Horsepower and gas consumption?

Question

How would horsepower impact a car's gas consumption? Is it a possitive correlation?

Which current model would you take for the best hp and gas consumption except them ugly hybrids?

Answer 1

The idea that increasing horsepower automatically causes a drop in fuel mileage is a misconception founded on anecdotal evidence.

Two identical cars (apart from their engines) with identical gearing and weight, driven exactly alike, will return almost identical miles per gallon, regardless of the peak horsepower capability of their engines. The reason that you do not observe this parity in real world driving is that when designers change engines, they also change gearing, and no one drives a car with more horsepower exactly as they would one with less. (Be real. Would you?)

As a representative of one of the car manufacturers was recently quoted as saying, "With the public, environmentalists, and the government all clamoring for cars with better mileage, do you think we wouldn't trade horsepower for mileage in a blink if that would work? It won't! The very same techniques that make an engine get better gas mileage, also make it more powerful."

As an example, take the All-American Sports Car, the Chevrolet Corvette.

Among muscle car aficionados the mid-60s Mark IV Series big-block ‘rat motors’ (so-called to distinguish them from the small block ‘mouse motors’) are legendary. In Regular Production Option (‘RPO’) L78 form, the 396 cubic inch V8 in the 1965 Corvette produced 425 'gross' horsepower. It powered the L78 Sting Ray to 60 miles per hour from rest in 5.7 seconds. That would be considered pretty fast even today, except that the latest version is quicker, faster, and gets much better gas mileage.

The current RPO Z06 Corvette makes 505 NET horsepower (harder to get than 'gross'), reaching 60 mph from a stop in 3.9 seconds while it roughly doubles the fuel mileage in hard testing and nearly TRIPLES it in cruising on the highway. This is technology at work.

IMO the best compromise between style, driving enjoyment, and fuel economy is the BMW 335i Coupe. It outperforms the Infinity G37 with 30 fewer horsepower, and has EPA ratings of 19 mpg city and 29 mpg highway. (the G37 is not yet rated.)

If that's too expensive, the Honda Civic Si, with 197 hp, gets 23 mpg in the city and 32 mpg on the highway.

Answer 2

Your driving style will play more into the equation of gas usage. Engines can make more power than stock and can do so much more efficiently. I read a mag where a guy had an older mustang that was putting out about 400 hp and still got 20 to the gallon city driving. That said, if he ran the car hard all of the time I am sure he would have never gotten that kind of mileage. It is a complicated world, this whole computerized engine, but you can make big power and not sacrifice greatly at the pump. I hope this helped.

Answer 3

horsepower does not always mean worse gas milelage. i have a 94 300zx with 222 hp and i get 15 in city and 19 on highway. now take a new vette. 505 hp if you talk about the z06. now that car gets 18 in the city and 22 on highway. i really comes down to you driving style. if you are very aggrssive then you will not get very gas milage no matter what car you have. i would say a mustang gt s a good horsepower vs. gas milaege car if you want power.

Answer 4

Horsepower in an internal combustion engine is generated by igniting a mixture of fuel and air inside the combustion chamber. The more fuel and air inside the combustion chamber, the more horsepower produced.

The trick is to get the vehicle traveling at the desired speed using the least amount of horsepower. This gives the best fuel economy.

This is usually done with a combination of items.

Gearing to keep the engine at its optimum rpm. The old muscle cars used low gear rations. These low gears gave the engine more leverage but made the engine turn at a higher RPM. This made the engine generate more power as it was consuming more fuel and air, but caused them to consume much more fuel. Modern cars use a higher gear ratio to slow the engine RPM to a more efficient speed.

Weight reduction. It takes more power to move more mass. Today's cars are generally lighter than the older cars. Lighter cars also accelerate, handle, and stop better than heavier cars.

Engine management from the computer. The old carbureted engines could only depend on manifold vacuum to determine how much fuel to send to the engine. Modern computer controlled engines use several sensors to more accurately determine how much fuel is needed.

Answer 5

no its not and it dramatically can lower the gas consumption. my 66 Stang with a 390 hp 302 only gets about 8 mpg city and maybe 10 to 12 highway, which it never sees. Now a top fuel dragster uses about 13 gallons of nitro methane in a quarter of a mile and makes about 8000 hp. Newer fuel injected vehicles can still make wonderful power and get great mpg. But you comprimise fuel efficiency for power

Answer 6

Generally, you have to burn gas to make horsepower.,so there would be a positive correlation. But some engines do it more efficiently than others. And you can also burn gas and not make any horsepower.

Answer 7

if you have more horse power the gas milage will go down
there is really not a car that has good hp and still gets good gas milage

Answer 8

The higher the power= the higher the output. Simple...more horses, more fuel.It can be rather negative, looking @ current gas & oil pricing.

Answer 9

sure is you can be sure that the more h.p. you have the more gasoline you will use