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Originally Posted by GretchenGotGrowl
How so? It is a pretty good measure of the power density (efficiency) of the motor, and if you design for a particular displacement (as Porsche does), then it allows you to keep footprints smaller and weights down.
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That doesn't change the fact that it means nothing for a car.
You could be making 342 hp/L ... but if its from a 750cc engine you're only making 257 hp. Meanwhile, even a lowly 39 hp/L engine can get you 400+ hp if you make it big enough. Which one will result in a faster car? The one with more power, right?
If you're thinking 'well, it depends on how much the engine weighs' I would agree. But doesn't that then defeat the logic of hp/L being an important engine metric? Making the one of actual importance hp/lb?
Quote:
Originally Posted by GretchenGotGrowl
Those are valid metrics as well. Think about some of the markets where these cars sell. They actually tax displacement, the weight and size of the motor alone won't impact that. They have to engineer a total solution and hp/liter is part of that overall solution. No one metric (even weight to power) give you everything you need to design a good performance car.
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I can't think that Ford developed the Voodoo because of displacement taxes (which are downright idiotic). Odds are 80+% of the GT350's are going to be sold in North America. And there aren't going to be all
that many sold here to begin with. So it would be an enormous investment to make a small number of cars (which I'm sure are going to be pretty pricey in foreign markets anyways) a little more affordable to a few customers. The bean counters at Ford are more responsible than that.