This article appeared in the Tampa Tribune this morning.
The Bugeye is still remembered for its horsepower.
60 Bugeye
85 RX7
Jun 21, 2001
The quickening passion for fast cars
The American desire for faster cars is self-
reinforcing. The quicker other cars
accelerate, merge and change lanes on increasingly
congested roads, the
greater the temptation for drivers of slower vehicles to
trade up to a swifter
machine.
The hunger for horsepower is also whetted by nearly
everything written about
cars and passenger trucks.
The virtue of tire-spinning power is promoted by the
automobile magazines
and even by the more conservative consumer groups and
reviewers.
In this newspaper the other day, a sensible and fast
economy car, Mazda's
sporty MP3, didn't overpower columnist Ron Moorhead, who
said, ``The 140
horsepower 4-cylinder engine is adequate, but not as
impressive as it should
be for the image Mazda is attempting to portray.''
IF 140 HORSEPOWER is not impressive, what about cars
with less than 100?
They get no respect at all. Consumer Reports magazine
called the 1998
Toyota Tercel, with a thrifty 93 HP engine, ``dull'' and
``pedestrian.'' The
reliable little car was discontinued.
Remember the modest Chevrolet Metro, which came in two
strengths, weak at
79 HP and weaker at 55? Consumer Reports called the
Metro underpowered
and said it ``isn't great for nipping through city
traffic.''
Quite a bit of nipping through traffic was done in the
1950s and '60s in cars
considerably less muscular than the Metro. A classic
sports car, the bug-eyed
Austin Healey Sprite, had only 43 HP, according to
Motorbase.com, and the
beautiful MG TC came with only 54.
Remember the exotic Jaguar XK-E Roadster that debuted in
1961? It had an
astonishing 265 horsepower and could go from zero to 60
in seven seconds.
Today, that sexy machine would get left behind coming
out of the expressway
toll booth. Road and Track magazine lists 75 models that
reach 60 mph faster,
and they includes offerings by Honda, Toyota and
Volkswagen.
Consumer Reports, which doesn't bother discussing dream
cars such as the
Ferrari, Lamborghini and Dodge Viper, still lists 37
models this year with more
horsepower than the old Jaguar.
At issue is neither thrift nor the environment: Today's
engines, even the
diesels, are squeezing more power out of less gasoline
with cleaner exhaust.
The issue is one of safety and sanity.
Wherever you go, when a signal changes from red to
green, powerful vehicles
race madly to gain a car's-length advantage that will
allow for a lane change
and temporary victory. Daily driving has become a
sporting event for too many
of us, and for others, a risky way to vent aggression.
Motors now are rated based on how they make the driver
feel. When Ward's
Auto World released its list of the 10 best engines of
2001, it described various
winners as ``satisfying,'' ``energizing'' and
``positively invigorating.'' Of the
Audi V-6, it said, ``Monstrous waves of torque blows the
car past
lesser-engined conveyances with majestic aplomb.''
Of a General Motors truck with a 300 HP turbo-diesel
with 520 foot-pounds of
torque, the Ward's reviewers gushed, ``We literally
ripped out hunks of
pavement from some poor businessman's deteriorating
parking lot as we
accelerated away in glee.''
IT'S A RACEWAY out there, and the way the auto reviewers
see it, the devil
take the hindmost. But that view ignores reality: The
lane- jumping jackrabbits
usually get caught by the slower cars at the next
traffic light. And they are
more likely to get pulled over for speeding.
That's not mentioned in the car magazines, but in all of
automotive history, no
motorist illuminated by flashing blue lights has ever
been seen handing over
license and registration with majestic aplomb.
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