how can small engines have more horsepower then bigger enignes
 

This has been really bugging me cause I was watching this show top gear and they were showing this evo that had a 2 liter engine which output like 400 hp, while on the other hand taking an altima for example with a 3.5 engine only outputs 250 hp. Could I get a bit of an explanation for how this works.

thanks

basically as an engine makes more power it gets harder and harder on parts. the way to make power is by burning air and fuel.

as the evo goes, its turbo i belive(or supercharged, not 100%), so it actually jams in a load of air and fuel, it forces it into the cylender at high preassures. creating more power than it would being naturally aspirated.

you can do this to any engine, but there is limits.

look at top fuel nitro drag cars, 5000+hp in a v8...supercharged and alternative race fuel(and a load of other insane mods) but it makes that.....is it reliable?...hel no, the thing does 1 pass of 1/4 mile and is stripped down and re built...but it does make the power.

u can make crazy power out of just about any engine if u wanna spend the money, but then reliability comes into the picture also.

me personally, i love v8's, the sound and the power is just insane, but theres enough 4 bangers out there with crazy power that will keep up on a track, there engines just most likely wont last as long.

to each there own

so the horse power that the turbo produces is counted with the engine hp.

A turbo on it's own doesn't produce horsepower, it pushes air into the engine allowing the engine to produce more horsepower. Keep in mind though, that 2l engine is more expensive to run and build then the 3.5l because it has stronger parts inside it to allow the engine to make that power. As well, many of those engines need to have premium fuel in order to run.

^^^^ yup, like i said, more air and fuel = more power, turbos just spin and create boost(forces air in at a higher preassure) wich allows you to add more fuel wich allows your engine to produce more horse power

so ummm i guess fuel effieciency would go down the drain. Also you could have a big engine with better fuel rating than a small engine which has been modified to make more power I assume.

you could but... it's all about balance.

The big american V8 car is probably heavier than the small import with turbo, so in a day to day use under normal driving condition I can guess that the small car will use less fuel since it's lighter... But the opposite is also possible when the engine is so underpowered(let say a minivan with a 4cyl) for the mass that it need to run at full speed to get "safe" performance, a bigger engine will run lots slower and give the torque needed to accelerate without sending the rev needle in the red zone...

When i say safe, i mean entering the highway at a speed that will not disrupt the ongoing traffic.

^^ thats true, the best refferance to this that i have ever found is top gears BMW m3 vs a toyota prius

That's kinda funny - terribly unrealistic in the sense that you will never catch an M3 driver actually driving like that, i know i wouldn't. Which begs the question, think anyone will get the point made at the end of it?

u think that's something?

2.4L formula 1 engines produce over 700HP, yes i said 2.4 liter engine. no super chargers, and no NAWZ.