Jon Glass <jonglass_at_mac.com> wrote:
> I don't suppose you've ever actually been in Europe, eh?
I've had the pleasure of visting Ireland but not the European continent
proper. Does this count?
> I have heard
> stories of American servicemen coming over here with their American
muscle
> cars, thinking they were going to show Germans how to drive, and in a few
> months, their engines were gasping along, leaking oil like a sieve. Euro
> cars are made to do it, and they do it well. I drive an American Lumina
APV
> (ugly car, btw) and it maxes out at 85-90mph. When I'm going down the
> highway at that speed, little Golfs and Opels breeze by me so fast that I
> hardly have time to read their tags (and their numbers are _huge_). I can
> assure you that they are doing in excess of 120 mph, and more likely
doing
> around 140mph. Oh, and this is on the Polish highway. (don't ask) :-)
Nicer
> cars do even better. For the record, I didn't even blink at his claim. If
> Marco's bragging, it's bragging at realistic levels. :-)
I can appreciate your sentiments. I have no doubts that the Golfs and Opels
are breezing by at high speeds past your minivan. After all, your Cd is
quite a bit higher than theirs.
Most American cars are designed to be driven in the American style --
relatively low speed, stop and go, etc. I'm not surprised that high speed
failures occurred under tha demanding autobahn-style environment. I'm sure
that if the design need arose, then American car manufacturers could
produce an engine that could operate under those conditions.
The only thing I was calling BS about is whether a car with 125 hp can
cruise at 160 mph. In my experience, it takes more than 125 hp to make a
car go 160 mph. Prove me wrong :-)
Michael Guzzo
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