http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...PDATE/704300416 "The new Hemi hybrid engine should improve overall fuel economy in these vehicles by 25 percent and increase efficiency by nearly 40 percent in city driving." "The gas engine Hemi doesn't get more than 19 miles per gallon on the highway." So an Aspen with the V8 hemi gets 19 mpg; the hybrid would then have to get, what, 24 or 25? Interesting.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JackDodge @ Apr 30 2007, 02:19 PM) [snapback]432647[/snapback]</div> Chrysler is just second rate these days. While im still not sold on the idea of a big-huge hybrid SUV, GM's will far surpass Chryslers for sure. Has anyone here even seen an Aspen on the street without rental plates?
Kirk Kerkorian has once again expressed interest in Chrysler...only this time he's offering 20% of what he did last time. Chrysler is in the tank. A split with MBZ will leave them without some key supplier relationships...as well as lacking certain important internal functions (like R and D, for example, which was terminated in '04, I think, and has since been performed using MBZ people and resources). The Pacifica design studio has also been shuttered (so much for Tom Gale and the cab forward look), along with the Chrysler Southern California Proving Grounds (where Shelby did his work for Chrysler in the 80's). It's either a big opportunity to put a leaner and meaner Humpty Dumpty back together again...or it's a really large problem facing their next investor(s). For what it's worth, I suspect it might be the latter. -------- Whatever happened to Ricardo Montalban and Corinthian Leather...?
GM, DaimlerChysler, and BMW are all collaborating on a hybrid design for large cars and SUVs. It's not as elegant as Toyota's 1997 design, but it will be a real hybrid. GM doesn't like change and would drop the design in a nanosecond if Toyota weren't pushing the market. Toyota's Lexus design will service the same size car. GM, DaimlerChysler, and BMW are all collaborating on a hybrid design for large cars and SUVs. It's not as elegant as Toyota's 1997 design, but it will be a real hybrid. GM doesn't like change and would drop the design in a nanosecond if Toyota weren't pushing the market. Toyota's Lexus design will service the same size car.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JackDodge @ Apr 30 2007, 02:19 PM) [snapback]432647[/snapback]</div> 19mpg is the old EPA, I believe, so the new EPA? Maybe 17? I'd put $$$ on it that NO WAY is a gas guzzlin hemi ICE EVER going to do better than 20mpg. Whoop de doo.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hill @ May 1 2007, 10:32 AM) [snapback]433196[/snapback]</div> I can get 28 with a 383 stroker that has more hp and torque than the current hemi offerings... In a 3,600 pound car...
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tnthub @ May 1 2007, 11:44 AM) [snapback]433253[/snapback]</div> You didn't say whether it was in a T roadster, or a 6,500lb 4WD S.U.V. . . . wheather it was smog legal in all 50 states, or whether it's exempt ... whether it's being lead footed or baby'ed to get that mileage ... so maybe apples to apples would be nice here.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hill @ May 1 2007, 12:42 PM) [snapback]433292[/snapback]</div> Its in my 1994 Camaro, coupled to a 700R4 TCI transmission and Moser 12 bolt rear with 28 x 12.5 x 15 ET Streets on the back and skinnies up front. It has hooker longtube headers, cats, and dual exhaust. Basically it achieves better mpg than it did from the factory and the emissions are still hooked up. However it does run 95db at 100 feet at 5500rpm so the neighbors hear me coming if I romp on it. The biggest "secret" is a lockup solenoid for the transmission in second and fourth gear to eliminate slippage in the torque converter (3600stall). I think a Prius revs higher than I do at 65 miles per hour... Maybe... I see around 2000 rpms....
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tnthub @ May 1 2007, 12:52 PM) [snapback]433302[/snapback]</div> Modified exhaust: Legal for newer cars in CA? Not. BTW, there's always folks out there that will shame you off the road. For instance here's a fellow that'll blow your mileage out of the water ... and blow your quarter mile speed out of the water ... and do it with WAY lower noise db. http://youtube.com/watch?v=PFAECLxa_lg enjoy!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tnthub @ May 1 2007, 11:52 AM) [snapback]433302[/snapback]</div> Ugh. I think I can smell the unburned hydrocarbons from here. No offense, but I'm glad we all don't drive such cars.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hill @ May 2 2007, 02:35 PM) [snapback]434123[/snapback]</div> You are absolutely correct, and the noise level was considered as a track requirement for my class and living in Maine is easier than CA in terms of modifications. Plus I race for money and that was originally my primary goal with the Camaro... However there are millions of older cars on the road that with some small upgrades could be made more fuel efficient and less polluting than they are today. I think short term encouragements to make the existing vehicles more fuel efficient and less polluting would be worthy of consideration concerning the magnitude of our global problem. I only want to raise awareness that as we legislate newer fuel and polution standards on new vehicles to more stringent standards, that we should not ignore the core of the automotive problem which is the huge existing fleet of older vehicles driven by people who can not or will not purchase new cars.
