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Honda has some special cylinder honing manufacturing process that makes their engines more efficient, but nowadays it's more about advancements in wheel bearings that make cars more fuel efficient.
Honda has some special cylinder honing manufacturing process that makes their engines more efficient, but nowadays it's more about advancements in wheel bearings that make cars more fuel efficient.
Europe sucks at efficiency and innovation.
The answer to efficiency for decades was:
1) make it diesel
2) make it tiny
3) make it manual.
It’s no surprise they’re in last place with EV and hybrids. They’re very primitive.
Europe sucks at efficiency and innovation.
The answer to efficiency for decades was:
1) make it diesel
2) make it tiny
3) make it manual.
It’s no surprise they’re in last place with EV and hybrids. They’re very primitive.
City cars are an afterthought to European makes, they sell more executive class cars and what's considered efficiency is something that returns desirable fuel economy at high cruising speed where 85-90mph is the average and everything that isn't performance or executive class cars falls under that.
City cars are an afterthought to European makes, they sell more executive class cars and what's considered efficiency is something that returns desirable fuel economy at high cruising speed where 85-90mph is the average and everything that isn't performance or executive class cars falls under that.
Actually that’s not true. Most of what Americans buy from Europe are premium makes, so its easy to get that impression, but in reality small cheap city cars are the mainstays of average Europeans. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/i...#8211;-country
Actually that’s not true. Most of what Americans buy from Europe are premium makes, so its easy to get that impression, but in reality small cheap city cars are the mainstays of average Europeans. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/i...#8211;-country
Off the top of my head, the most popular cars were the Scorpio, Mondeo, Focus, Ka, Astra, Twingo, 207, Golf, 156, 3 series, A4, C-class.
OP, look up car models available in both UK and USA to compare the engines available. Some examples include the Hyundai i30 to the Hyundai Elantra and Elantra GT, Ford Focus & Fiesta, Chevrolet Cruze to Vauxhall Astra, VW Golf. You’ll find their base gasoline engines are much smaller in the UK than in USA. If our government taxed owners based on size of engine and taxed fuel to the point of extremely high prices than we too would have such vehicles. You should also look at the vehicle weight of vehicles today compared to same models in the 80s. Besides growing in size they’ve also grown in weight from suspension and crash safety technology. Base model Golf and Civic of today have more HP than the GTI & Si of the 80s. Today’s non-turbo four cylinders have more HP than V6 cars of the 80s and the turbo 4s of today would beat factory spec V8s of the 80s while also offering much better fuel economy. You look at MPG numbers while some of us look at efficiency for power output. If consumers were willing to deal with 0-60 in over 10 seconds and quarter mile acceleration of over 20 seconds then we too would have high MPG numbers.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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lots of excellent ICE improvements in engines and many more opportunities. (Electronic injection / timing / airflow improvements, closer tolerances, more robust components, ceramic coatings...)
IN spite of the extensive use of plastics and electronics (temporary service life / throw away cars)... Weight of cars is quite a bit more (safety...creature comforts), thus efficiency (mileage) is not markedly improved.
So... I just keep driving my 1976 - 1997 50+ MPG cars. Many have more than 300k miles, but I have plenty of spares to last through my next 35 yrs of driving. I am amazed that my 1996-1997 3500# B4V (mid-sized wagon' gets a consistent 52 mpg) (on free fuel) 1200+ miles between donut shops / fuel stops. and PLENTY of torque (I tow in mtns with these). Drops to 44 MPG.
My CTD (workhorse utility trucks) will go 1m + miles, So I only keep (3) spares.
I was NOT getting 23mpg in my 10,000# 4x4 trucks in 1970's... only in 1989 did that begin. (Thank goodness)
Best bet for future economy (MPG) is lower rolling resistance, and Coef of drag (only important for Highway speed), and energy recovery (such as HHV for heavy trucks / trains...). Lighter is NOT going to happen in USA... (safety stds).
Diesel hybrids already get 70+ mpg in Euro land, for last 20 yrs (these will never be available in USA), Unless you build-your-own, as Mr Sharkey did in 1980's. (EV pusher)
Last edited by StealthRabbit; 04-30-2019 at 05:13 PM..
Last time I went, Kia became really popular in Europe... I couldn't believe it. But in Holland the Dutch are totally different from the Germans, more Hondas like Accords where in Germany I never saw any except the euro Accords and a Jazz once, I don't remember any Civics. But before my last trip I remember that 1st gen Kia Sorentos were popular before Kia started eating more market share.
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