I don't think it's the 'headline' numbers that sell these cars
the buyers are far more sophisticated
and the numbers were a consequence, a by-product of the design, not the reason for it...
all the brochures I have mention the Cr and all the press releases do also...
actually the e30 M3 had great low end T (for it's time) compared to the S2000, which has to be wrung out to make power...
the Germans goal was >90% torque over the widest band possible, the specific output was a consequence of that design goal, not the reason for it...they have ALWAYS designed for flexibilty/elasticity...
ref. page 4 in the hardbound RS4 book, I quote: "more than 90% of this power (sic torque) is available between 2250 and 7600 rpm"
no where do I find a reference to 100 HP/liter...
torque and power are 2 different things, as the S2000 proves, high specific power, low torque...
Sims wrote:
Once again, it's the headline number that mattered to the manufacturers, how it was achieved was not of consequence provided you had acceptable reliability,durability & economy. The RS4, or the M3 brochure do not mention compression ratios in the main body of the text but dooes mention power/torque/cubic capacity
The S2000 is an absolute gem, but it's more like the E30 M3 driving characteristic.
The Germans wanted torque and power. 100ps per litre was the goal.