An excellent post. I agree with virtually all of it.
CAR enthusiasm is not necessarily SPEED enthusiasm, or high-G cornering enthusiasm.

 

Your Government is working now to make sure this will not happen. The focus has become zero emmissions. With U.S. manufactoring leaving the U.S. why can't we get rid of the heavy polluters & leave cars as is

 

Lol, good point. We dont need to reduce pollution because pretty soon there will be no factories in the US to generate pollution

 

Isn't torque wonderful!

"Power is good, more power is even better, too much power is just right!" - Carroll Shelby, among other great racers.

PS - In reality, 200-220 hp in a sedan is probably more than enough for road conditions and commuting in US roads.

Slightly OT - "How fast is too fast?" I've never felt that I was in a car that was too fast (although I haven't been in anything exotic other than a 911), but it happens all the time on a motorcycle. Anything 750cc+ can rocket to 150+mph in no time. I drove/ride a 2005 Suzuki Hayabusa a couple years back and it went 25mph - 90mph in what felt like 4 seconds... all in 3rd gear. Speed so fast my eyes got blury. Now that motorcycle really did feel like it has too much power. This one had a PowerCommander FI remap, Aftermarket exhaust, reworked suspension, extended swingarm to keep as much of the front end on the ground as possible. End result: ~180 rwhp in a 520lb vehicle.

 

My motorcycle did 0-60 in under 4 seconds. I think alot of the motor cycle's out there are too much power. There are high school kids buying bikes that have HP/weight ratio's in the 1:3 range with rider, which is like having a 1000HP+ car.

It did great burnouts though

 

The funny part to me is the horse power wars rage on but no increased driver ed to speak of really. I was lucky my dad took me to the Bondurant Racing school before I had my normal licence. I learned more about cars in those 7 days than most learn in 10 years of driving. They force you to take cars to the absolute limits and then how to recover them. While track driving I admit is not for the street, recovering a vehicle in a slide however it came about is still the same procedure.

More power is fine imo, so long as people get some sort of training in how to deal with it.

 

thats what traction control and vehicle stability assist is for

 

Are you kidding me, drivers dont even get enough training in the US on how to drive a low HP car, nevermine race track training. You would be amazed at how many people actually do not know the traffic laws. There should be addition training and testing for the regular drivers and any car above 400 HP should require a special license which require special training.

 

Hey, that's EXACTLY the bike I killed several years ago. Ironically, it had nothing to do with the engine-power-to-weight ratio, but rather the caliper-clamping-force-to-dumbass-rider ratio. 330mm brake discs and 6-pot calipers are no joke, especially going downhill.

 

Thats kind of my point, driver training in the US is a joke at the very best of times. As you pointed out not only are many ignorant of how to properly handle their vehicles but as to laws as well. I'd be a huge fan for a far more stringent licensing requirements.

 

Enjoying fast, premium machinery is more than just going fast. The "feel" of the best money can buy is hard to describe, an enthusiast can truly appreciate it even driving at moderate speeds.

 

 

+1 on this, some people get it most don't, it is actually possible to avoid

accidents sometimes without touching the brakes