I have commented on the spot that I was thinking about before in other
posts. When I have driven the old 300D to the lake in the summer I have
encountered a spot that causes me to wish the car had more ability to
accelerate. On the outskirts of Kenora, Ontario, the road comes to a T
intersection with a stop sign. It requires that I stop and then make a
90 degree left turn onto the highway to go west to Winnipeg. It is an
uphill grade for maybe a half mile and I find it hard to get the 76 300D
up to highway speed until I crest the hill and head down the other side.
It is 2 lane highway and fairly heavily travelled by transport trucks. I
prefer not to have to get over onto the shoulder to let them pass me and
I really don't want to hold them up so I try to pull out when it is an
opportune time. However, those waiting behind me may not be pleased to
wait until I let all the big trucks go by either. Most modern cars have
pretty good acceleration so my old car is not a welcome addition to the
mix. Around town here it is fine and on the 4 lane at 70+ mph it is fine
but merging from a slow speed is not one of its strong points.
And, if you read my post, I don't think you will find that I claimed to
need the horsepower in the truck. I said the new one has more advertised
power than the old one did and it is noticable and I like it. Modern
engines with all the fancy controls may be a problem waiting to happen
but when they work well, they are a joy to drive.
I am not sure but I think the hotrod Mustang version is either
turocharged or supercharged. I said I don't need that sort of thing but
I am willing to bet that the new 5 liter in a Mustang would be fun to
drive. It would weigh a whole lot less than a Supercrew.
I also wonder if one could take one of the late model Lincoln Town Cars
(2011 was the last I think?) and use components from the Ford Crown
Victoria police inteceptor suspension and a new 5 liter engine and have
a hotrod Lincoln. That sounds like fun to me.
A friend is trying to sell a 2009 Town Car right now and if I had a few
spare $$ and a place to park it, I would cheerfully take it home. It is
Burgundy and has about 65K miles on it. It may be a bit of a boat, but I
think I would prefer it to a Miata.
Randy
On 20/11/2013 2:01 PM, Curt Raymond wrote:
So what happens if they "run you down"? They step on the brake and honk the
horn and blast past you. Who cares?
You've fallen for the line that you "need" more power. In reality you "like" more power or maybe even "want" more power
but you don't "need" it. In fact most of the time as we've discussed you don't "need" a car at all since your commute is so
short. That said there are plenty of reasons for you to have a vehicle and since you are able to support yourself its nobody's place to tell you you
can't have one but please don't confuse "need" and "want".
I'm not impressed with the 300+HP engines, they make it all at super high RPM. My v8
Dakota was "only" 205ish HP but it made it around 2,000rpm (your 360hp is
probably at 4500 or more) and was much more useful. Low RPM hp also equates to more
torque. Torque gets things done, HP makes noise and burns gas.
-Curt
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 12:09:06 -0600
From: Randy Bennell <rbenn...@bennell.ca>
To: Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
Subject: Re: [MBZ] horsepower
Message-ID: <528cfac2.70...@bennell.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
I am not so sure that I agree with you all.
I can drive my old 300D and it does reasonably well, but there are times
when it could use a bit more. For example, pulling onto the highway from
a dead stop with a 90 degree turn and uphill for the next half mile or
so. I have to be careful not to be run down.
My current F150 has the new 5 liter and I can say without a doubt that I
like it more than the 5.4 that was in my 2002 version.
If I keep my foot out of it, it appears to be making better mileage than
the earlier one did and if I step on it, I get a nice growl.
I have not yet needed to hit it hard so I don't know what it will do if
pushed, but so far I like it fine and I am willing to bet it could be a
whole lot of fun in a Mustang.
I don't need the 400+ HP version but this one is rated at 360HP and that
suits me fine so far.
Randy
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