truck to haul 'stuff' -- including a 5,000 pound horse trailer. My solution? A Chevy K2500, crew cab, 8' bed, 7.4 litre engine, 230 real horse power, automatic, four wheel drive. Lousy gas mileage. I drive it to work. I'd love to drive a 'little' car (I lust after the Honda hybrid Civic -- there's no accounting for tastes, guys!). Why don't I get one to drive to work? Can't afford it. I can only afford to own one vehicle, and since I need the truck on occasion (can you see a Honda Civic towing a horse trailer, or bringing back 3,000 pounds of gravel to the farm? Neither can I...) I own a truck. I also happen to have a CDL, so presumably I know how to drive the thing.

I have to agree, however, that if you don't need one, but just want one for size, it's a little questionable -- particularly if you have no clue as to how to drive somethng that size (and most folks don't seem to). As tomtrain pointed out, though, a lot of the drive for the SUV and minivan came from the legislation on gas mileage, which killed the station wagon, which a lot of folks had and loved.

[csxengineer98]

BECOUSE ITS OUR GOD GIVEN RIGHT TO HAVE AS BIG A CAR AS WE WANT... IF YOU GOT THE CASH...WHY BUY A GEO METRO WHEN YOU CAN HAVE A STRECH H2...
but then agin... if you feel unsafe on the road in your small car... just drive defensivaly...buy a TANK
csx engineer

[mudchicken]

Larger engines do not suffer the stresses and strains that smaller engines do...they tend to last longer....

Micha....your driving habits and distances are much shorter than ours tend to be...your population density is much higher than ours (except for parts of the coasts), our fuel costs are still less...the basic conditions in both places are NOT the same...

Wife used to own a 4-cylinder Volvo 240DL, OK for running errands in town, but absolute torture to ride in during a 600-1200 mile trip. The thing also was gutless to the point that it could not get out of its own way at the altitudes here (4000-9000 feet above sea level). Also with our gasoline, it is not as well filtered as what europe expects. The Volvo was forever going through clogged fuel filters or not running right. Observation here is that european folks expect their cars to be in the assumed position in the shop for normal preventative maintenance much more often than what north americans do.

TomTrain pretty well hit the high points. Especially that many of us here are not the midgets that the european and japanese designers are targeting.

(At work, my pickup truck is an 8-cylinder, 3/4 ton machine because the smaller trucks do not survive as well in a railroad environment where you average 40-60,000 miles a year in adverse conditions with little downtime allowed ......sort of explains also why Sulzer's diesel locomotive engines failed here as well)

Mudchicken

PS...Speed limit here is 75MPH[:D][:D][:D].....Fewer people falling asleep on long trips then at 55mph....

[Modelcar]

Jamie....Yes, I understand the engine you have is "real" horsepower....I've had 2 full size Chevy's in the past with that engine family...one a 402 and one a 427ci and those babies put out the torque. Rat motor..! Believe your verson is a 454.

[edblysard]

Mica,
Own a British car, a MGB, three of them in fact.
After I figured out all the electrical problems, and replaced that ...thing... the British call a SU carb with Weber two stage down draft, they run great, 4clys, 110 cubic inches five speed tranny..
Love em.
But heres the rub.
I got married, and now have three kids.
Now, I could fit the littlest in the trunk, cram one in the back where the top folds down into, and let the other one hang on the roll bar, with my wife riding shotgun, but I think the local cops wouldnt take that too well.

I own a Jeep Wrangler, 4WD, 4 clys, 2.5 L, five speed.
Will run all day long at 75mph. Great on gas, well, as great as a square car can be.
And the great part, if I run out of road, so what!
"We dont need no stinking roads"

Wife has one of those SUVs, a Dodge durango, because it has three full seats, will hold all the junk five people need to go camping with, will run at 100mph no sweat, loaded down.
Trailer hitch too.
Dont think your Audi would do to well hauling a boat, or a loaded horse trailer....
Starting to get the picture?
We have different lifestyles, with different needs than most Europeans.
Distances are greater, loads different, needs different.
Ed

[Anonymous]

I agree with mudchicken on longevity. I own 3 american cars, all made in the 60's, and between them have over a million miles on them. I have only done a major rebuild on one, and the rest have only had minor work done on them.

[M636C]

Guys,

This has been an interesting thread for an Australian. We have a country the size of the contiguous United States (that's me trying to say that I'm leaving you out, Alaskaman, but only because you live in a big state that spoils my comparison) but with about twenty million people total, about one twentieth of the US poulation.

This means we have really long distances with very few people and very few good roads, and for many years, big, relatively simple (front emgine rear drive) cars have been very popular. American cars were very popular here until about 1960, when the big cars became impractical. The compact cars of that time, the Ford Falcon and Plymouth Valiant were introduced and local derivatives of these have been most poular since then. My own car is the GM equivalent, a German Opel (Omega. I think) body modified to take a 3.8 litre Buick engine imported from the USA. These cars are criticised for their high fuel consumption, but they are good for long trips on medium to poor roads.

To get almost back on topic, I was out yesterday (Saturday) chasing two special trains with Alco cab units. One was a transformer wagon being transferred to a museum heading North, and the other was four passenger cars and a 4-4-0 (in steam) being brought South. I picked my spot right, and only waited ten minutes between them. Later I saw more Alcos on a container train. (This was run by a small operator, and one of the units had to be brought out of storage.) I saw the most amazing smoke screen from that last two units after a long down grade followed by a sharp climb).

But when I got home, I'd driven 250 miles, a lot on secondary roads, but all sealed roads. No real need for a 4x4, but a really small European car would have seemed very cramped by sundown.

Peter

[dharmon]

I have three cars right now...

A 10 year old Toyota 4Runner that carries me to work everyday.....it used to be the family car before the kids got big......It was great when we lived overseas (Europe)..took it everywhere..narrow enough to navigate European cites and enough ground clearance to pass by the Euro..cars when the puddles got more than 3 " deep. (Though I did have my combat 1980 BMW when we were there...a true warrior..power nothing....and fast...)But its paid for and I have a son nearing driving age...I don't think it qualifies as big though.

The other car...the Suburban...the required item for a family that 1) likes to hunt/camp/ski/etc..., 2) has trailers for toys/beds to pull, 3) has canoes/kayaks to toss on the top 4) has two kids that cannot be allowed to touch each other or look out the other's window and 5) has two dogs that go too....one of which that weighs 150 lbs....got to be able to carry all of the above.....not many vehicles made in Japan or Europe (Unimog maybe) gonna fit the bill....

And the last is the 1970 Chevy Pick-Up.......need I say more about that...I need to find a good 8 track to put in it though????

[rixflix]

Take The Train Instead!!!
Happy Motoring.
Since I live in downtown Washington DC, it's crazy to own a car at all!!!
When I need a car or a truck I just rent the thing.
Saves having to buy, park, maintain, insure, secure, license, and generally fuss over something that ought to be a minor part of my life. For some people here in the States THE CAR(S) are not just means of transport, but expressions of how they live and
Rick spend, feel about themselves and appear to others. If, as Bob Dylan said, "The geometry of innocence is flesh on the bone", then we are a big fat nation with vague feelings of inadequacy that cause us to compensate with more and bigger stuff.
Why are people buying all these tough-lookig sneaker styled, bunched up, butt-ugly cars? I'll tell you when I know.
Good night.
Rick

[TH&B]

Big American cars are crap!! I know because I drive a realy big one, I always do because they are cheap to buy used, because American cars depreciate fast enough for me, and then I buy it cheap and run it into the ground and then dump it. I do not believe they are safe because they have bad handling compared to small European cars. Gas is cheap over here partly because it's less taxed but also because it's brewed cheaper and it's dirtier and polutes more then European gas. American tires are crap too. BUT you get more fun per gallon of gas in these crappy monster cars and trucks, so I do enjoy myself.
Many smaller European cars are faster (at least in top speed) and more solid, even the VW DTI diesel turbo is fast and great on "gas".
-I beleive though that in Montana there are some roads with no speed limit certain areas.

[Anonymous]

440cuin, I think it's funny that someone with that handle would call american cars crap.
I wonder why you have that handle and have that opinion.
and yes in Montana during daylight hours and out on the open interstate there is no set speed limit. I believe the law says "drive no faster than safe" just like Nevada used to be.

[Anonymous]

Well at 6'-4" 224lbs. It gets a little cramped in a smaller vehicle, My first vehicle was a Toyota pickup, & it was very cramped. I now have a 1 ton 4x4 Chevy dualy cab & a half with a 454 under the hood. Basically a gas hog but it pays for itself. I need the power & durability to pull a 12,000 lb. 40' horse trailer. I also cut trees & plow snow for a side job on my own . So you can see why I need a big vehicle. & I realy don't care if my vehicles can go over 100 mph. My next will have a diesel under the hood & I am switching to Ford. Due to Chevys "Mechanical Reasons" PS; The mobility sure is nice, Need to tow or haul something,. no problem, Even pulled a tractor trailer truck out of a ditch with it , Let's see your Audi do that............All in fun.......Have a good day.

[Anonymous]

I don't know about all Americans but I suppose some American railfans like big cars because the zoning laws in their neighborhoods won't allow them to keep a locomotive on the property. I heard that when Otto Kuhler was with the German army in Belgium in World War I he would fire up a locomotive to go take his girlfriend on a date.

[TH&B]

Well I love the old American big block cars, but that is mostly for centimental reasons (kind of like steam trains and F-units and 6 axled passenger cars), and I've owned and barowed and worked on enough cars to notice the the differences. As much as I love the carburated 440, it sure is an impractical gas hog.

[JoeKoh]

Cars?How about a Van? We need the matt mobile because of all the stuff ya haul around when ya have kids(and i know someday grandkids). Got a loaner while the van windshield was being replaced under warranty.need more space.
stay safe
joe

[Anonymous]

....last I heard there are now more non-cars on the road in the US than cars.

Pretty weird.

I always do have a little laugh when I think about the stereotypical soccer mom driving the 4x4 supersized extended SUV that never goes anywhere other than home to soccer to the grocery store and back.

Whatever happened to the station wagon?

[dharmon]

Soccer mom in our house used to have to drive 1/4 mile of gravel road in Maine winters..4wd...manditory...any vehicle that weighs 6300 lbs has to be able to extract itself......................I've used 4wd on vehicles more than most...and not in recreation.....well okay a little...

[Anonymous]

440cuin , I'm glad to hear that you love em'. I know most are real gas hogs. But don't ya love being sucked back in the seat when your right foot hits the floor ? I know I do.
But not all big blocks are big pigs. i know most of you wont belive this, but I had a 79 Olds 98 with a 403 that had headers an flowmasters that could get 35 MPG. That is when I kept my foot out of the throttle. The beauty of it was the other end, I could get that 5800Lb. pig to do 140 MPH if I wanted to. The great thing was it was up to me wheather I wanted mileage or speed. A lot depends on how you drive.

[TH&B]

Ya man, a big old Oldsmobile!
Actualy I find the 383 is fairly good on gas and some "seem" as strong as the 440. The Buick 455 puts you back in the seat too, but it's also bad on gas, but reliable. My buddy had a 72 Cutlas with a 350, it was mint condition, but you know what? it was uncomfortable to sit in even though it is not a tiny car, I raced against him with my BIG BLACK RUSTY 71 IMPERIAL WITH 440 and I would blow him away every time from start or on the highway with him and his cute sister in his car, I was laughing "gutless cutless", But how can 350 cubic inches be so weak? And what's the deal with viynal roof? what crap. And automatic transmitions, even today's newer vehicles with 4wd, always pushing for automatic, sure standards exist, but always hard to come by on American cars.
What I NEED is a 440 with an A833 4-speed!! But seriously some American cars are fun, but most are kind of crappy, even newer vehicles, poor build quality, bad handeling, cheesy details, and big and clumsy, compared to the more "refined and tighter" import cars.

[greyhounds]

I guess it all boils down to the fact that we obtain the vehicles that best fit our individual life styles and incomes. It's called Freedom. Rent 'em, own 'em, restore 'em. They're what we choose for ourselves.

Ken Strawbridge

[daveklepper]

Didn't see any mention of hybrids. Maybe Stokerk's new Fird might be one? Dave

[Supermicha]

Oh, i startet a hot discussion i think. You all are right. Big Cars are cool. If i had the money, i also would buy an Ford F150 or something else. But with our high gas prices here, its nearly impossible to drive a car with such a big engine.

The other problem are the laws. We have very strong pollution laws for cars here, so with a big engine you must pay much more.
So with my little 75 hp car (its a Van, so i have also enough space), i can save money and the nature, because it makes a low pollution. I don´t think that some of you with an 5.2 litre engine can say that!
Please allow me to be critical, but i think you can be lucky that your government has so "easy" traffic and pollution laws! Or not?

Somebody said, a big car is safer. Yes, sometimes. But when i have a crash with 120 mph, it never minds as you are in a big or small car!

From my own experience i know, that the driver get more aggressive when driving a big and not a small car!

Micha