what makes cars hp more than others? Like why can’t all cars be 800hp like a challenger for example
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Just about everything in engineering is about managing tradeoffs. Powerful engines cost more money. People who don’t prioritize performance will buy cars with other design priorities. This is especially true for a mass-produced consumer product with lots of competition.
Having a powerful engine isn’t the only part of a high performance car. There’s a famous reddit meme…
> It’s like putting a powerful engine in a stock Toyota Tercel. What will you accomplish? You’ll blow out the drive train, the clutch, the transmission, etc., because those factory parts aren’t designed to handle the power of an engine much more powerful than the factory installed engine.
A car needs to be able to direct that engine power through the drivetrain through the tire contact patches into the road in order to be useful. Very large amounts of power are beyond the skills of most drivers, though electronic assistance systems help.
https://youtu.be/u-MH4sf5xkY Here’s Engineering Explained on HP vs Torque. He has a lot of car-oriented content. https://www.youtube.com/@EngineeringExplained/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=2 has the playlists, including one called “Engines”.
Very generally, bigger engines produce more power and burn more fuel. Power is the torque (turning force) of the engine times the speed, so an engine can rev to very high speeds (high rpm) to produce power, but that requires much more precise building to get to 9000 rpm vs a more typical 5000-6000 rpm redline.
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