The Ever Falling Hp Of The Elio.... :(

[wizard of ahs]

You guys make my head hurt o_O

 

[zelio]

This has to be a man thing. I have no idea what I get in my Camry and my one experience with a 3 cylinder small car was that it felt peppy. That was a Daihatsu Charade - probably an '88 or '89. I loved driving that little sucker. My instinct says the light weight Elio will have that same peppy feel and I look forward to experiencing that rather than knowing how fast it can accelerate from 0-60. Z

 

[carzes]

I know of no other country that is so obcessed with acceleration as the US. Maybe because it's all we CAN do without getting a ticket. Although they can still get you for exhibition driving I guess. I putt along through my daily commute at 55 mph through the multiple speed-traps, dreaming of Germany and the autobahn, and those twisty, exciting back roads through the country. Our roads are mostly arrow-streight and glacial paced. So I GET it. Driving here is NOT fun. It's boring. If not for the pretty scenery I'd have gone comatose years ago from sheer boredom.
But if 'launching' from every red light and flooring the gas at every opportunity is your driving style you won't be getting good mpg. Period.
And the excuse of personal safety to justify every performance spec or option that we WANT is getting tired. My 4-banger pickup does 0-60 in just shy of a week, and I'm NOT going to DIE because of it. No, I don't drive in YOUR city, but I've driven in LOTS of cities and yours is not that eceptional. Millions of cars on the road are NOT rocket ships and somehow we survive the day. As an EMT I have NEVER seen a fatality due to lack of acceleration, but I have seen PLENTY from excessive speed. Sure I can invent some scenario that it COULD happen, then again I can invent some scenario in which you'd die for lack of a can opener, a white rock, and a portable fax machine.

 

[Kuda]

Snipped: my one experience with a 3 cylinder small car was that it felt peppy. That was a Daihatsu Charade - probably and '88 or '89. I loved driving that little sucker. Z

 

[zelio]

I could swear mine was smaller than that but it may be perspective. LOL :-) Z

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

Horse power and torque are ancient measurements and honestly, not very accurate.
Torque doesn't mean much. Seriously. All that matters is how much work is done and how it is applied
First, let me rant that work done should be measured in Watts. All engines, including piston, turbine, electric, etc should be measured in watts.
Second, how the work is applied (gearing) is also a major factor. If the gearing is right, the performance will still be ok. Not great, but ok.
Another area of sacrifice will likely be top speed.

The 1996 Geo Metro with 3 banger 1.0 (997cc) 5 speed is an interesting comparison considering weight and power output are similar
(1650lb and 55hp (41 KW) on the Geo)
0-60 was sluggish but tolerable. Speeds over 30mph, where the Elio will have a major advantage, the gearing will be different.
The Geo had a top speed of 87mph, and I know this first hand (92 while drafting a truck).

Do a quick aerodynamic calculation and you see with peak power output, different gearing to take advantage of the better higher speed aerodynamics, and the numbers read around 105-109 mph

Knock the top speed down to 90 mph and you can make due with 45-50 horse power (33.5-37 KW)

Remember that this is NOT a racer and will require thinking ahead when passing and accelerating in traffic.

 

[Kuda]

QUOTE="zelio, post: 28549, member: 527"]I could swear mine was smaller than that but it may be perspective. LOL Z[/QUOTE]

 

[dunkybones]

Sure I can invent some scenario that it COULD happen, then again I can invent some scenario in which you'd die for lack of a can opener, a white rock, and a portable fax machine.

Well?

 

[carzes]

Well?

You don't seriously want me to do that do you? It would be pretty far-fetched.....

 

[Snick]

To clarify - torque is a unit of FORCE, measured in pound feet or newton meters.
horsepower is a unit of WORK, or force across distance (rpm in equation).
Torque varies as engine speed varies and so does horsepower. Manufacturers only
report PEAK horsepower figure and PEAK torque figure, and at what rpm level they
occur (rarely the same). Torque is what an engine dyno actually measures. Horsepower
is then calculated using the rpm and torque figures to show the horsepower available at that particular rpm.
I looked back at some acceleration figurs and they might surprise some folks. IN 1967, the Austin-Healey 3000
Mk2 recorded published road test acceleration : 0 to 60 times of 11 seconds, slower than the Elio.
The Austin-Healey was driven in many races, had a top speed of probably 110 MPH and was considered a
quick sports car. Go figure.

No, torque is force vector *cross product* with length vector. Torque is a vector output. In everyday use, its Force multiplied by length of the lever arm. It's units are very much more like work (foot pounds...pounds is a force vector an foot is a length vector; both collapse to simple scalar quantities in many cases such as an engine). You can think of torque as the effort it takes to output work. Power is work per unit of time, or how fast that effort can be applied.