Man, who doesn’t love a powerful car? The more power, the more better, amirite? Even when all that’s required is basic transportation, a little extra oomph is appreciated. No one visits their mechanic and says “I’d like a little less out of the engine.” And rest assured, any salesman accompanying a starry-eyed first-time econobox buyer on a test drive will invite them to mash the pedal (once up to about 30mph or so) before offering a suitably impressed, “it’s pretty peppy, right?”
But woe to those who find themselves behind the wheel of a truly underpowered car. Merely not-powerful is disappointing, sure, but livable. A bonafide underpowered car, however, is true misery. Frustrated drivers in real cars whiz past you the moment you clear the on-ramp. Not only is the left lane off limits, so is the center lane. Even the right lane requires a sharp eye on the rear view mirror, lest you overlook an angry moped rider crowding your rear bumper. A steep hill on the horizon? Better mat the pedal now and build up as much momentum as you can.
Tell us about your underpowered-car experiences. If you suffered through stewardship of a malaise-era machine, you no doubt encountered some steel sleds boasting V8s with big cubes but precious few ponies. Or perhaps you commuted in a hatchback that, while lightweight, was very lopsided when it came to power to weight and rewarded you with great fuel economy and zero fun. Hey, at least you were speed-trap proof.
What cars, trucks, and/or motorcycles wheezed you to school or work with the bare minimum of muscle? Let’s hear those stories!
1976 Ford Pinto. I’d swear there was something wrong with it because of how slow it was.
Missed this, somehow. Mine is 100% the Petersen Mustang II. For the 50th anniversary, they had an exhibit with several Galpin cars, Cobra Rs, SCJs, etc… And a full stripper base model ’74 Mustang II. Notchback, 4cyl, 4spd. Options? The ones that weren’t optional are AM only radio, CA Emissions and whitewall tires. The others were bumper overriders, side bump strips, and a Ghia interior upgrade, which had the base model center console so it wasn’t even a true Ghia interior.
Threw it on a dyno for the hell of it, put down a best. of 59.97hp to the rear wheels. At 26-2700lbs. Yeah. Drove great but damn it was slow. I’ve got a hill near me that had a dead flat runway before it. I went in flat out at 74 and came out the top at 49. Nowhere near as bad as people say it is (I forgive them, they were only 4 years out from the Boss 429) but damn did it pull a crowd at car shows. And hecklers, too.
I owned a Honda N600 in Germany. With just me aboard the accerlation was “adequate”. Add 3 more passengers and you’d better not leave town. It was so bad that I had to back up any significant grade as it couldn’t do it going forward. Gas tank issue?
An 84 VW Rabbit diesel hatchback. It was so slow and small I seriously felt in danger merging onto busy interstates. I’ve driven large trucks that were about as slow, maybe slower fully loaded but they had the virtues of visibility and enough mass to make people do whatever is necessary not to hit you. Thank God there were no squatted trucks back then. They’d have run me over and never noticed.
1981 Rabbit pickup diesel. No turbo. Maybe 50 horsepower, 0-60 of 18 seconds or worse.
1964 VW double cab split window pickup. Similar “power” and “performance”.
Most underpowered? My dad’s 1974 VW transporter/bus/van. It wasn’t just the 64bhp coming from the 1.3L engine that made it slow. Growing up in Colorado, the driveway was at 7000 feet elevation, and that was the valley floor, so the van was down on power even when it was parked. Going anyplace meant getting over the mountains, ie uphill. 0-60 times could be clocked with a calendar. Given that our driveway entered from a 55mph two-lane highway with a steep shoulder and no acceleration lane, just leaving home meant waiting for a BIG gap in traffic. Driving through rolling hills was an exercise in maintaining as much momentum as possible on the downhills to try to hold speed on the uphills.
But I still miss dad’s van.
Whoops. That’s 64 bhp from 1.8l, not 1.3.
The only two vehicles I’ve ever owned have been a ’97 Ford Econoline-150 conversion van (4.6l) and a 2012 Prius v. They both have had 0-60 times in the 10-11 second range, which is mildly hilarious. But they’re fast enough for me.
I have driven a couple of slightly peppier vehicles, like an early-aughts Focus station wagon and a Buick LeSabre. But you can only get so much enjoyment out of speed on shared roads.
My most recent thrill was an extremely short jaunt in a 2012 Chevy chassis 8-foot U-Haul. I think that was my first experience with an LS.
The slowest I’ve driven was my mum’s former 1986 Citroën 2CV Charleston. Accelerating while going up on the moderate grade hill with two passengers and 29 horsepowers on tap is a real uphill battle (no pun intended).
Worst: the auto transmission Chevette I took my drivers training in. Dangerously slow on Los Angeles freeways. Hated that car with a black fire.
Much better: my dad’s 84 Sprint. Sure, three cylinders and under 100 hp. But lightweight, and a stick shift. A sleeper car if you knew how to drive it.
The 1.0L three cylinder in the ’84 Sprint made 48hp new. The injected turbo 1.0 in my 1988 Sprint Turbo made 70hp. Fun little roller skate of a car.
the car i learned to drive in: a 1983 Mercedes-Benz 190D. all of 72 horsepower in a four-cylinder diesel. MPGs, it had in spades. 0-60? maybe sometime next week. you basically had to plan your highway merges in a calendar.