Re: Saturn is doomed?

On Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:51:21 -0500, Neon John wrote:

On Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:56:42 -0500, Matt Colie <Matt@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


My son's Saturn (about an 01 or 02) gets 40mpg on the highway. My '99
Corolla gets almost the same. They aren't getting that now. Why has
fuel economy gone down?
Why has vehicle weight gone up? - to meet crash safety standards
Why has fuel economy gone down? - to meet emissions required by the
government and performance required by the buying public.

All true, plus weight has gone up to accommodate all the air bombs, ancillary
equipment and other superfluous safety equipment that the public demands.
You'd think that every new car buyer planned to go out and run into the
nearest bridge abutment :-)

But the biggest reason mileage has changed is that in response to pressure
from Congress, the EPA changed its federal test cycle a few years ago to make
it more "realistic". You may recall that I wrote an article here about that
when it happened, and predicted just this kind of complaint. I predicted that
people wouldn't bother to understand the change in the test procedures, they'd
simply complain about mileage "dropping". The truth is, it is now simply
impossible to compare older mileage ratings with current ones because the
federal test cycles are so much different.


The sticker from my son's car said 40 highway and that is exactly what he
gets. Mine said 35 and we got 38 until only about 2 years ago (over
200,000 miles on the vehicle). In fact, I have consistently achieved the
rated MPG for both highway and city within only a mile or 2. Before the
change in rating methodology the numbers were already dropping.

<soapbox mode>
This is a problem I have with changing standards, even flawed standards,
without a compelling reason. it makes comparing the current with the past
impossible. Another example is the forced metrification in this country. In
some cases, it makes sense but in most cases it does not. For example, a
recent automotive textbook that I looked at now speaks of engine speed in
terms of radians per second instead of RPM. WTF? New college graduates
schooled in this garbage are denied the benefit of historical documentation
without tedious conversion. The same thing is happening in the HVAC industry.

</soapbox mode>

I'm getting close to buying a new vehicle, but fuel economy for decent
vehicles has gone down significantly in the last few years. I think I
would rather rebuild my engine and transmission and stick with a winner.
Try to buy a new car with a manual transmission and 2liter engine. You
will find it difficult in the US.

The main reason that few manual transmissions are sold in the US is simply
that they get worse mileage in the Federal Test Cycles than do automatics.
Computers are vastly more capable of extracting mileage from a car than is a
human. If you look carefully you notice that about the only place manual
transmissions are available anymore are in vehicles where passenger car CAFE
ratings either don't apply or are easy to meet. That is heavy trucks and very
small cars. And of course, sports cars.

Another major factor is the way the FTC is conducted. A computer does not
operate to break and throttle during the test. A human sits on the driver's
seat and follows a speed trace on a CRT in front of him. FTC "drivers" are
extremely skilled at extracting the very last ounce of mileage and the least
emissions from a given car. A manual transmission and clutch at another major
and relatively unconsrtained variable in the equation - how well and what
technique does the test driver use to shift.

CAFE really has a manufacturer between a rock and a hard place, especially the
way it is measured. On one hand he knows the customer wants good performance,
smooth running and economical operation. On the other hand, passing the
federal test cycle's emissions and mileage (CAFE) requirements make that very
difficult. Basically, they're competing goals.

But during the oil crisis of the late 70s, I sold a conversion package for
Datsun Z cars that boosted highway mileage to nearly 40 miles per gallon while
having only a small effect on power. My main ingredients were significantly
higher compression, analog knock control, and small changes in cam timing,
along with an analog electronic mixture control system. The trade-off was
that this set up would fail the federal test cycle omissions test. Not by much
but it would have failed The engine ran clean most of the time, but in certain
operating modes, such as initial start and low-speed acceleration, it would
fail the HC test and at high-speed cruise (interstate) the NOX level was just
a bit higher than standard.

Unfortunately, with the EPA, "close doesn't count" so we suffer fairly large
mileage hits in return for insignificant emissions improvements. So goes the
government.


And it is going to get worse. Obama buys into the fantasy of GW and is set
on destroying the US economy to stop global warming. Also a great excuse
to make the rich poor, except of course for the elitists in government and
their favorite supporters.
John
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Saturn is doomed?
    ... But the biggest reason mileage has changed is that in response to pressure ... Try to buy a new car with a manual transmission and 2liter engine. ... emissions from a given car. ... that this set up would fail the federal test cycle omissions test. ...
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