Remember the Lamborghini Miura? It was a supercar in its day. I read in "Autoweek" that a 1966 Miura would do 0-60 in about six seconds -- in other words, about the same as the S2000 or many other, even less expensive cars. Think about that: less than 40 years later, performance considered the realm of the rich and powerful can be had by just about anyone.

So, where do we go from here? In another few decades, will we all be driving around in family sedans that can do the 1/4 mile in 10 seconds? And with traffic presumably just getting thicker all the time, how will this affect safety issues?

I don't exactly know whether there's a point here -- but I'm sure barring another energy crisis cars will just keep getting more and more powerful. How do you forsee conditions in the future?

 

That's something to think about...

But I say by 2010 we'll all be hovering in something... then we'll wake up like in the movie Matrix and computer have taken over the world...

wait sorry I was thinking too much... don't worry about!

 

Sometimes i think about the same question too, but i guess when the gas is used up, human being will think of another way to move things around. Probably like in the movies, cars fly in the sky, u know......

 

Cars of the future may not necessarily be getting faster. They may become more fuel efficient, lighter, strong, more expensive. I think that would be more realistic. I think there's a limit as to how fast road cars should go these days. Take for example the Z, the time hasn't changed much for the last 20++ years.

5-6 seconds for a 0-100kph time is plentiful fast.

 

[QUOTE] Originally posted by PlasticTHUG

 

lol... to think about that movie hurts my head... would I try to save everyone and show them the real earth (which is total crap with no sunlight) or just keep things the way they are

oops that's way off topic anyways lol

 

Here's my .02:

I don't see the internal combustion engine going anywhere until cold-fusion is commoditized, miniaturized, and put under the hood of every joe-consumer.

While fossil fuels will certainly run out - as long as there are 100's of millions of Americans with cars (that have IC engines), there will be an alternative fuel to sell to them.

There's nothing that I really see that will stop the trend of more power and greater efficiency from IC engines until cold-fusion technology becomes a reality...what's really going to suck is when the Geo Prisms of ten years from now will beat an S2000 in a straight line.

 

I've pondered this too. 15 years ago, top level sports cars didn't have the power that a "boring" family car (to some) has today. I remember when 0-60 in 10 sec was sporty, now reviews call this inadequate to deal with highway traffic.

I'm not sure if it will continue or if we've hit a local maxima (small "m"). Environmental, security/political pressures may push back. And while I love sports cars, I don't think that is all a bad thing.

Oh, BTW, cold-fusion is pretty much dead. I think some researchers learned a lesson about peer-review from that one.

 

My Yamaha was fast--at first, but after a year or so of 0-60 in 3 sec. I couldn't help but think, my god, is this all the power it has? (Play Wipeout XL in Piranah class for a couple of hours and the world slows down afterwards...)

With Altimas hitting 240hp and other economy-box sub $20K cars hitting 200+ hp I think we have the beginnings of a hp war...

On a side note, I'll be really impressed once tire manufacturers are able to offer $120 tires that will pull 1g and still get 25K miles out of 'em...

 

If you look at sportbikes rather than cars (since their performance envelope is WAY up there), people are starting to say enough when it comes to power. Sure there are some power freaks out there, but some people actually think that a gsxr1000 is overkill for the street. With 9.8@145 mile 1/4 mile times and a pricetag that will let any mcdonalds worker ($10k) walk in and buy this land missle, I would kind of agree.

Just think if you could walk in and buy a supercharged Ferrari Enzo for $10k. You would have a million riceboys splattering themselves all over america.

Luckily, car technology is no where near bike technology, so we should be safe for now....