MORE POWER was:Cabrio questions

[Rave Racer]

> I know. And it always amazes me, why is the American market so damn
> power-hungry? From what I've read in several tests in renowned US car
> magazines, a car with less than 150 hp is considered a slug these days,
> nothing less than 200 hp seems to be needed to sell in the US today. Why?
See
> the same thing with the Golf. the 2.0 is the smallest engine you get. It's
one
> of the largest we get in the same car. Here it starts with a 1.4 with 75
hp,
> and it sell quite well. The Passat and Audi A4 start with a 105 hp 1.6,
while
> the bottom shelf on the A6 is occupied by a 1.8 with 125 hp. Wont sell in
the
> US. Wont be understood by me.

        Large open spaces need more power to fill up the roads.  That and we
have to many stupid people here, and it's just an easier way to kill them
off without going through a complicated process of selection.
        A passat with 105 hp?  What would posess somebody to put so little
power in such a large car?  You can't even pull a boat with that.  My OLD
jetta has more juice then that!  The smallest production HP I've seen here
in the last 10 years was the three cylinder Geo Metro, then it would have to
be the Pathetically sad introduction 93 HP of the Mazda MX-3.  But they
eventially put a V6 in the Mazda and a 4 cylinder in the CLIO sized Geo and
everything was allright in the World again.....    for now.

        There is a story about a guy who used to work for an airforce base
in the states, who attached JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off used to aid in
launching overweight bombers during WWII) rockets to his GM car and flew it
into a cliff.  Anybody know where to find that info?

        Now I know this is WOB.