Brands battle for green crown - Page 2

Swordsman88 · 10-10-2009, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

It won't. The turbo is used to produce that torque that's needed to climb the hills easily.

yes i understand that bit doofey...hence my point about the uphill nature of mount panorama circuit. I've posted on here several times in support of the ecoboost I4...the point of my post was moreso to illustrate that although ford's option of ecoboost 4 cylinder would do a better job in this particular test (due to torque), the best car for a given job RE fuel economy depends on where/how you drive it. I'm sure there will be applications where the I6 will come very close to matching the I4T fuel burn...but in other areas it will be very advantageous to go down the I4T route.

I think we can be pretty sure of two things though. The I4T would not be as slow or frustrating to drive as the 3.0 SIDI commodore. And its fuel burn would not be any worse than the 4.0 I6 falcon in virtually any test. As i said, this is the whole point of ecoboost tech....its minimizing fuel burn accross the entire torque/load map.

sgt_doofey · 11-10-2009, 09:13 AM

Agreed Swordsman.

EDManual · 13-10-2009, 09:59 PM

looking forward to this!!

**Polyal** · 21-10-2009, 11:40 AM

This is going to be great and sorry for digging it up.

I also found it amusing seeing the driver list, guess who is in HSV....must of just been pure luck he picked that ride up.

Swordsman88 · 21-10-2009, 12:21 PM

One of the drivers listed for the XR6T is Russell Christophers. For those that don't know he recently took over as head of Ford Aus product development, but was previously (up until just after FG launch) Falcon/Territory vehicle line director. If that guy doesn't know how to get the most ouf of an XR6T then no one does...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Polyal

This is going to be great and sorry for digging it up.

I also found it amusing seeing the driver list, guess who is in HSV....must of just been pure luck he picked that ride up.

Yes...well i think best not to waste too much time on that guy anymore. Oh bugger it i'll mention one little point.

Caradvice had a little audio file with John Cadogan (apparently their editor now) and he interviewed Dowling about the new HSV E2 range (amongt other things). Needless to say he was a massive fan...something cadogan (very much not a fan) was sceptical of....particularly the styling. Regardless, the best bit is where Dowling rabits on about (incorrectly) the fact that HSV has the first use in the world of a cruise control system that can apply the brakes. He then gets so excited because, in his own words, 'i didn't realise' that modern cars dont' use brakes to control their speed on cruise, the retard fuel/spark.... ah WTF! My mum knows that!! This guy is supposed to be someone you listen to on car matters, an 'expert'??? So now he is both biased and uninformed?!

Watto_Cobra · 21-10-2009, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swordsman88

.................Caradvice had a little audio file with John Cadogan (apparently their editor now) and he interviewed Dowling about the new HSV E2 range (amongt other things). Needless to say he was a massive fan...something cadogan (very much not a fan) was sceptical of....particularly the styling. Regardless, the best bit is where Dowling rabits on about (incorrectly) the fact that HSV has the first use in the world of a cruise control system that can apply the brakes. He then gets so excited because, in his own words, 'i didn't realise' that modern cars dont' use brakes to control their speed on cruise, the retard fuel/spark.... ah WTF! My mum knows that!! This guy is supposed to be someone you listen to on car matters, an 'expert'??? So now he is both biased and uninformed?!

: Expert huh?

EDManual · 25-10-2009, 11:05 AM

http://globalgreenchallenge.com.au/the-event

Theres a map of live placements on the road of the solar cars here.

And looks like you can see when its done all the fuel economy figures of the normal cars.

Watto_Cobra · 25-10-2009, 11:15 AM

Currently, I can see the XR6Turbo on the map and a Skoda Superb, but the rest seem to be support vehicles?

sgt_doofey · 25-10-2009, 11:54 AM

If anyone is interested in the Tesla that is running in the challenge, it is being driven by the MD of the ISP Internode. They've set up a blog site for their team. http://blog.internode.on.net/

DoreSlamR · 25-10-2009, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgt_doofey

If anyone is interested in the Tesla that is running in the challenge, it is being driven by the MD of the ISP Internode. They've set up a blog site for their team. http://blog.internode.on.net/

I'm doubtful the tesla will do very well, particularly in the heat.

I remember the review Top Gear did on it and it wasn't particularly encouraging.

kircher · 25-10-2009, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swordsman88

Dowling rabits on about (incorrectly) the fact that HSV has the first use in the world of a cruise control system that can apply the brakes. He then gets so excited because, in his own words, 'i didn't realise' that modern cars dont' use brakes to control their speed on cruise, the retard fuel/spark.... ah WTF! My mum knows that!! This guy is supposed to be someone you listen to on car matters, an 'expert'??? So now he is both biased and uninformed?!

I'd like to hope that the brake function on these newer cruise control systems is switchable. When I'm going down a hill I prefer to let the car build momentum than sit on the brakes, and waste energy only to accelerate up the hill again. I believe it's a whole lot safer and smoother to let the car flow (within reason), rather than upset the balance anyway.

chevypower · 25-10-2009, 03:05 PM

Any chance the Fisker Karma will be entering? I think that deserves a lot more recognition.

Yellow_Festiva · 25-10-2009, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoreSlamR

I'm doubtful the tesla will do very well, particularly in the heat.

I remember the review Top Gear did on it and it wasn't particularly encouraging.

That 'review' caused somewhat of a controversy. If it is the one where they ran out of power and are seen pushing the car back then don't judge the car by this.

The Tesla people were going to take legal action as the car hadn't actually ran out of power, the Top Gear Team implied it did to show what the owner would need to do IF they ran out of power while on the road.

Don't know the finer details, but a bit of searching will find the articles about it.

sgt_doofey · 25-10-2009, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoreSlamR

I'm doubtful the tesla will do very well, particularly in the heat.

I remember the review Top Gear did on it and it wasn't particularly encouraging.

Have a read of the blog. Already been some trouble trying to charge it in the heat, but they've found a solution. It's not a practical, every day solution, but it works.
Couple of funny little things in there as well. Check out the pylon demolition.

Swordsman88 · 25-10-2009, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kircher

I'd like to hope that the brake function on these newer cruise control systems is switchable. When I'm going down a hill I prefer to let the car build momentum than sit on the brakes, and waste energy only to accelerate up the hill again. I believe it's a whole lot safer and smoother to let the car flow (within reason), rather than upset the balance anyway.

Well you'd have to turn off the cruise i'd say. I doubt the 'brake assist' tech would be switchable...too much chance people would turn it off, forget they had and then negligently get up too much speed down hill or something.

If you want to do that you could always keep increasing the set speed and let the car 'roll' up to that speed...but its a bit hard to judge this. I'd just turn it off (which i do in my old EF) if you want to let it roll on like that.

As for upsetting the balance it ain't much of an issue...i'd say the coding for it would be able to recognise corners etc. and not grab huge brake as you go around one. Moreover you probably shouldn't be using cruise in that situation anyway. I doubt braking down a hill really upsets the balance much...it only intervenes to a degree as far as i know...eventually it will turn off the cruise entirely if its a really steep hill...