Gas engines quietly upstage electric cars at L.A. auto show

[DainBramaged]

General Motors' future for the next decade or more does not belong to the highly touted Chevrolet Volt, a compact battery-fueled car it will start producing next November and sell for about $40,000. GM sales and profits – its survival – will ride far more on cars like the sub-$20,000, conventionally powered Chevy Cruze unveiled here and due on sale next summer: small, efficient and relatively affordable workhorses.

Cruze is in control

"Cruze is the most significant car at the show," declares Jake Fisher, senior auto engineer at influential Consumer Reports.

Not only should Cruze finally give GM a credible rival to the dominant Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla, it's also a perfect example of why gas engines aren't yet headed for the retirement home.

Cruze's engine is a 1.4-liter four-cylinder – the smallest in any GM car in North America. It is fitted with a turbocharger to boost power to the level of a bigger engine, yet still be rated 37 miles per gallon on the highway, says Chuck Russell, vehicle line director for Cruze. A high-efficiency model should be rated 40 mpg on the highway, he says.


http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-12-08-lashow08_CV_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

[Winterblues]

1. I imagine gas engines really upstage electric engines during rush hour.

All those cars sitting in the same spot for hours on end spewing out that exhaust. Yep really upstaged the electrics..

[DainBramaged]

3. You have a better idea? Call someone and tell them

we ain't auto makers, sorry you aren't happy.......:eyes:

[EOTE]

7. You must have missed the past 20 years of automotive progress.

Are you familiar with LEV? ULEV? SULEV? PZEV and ZEV? There are cars made now which operate on standard ICEs and have exhaust which is so clean that you could breathe from the tailpipe for hours and suffer no ill effects. That and internal combustion engines are far more cost efficient than electric engines for now. There's a reason that the bulk of attention is still paid towards ICEs.

[EOTE]

10. Delete. Wrong place.

[taterguy]

2. Gas engines are much noisier than electrics

As a cyclist, that's what I like about them.

I can't tell when one of those damn hybrids is behind me.

[madokie]

5. Lucky for you the kind of person who drives

a hybrid more than likely likes and will watch out for his fellow man and that means yes you on the bicycle:hi:

[taterguy]

9. I don't give a damn what the person behind me thinks of their fellow man

I just like to know where they are so I can be sure to avoid them.

Yes, I could spend a few bucks on a mirror but I'd rather just bitch about it on the Internet.

:toast:

[madokie]

13. Damn sure beats bitching to your better half

If she's like mine you might get your ears boxed :-)

We don't do violence but this reminds me of early on in our relationship, my wife and I, I was seeing how far I could go, what I could and couldn't get away with and finally I hit on something I don't remember what it was but she pulled her hand back sorta and said I'll slap you, just so straight faced like. jokingly of course but I found out how far I could go. We still laugh about it 40 some odd years later.

[taterguy]

14. Holy assumptions Batman

Other than the fact that I've occasionally posted about being married; what gives you the right to assume:

1) I have a better half. Millions of people are single and quite content.

2) The better half is a "she"

Tsk
Fucking
Tsk

:toast:

:toast:

[madokie]

15. Nothing

:toast:

[DainBramaged]

16. UHHH please examine this picture carefully and rethink that statement.....

isn't that a hybrid?

:hi:

[madokie]

17. Its ugly so it must be

for some reason the auto companies think we want ugly electric and hybrids, well the jap ones anyway. Ford's hybrids look just like their brothers or sisters, I always get that wrong.

I stand corrected on my earlier statement

[taterguy]

18. I spent fourteen hours relying on your wisdom and now you change your mind?

I'd be really pissed if a hybrid had been behind me during those 14 hours.

[madokie]

19. I guess it only shows one thing

and that I'm also one of the whores some of us have been talking about in other threads.
Will wonders never cease?:hi:

[TCJ70]

4. Having seen "Who Killed The Electric Car" recently...

...I don't really care about car shows until they start being more responsible and not gouge people for wanting to be eco-friendly. That movie actually made me angry as I watched it. haha

[alfredo]

6. The Ford Fiesta is just a Mazda2 in drag. Britain's Top Gear

likes the Ford Fiesta.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krrWeyJFsoY

Can't wait to see the Cruze on the market.

[Touchdown]

8. You need a picture of it.

[EOTE]

11. The Cruze should be quite a cool ride, but I hope turbo lag isn't too extreme.

A tiny four cylinder combined with a turbo makes me think that the turbo lag is going to suck. VW seems to have a great idea with its twin-charger concept. At low RPMs, the engine is boosted by a supercharger that is able to make boost right off idle. At 2000 some RPM, a turbo charger takes over boosting duty. This allows for the small (also 1.4 liter, I believe) engine to act as a much larger engine throughout the entire rev range, rather than just 3000+ RPM like most turbocharged engines today. Superchargers are great for producing torque at very low RPMs, but they also decrease the efficiency of an engine. Turbochargers can increase both the efficiency and power of an engine, but in order for them to produce boost, they need to wait for the engine to produce a good amount of exhaust to spool the turbos. Using both on a single engine would ideally give you the best of both worlds. I hope to see more of this type of technology in the future.

[DainBramaged]

12. Tiny turbo tiny lag 140 HP expected....