My V-8 produces more gas than it consumes!
Posted on 08/14/2010 2:15:22 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
CARS around the world are making do with fewer cylinders to save fuel; the engine of the Tata Nano, to cite one extreme case, has just two.
Yet this is America, land of cheap gasoline and home of the brave V-8, a country where 4-cylinder engines have mainly populated rental fleets and econocars. So the question nags: how low are we willing to go in the cylinder count, especially for models that stake their images on power and prestige?
Ford has already made waves with the announcement that its EcoBoost 4-cylinder will be available in the redesigned Explorer. But cowboys, urban and otherwise, might swallow their Skoal if they see 4-cylinder engines in a new, smaller pickup that carries an F-Series badge, an idea that Ford has said it is considering.
Chevrolet has tested a turbo 4 in its muscle-car Camaro. Efficient power aside, that might spark bad flashbacks to the Iron Duke, the notorious 90-horsepower 4-cylinder that came in the Camaro beginning in 1982.
Jesse Toprak, vice president for industry trends at TrueCar.com, a shopping site, said that automakers will largely test America’s small-engine appetite in safer categories.
“If you’re looking at a starter Camaro, there might be merit in offering a powerful 4-cylinder,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
If I were a frequent tower, it'd be turbo-diesel all the way. There's definately an advantage in the mileage and towing capacity there. But I don't tow often so it isn't necessary. Plus, I got a decent deal on the truck.
The guy that sold me this Dodge bought a Ford F-550 Diesel flat/dump bed that has a GCWR of something like 30,000 pounds. Perfect for him - he'll put 4 pallets of sod on the flatbed, and tow his tractor and attachments behind.
I think the Big-3 dropped the ball on trucks by not considering the 4BT for lighter duty applications...like 1/2 ton FWDs and up to 3/4 ton RWD applications.
It’s a nice small-displacement turbo-diesel engine, already in production, and tested in many bread truck and UPS applications.
FWD on a pickup is counter-productive IMHO. Putting weight over the rear wheels on front wheel drive is akin to dropping an anchor. One of the reasons I’ve gotten the truck is that I can’t tow even my small trailer uphill on the grass with my FWD Escape - no traction even with only 1500-2000 pounds worth of trailer. The RWD truck is made for that purpose (and I upped the ante by snagging a 4WD). Put 2 yards of mulch on the back and it gets better traction.
I do agree about having a small turbo-diesel in a small truck though. Something like VW’s TDI engine in a little 3200 pound truck with class-2 towing would be perfect for typical homeowner tasks.
One problem with full-sized trucks now days - my shortbed Dodge pushes almost 5000 pounds. It’s heavy already. In the old days, you could get a full-sized truck at around 4000-4200 pounds curb weight but they’ve fattened up over the ears with all the safety-nazi crap that they put in them.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens when/if Ford re-introduces the F-100. If it’s lighter and a bit smaller, it might be a great platform for a 4BT type engine whether it be Cummins or Ford.
The yaris, cobalt, escorts which I’ve own all had tachometers in them as standard(how calibrated they were could be open to skepticism). The yaris(1.5 liter engine) I generally upshifted when the tach’ hit 3k until hitting a comfortable cruising/ speed limit/rpm balance. In moderate to heavy traffic, i cruised in 3-4th gear the tachs never going above 2500 in 35 to 50 mph traffic, when traffic was quieter, I could shift to fifth on such roads and the tach would stay at 1800 or less. On the highway, fifth gear at 75 ranged from 2000 to 2350 at most, down shifting to higher revs when passing or on certain hills. The manual gearing in the yaris was very compliant and very forgiving. Would not have the automatic on a yaris though, even in 4th(OD suposedly) at highway cruising the tach was always 2700 or over and the auto shifting was creaky.
My 91 escort was a manual 5 speed with very similar performance as the yaris (just had a larger 1.9 liter of course) though even in 5th it had this kind of power reserve that could take it past 80 or 90 in a passing situation. I put a teflon product in the crank case and upped the high way fuel economy from 36 to 39 mpg. City driving was 30 mpg. The tach’s were always about 2100 in a high way cruise(65 to 75) situation.
We own a 1.8 liter 2009 corolla sport(4 cylinder) which is an automatic but it does have an on board tach. I don’t know where this car gets its torque from, but I often travel 81 north and there is this section from Ravine Pa to south of Pottstown exit that is one long 10 mile climb. This thing does 80 miles an hour at 2500 rpm in 4th/auto od. I swear this Toyota thinks its a Jag or something. The thing is it will do 90 with little engine vibration noise and stress at 3000 rpm and i have to slow the beast down lest a cop snag us or we fly off a hill. The sport model does have a speed related self tuning suspension sport tuned engine. Needless to say this is my wife’s car.
4WD
My V-8 produces more gas than it consumes!
Ah, gotcha. Makes more sense now.
My hat is off to you.
LOL.
Are you running for office, where do I vote?
In some parts of the West Indies, “Tata” is slang for fecal matter.
Your assessment of 4cyl engines is wrong on all counts.
People drive 6 & 8 cyl autos because we are (at least currently) free to choose the products that best meet our needs.
I was hoping some one would mention the Mopar slant 6, one of the all time great engines. I once had a Pontiac Tempest 61, that had the half V-8 4Cyl. Should have been a good engine, but the Tempest was not accepted. This one had the “performance package” with 4-bar carb and stiff suspension. I did not keep it but about a year.
barbra ann
I love inline sixes. They are perfectly balanced and silky smooth. I guess the one drawback they have is that they are tall and long, which means you have to have a higher, less aerodynamic, and possibly stodgier looking hoodline.
Well yeah, duh. Its a Benz ;-)
I has an '88 190E (kept it to '92) and that little 4-Banger was quicker than a rabbit, or any American V8 of that era.
I don't know what the Top End was but I had it at a steady 90-110mph(1) on I-65 from Indianapolis almost all the way to Kentucky when we took it to Mammoth Cave for a 'break-in' ride. And at 110mph I still had some peddle left.
(1) I hooked up with a 350SL and we 'played convoy' down I-65. I'd lead for ten miles or so, then he'd lead for ten miles. The road was all ours so there wasn't much danger. And at 100 mph it felt like we were doing 65 mph, it rode beautifully.
“FWD”
Yeah, sorry and I certainly know better.
I believe small displacement turbo gasoline engines are also the way to go for getting adequate or high performance, yet maintaining acceptable fuel mileage.
There is an aftermarket company out there offering “remote turbo” kits, where they eliminate many of the undesirable traits of underhood turbos by locating them at the rear or halfway back on the vehicle. (ststurbo.com)
It lowers the turbo operating temperature and underhood high temps, and eliminates the need for an intercooler.
They are offering them for high performance, but I think that is the key to good fuel mileage...small, lightweight high output engines.
In the past, all of the Big-3 experimented with turbos and with varying degrees of success. The Chrysler 2.2L, Ford 2.3L and GM’s V-6 applications.
It is a very simple way to achieve huge HP gains with a minimal of engineering...they would probably fare better with a heavier flywheel.
The turbo engines typically have forged low compression pistons and special oil passageways drilled into the block...maybe better rods. It’s even more doable with the modern tweakable EFI systems.
In a medium sized vehicle, once the engine has accomplished the intermittent load demand (accelerating onto the highway) and the boost subsides, it reverts to being a fuel efficient, small displacement engine.
Meanwhile, they are trying to develop all these complicated multi-valve, DOHC, variable cam timing engines with redundant and expensive ignition systems that often defy logic....and flipping HYBRIDS!
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Geez, now the New York Times is starting to hate V-8 eight cars.
“
My cynical take is this:
The New York Times (owner, manager, editors and staff) don’t want
the Average Joe/Josephine to have cars with V-8 engines.
They want the “unwashed masses” forced onto city buses/trains/subways...
so gasoline prices will be stable or even drop.
So the New York Times crowd can fill the gas tanks of their stable of
V-8 powered vehicles.
This is just like the interviews I’d see with up-scale drivers in
Los Angeles at the gas pumps when gasoline prices were rising.
Usually, the comment was that “well, if more people get on the
buses and trains, the freeways won’t be so crowded”.
In other words, get the trash off the freeways so that I and my
V-8 (or V-10 or V-12 in LA) can blaze down the autobahns of Los Angeles.
Gotta’ get to the creative-vision meeting at my movie studio, dontcha know?
Meh!
The Inline-four engine or Straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft. Where it is inclined, it is sometimes called a slant-four. In a specification chart or when an abbreviation is used, an inline-four engine is listed either as I4 or L4 (for longitudinal, to avoid confusion between the digit 1 and the letter I). The inline-four layout is the simplest design which is in perfect primary balance and confers a degree of mechanical simplicity which makes it popular for economy cars.[1] However, despite its simplicity, it suffers from a secondary imbalance which causes minor vibrations in smaller engines. These vibrations become worse as engine size and power increase, so the more powerful engines used in larger cars generally are more complex designs with more than four cylinders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inline-four_engine
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“I’ll take a Chrysler 225ci slant 6, please.”
“
Bets the heck out of the 170ci slant 6 that came in the Dodge Dart
I was gifted from my maternal grandparents for use in high school.
It was anemic, but was ultra-dependable.
And I was no ingrate for the kindness of my grandparents.
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