I see one of the new Japanese models has this, and I think a model of Ford does. I am sure there are others. Anyway, how is the ratio programmed? Does the engine run at only a single speed? What is the basic program that selects the ratio? With the torque curve on most current engines, it seems you'd have to run a pretty high engine rpm to get good performance, but that would be very wasteful of fuel at light load. So I suspect the engine is NOT run at a constant speed, and that the actual commanded ratio is a fairly complex combination of road speed and throttle position.
- posted
17 years ago