Your Mileage May Vary...Fuel Economy Thread

[glockmail]

In order to make usable power, the gearing is fairly short. Even then I have to keep the engine on the boil to take advantage of the low torque/short gears.

yeah - rear wheel drive, independant rear suspension.

Ford spent millions developing the Wankel (rotary) from the basic German design back in the 60's. They gave up, sold the technology to Mazda for 25% of the company, which they still own. Its a neat concept, but can only fill a niche market.

What do you mean by "short gears"? What is the red line?

It sounds like they should couple it to a CVT to take advantage of the unlimited gear ratios. It seems to me you could build a CVT with a manual shifter, but instead of a series of H's, just one long slider. THAT would be cool.

the IRS must be nice in a small car like that. I'll bet it handles real nice.

 

[dmp]

What speed? 270 straight with no breaks? No stop-n-go traffic?

On a Cruise - to a vacation spot. Freeway/highway...50-70.

What do you mean by "short gears"? What is the red line?

Rear-end gears. If I recall correctly, it's got a 4.444:1 rear end. Engine redline is 8400 - fuel cut is 9k.

It sounds like they should couple it to a CVT to take advantage of the unlimited gear ratios. It seems to me you could build a CVT with a manual shifter, but instead of a series of H's, just one long slider. THAT would be cool.

I'd never buy a sports car w/ a CVT - but if something like VW's twin-clutch direct shift tranny were available, I'd be all over it

the IRS must be nice in a small car like that. I'll bet it handles real nice.

It's not just the IRS - it's the car's entire chassis. Handles VERY well compared to cars in it's class.

 

[dmp]

Few pics of the car's rear suspension (not my car, nor my pics)

http://www.rotaryextreme.com/projectrx8/7.jpg

http://www.rotaryextreme.com/projectrx8/10.jpg

http://www.rotaryextreme.com/projectrx8/6.jpg

Front suspension:

http://www.rotaryextreme.com/projectrx8/9.jpg

 

[glockmail]

....Rear-end gears. If I recall correctly, it's got a 4.444:1 rear end. Engine redline is 8400 - fuel cut is 9k.



I'd never buy a sports car w/ a CVT - but if something like VW's twin-clutch direct shift tranny were available, I'd be all over it



It's not just the IRS - it's the car's entire chassis. Handles VERY well compared to cars in it's class.

Thta's an extremely high ratio. 4.11 is considered very high in a piston car.

I have no experience with the VW tranny. But the CVT shifts without a clutch.

My Mustang handled well also, with 60/40 weight distribution. I traded that in for an 02 Explorer, RWD IRS, and that handled well too, for a big, high vehicle. That's body on frame and the rear half-shafts go through the frame members.

 

[dmp]

Thta's an extremely high ratio. 4.11 is considered very high in a piston car.

I have no experience with the VW tranny. But the CVT shifts without a clutch.

My Mustang handled well also, with 60/40 weight distribution. I traded that in for an 02 Explorer, RWD IRS, and that handled well too, for a big, high vehicle. That's body on frame and the rear half-shafts go through the frame members.

DSG: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-Shift_Gearbox

I know how the CVT works - just haven't seen a good application of a CVT for a sports car.

Yeah - the 05+ mustangs are supposed to handle lightyears better still! I'm used to 50/50 now - EXCEPT I'd trade 10% in a HEARTBEAT for an extra 100hp.

 

[waltky]

Mileage (gas) tax raises more revenue if the fuel economy is less...

Debunked: High-Mileage Vehicles Not Blocked from US Market
May 1, 2012 : In doing some due diligence on a YouTube video that alleges that the US government prevents certain high-mileage vehicles from being sold in the US, I discovered that the differences in same-model-name mileage ratings have to do with a) vehicle size; b) difference in cycle calculations, c) difference in gallon size.

I got an email from Dale Pond telling me about an allegedly atrocious situation in which the US Government is barring high-efficiency vehicles by (at least) VW and Ford from being sold in the US. Though made in the US, the European version of the same car allegedly gets nearly 2x the mileage of its US counterpart. It really got my blood boiling. At first, I was going to just link to the video, but in seeing that no stories had been done on it yet anywhere, I thought it deserved some additional attention, so I started phoning around. I called and left messages with VW US, VW UK, the Whitehouse, US Department of Energy, my congressmen. I was on a rampage to find out why such a travesty of policy could occur.

Then I got a call back from Mark Gillies of VW. He had watched the video I had told him about; and it turns out that there is a reasonable explanation; and no, there is no conspiracy on this one. It's just a matter of markets and how mileage numbers are run in the two countries. Since I put so much into writing and digging on this, I'm going to go ahead and provide this report for our news. Also, I think I owe it to those who heard about that video to now have "the other side of the story," to put their minds at ease. There certainly are a lot of things that are backwards, corrupt, or even conspiratorial about the US Government, but this isn't one of them.

Seemed Like a Conspiracy

Here is what I had written before talking to Mark Gillies. The case is presented in a YouTube video by user fldallyb, or Bryan. He was in the UK recently, driving a VW station wagon he rented, and was astonished at what great gas mileage it got. With four large adults and luggage, driving 2100 miles, they got 62 mpg. The dealer there said the car is rated for 72 mpg on the highway. Another person he talked to said that a related Ford model sold over there gets 71 mpg. When he returned to the US, he went to a local VW dealer to see if he could get one of these. The dealer confirmed that they had the model, and that it gets 44 mpg.

MORE