Ford V10 Power, effectivity

wredman wrote:
Since this seems to be the primary gas engine for motorhomes, and all applications are the same engine and power. Is there a general consensus on coach weigh where the engine no longer seems acceptable, and most people would wish they went with the diesel engine coach?

I know its subjective, and depends on the hills typically driven and we can all learn to accept the slow lane :). It just surprised me that all of these different weight coaches have the same engine.

Performance when discussed on here is very subjective and what is acceptable to one is not acceptable to another. When I first joined the forum 11 years ago many would post times it would take to climb certain grades like the grapevine after various mods they made. Not being familiar with some of there grades I decided to use 40-60 mph tests on a flat road to compare performance. I figured you will always be going at least 40 mph when you approach a grade. The MH that has the best performance on the flat will do the best on a hill. So I would compare HP to wt ratios to narrow your search , look at gear ratios and then test drive from 40 to 60 at WOT and compare the times. What I have found is most larger DP's that I tested had times of 18 or more secs. I test drove a 34 ft DP that took 22 secs. Mid size gas 35-36ft were about 16 secs and short gas 30-32 ft about 12 secs. So if your current MH for example is a older 454 with 230 hp and is 34 ft and does 18 secs a newer Ford with 362 HP in a 37 ft MH maybe about the same or lower do to the increased HP. Unlike gas MH's DP's have less HP as they get shorter and lighter. I'm sure an automotive eng can do this just by comparing specs but this simple test helps me to compare various MH's that I have looked at.