It seems that train of thought isn’t shared by many of today’s parents. I often see folks who say “I don’t want Johnny/Susie to get hurt. They will be safer in a new Volvo instead of giving them my 12 year old Honda.” Me? I tell my son that when he drives my old beater pickup “Remember, the ABS doesn’t work and sometimes the wipers don’t come on when you want them to.”
With those cars you need a reservation to merge.
The Chevette…first car I encountered that required removing the brake master cylinder to change the starter.
I also see that type of parental behavior, but some parents have a different attitude. One of my co-workers decided that her son would be far safer driving their old Mitsubishi Montero, rather than a much newer vehicle, because “there’s a lot of iron protecting him in that Montero”.
I prefer crumple zones and other modern modes of passenger protection, but she preferred “iron”.
My parents did not have that kind of money. As soon as I could are started working a “real” job, pump jockey at a gas station. Bought my first car when I still had my learners permit. Every vehicle I ever had, I bought. Most of my high school classmates did the same. $250 for my 1960 Dart in 1966.
I never had any power problems with my v8s or V6s. When I got my diesel though I was pulling a camper through Tennessee and gee, pedal to the floor or half way made no difference. Just shift down or let it catch up. 480,000 miles though and never rear ended. You folks think you are on a race track with what you think is necessary. Bunk. You drive with the limitations you have. I’ll be happy with the 4 cyl turbo if it ever comes in but I think 3-400,000 is out of the question on these little things thanks to the feds.
I drove a few of those when I was working for GM. The Citation was very light so 84 hp was adequate. They didn’t feel that slow… but in that era most everything was slow!
The V6 Citation with a 4 speed was pretty snappy. The X-11 model with 130 hp might crack 10 seconds.
My first new car was a 130 hp V6, 5 speed Firebird with a 3.73 final drive. That would 0-60 in about 10 seconds.
Haha!! I am more of a hook and book guy, when I was daily driving the Vibe/Matrix standard shift, I quite often would WOT and redline shift getting on the interstate back and forth to work… Or taking off from a red light… I drove my other vehicles like that also (even the G Caravan from time to time)…
Since retirement, the truck is mostly babied (mainly cause of the puppies riding with me), but I do WOT 6K shifts from time to time (cause it just makes me smile lol), but I do not like spinning tires, so I roll into the throttle…
On the fun car, I have to roll into the throttle on a dig cause it will just blow the tires off if I stomp it, so I have to be rolling before I can stomp it, then she bites hard and books…
I’ve always cared more about the smiles per gal than the MPG…
All of those 10 second vehicles do just fine in everyday use. I have driven some of them and managed to merge just fine. If a 10 second vehicle annoys you then buy something else.
A vehicle can have impressive horsepower numbers but still perform poorly if that power is concentrated way up in the RPM range, especially if the engine doesn’t produce much torque lower down…
Then you have the transmission and final-drive ratios… If the gearing doesn’t keep the engine in its useful power band, a lot of that horsepower isn’t being translated into acceleration…
Everything has to work together: engine torque/power curve, transmission ratios, final-drive ratio, tire diameter, vehicle weight, and the RPM range where the engine actually makes power… A big HP number by itself doesn’t tell you much about how quickly the vehicle will accelerate…
Think of a heavy motorhome with a big block or diesel, the engine can make power/torque, but the vehicle is still very slow due to the power-to-weight ratio…
I drive Scenic mark II with even worse time and I manage, but poor thing is just 110 HP on paper so it amazes me that 184 HP can’t give you a better push.
Yep it’s bad at lower revs too, not torquey at all. But I am used to it now, know its limitations rather well.
Yes it’s not built for speed but it still feels odd to me, not knowing new cars that well, that with more than 50% power of my Scenic (which is 1400 kilograms or 3000 lbs) they get pretty much the same result. VW Golf GTI mark II was 150 HP as much as I remember… but maybe better comparison would be something like… Opel Rekord Gsi which was 175 horsepower in the 80s and did 8.8 seconds.
Yet again, it’s mpg is probably beyond comparison so…
We have two Toyota Crosses, one hybrid and one gas. They are just fine. The hybrid is definitely faster because of the lower end being helped by the electric engine. The numbers might be from the AWD Toyota Cross but according the the net;
"The gas-powered Toyota Corolla Cross accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in about 8.7 to 9.5 seconds, while the punchier Hybrid version achieves it in roughly 7.1 to 8.0 seconds.
Either way, as someone who has owned a few sports cars, 6 speeds, etc, I feel either car is fine as a daily driver. We gave the gas one to my daughter-replaced an older Prius. I feel it is a safe car, a bit more oomph to it than the Prius + the safety features, but not too fast to get her in trouble (hopefully).
