Autocar - First for car news and reviews

General Motors will launch a new, downsized direct injection 1.4 turbo engine in 2010 that will be offered in a wide range of models including the Vauxhall Astra, Corsa, Zafira and Insignia. It develops between 120 and 140bhp, and is claimed to provide the performance of a 1.8-litre engine with a 10 per cent fuel economy improvement.
Direct fuel injection into the combustion chambers, variable cam timing of both inlet and exhaust valves, turbocharging, reduced internal friction and the lower...Read the full article

You'd think after 100yrs of internal combustion that you'd reach engineering limits of power, torque and fuel efficiency by now? But no. It just keeps coming!

BMW's Efficiency Dynamics are 'simply' a 2% saving in driveline efficiency, 3% in engine combustion, 0.05% in rolling resistence etc etc. A dozen different 'shavings' to make power increases and economy savings that have given BMW a lead at this moment in time.

The HCCI technology offering "up to 10%" better economy in 7 years combined with other vehicle dynamic improvements (regenerative braking, lighter stronger materials etc) suggests tomorrows cars will provide both the economy, power and excitement we all demand/desire from our 24/7 transport machines - once the green fog has lifted!

The future's bright - it's not public transport which simple cannot compete and does not deliver - it's called the Car  :)  

There will always be room for making a combustion engine more efficient, but I'm not sure the complexity involved in these engines is a good thing.

I have ranted about this in one of my blogs before:

http://www.myautocar.com/community/blog/blog.do?method=blog&sblogId=UwOT&year=2007&month=5

(Titled "Worried about a complex future", about half way down the page)

To give you the general gist, the more complex something is the more likely you are to throw it away when it goes wrong, therefore shifting your environmental impact and making little if any improvements overall.

In the short term manufacturers can make massive savings in efficiency just by making their cars lighter, simpler and with less power sapping electronics.

Less really is more.

TegTypeR:

To give you the general gist, the more complex something is the more likely you are to throw it away when it goes wrong, therefore shifting your environmental impact and making little if any improvements overall.

You can just see the NVQ youth at the Vauxhall dealer who services the car having an in depth knowledge of all the internal workings of such an engine.  If the diagnostic computer can't locate the fault then there isn't one is a usual answer or it needs a new engine is the other.