Mazda Roadpacer

[Godzilla]

Turbo Diesel is old..I would think seriously of Electric Hybrid like the other car company are doing..Or Hydrogen which BMW is developing @ moment.

BMW's hydrogen 7 car is something to dream about, there are no hydrogen refueling stations at every servo and the cost to set it all up added to the cost of making the hydrogen would far outweigh any benifit gained.

Straight electric that you plug into work and home is the future IMHO, the technology is there to cover the average driver today, most people do not clock more than 100Km a day.

Last i read about it, its just a few dollars a fill (day).

[James Squire]

Turbo diesel technology is not old, conceptually it is, but there's still a market and a potential for turbo diesel vehicles, therefore it hasn't reached its peak yet. The Hyundai i30 is an apt example of this because in accordance with ADR 81/02 this vehicle can do ~1000km on a tank. However the ADR figures should only be used for comparative purposes only, realistically it would not be that common to replicate these figures in the real world.

We have to remember that the little fuel stickers that are advertised on new cars are only reflective of the ADR test, which is a dyno test. From memory I think the dyno test only uses one average weighted driver (not certain) and is performed with 20-30' air temperature. There will of course be discrepancies between the ADR test conditions and actual real life day to day driving. Lets look at the i30 again, I'm guessing it weighs somewhere around 1300kg give or take. Lets add 3 more 80kg passengers, we've almost added 20% more weight on top of ADR conditions. Add some weathershields and/or windows down to increase aerodynamic drag, tyres not inflated to spec and/or wearing, road friction different to dyno roller, air-con on here and there, today's expected air temp (35' in west), engine wear and/or irregular/improper servicing etc. Therefore there are a large number of factors which will impose a discrepancy between the ADR test conditions and everyday driving conditions making it hard to obtain the figures advertised on the sticker.

Just briefly I'll mention that everybody knows somebody who drove their car on the highway between here and there and only consumed this much fuel which by hand calculations means it averaged this much in fuel economy. Before you call your mate bullshit because he claims that his falcon averaged 6 L/100km on the highway last time he went on holiday, remember that alot of vehicles have are able to sense prolonged highway driving and enter a lean-cruise mode, non-linearity exists in alot of fuel gauges and highway driving often creates more constant driving conditions.

[Gerbertron]

I think diesels are the best solution atm, some of the newer small diesel cars match the consumption of hybrids and don't have the battery waste or weight problems. I agree with godzilla that it needs to be full electric the hybrids atm are more about image than the environment and economy.




And back to the rotarys, 181kw? seems a bit exaggerated for a carby 13b from the 70's. Still heres what it looks like in the engine bay.



Still has the same pee-shooter exhaust as the holdens