Classic Cars With Bob Gelber

I think it was the Duchess of Windsor who said something like "One can never be too rich or too thin." There seems to be a current credo among car manufacturers too, that implies that a car can never have enough horsepower or be big enough. This is rather unusual thinking, especially today, with gasoline prices spiking up and down every time the oil companies can conjure up some obtuse reason to fleece the public. Let's also not forget that there are a lot a bad guys occupying a part of the world that supplies our fuel, and their dream is to see all of us in harm's way. So I pose this simple question. Why do we continue to produce or worse, purchase cars that get lousy fuel mileage and make us more beholden to this slew of gas barons, both here and abroad?

Having spent my life around high performance automobiles, I've had the pleasure and sometimes the honor of driving and racing some of the fastest cars ever made. A well-engineered, powerful automobile is usually a joy to behold as well as to drive. The best of the best become legendary, and I won't bother to mention their names, because if you know anything about automobiles, you know. However, there is a small place for these types of automobiles and that is in the dreams and the garages of the die hard car enthusiast. The small number of these high performance, high horsepower sports machines do not really effect the national fuel consumption gauge. It's the overpowered family hacks and trucks that I oppose.

For instance, the new Honda Accord will be in the showrooms in just a few days. The appearance of any new Honda model is always an event. Of all the Japanese manufacturers, Honda is the one most admired by automotive enthusiasts. The new Accord, which is a mainstay of the line, is a little larger, a little prettier, and boasts that it has the most powerful V-6 engine ever to power an Accord. Why? Market pressure when all the other manufacturers are boasting about their horsepower numbers. Shame on you Honda. For the record, Honda does also offer a very nice four-cylinder engine for this new car.

For decades, many families have had an over-abundance of horsepower. It was alright when fuel was cheap, but when it hovers around three dollars a gallon, feeding a lot of ponies is silly. Did you know that the average car needs only about 25 to 40 horsepower to cruise down a highway at sixty miles per hour? The old VW Beetle would run all day, up and down hills at 75 miles per hour, powered by a 42 horsepower engine. Even my Mini Cooper S is grossly overpowered. That little 1600 cc, 170 horsepower engine under the hood will accelerate the car to sixty faster than an old Porsche 911, and the little bullet will pull close to 140 mph. However, the saving grace of the Mini is that it gets excellent gasoline mileage at any speed. Small engine and light weight are the ticket. It has been said that a Ford Mustang gives you a lot of bang for the buck. So does the Mini, for a lot less bucks laid out for gas.

The Mini is surely much too small for many of you out there, but do you really need a gas hog like an SUV, or something resembling a Greyhound bus, commonly called a minivan? What really irks me are the mega horsepower SUV, so powerful that they are as fast as some high performance sports cars. Fellows, if you feel the real need for speed, get a real sports car, not a truck with a bully engine. An SUV, whose main design goal is to be a people mover, will never handle like a sports car whose first priority design goal is to handle curves like a racing machine. I don't care if it has a Porsche name, a BMW name or a three-pointed star on its nose. If it's an SUV, it's a truck, baby, get that through your thick skull. All of these big, high horse power units also get absurdly poor fuel mileage, such thoughtless vehicles to have at this time in history. Hopefully in the near future, when they are sold with more fuel-efficient engines, and some of their "high performance" will be better fuel consumption, SUVs will be more sensible. Diesels anyone?

Why today there is a horsepower race is something I'll never understand. Speaking from experience, all that a family car needs for excellent performance is an engine no larger then two liters. One of the most rewarding two-liter engines currently in production is the optional turbocharged engine in the Volkswagen Jetta, standard in the Volkswagen GTI and Audi A3. What a performance machine this engine makes of these cars, and they all get terrific fuel mileage.

Even the new Honda Fit, which actually is a great alternative to a minivan, is quite peppy with only a minuscule 1.5 liter engine, and the car gets about 40 mpg. Another Honda home run, diametrically opposed to the larger engine in the new Accord. Think small, save America, and you'll save money in the bargain.

Bob Gelber, an automotive journalist living in the Hamptons, appears regularly on television as an automotive expert. You can email him at bobgelber@aol.com

Back to Contents