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Tiff Needell's column
Should the motor industry voluntarily bring in a maximum horsepower limit?
Being a fully paid-up member of the common sense party, it's scary how I can mix and mingle with all sorts of people, and end up with a consensus regarding cars and their emissions. Most of us agree that even if the entire planet swapped from a vehicle putting out more than 200g/km of CO2 to one which emits less than 110g/km, such as a Toyota Prius, not a lot would change on the global weather front. Yet, if you listen to any politician - or worse still, the BBC News - us drivers are dooming the planet to be drowned and then fried! Now, don't get me wrong. I think the industry should keep working on improving fuel efficiency, but I also reckon people need to try and keep things in perspective.
Natasha Kaplinsky recently opened her six o'clock 'show' revealing that there was now "no doubt" that it is humans who are causing climate change. However, in the item, leading environmental scientists - mostly operating on politically generated funding (which tends to dry up if they give the wrong answers) - said that they were only 90 per cent certain that it was down to motor vehicles. So there's a one in 10 chance these potentially biased people are wrong. Clearly some doubt then.
But before I go on to quote every page of Michael Crichton's State of Fear - a great novel, backed by plenty of factual references, with far more common sense than anything failed US presidential candidate and eco-warrior Al Gore has ever dreamt up - I'll get to the point I am trying to make. You see, even though motorists like me are sure we are doing nothing wrong to the planet, there are those who will poke their noses in and spoil our fun, whether we agree with them or not.
That's why I think we should voluntarily bring in a maximum limit on horsepower figures for cars, before some do-gooding minority forces some stupidly low limit on us. I don't want to spoil anyone's fun, but today's motors have more than enough performance. Developing models with even more could do more harm than good with the accompanying bad publicity.
This idea came to me after testing some cracking hot hatches, such as the Vauxhall Corsa VXR and the Renaultsport Clio 197. All have less than 200bhp, but are more thrilling to drive than some supercars from a couple of decades ago. They are controllable, enjoyable and can rocket from 0-60mph in under seven seconds, which means they're easily fast enough for most people.
Not only would my plan give motorists some 'responsible' publicity, but it also saves the car firms from all the cost and bother of forever pumping up the power figures with every successive model. Each new Audi RS4, BMW M3 or Porsche 911 Turbo simply 'has' to have more bhp than its predecessor. In reality, this can't go on forever.
For much of the time, you don't get to use much of these cars' full potential, as the mass of modern-day computerised 'aids' they are fitted with rush to interfere as soon as there is a glimmer of traction loss or slip angle. So what's the point in having it in the first place?
Now, I haven't done a detailed survey of outputs, but any form of limit should work on a sort of sliding power-to-size-to-weight ratio scale. And once all the manufacturers have got their models up to the respected benchmark figure, they can focus their research and development solely on improving the efficiency and safety of future models. Which means we can keep what we all want - performance - and yet get cleaner, greener, safer cars... which cost less to run. Common sense or what?
Tiff Needell is a presenter on Channel Five's motoring programme Fifth Gear and is also a motorsport writer and commentator
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| There should be a voluntary limit on cars' horsepower figures, before the do-gooders force a stupidly low one on us! | |
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Natasha Kaplinsky recently opened her six o'clock 'show' revealing that there was now "no doubt" that it is humans who are causing climate change. However, in the item, leading environmental scientists - mostly operating on politically generated funding (which tends to dry up if they give the wrong answers) - said that they were only 90 per cent certain that it was down to motor vehicles. So there's a one in 10 chance these potentially biased people are wrong. Clearly some doubt then.
But before I go on to quote every page of Michael Crichton's State of Fear - a great novel, backed by plenty of factual references, with far more common sense than anything failed US presidential candidate and eco-warrior Al Gore has ever dreamt up - I'll get to the point I am trying to make. You see, even though motorists like me are sure we are doing nothing wrong to the planet, there are those who will poke their noses in and spoil our fun, whether we agree with them or not.
That's why I think we should voluntarily bring in a maximum limit on horsepower figures for cars, before some do-gooding minority forces some stupidly low limit on us. I don't want to spoil anyone's fun, but today's motors have more than enough performance. Developing models with even more could do more harm than good with the accompanying bad publicity.
This idea came to me after testing some cracking hot hatches, such as the Vauxhall Corsa VXR and the Renaultsport Clio 197. All have less than 200bhp, but are more thrilling to drive than some supercars from a couple of decades ago. They are controllable, enjoyable and can rocket from 0-60mph in under seven seconds, which means they're easily fast enough for most people.
Not only would my plan give motorists some 'responsible' publicity, but it also saves the car firms from all the cost and bother of forever pumping up the power figures with every successive model. Each new Audi RS4, BMW M3 or Porsche 911 Turbo simply 'has' to have more bhp than its predecessor. In reality, this can't go on forever.
For much of the time, you don't get to use much of these cars' full potential, as the mass of modern-day computerised 'aids' they are fitted with rush to interfere as soon as there is a glimmer of traction loss or slip angle. So what's the point in having it in the first place?
Now, I haven't done a detailed survey of outputs, but any form of limit should work on a sort of sliding power-to-size-to-weight ratio scale. And once all the manufacturers have got their models up to the respected benchmark figure, they can focus their research and development solely on improving the efficiency and safety of future models. Which means we can keep what we all want - performance - and yet get cleaner, greener, safer cars... which cost less to run. Common sense or what?
Tiff Needell is a presenter on Channel Five's motoring programme Fifth Gear and is also a motorsport writer and commentator
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