Ford 3 cylinder?

[headless]

I used to have a 3 cylinder Ford in the eighties, so it's not a new concept for Ford.
In the dry it had 4 cylinders, but in the wet had the ability to go on 3
Stoopid ol' Ford

[tinysmart]

Originally Posted by headless

I used to have a 3 cylinder Ford in the eighties, so it's not a new concept for Ford.
In the dry it had 4 cylinders, but in the wet had the ability to go on 3
Stoopid ol' Ford

loolololololololol

puttputtputtVRRRO-Nope-cough-shudder-puttputt *stalls* (repeat)

[timhood]

I think the main point of this post was missed by several. The competition is coming, so the future for our cars and our network is not good if two things don't happen:

1) smart cars increase their fuel economy to stay ahead of the competition
2) more models need to be offered. Real, true, different models. Not trim levels. There needs to be a larger four-door for people who won't consider the two-door.

News item: Ford: Fiesta will get up to 40 mpg | detnews.com | The Detroit News The Ford Fiesta will get 40 MPG. That's coming this year. We're talking about a car that's 160" long and a four-door, at a starting price of $13,320 (not sure if that's with or without destination). That's pretty serious competition.

There will be some that will immediately poo-poo this (don't like the looks, wouldn't buy a Ford, insert your head-in-the-sand comment here), but the reality is that the general auto-buying public will automatically be more willing to purchase a mainstream brand than a smart and if you can't sell them on the benefits of a smart…

Put another way, if I was in the market this year and didn't have my smart, I probably wouldn't buy it. That, despite the fact that I've enjoyed ownership for over 2 years. But a bigger car that matches the MPGs for a similar price from a brand with more dealership choices makes a pretty sound argument.

Addendum: Manufacturer's are always leap-frogging each other, with the victim's near end-of-life model usually not faring as well as the competition's new model. But I haven't heard about any significant updates to the fortwo. That's a big concern. They're not selling in sufficient-enough quantities to sustain a 40-50% drop in sales before the new model comes--especially when there's only one main model to begin with.

[Pops900]

Originally Posted by timhood

1) smart cars increase their fuel economy to stay ahead of the competition

If they could figure out a way to add a 6th gear that would engage at about 45 mph, the average mpg would jump drastically.

Let's be careful out there,
Pops and Carlito

[magilly00]

Smart does make high mileage cars already,New diesel smart car gets 85 mpg in UK | The Thin Edge we just can not have them in the U.S.

[Mike T]

The more competition in the USA the merrier. smart has faced down huge opposition in the small, highly economical car market in Europe for over a decade. I doubt it would create any more of a problem in the USA than they are experiencing right now.

With the Euro at historic lows, Penske could be offering some incentives, but perhaps he's just pocketing the difference

[timhood]

Originally Posted by Pops900

If they could figure out a way to add a 6th gear that would engage at about 45 mph, the average mpg would jump drastically.

I like the theory of lower highway RPMs, but I'm not sure it would work so well in practice with our lower-power engines. I would bet that any more than the most feather-light touch of the gas would necessitate a downshift to get the requested power.

[timhood]

Originally Posted by magilly00

Smart does make high mileage cars already,New diesel smart car gets 85 mpg in UK | The Thin Edge we just can not have them in the U.S.

Is the diesel not available here because it's not 50-state ready or because smart doesn't want to import them?

And to be fair, 85 MPG is using those British gallons, which are ever-so-larger (20%) than ours. Nonetheless, 70 MPG, if realistic in our EPA test cycle, is impressive. Enough to draw big attention to the brand. One would think that would be a powerful marketing tool.

I'm in favor of other simple options that could bump our MPGs enough. I'm not sure of the total additional cost, but if our cars had electric power brakes, we could easily have an auto shutoff feature when the car goes under 5 MPH with the brakes applied. Simply shutting off the engine like that at stop lights would be good for a 5% real-world city economy gain, though our EPA test cycle's short stop times wouldn't completely reflect that. (Citation: Car & Driver, June, 2010, page 110). In other words, we'd all see the increased mileage as owners, but it wouldn't fully show up on the sticker where people make their pre-sale determinations.

That same article references an Ecomotors-designed OPOC two-stroke, two-cylinder engine that produces 75 hp and is 15% more efficient than a typical four-stroke. (This two-stroke is nothing like the oil-gas mixed two stroke engines of old motorcycles, chain saws and lawn equipment that may come to mind).

A more realistic near-term alternative could be direct fuel injection. Combined with a lean combustion, that could gain up to 8% economy. Coupled with the auto-start-stop, we could see decent interim gains in fuel economy to "keep up with the Joneses" until the next major engine arrived. That could yield EPA numbers of 35-36/44 city/hwy, though the real-world city numbers could realistically be 37 or 38.

I'm not sure if those changes could be packaged without costs increasing too much, though. Adding $500 in cost to a smart is a much bigger factor than on a $30K car.

[forestacademy]

Originally Posted by timhood

2) more models need to be offered. Real, true, different models. Not trim levels. There needs to be a larger four-door for people who won't consider the two-door.

Now why would you need a 4 doors on a 2 seat car

[forestacademy]

Originally Posted by timhood

I

I'm in favor of other simple options that could bump our MPGs enough. I'm not sure of the total additional cost, but if our cars had electric power brakes, we could easily have an auto shutoff feature when the car goes under 5 MPH with the brakes applied. Simply shutting off the engine like that at stop lights would be good for a 5% real-world city economy gain, though our EPA test cycle's short stop times wouldn't completely reflect that. (Citation: Car & Driver, June, 2010, page 110). In other words, we'd all see the increased mileage as owners, but it wouldn't fully show up on the sticker where people make their pre-sale determinations.

Bingo!

No EPA Rating difference for the Micro Hybrid Drive( MHD) that is available in other country's. No EPA Gain, no sense bring it into the states. Thing is, many reports from the other side of the pond is folks hate it and turn it off when it would be of most use.