Auto Start-Stop system
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Ford has announced pricing for the stop-start system on the 2013 Ford Fusion. Usually a system fitted to hybrid vehicles, the Fusion is the first non-hybrid midsize sedan available with stop-start technology, which cuts the engine at a standstill to save gas. Ford claims the system improves real-world fuel efficiency by about 3.5 percent overall, but as much as 10 percent for drivers who predominantly drive in the city. Unfortunately, the system isn't likely to make much of an impact on the EPA window sticker, as EPA testing doesn't replicate stopped traffic to any great degree. However, if...
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In 2015, One In Four U.S. Car Engines Will Stop When You Do -- On PurposeAccording to a recent study by Pike Research, the fuel-saving technology which will be most prevalent in green cars by 2015 isn’t the current offering of hybrid drivetrains, fully electric cars or even hyper-efficient, four-cylinder engines, but stop-start technology. But will it really catch...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
How Does Your New Car Get Better MPG Than Your Old One?
Almost every day we hear of a shiny new car that gets a certain number of miles to the gallon, a number often greater than its predecessor. It sometimes seems like witchcraft - until significant steps towards high-tech materials are taken, rarely do cars lose weight from one model to the next (with...
Antony Ingram -
Should Detroit Dial Down The Doom & Gloom Over High-Mileage Rules?
We've heard this script before. Some agency of the Federal Government proposes a new rule that will affect the design and performance of cars in some way, sometime in the future. Instinctively, reflexively, automatically, viscerally, the industry lashes out. Horror, catastrophe, misery, bankruptcy!...
John Voelcker -
2012 Kia Rio Brings Start-Stop, 40 MPG: NY Auto Show
Kia has redesigned its popular Rio small car for 2012, offering buyers more space, more power and up to 40 mpg fuel economy on the highway. The vehicle made its U.S. debut this past week at the 2011 New York Auto Show and is set to go on sale this fall in both sedan and five-door hatchback...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Ford Will Be First Major Carmaker To Offer Start-Stop In U.S.
Start-stop systems, which shut off car engines when the vehicle comes to a stop, have been offered in Europe for several years. But until now, no automaker other than Porsche has offered them on U.S.-market cars. That's about to change. Ford said yesterday it will offer the systems on some of its...
John Voelcker
