Really? Never took a physics class?

[TiAvenger]

Ford plotting small-car strategy

Associated Press
    July 23, 2008

Ford Motor Co. plans to revamp some U.S. plants and bring six small vehicles to the U.S. market from overseas to meet customers' growing demand for more fuel-efficient options.

Ford has no immediate plans to close U.S. plants despite overcapacity in a slumping market. Instead, the automaker will retool plants to increase production of smaller cars and engines. Ford isn't confirming details until Thursday, when it releases second-quarter earnings.

The moves will further accelerate Ford's efforts to ease its dependence on trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans, which accounted for 45 percent of its sales in the first half of this year. Ford's U.S. sales dropped 14 percent in the first six months of 2008 as consumers shocked by rising gas prices sought smaller vehicles.

â€" The Associated Press

with this gem of a quote in the comments section

We don't want smaller cars, we want better gas mileage. Make a large car that's efficient and we will buy it. Ford SUVs have always been gas hogs compared to other brands.

[DCXCV]

Smaller!? that's unamerican, damnit.  I mean, how else are you and your coffee supposed to get to work?  I want a huge SUV that gets 800 mpg, has 11tybillion horsepower, makes lattes, has a 42" plasma on the dash, a 14" lift, 22" chrome wheels and low profile street tires.  (and could you throw in and the 4x4 package in case the mall parking lot has a puddle?)

[OwnyTony]

It is not completely idiotic.  Sure, the physics of having a bigger car will negatively effect gas mileage but that is not to say that you can make gas engines a little more efficient to squeeze a little more mpg out of it.  Or maybe make big SUV's a little more aerodynamic.

Or it could be as simple as making a car that is just "big" enough to meet "American" demand/needs/want (Which I am trying to say that Americans favor larger cars than super tiny ones) yet since now it has become physically smaller, it should be able to squeeze out more mpg.

What it boils down to is that Americans want to keep their big cars and have better gas mileage.  It is not completely unreasonable.  somewhat having cake and eating it too but it is not completely out of the realm of possibility to make a big car more fuel efficient. 

But yes, the easiest way to get better fuel economy is (all things equal) make the load of the engine lighter.

[Speeddog]

Slip a 2.0 liter diesel under the hood of that Escalade, and it'll get pretty good mileage.

[He Man]

I read an article once that stated aerodynamic drag accounted for up to 50% of a cars fuel efficiency past 55mph. So if you made an SUV that was more aerodyanmic, dispite being larger, it could still be fuel efficient.  Thats why you have cars like the Corvette Z08, which has a massive 7liter engine, that can still get upwards of 28mpg highway, when an v6 3.8L ford explorer can barely 19mpg highway.

Arent those big 16 wheeler mack trucks 5.0turbo diesels?

edit: Then again i think the biggest impact on fuel efficiency is how you drive your car. more so than weight or aero.

[OwnyTony]

edit: Then again i think the biggest impact on fuel efficiency is how you drive your car. more so than weight or aero.

True, but that comes down to the individual.  What you can do to affect the whole populous across the board is be design something more efficient.  So yeah, the individual can drive like a gas guzzler but that is not to say that a more efficient car that is driven in the exact same way by the individual will not be more fuel efficient.

[Ducatiloo]

I noticed that every year the HP goes up on most cars but the MPG stays the same.  By my logic couldn't the hp stay the same and MPG go up?    Not in the USA though HP is our freedom

[Ducatiloo]

edit: Then again i think the biggest impact on fuel efficiency is how you drive your car. more so than weight or aero.

+1 I get 5 more MPG when I am not trying to Educate train the other drivers.  I was shocked when I did the math.

[Rev. Millertime]

How could you battle penis envy with a SUV that didn't look like a semi?

An aerodynamic suv wouldn't fulfill the need to look mean that "Johnny Subdivision" is looking for.

I love the reason people give when I ask them why they need a SUV/Pickup:  "I need to haul stuff!"  HA


I have a motorcycle and a snowmobile.  I like to build shit and am constantly hauling something... yet I do just fine with a Volvo 850 and a $600 4x8 trailer.  I always find it funny when my friend who "needed" a Tahoe calls me to use my trailer to haul something, or another friend who has an extended cab/short box pickup needs my trailer to haul his bike.

[OwnyTony]

+1 I get 5 more MPG when I am not trying to Educate train the other drivers.  I was shocked when I did the math.

Sometime, i like to coast and say that im hypermiling.  Then i get the SMUG sense of satisfaction that comes over me and i feel that im Da Bomb. Then i observe myself in the 3rd person and want to kill my self for realizing how much of a douche im being.

[Ducatiloo]

Ducati's haul more important things than "stuff"

[He Man]

I noticed that every year the HP goes up on most cars but the MPG stays the same.  By my logic couldn't the hp stay the same and MPG go up?    Not in the USA though HP is our freedom

Getting more hp out of engine design X and gasoline Y  is about getting the engine to use the fuel more wisely. Getting more mileage out of it is strictly in terms of how much fuel you are using to get that kind of power. Most of it is lost due to fighting wind resistance and moving 5000lbs of car.

if your car is using a quart of gas every minute at 5000 revs, the only thing you can do to make it more efficent is to harness as much power as you can out of that quart of gas by having the engine make more hp with it. Thats why theres technology like lean burn engines. They purposely cut down on fuel and create a lean situation to increase mpg, or hybrid cars that stop the engine entirely and rely on an electric motor.

Have you seen that video? Toyota Prius vs BMW M3 (i think  it was an m3 atleast). with the toyota prius on a track and riding as hard as possible, the BMW M3 still got better mpg than the prius. HP doesnt dictate your MPG.

Rev. Millertime, sport hybrid suvs are getting popular. Ford Edge, Inifnit FX series, Lexus RX they are more aero than Tahoes and all that crap. and just casue i wanna say it, the Avalance is a PIECE OF SHIT that cant haul anything.

[Rameses]

Arent those big 16 wheeler mack trucks 5.0turbo diesels?

By 5.0 do you mean 5 Liter engines?

If so, you're off by just a little bit.

[mitt]

While US car companies are talking about it, Honda is doing it:



http://automobiles.honda.com/fcx-clarity/

[NeufUnSix]

The most effective thing that could be done would be:

A: Getting off our collective fear of oil power and bringing in some decent European spec diesel powertrains (4.0L twin turbo V8 in an Audi A8? That gets almost 40mpg?! AND YOU WON'T SELL IT HERE?!?!)

B: Once again modifying the IC motor for greater efficiency. The most promising possibility is homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) which uses diesel-style self-ignition to increase fuel economy AND power by burning the fuel mixture completely and efficiently. There are other (more crackpot) designs in the works, but that one is the easiest to build and theoretically the most effective in improving efficiency without sacrificing any power.