Mazda Blasts Hybrids with Supereficient Mazda 2 Gasoline Engine

[roo_ster]

http://gas2.org/2010/10/20/mazda2-subcompact-to-be-worlds-most-fuel-efficient-car/

Claiming 70MPG from a conventional gasoline engine.

[sanglant]

vid this post brought to mind.

[41magsnub]

Compare that to how awesome the supposedly all electric Volt is going to be <---sarcasm

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=550957&p=2

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

didn't the honda cvcc stratified charge motor get mpg close to 40 mpg?  and that was in the late 70's or early 80's

[mtnbkr]

didn't the honda cvcc stratified charge motor get mpg close to 40 mpg?  and that was in the late 70's or early 80's

Heck, my 1993 Toyota Paseo got 30 in town and 40+ on the highway.

Chris

[bedlamite]

Nothing new here.aerodynamics help, but the best mileage is obtained with low weight and  having the cruising speed geared to the lowest BSFC point of the motor (usually close to the torque peak), while using most of the power the motor makes at that point. In other words, really slow.

In the late 70's the CVCC weighed 1900 lbs and had 70hp, the 2011 Civic DX is 2700 lbs and 140hp, and that's considered a light and slow car by today's standards. Most of the extra weight is federally mandated safety equipment and power accessories. Add in the fact that most people want faster vehicles with gee-whiz features, and mileage is going to suffer.

Anybody seen a VW 1L in this country? Didn't think so.

[stevelyn]

BFD.   They do it by building a cracker box of a car with a squirrel cage engine that would cramp a midget and can't haul anything. Great breakthrough in technology there Mazda.  

[MechAg94]

BFD.   They do it by building a cracker box of a car with a squirrel cage engine that would cramp a midget and can't haul anything. Great breakthrough in technology there Mazda.  

You say it in the worst way.  It is called a SubCompact. 

At least they didn't call it an UltraCompact.

[French G.]

Patiently waiting for a correctly done hybrid. Battery bank, solar recharge on the roof, electric wheel motors, constant speed diesel driving a genset, regenerative braking. I'm thinking of doing a Red Green version of the same, dad's got a grumman aluminum mail truck that would make a spiffy donor body.

[zahc]

I'm waiting right with you. No idea why we don't have serial hybrids yet. Preferably with a small diesel generator or even a turbine engine (ultimate flex fuel--diesel or gas).

[sanglant]

i say go all out, copy the military truck and have a motor at each wheel.

would be very interesting offroad. need to turn around, reverse the wheels on one side.

woohoo, tank car!

[bedlamite]

I'm waiting right with you. No idea why we don't have serial hybrids yet. Preferably with a small diesel generator or even a turbine engine (ultimate flex fuel--diesel or gas).

Turbines produce a lot more power for a given weight and size, but the SFC is much higher than a diesel. Stick with a Diesel running at it's peak torque RPM.

[drewtam]

Diesel thermal efficiency FTW.

One thing more thermally efficient than a diesel is the slow speed 2-stroke marine diesels. (massive container shipping power)

The only thing more thermally efficient than a 2-stroke low speed marine diesel, is a combined cycle power plant. (natural gas powers a gas turbine, then the gas turbine exhaust boils water for a steam turbine)


Fuel cells are only more efficient at part throttle. At 100% load, a diesel actually has more efficiency than a fuel cell. (fuel cells only commercially work on hydrogen anyway. And almost all hydrogen is made by steam reforming coal/oil/methane, so its not really a step forward in efficiency at all)

[MechAg94]

Patiently waiting for a correctly done hybrid. Battery bank, solar recharge on the roof, electric wheel motors, constant speed diesel driving a genset, regenerative braking. I'm thinking of doing a Red Green version of the same, dad's got a grumman aluminum mail truck that would make a spiffy donor body.

Don't they have trouble making the regenerative braking work with US auto safety regs?

[Silver Bullet]

Heck, my 1993 Toyota Paseo got 30 in town and 40+ on the highway.

There you go !  30 + 40+ = 70+ .   

[Fly320s]

There you go !  30 + 40+ = 70+ .   

That only works if the highway goes through town.   

[French G.]

Don't they have trouble making the regenerative braking work with US auto safety regs?

I'm sure, same stupid reasons we don't have turbo diesels in our passenger cars. The gubmint.

[Hawkmoon]

didn't the honda cvcc stratified charge motor get mpg close to 40 mpg?  and that was in the late 70's or early 80's

I owned a 1982 Honda Civic 1300FE (for "Fuel Efficient") that was rated for 30 MPG city and 40 MPG highway. 30 was about right for urban, but I routinely beat the 40 MPG highway.

[Iain]

BMW have got a detuned version of their 2l diesel that gets 68mpg in the 3 series. Detuned means down from 180hp to 160hp.

[dm1333]

My 88 Civic got high 30's in the city, averaged about 45 on the highway and would go over 50 on a fairly regular basis.  52 was the highest I ever logged, on I-5 heading south through Oregon.

[Scout26]

If I keep the cruise control at 65, I get between 33-38mpg (depends on wind and windows open or shut) out of a '99 Saab 9-3 with 120,000 miles on the clock.  

I get 24-28mpg when pulling the pop-up camper.


Average is about 30mpg for city/highway.

[seeker_two]

When people talk about the world "running out of oil", I argue that gas engines have been getting far more fuel efficient over the years....my 2008 F150 V8 gets better MPG than my 2001 Frontier V6 did.....by the time oil gets scarce, we'll probably have engines that get 100 miles per cup.....

[HeroHog]

I consistantly got 40 - 42 MPG from my 99 Toyota Tercel  4 speed with A/C. My 2007 145 hp 2.2l Saturn Ion Quad coupe gets 35mpg highway running at 70 on cruise with a 5speed manual box.