blowfish

Quite often a 6 cyl use almost same amount of gas as a 4cyl.
When u have more torque u no need to step on gas as much as a 4.
f u enjoy fast driving is better to have 6 too, otherwise a 4 u need to put pedal to metal most of the time.
Diesels may show less HP, but the torque output are as much as/or greater than  a gas engine with same displacement.

Nowadays everybody is so sensitive that they thnk small engine = use less gas.

A fnd who has an old Toyo Landcruiser, it has a chebby 6. When the engine died he put a 327 V8 in it. The new V8 actually uses less gas, more power on hs truck.

blowfish

It deactivate 3 cylinders automatically at crusing speed and that keeps the consumption low.

When its running 1500 cc probably is adequate.

I guess Honda is successful to do that, I heard Merc in Europe does that on V8 they run on 4 when cruisng on hwy. Yrs ago GM had 4-6-8 V8 they failed miserably. So as anythng they touched.
If Honda can overcome the parasitic loss from the non running cylinders then s a good thing.  Probably de-activates the intake and exhaust valve.
Old diesel boat engine was like that too, there's lever to turn off valves, when you crank the engne to start it has no compresson, so the fly wheel able to spn at a much hgher speed, then you flip the lever and the flywheel has enough energy stored to compress the engine to start.

A turbo engine saves most fuel s when u not usng the turbo, means just cruising along and not stepping on the gas hard.

blowfish

There is no replacement for displacement.

It was proven during the 60s' when Ford won the Le Mans , " Nothing beats the inches"
Now with high fuel price, unless you're the nephew of Sultan of Brunei, we all want something easy on fuel.



FI just don't give the same throttle response as NA.

Please elaborate ths phrase. FI= Fuel injection?
NA= Natural Aspirated?


closes the valves on one bank of (3) cylinders during light load and low speed

They may use solenoid opens the intake valves, dsabled the injectors. So there is no load in those cylinders.  Closed the exhaust valves.
Maybe the GM failed because those engines were using carb, and cannot stop the gas going into those cylnders, mind as well be running it.

blowfish

We need to ask the owner what cars he/she likes, budget/how deep s the pocket.
No point to go all over the map and dont know his preference.
Some only want cars from Fatherland, and some appy with Rice rockets.
If u know what to buy even a used car can be good, let the frst owner to pay for the initial depreciation.

Some even say u can need to own the car for several yrs longer inorder to justfy a hybrid.

The truth is buying any new car will cause a lot of environmental damages, u need mining, raw materials, energy to make steel. But if everybody stop buying new things our economy will be at a stand still.  US account of 30-50% of world market, will see how bad will t affect us if they really catch a bad cold.

Some co design efficient bigger engines, IE Honda's variable 6.
Also depends yoru application, if u need to carry lots of people all the time then a bigger engine is advisable. I learn one organisation use Nissan Altima 2.5 and Camry 4 cyl to shuttle full pass load, the drivers find Camry lacks power as compare the Altima.
So u'll be screwed if u had made the wong choice of engne.

blowfish

just get a car with v8

If your Uncle is Sultan of Brunei then a Bugatti Veyron's engne is still kind of small.

Low teens in MPG is not fun especially when u need to pay for it.
Now  put $30 in is like putting in $20 last yr. Doesnt that suck bg time already.