Well, your example invalidates the “other than turbos” part because the turbo is responsible for probably 80% of that power gain. So then the question is, why is everyone using turbos now and not before? Any competent engine builder could get 500hp out of a 3 liter turbo motor back in the 80’s, so what changed?

The big advancement is reliability and emissions. This is mostly driven by engine computer simulation driving better engine geometry design to help these high power engines burn cleaner, but probably the biggest factor is ECU technology and sensors. If you look at motorsports, drag racing in particular the advances in how much power those cars are making has continued right along with OEM cars getting more powerful. Faster ECUs that have faster sampling rates, along with individual cylinder sensing and individual fuel injection means that each cylinder can be run at its absolute peak performance. In the past you would have over cylinder that’s the hottest one, and that would be the first to detonate. Since engines used to be tuned all at once, all the other cylinders would have to be detuned to the same level, plus other environmental factors could not be controlled so the engineers would leave some margin for adverse conditions. With that latest tech, ECUs can detect each firing event and individually adjust fuel and ignition for peak performance without sacrificing reliability over a wider range of conditions.

The materials science has improved as well, especially for turbos, but the big advancement has been in the ECU and sensing.

“Friendly” might be an overstatement 😂

Is that why so many forums are spam farms now? I just assumed the owners all oversold ads, not that they all got bought out by some conglomerate.

Is there any way to escape the reality of big tech companies ruining everything? I feel like almost every tech product is worse than it was 10 years ago, except of course the capability of the hardware.

I realized a while back that the Internet basically became cable TV, where you pay to get shown ads. The ad free community vibe I grew up on is gone and never coming back.

The BMW e30 is the only vehicle I know of where each vent could be adjusted individually. Not just on/off but you could actually balance the flow for each output to however your wanted. It was one of my favorite features of that car. In the winter time, starting cold and as the car warmed up you could gradually redirect the heat to areas where it was needed: start with full defrost, then 50/50 feet heat/defrost, and then once fully warmed up I would dial in just a little bit of the dash vents to keep my hands warm, but not so much as to dry out my eyes, and still have a bit of heat on the feet and defroster to keep the ambient temp even. You get to have it all balanced exactly however is most comfortable. That car also is the oldest one I know of which had heater vents for rear passenger feet, something I wish I had in cold winters as a child.