A 90hp engine may not be up to the task.
NEEDED? I don’t think needed. Wanted maybe
One of my first cars was a Renault Dauphine with a 32 HP engine. I never felt it was underpowered.
Americans are used to way too much power in their cars. If every car had an engine half the HP, we would still get where we need to go without any significant delays, and use much less gas, with less pollution.
That may be okay with you
But not with me
Just being honest
My brother has owned a Hyundai TUCSON for several years, and it has been rock-solid reliable.
The folks who live in the Tuscany region of Italy may have access to different vehicles than we have in The US, so I really can’t comment on “Tuscan” vehicles.
@FoDaddy
I read your post twice!
It is interesting you touched on the torque. I read online that SOHC has more torque than DOHC-maybe that was the reason Honda made it into SOHC.
eBay auctioned a TypeR integra about 2yrs ago with 17k miles for over $40k!
@wentwest
You put the nail on the head regarding the strange force I experienced.
Incidentally, whenever I stop, the engine seems to shut down-when I release the brake pedal engine comes on.
Torque isn’t a function of SOHC vs. DOHC, it has more to do with displacement and camshaft selection, in normally aspirated engines. Where SOHC engines have and advantage is in complexity and production costs. They are cheaper to build and usually have few moving parts.
Did you ever take said Dauphine on a 500+ mile road trip or try to maintain a mountain grade at 70 MPH? About a decade ago I rented a Dodge Caliber with a 2.0L 158 HP engine while on a ski trip out in Utah. It struggled maintaining the prevailing traffic speed at high altitudes. Had it only been blessed with 80 HP, performance would’ve been even more tepid, and I might not have made it to Snow Bird or Solitude.
BTW my 435 HP 2016 Mustang produces far fewer emissions than say a 225 HP 1987 Mustang. You can have both cleaner emissions and more power.
DOHC gives more flexibility with variable valve timing, since exhaust and intake timing can be varied independently.
Other than that there’s no fundamental advantage of DOHC over SOHC.
But why is it imperative to maintain 70 mph at high elevation while going uphill? Going up hill does not require as much power as you think, unless you’re adding a lot of air resistance by going fast
Because 95% of the other cars on the road are doing so. It’s safer to maintain the prevailing speed of traffic than it is being the person who’s trundling along at 20 MPH less than what the majority is doing.
European small cars with small engines are for the most part stick shift, so you have full control on shift points and you can get the most power out of them.
In US almost all these cars are automatic and the shift points are dictated by a computer programmed for best fuel economy. This is also an issue even if you are using the manual shift mode.
Now fuel economy is not that important to me when I am trying to merge on a fwy with an uphill ramp and a semi truck approaching at 70 MPH. This is a daily occurrence for me.
One thing that is important on top of HP/torque is the shift points. My Camry and our Sonata both have very similar engines but the gear shift point esp for the 2-3 shift is different. The Sonata is much easier to handle/merge/control than the Camry. The Camry gets better mileage. This is why a test drive is very important.
So what HP do u recommend for 4 people with heaviest weighing 160lb?
No towing at all.
Do u think using D3 instead of D4 would help the Camry?
There are families all over the place that load their Camry’s, Accords and other similar vehicles and just put the things in drive and go on vacation everywhere and don’t worry about it.
No the D3 does not help for my Camry. The car is the first model year with a 5 spd auto, previous year is a 4 speed, my friend has it and it drives just fine san the gas mileage.
Mine feels like it is missing a gear between 2nd and 3rd, very pronounced if you are making a turn and want to speed at the same time. It shifts to 3 and bugs unless you redline it. I have gotten used to it but the cars behind me not yet!
My point was that you should not shop for a specific hp, sure a 35 hp car would be underpowered, but we are talking about 2017 cars that are driven all over US, so they can’t be that BAD. Its just the fact that you want to get the best one for your money.
Honestly, I would stay away from the CVT but that is me. I am not a big fan of direct injection either but now 2/3 cars in my house is DI. I see a CVT in my future too.
If I wanted to by a HRV side car, I would try and find a slightly used Nissan Juke with the stick shift for half the price-it can be found, you just have to get past the funky design.
To each his own, but I’ve never had a problem going a little slower and drive on the right lane when climbing hills on the interstates. I could have worked the gears to keep up with other cars, but I don’t see the need to push the engine harder than usual
Good point,but one of the answers is electric drive to have the torque to generate all these Gs people require now on takeoff ,one of the biggest requests on vehicle forums ,is more power ,more power,ad nauseum.I would like people to step back about 50 years and put their butts in a standard 6 cyl econo car with its poor handling ,mediocre gas mileage and lack of occupant protection,There are reasons why the HP is sort of capped on newer cars,insurance rates are one of the reasons,the companies think that more powerful cars are involved in more costly accidents ,there is a segment of the population that never seems to grow up,a new Honda Civic will show tailights to a lot of our old fondly remembered cruisers, so my view is,most new cars are powerful enough ,European cars are designed like they are by necessity,contrary to what some people think,the engineers and designers have a pretty good handle on things.
I usually drive in the right lane in order to avoid–and pass–the people who are driving below the speed limit, who are almost always driving in the center and left lanes.
I refer to the right lane as my private passing lane…
Depends on what kind of vehicle you’re looking for. A larger vehicle will require more power For example the 185 HP 2.4L in the Honda CR-V is well suited for the vehicle, it has enough power to move the vehicle around competently, you won’t be drag racing the thing, but it can get to 60 MPH in around 8 seconds, which is satisfactory for most people. But that same 2.4L engine in a Suburban would prove to be profoundly underpowered, as it doesn’t have the torque to move a 6000 pound vehicle with any due haste.
For a compact CUV, which seems to be the type of vehicle you’re looking at. If you’re going to be transporting 4 people regularly, I’d forget about the HR-V, it’s pretty small. , the previously mentioned CR-V is worth looking at, is the Toyota RAV 4. The Ford Escape is reputed to be less reliable, but people I know that have them seem to like them, though nobody I’ve talked to that has them gets the claimed EPA fuel economy. The Mazda CX 3 maybe worth looking at. as the is the Subaru CrossTrek. Most of these vehicles has anywhere from 155 HP (Mazda 2.0L Skyactive) to 240 HP (Escape 2.0L Ecoboost). All should be powerful enough for typical driving.
Not always the case. At least, it used to be the exact opposite for Honda. The highest available hp on the CRX here was 108. Europe and Japanese market cars started at 128 and went up to 160.
Since my 1998 Civic only came with an advertised 106hp, and my motorcycles came with 75hp and 44hp, I don’t worry about horsepower unless it’s part of a power-to-weight ratio. All of these machines are capable of accelerating up steep hills. I’ve taken all three of these vehicles up the steepest incline east of the Mississippi River in Fancy Gap, VA.