http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/ Autoblog Comments for http://www.autoblog.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.autoblog.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/May 7th 2008 11:09AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/
That says to me that, if we drop a smaller engine in the Accord (or cars like it) and readjust our expectations to 0-60@10s (which would have been more than adequate up until, oh, 2000 or so), that CAFE goals are entirely reasonable. Drop that expectation to 11-12s (which is what many European cars manage) and it's certainly attainable, even in a full-size car.

We've been spoiled for power since about 2002.

The reliability problems of that era had a lot to do with shoddy engineering. Yes, fuel injection posed awful problems for the domestics, but that didn't explain the incredible body hardware, electrical and transmission problems they saw. It certainly didn't explain their (and the Europeans') horrible warranty performance, which hurt them even more than their quality issues.]]>May 7th 2008 11:36AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/
A 260hp V6 Accord scores 22 mpg combined on the EPA test.

A 160hp I4 Accord nets 24.

Giving up another 30 horsepower is going to magically boost that to 35?

A full sized car with a thousand pounds of crash-me-into-a-brickwall-at-40-mph safety frame is not going to get clowncar mileage no matter how weak the engine is.
]]>May 7th 2008 11:55AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/
...and this is a full-size car that doesn't make many compromises. People seem to be of the opinion that 35mpg isn't possible without resorting to, as you call it, clown cars; it is, but there has to be a reevaluation of what we're deeming acceptable performance. Again, we've been spoiled for power lately, and it's seriously skewed the way vehicles have been marketed. You cannot sell a midsize sedan with a ten-second time without being lampooned, despite the fact we all drove cars that slow for nearly two decades.

Take a look at some European- or Japanese-market cars; even with the difference in mileage testing cycles and units of measure, sub-2.0L gasoline-powered versions of are getting north of 35mpg on average. How do they do this, despite weighing not a not less than their North American equivalent? They've got small engines and gearing that isn't tuned for smoky burnouts at every intersection.

With diesel or hybrid powertrains, it becomes even less of an issue, but only if you keep your performance expectations reasonable. ]]>May 7th 2008 1:17PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/May 7th 2008 1:46PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/
When those small, low powered, primarily foreign market cars are brought over here very nearly verbatim - the Focus, the original XB, the Astra, the Daewoo Aveo, the Yaris, etc. - they still come in closer to 30 mpg than 35. Putting a 25% larger and heavier body on those underpinnings is going to get us to CAFE as simply as giving up burnout takeoffs?

No.




]]>May 7th 2008 2:08PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/
Yet the Avensis can just manage more than 35mpg (again, Euro cycle) with a gasoline engine. It's only serious disadvantge is that 1.8L four that makes maybe 130hp, and European gearing, which tends to be pretty tall.

The point here is that 35mpg is more attainable than we're being led to believe. It's not easy, and it's going to result in some dog-slow cars by current standards, but it's not going to be crap car parade that some of 1980s were. The changes needed are incremental (like weight reduction and less power-to-the-wheels) rather than radical changes (the rapid adoption of fuel injection, unleaded fuel and emissions control.)

The problem will be selling these changes to a public that's gotten addicted to cheap power.]]>May 7th 2008 11:44PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/
Until manufacturers start releasing SFC plots of their engines, which will be approximately never, comparing the same car with different engines is the best you can do.

And other than niche applications shoehorning existing engines into applications that don't match their tuning, like the smallblock Impala, or the Camry powered Corolla XRS, the mileage bonus for giving up literally a third of the engine is consistently in the order of 5 to 7%.
]]>May 8th 2008 4:44PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/2009 Honda Civic 1.8L, 140HP - 36 mpg
2009 Toyota Corolla 1.8L, 132HP - 35 mpg
2009 Ford Focus 2.0L, 140 HP - 35 mpg

Yes, highway figures, but so is the figure for the Avensis, the only actual example mentioned. Take a look at the cars actually being produced before you whine about not having 35 mpg cars in the U.S.]]>Jun 18th 2008 10:58AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/ Actually the Japanese cars from the 70's were not so great either. Many were rust boxes.]]>May 7th 2008 11:10AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/May 7th 2008 11:23AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/May 7th 2008 11:28AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/May 7th 2008 11:34AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/
#1 Chrysler
#2 Ford]]>May 7th 2008 11:59AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/
I know the current owner, It's still around and gets daily spring to fall use. Nothing more than surface rust on the body/underbody etc.]]>May 7th 2008 11:12AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/May 7th 2008 1:43PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/May 7th 2008 3:05PMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/May 7th 2008 11:14AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/The Vega would get my vote for that era.]]>May 7th 2008 11:24AMhttp://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/obama-picks-worst-car-ever-to-come-out-of-motown/May 7th 2008 11:51AM