Engines
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How small is too small, when it comes to engines? Those of the "no replacement for displacement" school of thought might be thinking more about performance than they are gas mileage, but at what point does downsizing actually start to harm gas mileage, rather than help it? As carmakers strive to attain better MPG figures, many are beginning to build smaller engines, often turbocharged to make up for the lack of displacement. High tech, not-so-high MPG Ford's eagerly-awaited 1.0-liter, 3-cylinder EcoBoost is one such example. Designed to replace a naturally-aspirated 1.6 four-cylinder in terms...
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Five Engines That Prove Internal Combustion Isn't Dead YetLike it or not, the majority of the world's vehicles are still powered by internal combustion engines, rather than batteries, hydrogen and other alternatives. The good news is that carmakers are still finding ways to improve the good old reciprocating piston engine. Even in the last few years...
Antony Ingram -
Diesel-Like Direct-Injection Engine Gets 50 Percent Better MPG
There are plenty of advantages to diesel engines: High fuel efficiency, low CO2 emissions, and in modern turbocharged applications, plenty of easy-to-access torque and power. However, they aren't without their faults--expense, particulate emissions and a lack of smoothness compared to the best...
Antony Ingram -
Chrysler To Offer Diesel Engine Options, But Only In Trucks
Chrysler will soon sell a diesel-powered Jeep Grand Cherokee, which may be followed by a diesel-powered Dodge Durango. The next Ram Dakota will get a diesel, too, but don't expect to see one in a Chrysler automobile.
Kurt Ernst -
American Exceptionalism: 2.4-Liter Four Is Only 'Tiny' In U.S.
There's been a fair amount of commentary in politics of late about "American exceptionalism," the notion that the U.S. is qualitatively different from any other country in the world. It is occasionally interpreted to mean "We're the best, damnit, and if you don't say that a whole lot on the...
John Voelcker -
EcoBoost Gets Smaller: Ford Shows Its Three-Cylinder In Frankfurt
Ford is showing off the latest addition to its EcoBoost family, using the Frankfurt Auto Show to highlight the technology behind its 1.0-liter, three-cylinder EcoBoost engine.
Kurt Ernst -
Fisker Automotive may still be waiting for final certification from the EPA and other regulatory bodies for its 2012 Karma plug-in hybrid sports sedan, but that's not stopping it from moving forward with its next car line. The startup automaker announced today that it would source the range-extending engines for its 'Project Nina' premium midsize range from BMW. It will be a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, Fisker said, meaning that it's likely to be one of BMW's smallest fours, perhaps with a displacement of 1.6 liters. “The BMW engine was an obvious choice for us, as BMW is known...
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Big SUV, Small Engine: EcoBoost V-6 In 2012 Lincoln Navigator?
We're beginning to sound like a broken record: One of the ways carmakers will meet new, tougher gas-mileage requirements will be to use smaller, more efficient engines in their vehicles. Those may be 1.0-liter three-cylinder engines in subcompacts, but they may also be more powerful V-6 engines...
John Voelcker -
Electric-Car Withdrawal: Gasoline Cars Now Feel Loud, Crude
We can’t get our Volt back soon enough. Electric vehicle driving is a the kind of addiction more of us need to experience.
George Parrott -
Audi's Latest Engine Blends Performance With Fuel Economy
Audi's new 1.8-liter TFSI engine produces 170 horsepower and 236 ft-lb. of torque while returning fuel economy over 41 mpg.
Kurt Ernst -
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 -
How Smaller Engines Offer More Power: Superchargers Vs Turbos
Turbochargers have been with us in volume production only since the Seventies, but superchargers have a long and honorable automotive history. They were used on the Blower Bentleys that won Le Mans 80 years ago, and have appeared ever since on high-performance engines, often larger ones. A boost...
John Voelcker -
When it comes to advanced powertrains, most of the automotive sector has congregated around hybrid and electric technology such as parallel hybrids, range-extended electric vehicles or pure electrics. However, just a few years back, several automakers, such as Volkswagen, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz were investigating the area of sparkless ignition for performance and economy gains. Sparkless ignition technology is nothing new. In fact, diesel engines rely on it. However, its use in gasoline engines is very rare but the potential of a gasoline engine that combines the torque and fuel...
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Startup Transonic Injects Supercritical Fuel For 30% MPG Rise
The principles of the gasoline engine have chugged along for a century now without much change. The last big evolutions were variable valve timing and the switch to fuel injection from carburetors. Now a flurry of innovations to boost fuel efficiency is in the pipeline. One of them comes from a...
John Voelcker -
Fuel Efficient Fours Gain Ground on V-6s, V-8s In New Cars
At December's Los Angeles Auto Show, Hyundai made a big splash by saying it would no longer offer V-6 engines in its Sonata midsize car or its Tucson compact crossover. Instead, it replaced them with higher-performance, more fuel-efficient four-cylinder motors. But Hyundai's just one of many makers...
John Voelcker
