Originally Posted by
fastforward
No, we had heavy ass cars with powerful (not inefficient) motors. Because gas was like less than a quarter a gallon. We had plenty of highways to drive on, plenty of iron to make these big ass cars, and plenty of money to buy them.
In the 50's and 60's Japan was still recovering from WWII and had to use it's money and resources sparingly. They didnn't have big, long interstates (no need for big fast cars), they didn't have lots of iron and steel (cars were small and light) They didn't have lots of money (cars were cheaply built and inexpensive.)
Bottom line, gas crunch hits in the 70's...people look for cheap 4 bangers that are inexpenisve to buy, and good on gas and discover Hondas and Toyotas.
So, it wasn't a matter of preference for Japan (they loved American cars) they just built what they could, and cars evolved from there. Thanks in large part to OPEC.
I think in inefficient he meant horrible consumption, especially considering a newer civic makes a very similar power/displacement ratio! At 400+ cubes the majority of the motors didnt even make 1:1 or they were fairly close! A 4cyl like youre focus makes 170hp for 122 cubic inches... which is roughly 1.4:1 ~ Not much different than those. So as far as powerful, well, yes sure, but the japanese are obsessed with utter efficiency, they kinda sorta accomplished the same thing with a more efficient idea in mind!
I do agree, at $0.XX Cents a gallon, 400 hp 454's and such were no issue, neither was space, and the difference was that they didnt have to give a shit about mileage and useage constraints!