On Sat, 18 Mar 2006 02:48:30 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy
wrote:

Andy Dingley wrote:
On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 03:13:05 +0000 (UTC), Christopher Tidy
wrote:


But what about a car? Is the 130 hp or whatever maximum engine power the
manufacturer quotes a continuous or an intermittent rating?


Continuous, but at a constant rpm which is unrealistic for anything
except motorway cruising. It's done by measuring on a dyno, either an
engine dyno or a rolling road.

Thanks for some interesting opinions. It looks like most people think
the rating is intermittent (big for the purposes of advertising), but a
few think it is continuous. I had a thought last night which perhaps
sheds some light on it. Car manufacturers are cheap, and not all car
buyers are as mechanically minded as us. They'll build the lightest,
cheapest engine that'll do the job, then figure out a way to bump up the
horsepower rating. Makes sense!

Chris

OK, maybe we're mechanically minded, but I'll bet you can't find car
owners cheaper than this bunch. From reading the posts, I'd guess the
average transportation for this group has about 150-300,000 mi. and is
old enough for vintage tags.

Pete Keillor