More OOMPH! from my Ford Ka

Well on a recent outing I recorded a steady 7mpg, which is a little poor for a 2litre 4cyl ;-). I guessing its a TD from the torque/HP, might not go fast but you could happily pull a house down with that torque at those revs LOL

Matt

snip

I believe the handling (or handerling, as it's known when referring to Mk1 MR2s) makes up for it.

Stig Blomqvist - not a man known for "underpowered shopping trolleys (sic)" - rallied 60bhp Kas in the late 90's!!!

Is it that obvious :-) No, it's not fast, but the torque and the 4wd make wet/icy/greasy junctions a real hoot.

Sportka streetka ... when they doing a ka SI ???

Once you have a CVT/IVT max torque is no longer any use as a measure of performance, max power and power/weight ratio is everything. Max power/weight says what the max acceleration is at a given speed [1]. Max power says how fast you go (what speed you stop accelerating). All vehicles will only give max acceleration at max power, not max torque or any other condition. IVT allows max power and thus max acceleration to be attained for all road speeds. CVT suffers at low speed as it still has a clutch or other device to allow slip until it reaches a speed requiring a ratio within the range that the CVT gives. For part load acceleration or cruise you want it to run the engine at the rpm that gives least fuel usage for power demanded, again not the max torque rpm or any other constant rpm.

ps it's pounds-force foot (lbf ft) not pounds / foot (lb/ft) or in SI Nm not Kg/m.

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But then you'd have to have an auto.

An auto only has 3/4/5/6 fixed ratios, once lockup has taken place there is a fixed linear relationship between road and engine speed. eg if 60mph is 3000rpm, 4500rpm is 90mph. There is no such relationship with IVT/CVT unless you make it pretend it is a step ratio box like MG have done so the car makes realistic Vroom Vroom noises and has jerky acceleration. If you had a manual control it would be a knob or crank like an old window winder (or maybe up/down buttons on the steering wheel), you would have to steadily wind it up as you went faster and faster and back down as you slow down. The chances of getting and staying at the right gear ratio on a manual IVT is zero. Wind it down and the revs go up, there's no clutch so if you get it completely arse it's possible to effectivly dump it in a gear below 1st on a stepped box = over revved engine and thrown rods. Also it's bad practice to keep one hand on the gear shift while driving, no thanks. CVT/IVT has an infinite continuous range and a very high overdrive ~0.5, while most stepped ratio gearboxes run out at around

-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!

Trying to catch up my old modified micra no doubt.

That seems crap compared to what i'm playing with now. (Still no points though).

Nah, CVT is different (and would be mega if someone could actually make a good one !). It effectively gives an infinate number of gears, so you can set your engine to any revs at any speed. So when you floor it, it will rev to (and stay at) the peak power point, and when you're cruising it will rev to (and stay at) the peak economy point.

If you listen to a CVT car driving along, the engine will stay at the same revs all the time - they won't rise when you accelerate like a normal car does ! Instead of wwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE you get wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

I had the mk1 "gps3" unit made by garmin at the time, the one with the whole country in it, and loads of user adjustments. I think the latest equivalent has a colour display and cdrom or internet upgrade facility.

Gps reported b.t.w

I sometimes wish that when i'm stuck in traffic in the ax. The only chance it gets to redeem itself is when its out on the open road. Bloody tough clutch as well, at least you can use "m" mode with the handbrake in the beemer when you are stuck in traffic. Ax= motorway cruiser.