Less Is More For Ford's New V-6 Engine [Federal Regs Kill the V-8]

Newhouse News ^ | 1/9/2008 | Robert Schoenberger

[The KG9 Kid]

Sure is a monster, but totally impractical unless you need to twist your unibody Toyota Camry up like saltwater taffy.

That Camry might run 10 sec quarter miles once or twice if the drivetrain could hold, though.

[BMIC]

I bought a 2001 Chevy Camaro V-6 thinking I would save on gas due to my long daily commute. I did spring for the Y87 performance package, but after looking more closely at the mileage and performance specs after buying, I found myself smacking myself in the forehead and saying “Wow! I coulda had a V-8!”

:)

[Spktyr]

Um... ever heard of the 4.6 and the rest of Ford’s Modular V8 lineup? They replaced the old V8s in the late 90s.

The old Ford V8s are long, long gone. The modulars are actually pretty good engines that sound awesome - and I am NOT a Ford fan.

[-YYZ-]

Actually, I can see no reason why a 4-cyl turbodiesel couldn’t provide more than adequate performance in a light duty truck. Even many full-size heavy duty trucks only have a 6-cyl of 5 litres or so displacement.

[Tenacious 1]

How many miles do you have on that sporty 4-cylinder? And how much does it cost to keep it running?

Not exactly an every day driver, huh.

[Spktyr]

Oh, and by the way, you need to look at: The 03-04 Mustang Cobra, Ford Lightning pickup, the 05-up Mustang Shelby 500s - those are all blower V8s.

[Ouderkirk]

You never see the liberals suggest that the speed limit should be reduced to 55 mph for fuel economy and safety. While many of them think it, they don’t dare say it.

[HamiltonJay]

Timing belts are nice smooth feel to them no doubt.. but when you combine them with an interference engine design, your entire engines lifespan is tied to that thing failing.

That literally is the weakest point in the engine.. seems insane that any manufacturer would combine a timing belt with an interference design, but its made a come back in recent years to improve fuel economy and decrease engine size... At the very least use a chain when developing an inteference engine ... sigh.

[Spktyr]

Many of the truck makers are scrambling to make diesels for their 1500-class trucks now. GM has a 4.5L TD that should be out soon.

We *should* be seeing more diesels on the road shortly.

[KenHorse]

There are turbos now that instead of being driven by exhaust gases are driven by the crankshaft, much less lag than traditional turbos.

Those are superchargers (also called blowers and I think they've been around longer than turbo chargers.

[Spktyr]

My friend has that same car, and we’ve been busily modifying it. A bit of advice - put a Magnaflow exhaust on it, it will sound a LOT better. And I mean the entire manifold-back system, cats, X-pipe, and all.

You can pick up 20-50HP with that and a good tune.

[-YYZ-]

4.5L? That’s still larger than *should* be necessary for adequate performance in a light-duty pickup. I’ve seen 20-ton straight trucks that were hauled around by an engine no bigger than that.

[Red_Devil 232]

Yep! I loved that 300 in line 6. Great engine in a F-150 and you could actually work on it!

[Josh Painter]

The 2009 Ford F-150 will likely offer one or maybe both of Ford’s new 5.8-liter and 6.2-liter BOSS V8 engines and perhaps Ford’s new 4.4-liter “Lion” V8 diesel.

The 4.4 Turbo Diesel V8 is based on the Lion V6 Diesel and has an estimated power output of 330 hp and 515 foot-pounds of torque. It will have a compacted graphite iron block due to its high power output.

The new pickup should hit the showroom floor at the January Detroit Auto Show and at dealerships come Spring of 2008.

[Quality_Not_Quantity]

Amen to that! I turned in my company-owned 1996 LS400 when I resigned that company a year ago. It had 240,000 miles on the odometer, did’t leak a drop of anything and got 23+ MPG on the highway.

And it was still f-a-s-t!

[Spktyr]

Nissan’s been shipping their V6s like that for years. They tell you to replace the belt every 60 or 105K (depending on generation) and they *never* break prematurely. The belt is usually actually good for 120-140K.

They did recently change to chain drive because of their variable valve timing and clearance issues.

[Spktyr]

Um, that’s what I said to the original guy that said that, if you’d read the entire post.

[T. Rustin Noone]

Amen, Brotehr.

I clearly remember the exact moment the timing belt on my Acura Integra snapped. There was a single moment (about 1/50th of a second, actually) where there was a universal ‘snapping’ sound of the valve stems being sheared off, then complete silence.

The beauty part was that the failure occurred within a mile of my destination after a 35 mile commute and directly in front of a full-service automotive repair shop.

In retrospect, that car was the best $9,000 and 200,000 miles I ever spent.

[Spktyr]

The Europeans and Japanese have smaller turbodiesels, but the 4.5 V8 is that size for low end torque and refinement - they’re thinking about putting the same engine in cars while they’re at it and they want to make sure diesel doesn’t have a performance penalty for their products (like it does over in Europe).

[CORedneck]

It is sad, not too many people know how to drive a stick shift anymore. I insisted on learning when I was 16/17 years old. One incentive, at the time, my mom had a RX-7 and I wanted to drive that car. It was a 5 speed. Once I learned, I prefer them over an automatic. Just about all the cars I owned were always standard shift except the vehicles my wife drove. She doesn't even want to learn to drive a standard shift.

I know about ten years ago, some Clinton people were discussing on finding ways to eliminate manual transmission vehicles and using under the guise of EPA rules. Because of EPA rules, if BMW offered the same car, same engine. One with an automatic and the other with a manual transmission, they had to file separate certification paperwork which included all sorts of testing. The paperwork was pretty expensive. What happens, the marketing executives basically the hell with the car enthusiasts and just import the automatic transmission version only.

In fact, automatic transmissions should be banned unless for a medical need. With a standard shift, it is impossible to drive and talk on the cell phone. I don't know how many times I get stuck behind some slowpoke only to finally pass and they are talk on their stupid phone.

Conversely, the auto industry could push the U.S. government to do one thing that would probably be quite effective in improving overall fuel efficiency: Increase the number of vehicles with manual transmissions on the road. This isn't a bad idea at all . . . if Congress is going to force people to drive certain types of cars to meet these fuel standards, they might as well force them to drive cars that require a driver who -- well, KNOWS HOW TO DRIVE.