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Show us a picture of your.. CAR!!!
Stoic Joker:
Good mileage has also a lot to do with weight/mass of a car.-Shades (August 02, 2013, 10:41 PM)
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As does performance, either way you go performance or economy...you're still dealing with the exact same factors: Power to weight ratio, max combustion efficiency, and (as you bring up later) wind resistance at speed.
Acceleration of a mass requires exponential input of energy, not linear amount of input. Moving a mass through air makes sure of that and aerodynamics cannot fix that, only partially negate it.
Friction on the surface that enables acceleration is always a problem, but you need it else you'll loose grip. And all of these negatives become more prevalent above 55 to 60MPH.
Stay below that speed and your engine can be a lot smaller and more efficient without giving up too much acceleration capacity. 50 to 60 miles per gallon is quite attainable even with current day tech.-Shades (August 02, 2013, 10:41 PM)
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Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding..! Bingo! Precisely my point. The engine can be a lot smaller...but it doesn't have to be smaller (or the size of a weed whacker for that matter.
My wife has an 07 Dodge Caliber - sure great mileage but... I worry about her driving it because it doesn't have enough ass to get out of its own way. The spastically peaky little 4 cyl is geared so low in first that it's jerky to launch on a good day and impossible to launch in the rain.
OTOH I took a 13 Ford Fusion for a drive a few months ago and found its performance to be quite acceptable. It felt solid, handled well, launched very smoothly, accelerated reasonably well (for a car), and with its 35 mpg rating I'd say it's a damn fine balance.
And you'll get even more MPG's if you trade your lead foot in for a plastic one. -Shades (August 02, 2013, 10:41 PM)
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Agreed, as obvious as this point should be ... it ain't.
In short: people want their cars to go too fast too quickly and then complain that they have to spend so much on gas bills.
Every one likes to go to their destination as fast as they can, myself included. When you take a look at the amount of energy that has to put into your vehicle of choice to cut 5 minutes of travel time, or leave home 5 minutes earlier and see how money that already saves, you would be amazed.-Shades (August 02, 2013, 10:41 PM)
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Um... not so fast there friend. You see even in the hypermiling crowd one of the primary rules is acceleration cost money, don't do it. best way to avoid is? Stay. Off. The. Breaks. Once again...(in both performance and economy)...consistency rules...because top speed is less important than average speed.
Sadly cars just like computers suffer greatly from stupid people syndrome. They say just give me something that will magically use less gas without making me think about (my role in the process) what I'm doing. Enter the Eco-gelding.
Ford Fusion 0 to 60 mph and Quarter Mile Times
2006 Ford Fusion SEL (V6) 0-60 mph 7.3 Quarter mile 15.5
2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid 0-60 mph 7.8 Quarter Mile 15.8
2011 Ford Fusion Sport AWD 0-60 mph 6.6 Quarter Mile 15.0
2013 Ford Fusion Titanium 2.0L EcoBoost 0-60 mph 6.7 Quarter Mile 14.9 (Now THAT's what I'm talking about - Balance)
2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid 0-60 mph 8.5 Quarter Mile 16.2
2013 Ford Fusion SE 1.6L EcoBoost 0-60 mph 7.9 Quarter Mile 15.9
Toyota Prius Hybrid Car 0 to 60 mph and Quarter Mile Times
2001 Toyota Prius Hybrid 0-60 mph 12.9 Quarter Mile 19.0 (I think I'm gonna be sick...)
2004 Toyota Prius Hybrid 0-60 mph 10.1 (test clock didn't count that high)
2007 Toyota Prius Touring Edition Hybrid 0-60 mph 9.9 (test clock didn't count that high)
2010 Toyota Prius Hybrid 0-60 mph 9.7 (test clock didn't count that high)
2011 Toyota Prius Hybrid 0-60 mph 9.7 Quarter Mile 17.1
2012 Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid 0-60 mph 10.9 Quarter Mile 18.5 (make it stop mommy!!!)
2012 Toyota Prius V 0-60 mph 10.2 Quarter Mile 17.8
2013 Toyota Prius C 0-60 mph 10.7 Quarter Mile 18.0 (for those that can't translate these numbers properly 18 seconds is approximately 1 calendar week)
cmpm:
2013 Accord Sedan LX I4
Zero to 60 mph: 6.6 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 15.3 sec @ 93 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 126 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 180 ft
Had it up to 100mph between Memphis and Little Rock.
Would not up shift past about 60mph that I could feel.
@100mph it was at around 5000rpm
btw, I don't use the ECO button, the car will not respond properly imo
and I did better gas mileage with it off instead of on
Stoic Joker:
Yes, granted I've an obvious bias towards American cars, but I have a soft spot for Honda as I do like how they build their engines (very easy to work on).
The Accord is not an Econo-box, and as your numbers show affords a good, reasonable, and safe balance. Conversely the so called "Smart Cars" are death traps.
cmpm:
yeah on the smart car thingy
I would not trust GM with my safety in a small car like that.
Still to this day GM has not even come close to the imports in the smaller cars. Ford seems to be doing better. I think Ford nearly lost all their customer loyalty with the Escort and the Probe. It wasn't until a few years ago they finally made the Mustang a worthy sports car.
The '13 Honda 2.4 I4 has direct injection that their previous I4s never had. So that puts them up in the competition. But there is not a Turbo charged engine yet from Honda. I don't think it will happen with the goal of economy class fuel mileage. Plus without Turbo, regular gas can be used instead of premium.
cmpm:
Still to this day GM has not even come close to the imports in the smaller cars.
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I may have to eat those words, I have not checked out the new Cruz.
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