With alll the new V8 offerings from GM, and the new Ferds, and the DCX hearses, what are the imports doing about power?

 

IMO, they've dug themselves a hole, and don't have a way out.

They have gone on for years about "hi tech" 4 cylinders, and "hi tech" V6's... and talked down about "archaic" V8's... and their following has swallowed it hook, line, and sinker...

Now, they're going to have a hard time pushing an "archaic" V8 to their crowd, and I think they are going to have a hard time getting reliable, efficient and comparable power equivilant to these new V8's that the US companies are starting to drop into their everyday cars from their 4-bangers and 6 cylinders.

 

My 4-banger outruns most V8's. Outhandles and out brakes them too. Then theres the huge insurance advantage.

 

276hp is impressive from a 4-cylinder, and can do some good in a smaller car like a Lancer, but if you drop that into a bigger car, say something Accord sized, it's not going to compete with Hemi's and the like in similar sized cars.

 

I personally dont think the imports have anything to worry about hp wise. They seem to sell just fine with what theyer doign now.

The STI and EVO can run with anything in thier price range. The G35 coupe sells like crazy with its sub 300hp rating. Even the Rx-8 has pretty good sucess with its rotary motor. I could see the 350Z maybe using a bit of a hp increase to help compete with the Mustang GT, but hmmm... they seem to sell pretty well too.

As far as everyday cars, the 240hp Accord with a 6 speed is low 14 second capable. Honda and Nissan both seem to be doign a good job of making high output engines available in their everyday sedans.

I'd think that if the public was super worried about hp, GTO's would have been a bigger hit. I think most people are more concerned with styling and the overall package vs engine output.

 

Wow, who needs big rotors and good tires when you have a 4 cly.

N/A I-4 have an insurance advantage because they also are putting out a lot less HP/tq than V6's & V8's. For insurance I3>I4>I5>V6>V8>V10>V12 (adding turbos and S/C bumps the rates up fast)

Back to the topic.... The Imports seem to be doing ok. for a while they jumped past the pig 3 with HP on the 4 & 6 cyls. with engines like the Honda 240HP & 250HP V6's and nissan 240-298HP 3.5L V6. Toyota & Nissan have new 4.0L engines that put out some good numbers. Crysler has had the 250Hp 3.5L forever, but GM just got the HF 3.6L and new 3.9L VVT HV and Ford has a 3.5L duratec coming out. Until the recent Cobalt SS 2.0L and new 2.4L GM hasn't had a 4 cyl. over 150HP in forever. Imports have been running the high end 4 cly. game.

 

I think they are OK right now ...

But in 3-5 years, when the hp keeps rising across the board, I think that is when the import cars are going to have some issues keeping up.

In the mid 90's, 140hp was consider acceptible in a lot of mainstream cars. That is not so today....

 

Do yourself a favor and dont assume thats going to last forever. Insurance companies will, sooner or later, bias their premiums up for a 300hp car no matter whats making the power, be it a V8, or four hamsters. The turbo-fours have a free ride for now, but dont be an idiot and think its an untouchable advantage.

 

Plus a lot of that is irrelevant... 4 cylinder Honda Civics have higher insurance rates than more expensive, more powerful Chevy Impalas, because they tend to get wrecked more often.

A lot of the HP or Number of Cylinders to Insurance thing is a myth. It's more based on likelihood of the car to be wrecked, and cost to repair it...

 

In what segment? The Toyota and Nissan trucks are equal if not passing the big three in HP ratings in standard pickups. I don't know that they are trying to equal the Silverado SS's, Ford Lightening's etc.
As for the standard coupe/sedan market I dont think 200 to 260 hp from an aluminum v-6 that gets 35 or so mpg is too shabby (Honda Accord).

This is un-characteristic for me to be on this side of the discussion, but "reliability" from GM has been a problem for me with the last two new Chevys' I've owned and my wife's Honda purchases have been flawless, to the point that I might buy Honda's new truck when it comes out. The only Chevy's I'll own after that would be circa 1968 & 1969.

 

Toyota is not surpassing anyone in HP. The Titan and Frontier are at the top of thier class for standard engines though.

I dont know about the lower insurance rates, My brother in law has a wrx and pays a little more then I do for my z28 (and thats hight to me).

 

Seems to me that import performance is doing fine with incremental tweaking and tuning of their motors.

The top line EVO/STi are C5 Vette fast. With cheap mods, their kill boards are gonna include a slew of C6's.
The upgraded 350Z and the SRT-4 are as fast as the new stang
The V6 Accord, Maxima, and V6 Altima will embarrass a mid '90s or older muscle car.

What's the problem?

 

http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=319284

 

Like I said they aren't competeing in the "hot rod" truck market, but the Nissan's standard engine makes 305hp. The max you can get in the Silverado 1500 without going SS, is 295. You're right about Toyota, but I don't think anybody's hp ratings are low simply because they can't achieve bigger numbers. Honda/Toyota have traditionally stressed sufficient performance without sacrificing economy and reliability.

 

Wow, lets not go nuts here.
1. The EVO/STI are NOT C5 fast.
2. That just shows that the Mustang didn't go far enough for performance
3. The only mid 90's muscle car that those vehicles will embarras is a Mustang.

I am really not sure what the imports will do. I would suspect they will stay with forced induction and stay with 4's and 6's.