Non-hybrid fixes for MPG

But there are others still yet to be adopted:

• direct injection
• turbo-charged
• cylinder deactivation
• CVT
• seven+ speed transmissions
• hybrid (we know this one!)
• diesel

But there is always the risk of the EPA becoming the victim of its success. I suspect there are folks who see any advance as 'Victory, we don't have to do anything else so let's gut the EPA.'


Bob Wilson[/quote]

A diesel hybrid exists in Europe that combines the best of very high highway mileage and the engine off when not needed and gets 75-100 mpg (perhaps over 100) ....

they quote 261mpg on the euro test cycle ...
Geneva Motor Show: Volkswagen unveils diesel plug-in hybrid - CSMonitor.com

 

But there are others still yet to be adopted:

• direct injection
• turbo-charged
• cylinder deactivation
• CVT
• seven+ speed transmissions
• hybrid (we know this one!)
• diesel

But there is always the risk of the EPA becoming the victim of its success. I suspect there are folks who see any advance as 'Victory, we don't have to do anything else so let's gut the EPA.'


Bob Wilson[/quote]

A diesel hybrid exists in Europe that combines the best of very high highway mileage and the engine off when not needed and gets 75-100 mpg (perhaps over 100) ....

they quote 261mpg on the euro test cycle ...
Geneva Motor Show: Volkswagen unveils diesel plug-in hybrid - CSMonitor.com

 

I had a 3 cyl chevy geo metro -- apparently the middle cylinder is very prone to overheating ... i found the build qualty terrible of the car as well as the alt belt broke which also drives the water pump and after that tow i sold that car ... of course idont know what kind of abuse it went through in the 100k ? before I had it but 3 cylinders has not been a strong point in engines to my knowing ...

 

This is the most efficient version of diesel hybrid on the market in Europe, as you can see it only gets 5.4 l/100 km or 43 MPG in the real world. It has other benefits, like four wheel drive and 200 HP, but it's not the most efficient thing or cheap to buy.

And please don't mix plug-in hybrids into this thread, all plug-ins will have silly numbers on European NEDC test cycle, explanation is here on Volt/Ampera example.

 

There are very good 3 cylinder ICEs!
Toyotas 1KR-FE 1.0 vvti as one of those.
I believe is not available for USA...

 

The only 3 cylinders in the US are on smart, and the upcoming 1L in the ford fiesta later in the year. American's rejected 3-cylinders before, but they are improved and maybe the new ones, developed for europe and asia will bring a resurgence, if they are priced right and can drop fuel consumption.

Here are 4 of the most efficient non-hybrid, non-diesels that are priced relatively well.
Compare Side-by-Side

You will notice they are all quite different. The mazda 3 skyactiv is the least compromised and most conventional to the market, having good power, good handling. It uses di and variable lift in the ice and 6 speeds in the transmission to get its good fuel economy. These were things on the list. Its near the top of the class highway (40mpg - beat only by a handful of cars, best is prius phv at 49 highway), but it can't keep up in city mpg to the smaller engines and lighter weight. The versa ties the mazda 3 skyativ on the highway. The iq and fortwo to save cost and weight are very short cars, this hurts there drag and hurts fuel economy at higher speeds.

The iq and versa use cvts, the fortwo a 5 speed. The iq wins the mpg hunt because of that cvt. The versa is really close to mileage combined despite its extra weight and room. I drive the fortwo sometimes as part of a car sharing service, which gives us better spots down town. I like the fortwo for its parking convience, but that combination of 3cylinder and 5 speed is pretty rough. If they are close I'll walk some extra blocks to get an electric version instead of the gas. I would think for the american market you would go cvt to save fuel before switching to 3 cylinders.

The versa gets 35 combined, the mazda 33 combined, and that compares to 36 combined in the smart 3 -cylinder and 37 in the scion 4 cylinder. We should know soon if the ford fiesta does a better 3-cylinder than smart - I expect it is, and if that is good enough for the american market.

 

A couple months ago I drove a Focus that was a loaner. It got 37 MPG combined Highway city driving. Seems pretty fuel efficient to me, and larger than all those cars listed.

 

Well, I've tested this 1.0 vvti a couple of times with manual gearbox.
City MPG with a Yaris: 40, and on daily basis (with some HWY) got 47.
And did not even feature start-stop...

I believe, despite its low peak power (68HP), it is a fine project (simple and efficient). There are many models (small, of course) using it (even Peugeot got 1.0s in the 208, and I presume its 1.2 version is an upscale), probably one of the most produced Toyota engines recently - it was presented in 2005

Toyota KR engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

BMW is creating 3 cylinder engine by basicly cutting in half their 6 cylinder:

 

If a tiny little crap box can only get 40 MPG while a mid sized sedan can also get 40 MPG, why would you bother with a tiny little car that could easily be crushed by a Semi? I see people driving a Smart and cringe. Those things scare the crap out of me worse than Walter does to Ackmed!

In Europe I see they would be fine, but not here in America where soccer moms must have their hugeass Stupid User Vehicles.

 

If I could have driven a Smart in college, I sure would have. Both delivering pizza and inventorying checkout stand magazines were very time limited by how close I could park to the front door. A car you could park in a phone booth would have been ideal. As it was, I drove a Pinto.

 

I am more questioning whether the fuel economy gaines are really there, and worth the trade off in NVH of the 3 cylinder engine. That is why I showed the 4 cylinder iq actually beats the 3 cylinder smart car that we get in america. Lighter pollution standards can change things a bit too.

Poking into wikipedia it seems the 4 cylinder (1.3L) gets the same fuel economy as the 3 cylinder (1L) in the iq on japanese tests. But, the 3 cylider is more efficient on European tests. I'm guessing the 3 cylinder robs peter to pay paul, getting better low speed mileage but doing worse at higher speeds, and it is undersized for the american market, which is why toyota doesn't import it. Now theoretically a 1.3 liter 3 cylinder should be more efficient than a 1.3 liter 4 cylinder, and the appropriate size for the car, but likely toyota is using the 4 to keep nvh down.

 

The habitat that make the Smart a good choice in Europe also exists here, just in smaller quantities. The good local Smart habitat that I can think of, has little overlap with semi-truck habitat, and 40 mpg produces very reasonable 'gallonage'. That isn't my usual habitat, but my transportation needs are not universal.

As for getting crushed by commercial trucks, I'd point to local tragedies where even a Suburban assaUlt Vehicle isn't enough cushion to keep the cab of an 80,000 pound truck behind from contacting the trailer of the truck ahead.

 

You've come a long way....Glad you survived it.

 

The Pinto was a fine car compared to the Chevy Citation I drove.

 

I've got to ask, because I have, have you driven a smart car? The reason I drive one occasionally is for the special spots in my city for car2go, and sometimes I just want one way transport from car2go. If there were not special small spots for this car, there is no reason to really own it in america. The fiat 500, honda fit, mazda 2, fiesta, yaris, etc are also fairly easy to park in the city, but you can actually fit things in them, and feel good on the highway. You don't really give up much mpg, and if its that important the prius c is not tough to park either. I haven't driven a smart more than 5 miles on the highway, because that isn't what the car2go program is for, but it certainly would not be your choice for daily driver.

Yep, I still see some old cr-x's on the road, they look even easier to crush than a smart car and don't have air bags. I wouldn't worry that much about safety, but a new cr-x would be much more fun to drive than a dumb smart cart.

 

At the current rate the average should be up the current Prius mileage in 46 years.

 

Unless we move to alternative fuels - electricity and/or hydrogen or don't count biofuels in mpg we will not average prius mileage in 46 years. Smaller cars don't really improve mileage much than the prius because of aerodynamics. We will always have a mix of larger crossovers/minivans/suvs as well as trucks to bring the average down.

The US can subsidize batteries (we are now, but some in congress want to end that) and/or increase taxes oil to get the mpg up. If neither of those things happen mileage will increase a little with cafe, then drastically decrease progress, waiting for anouther worse oil spike/recession.

 

i had 5 subarus and one with turbo + when you been part of nasioc for quite a few years you will know. most problems, obviously, are the bearings. turbo engines should left running for a mintute before shutting the engine off to cool the bearings.