

Ford makes big promises for small engines








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RE: About time...
By Ringold on 1/7/2008 4:46:51 PM , Rating: 3
Because they don't want to learn about things outside their little words.

Eye Smite's arrogance reigns supreme again.

Could be, perhaps, that it wouldn't make sense for a nation that adds roughly 25 square feet to the size of the average home per year over the last 40 years to suddenly want tiny, light weight European cars which were designed to travel through European cities smaller roads?

I also don't see the tiny little Mini Cooper outpacing larger cars, like the Camry, very often, and if there were demand for tiny cars they might get made, such as GM's failed Geo brand.

Direct from Wiki:
"Recent years have seen fading consumer interest in the economy compact market, and the last vehicle of the former Geo line, the Tracker, was discontinued in 2004."

American's know what the price of gas is at the pump, they're aware it's possible that it'll continue to sky rocket, and still are quite obviously willing not just to drive from their suburban home but to buy nice, roomy vehicles.

Individualism, by the way, was basically the very founding principle of the nation. Did you miss that part, or did a liberal government school teacher omit that?

RE: About time...
By Boushh on 1/7/2008 5:38:49 PM , Rating: 2

You do watch to many movies. Like Lethal Weapon 2 where a BMW 630Csi is unable to outpace a Suburban Towncar (infact: it is not even able to outrun Riggs,, ON FOOT !!!)

The Mini is a small light car, so it doesn't need much to outpace your big american cars. It's small 1.6 V4 Trubo charged engine outputs 175hp, and does 0-60 in 7.1 seconds with a top of 141. I'm unable to find any relevant informations about the Camry 3.5 V6 (besides that it outputs 268hp). But I did find the Chrysler 300C 3.5 V6. Which outputs 249hp, does 0-60 in 9.5 seconds and has a top of 137 (both are european models). But where European cars really excel is on cornering. Also: europeans cars are generaly more fuel efficient than american cars because fuel is much more expensive.

I do however acknowledge that the american taste of cars is quite different from the european taste and that this has a lot (if not all) to do with America being a big country with very long and wide roads, while Europe is a continent with many small countries with short and small roads. Thus the average distance travelled in Europe is much smaller than in America.

RE: About time...


RE: About time...
By Ringold on 1/7/2008 6:07:23 PM , Rating: 2
I didn't mean outpace as in speed, I meant outpace in terms of sales -- my entire post was about supply & demand, not necessarily specifications.

RE: About time...
By Spuke on 1/8/2008 12:23:53 AM , Rating: 2
Sales? The Camry has been the best selling car for quite a number of years. And sales are up over 2006. The Mini is not even in the top 10 in sales in the US anyways.

RE: About time...
By Chris Peredun on 1/7/2008 7:09:15 PM , Rating: 1
It's small 1.6 V4

The Mini Cooper has an inline four-cylinder.


2007 Toyota Camry V6
0-60: 5.8 seconds
1/4 time: 14.3 @ 99mph
Top speed: 145mph (governor limited)

But where European cars really excel is on cornering.

Personally, I don't consider hyper-twitchy, suspension-unloading go-karts with intrusive stability control to "excel" in anything other than annoying me.


