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Steveesq t1_ja5p09f wrote

First thing is the premise of the question. cars don't require that much horsepower. We like and want that much horsepower.

But horsepower is only one part of the equation when it comes to any vehicle, or piece of equipment. The engine usually drives a transmission of some kind, or a pump for hydraulics, etc.

My daily driver has an excess of 300 horsepower. I have a military truck that weighs 8,500 pounds, that has a whopping 92 horsepower. I also have a tractor with a front end loader, that's 38 horsepower, And it'll drag both of them around the yard. It's all about application.

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therealdilbert t1_ja5yzuq wrote

> My daily driver has an excess of 300 horsepower

and it takes maybe 20hp to drive at high way speeds on a flat road

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Steveesq t1_ja66e87 wrote

EXACTLY! But it sure is fun to drive!

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koolaidman89 t1_ja6cgsa wrote

Yeah but it’s pretty handy to be able to get to highway speeds in a reasonable amount of time/distance when you find yourself on a short ramp going into dense high speed highway traffic.

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lellololes t1_ja7htt2 wrote

You can take an engine that makes 50lbft of torque and make it output astonishing amounts of power at the wheels.

All it takes is gearing.

A lot of people don't realize this. If your car with 300lbft of torque at 2000RPM is geared so that it can go 20 miles per hour at that speed, it's going to output the same power to the wheels as an engine that makes 50lbft of torque that is geared to go ~3.3mph at that speed.

It just won't go nearly as fast.

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