HOW MANY HORSES DOES IT TAKE?

It’s springtime and it’s the season of the Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby delivered a shocking upset with “Mine That Bird” coming from behind at 50-1 odds, winning an exciting race. At this writing, the Preakness Stakes has just been run with another exciting finish. “Rachel Alexandra” made history as the first filly in 85 years to win that race. The Belmont Stakes is soon to follow with more horses, and more excitement. But being a car guy, my idea of winning horses is more in line with another spring tradition, the Indianapolis 500. Now that’s exciting horse power.

This poses the question, if it only takes one horse to generate so much excitement at a Triple Crown race, how many horses does it take to make a car exciting? How much horsepower is too much, and how much is not enough? My initial response is, there is no such thing as too much horsepower. The shock and awe of a Ferrari is a result of its 400+ horsepower, but when combined with a purchase price of well over $200,000, that takes it out of even the range of fantasy. So that’s probably too much horsepower. On the other hand, the SMART car’s 70 hp and 68 foot pounds of torque is definitely too little. Traveling 0-60 mph in over 13 seconds is not my idea of fun. Mileage of 33 mpg city and 41 highway sounds good on paper, but if you take forever to get there, or if a tractor trailer pastes you to its bumper like a mosquito, that’s too little. So what is the right amount of horsepower?

A friend of mine says that you only need enough to get over a hill. Maybe, but as a guy that thoroughly enjoys driving, surely I need more than that. For me, the bare minimum is to get over a hill. I need more. I need to be able to pass a slow moving truck on a hill, and get out of his way before he careens past me on his way down the other side. I need to have enough horsepower to safely merge into traffic on the interstate, and to zip safely past that erratic driver in front of me. I want enough horsepower so that I can drive on a 500 mile interstate road trip and not have my teeth chattering the whole way because I’m under powered.

Other considerations come to mind when deciding horsepower. Are you towing and need extra oomph (No)? Are you willing to support awful mileage of 10 mpg just for the thrill of driving (No)? Are you willing to sacrifice all driving fun, in order to be green and not feel guilty (well, I do want to be environmentally responsible, but No)? Somewhere in the middle of all of these arguments is the optimum horsepower.

The solution may be in the recent proliferation of the 300 hp engines that actually do come in with decent mileage figures, while retaining impressive performance. The Mustang GT’s 300 hp engine averages 23 mpg highway, along with 0-60 mph in a brisk 4.9 seconds. Even better, the new 300-horsepower 3.6-liter V6 Camaro delivers 0-60 mph in 6.1 seconds, while retaining mileage of 29 mpg. Working undercover with a more conservative façade, but delivering equal excitement, is the new Hyundai Genesis. Save money and fuel with its 3.8-liter, 290-horsepower V6, and take home 0-60 in 6.3 seconds, along with 27 mpg highway. That’s the best of both worlds: fuel economy with performance and the police will never notice you.

With today’s space age engine designs and computer management systems, performance no longer has to be stifled for the sake of fuel economy. Today’s engines optimize fuel use, delivering more power with less consumption. Add on even more technology with the new, weight saving quality plastics and composite materials that are increasingly the norm. Now a driver can enjoy the road without feeling guilty about it.

So back to the original question, how much horsepower is enough? Well, for a Triple Crown race, it takes one good horse. But for me, it still takes as many as I can afford.