Some interesting automotive news: Toyota, GM, Honda and Ford!

Jstas

Toyota:

NASA will study sudden unintended acceleration problem

Since Toyota can't give Congress a straight answer on what the hell is going on, Congress has enlisted help. NASA will be performing tests on the Toyota systems to find out for sure if there are problems. Now I'm sure Toyota has some bright people working for them but I've met some of the brains at NASA and the really do have some of the best minds in the world working for them. If anybody can find a problem in software controlled hardware, NASA's guys can. I just wish it wasn't our tax dollars being spend to substantiate if Toyotas actually have a problem and how if so, how to solve it.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota30-2010mar30,0,7651514.story


GM:

GM recalls 5,000 vans with serious fire risk, tells owners to park outside, away from everything

Yes, apparently, GM wants to get in on the fiery death action too. Their vans spontaneously combust! Yeah, apparently there is an issue with the alternators shorting out and causing a fire. So GM told owners don't park indoors...or...well, near anything at all for that matter. So if you have a van from GM covered by the recall, get it fixed. For the love of Pete! Think of the children! Well, ok, maybe not the children but think of them anyway! Aren't they cute?


Honda:

According to Autoblog: Rumormill: Honda to build road-going HSV-010 next year, pigs to take flight in 2012

Yeah, Honda's HSV-010 is being rumored to be heading to production. While it's a pretty pie-in-the-sky idea, it's still a possibility. The HSV was, at one point, supposed to be an NSX concept. But no official word about that or even a new HSV-010 based NSX has gone any farther than unconfirmed rumors. There was supposed to be a new NSX coming this year with a V10 and based on Honda's ASCC platform but in 2008, Honda cried poor-mouth and canceled the whole shebang. So who knows? I'll tell ya though, it sure is a snazzy looker! Much better than the LS-F from Toyota.




Lastly, Ford:

Two stories, first one:

Ford start production of a dual clutch 6 speed gearbox.

Granted, not much of a wow factor but, most dual clutch systems are on expensive German sedans. This one is slated for the Ford Fiesta. The Fiesta, already a bit of a pocket-rocket with it's light weight and ballsy engine options, will benefit greatly from this technology. They are estimating gas mileage in the Fiesta with this transmission to be at least 40 MPG. Some industry experts believe it will be closer to 50 MPG, especially with the 1.6L. If Ford drops in an EcoBoost engine, the dual clutch system could yield even greater returns. The Focus is expected to get a similar gearbox and with with the new direct injected 2.0L. That will likely return gas mileage in the 40 MPG range. Best thing is, they won't be wheezy little econo-boxes incapable of getting out of their own way. They aren't a Ferrari by any means but they can get out of their own way and can be thrown around turns with reckless abandon and generate large smiles on the faces of the operators. Whoda thunk? Economical AND fun? What's this world coming to?

Also, for the current Focus' final year, Ford decided to give it a huge set of brass ones. Feast your eyes upon the Ford Focus RS500:



Making 345 horsepower and 339 pound feet or torque, this is the most insane Focus Ford has produced to day. It has a turbocharged 5 cylinder engine that gets the wee beasty to 60 MPH in the mid 5 second range and tops it out at around 160 MPH. Only problem is, FWD. What a shame. AWD drive would make it absolutely. You know what else sucks? We're not gettin' it. Out of the 20 markets it will be released to, the U.S. is not one of them.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/29/ford-focus-rs500-hacks-out-onto-the-internet-ahead-of-schedule/

http://www.focusrs500.com/


There's other news but that was some of the interesting stuff I saw this morning after catching up on what I missed over the weekend.

bobman1235

Gahh, another (even better) Focus RS that Ford won't release in the US. US customers like performance!!

Subaru pulled this same crap for years with their WRX models, thinking the US market wouldn't accommodate them; as soon as they came here they sold like hotcakes. Wake up Ford!

(Agreed on the FWD thing though; I've seen a lot of reviews that say there's surprisingly little torque steer on the current rev of the RS, but still...)

Jstas

bobman1235 wrote: »

Gahh, another (even better) Focus RS that Ford won't release in the US. US customers like performance!!

Subaru pulled this same crap for years with their WRX models, thinking the US market wouldn't accommodate them; as soon as they came here they sold like hotcakes. Wake up Ford!

(Agreed on the FWD thing though; I've seen a lot of reviews that say there's surprisingly little torque steer on the current rev of the RS, but still...)

The WRX sold out the first year on pre-orders alone before it ever even hit the shores. After that, for the next two years, there was a 6 month waiting list.

PhantomOG

Jstas wrote: »

The WRX sold out the first year on pre-orders alone before it ever even hit the shores. After that, for the next two years, there was a 6 month waiting list.

I bought my 2002 WRX (first year in US) in July of 2001. Not sure the exact month they came out but it wasn't much earlier than that. I did not pre-order. Just walked in to the dealership and bought one of the 2 they had in stock. This was in Texas, so other places up north might have had tighter supply.

audiobliss

That sounds like an awesome Focus, and I gotta look up the proposed stats on that Honda. I hadn't heard of it before, but it looks saweet!

Jstas

PhantomOG wrote: »

I bought my 2002 WRX (first year in US) in July of 2001. Not sure the exact month they came out but it wasn't much earlier than that. I did not pre-order. Just walked in to the dealership and bought one of the 2 they had in stock. This was in Texas, so other places up north might have had tighter supply.

They had a limited number or pre-orders available. Essentially what was already on the boats and slated for each dealer to have in stock by May. A second wave of "stock replenishment" was already on the way. By the time they were on the lots, the pre-orders had been picked up. My friend got in on the pre-orders and he received his brand spankin' new silver WRX in mid-June. They didn't come with many options so it was easy to meet most buyers wishes. But I know 3 Subaru dealers in the area had waiting lists very long for the WRX. Same thing happened when the 4th Gen Legacy came out in the GT-T trim with the 2.5L turbo 4 cylinder and 260 some odd horsepower. They were as rare as hen's teeth around here for months and Subaru America is 5 minutes up the road from me in Cherry Hill, NJ.

concealer404

Hey John,

What vans does the GM thing include? I only ask because a couple months ago i saw a car transporter with a few Envoys loaded. They ALL had the back halves of them torched.

Jstas

Sorry, links to stories:

GM Recall: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/29/gm-recalls-5-000-vans-with-serious-fire-risk-tells-owners-to-pa/

Honda HSV-010: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/29/rumormill-honda-to-build-road-going-hsv-010-next-year-pigs-to/

Ford Dual-Clutch gearbox: http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/29/ford-powershift-transmission-starts-production/



One other interesting one:

Ford to save $1.2M/year just by turning off its computers at night

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/30/ford-to-save-1-2m-year-just-by-turning-off-its-computers-at-nig/

Apparently Ford also finalized the deal to unload Volvo on Geely for $1.8 BN. Add to that the $1.2 mil a year savings in power reduction and Ford's bottom line is looking greener and greener every day and in more ways than one! Alan mullaly deserves every penny Ford is paying him and more. Just over 2 years ago, Ford's stock was down near a dollar and they were looking at a $16+BN deficit. In two years and among the worst financial recession we've seen in 70+ years, he turned that ship around. Granted they still have a ways to go but they are steadily on that track and gaining steam. He's going to be a case study in business management and organizational behavior textbooks for decades to come.

AsSiMiLaTeD

A few things:

I love the Honda, I could care less about anything happening with the Ford Fiesta because it's, well, a Fiesta, I really like that Focus and it sucks that Ford isn't releasing that in the US (aren't they a US company, and surely they don't think it won't sell here?), and I for one love that NASA is investigating the Toyota deal - we've certainly spents lots more money on dumber things, so I wouldn't get too up in arms about spending some cash on this. If the guys at NASA are as smart as we hope they are, it shouldn't take them long to either figure out the issue or determine that there's not a problem, I seriously doubt we're talking about pouring billions of dollars into this...

bobman1235

It's stupid that Ford is bringing back the Fiesta brand; the new Fiesta really looks like a decent budget car, but that name as a brand has such a **** reputation.

Knucklehead

Maybe they will bring back the Pinto....:)

AsSiMiLaTeD

Knucklehead wrote: »

Maybe they will bring back the Pinto....:)

LOL, well at least the Fiesta didn't explode on rear impact...

heiney9

Nice to see Ford using a 2 clutch gearbox. Of course other manufacturer's like VAG have had this for years already (it was developed by Borg-warner) first introduced in a series production car in 2003. This was a wet system and 2008 a 7sp DSG with dual dry clutch was introduced. They are very slick boxes if you can get past not having an actual shifter to use. Many people who prefer a maual shifter have a hard time adapting to this because of "tactile" issues

They are great fun with appropriate paddle shifters.

Advantages
Better fuel economy(up to 15% improvement) than conventional planetary geared automatic transmission (due to lower parasitic losses from oil churning) and for some models with manual transmissions;
No loss of torque transmission from the engine to the driving wheels during gear shifts;
Extremely fast up-shift time of 8 milliseconds when shifting to a gear the alternate gear shaft has preselected;
Very smooth gear-shift operations;
Consistent shift time of 600 milliseconds, regardless of throttle or operational mode;


Disadvantages
Marginally worse overall mechanical efficiency compared to a conventional manual transmission, especially on wet-clutch variants (due to electronics and hydraulic systems);
Expensive specialist transmission fluids/lubricants with dedicated additives are required, which need changing on a regular basis;
Relatively expensive to manufacture,[citation needed] and therefore increases new vehicle purchase price;
Relatively lengthy shift time when shifting to a gear ratio which the transmission ECU did not anticipate (around 1100 ms, depending on the situation);
Torque handling capability constraints perceive a limit on after-market engine tuning modifications (though many tuners and users have now greatly exceeded the official torque limits without any adverse effects);
Heavier than a comparable Getrag conventional manual transmission (75 kg (170 lb) vs. 47.5 kg (105 lb));

*Note the above is for the VAG DSG (Direct Shift Gearbox) transmission

H9

heiney9

bobman1235 wrote: »

It's stupid that Ford is bringing back the Fiesta brand; the new Fiesta really looks like a decent budget car, but that name as a brand has such a **** reputation.

It'll probably bite them in the a** like the "Rabbit" did for VW. That lasted a whole 2 model years and now it's back to the "Golf" in the states. Reviving the Rabbit name was a very, very bad move.

Risky move indeed unless it can really distance itself from the original Fiesta in perception.

H9

Jstas

The Ford Fiesta has been sold continuously worldwide since 1976. The U.S. is the only place where it hasn't been sold continuously because sales dropped to about 7,000 a year when it was canned 1986. Ford tried to replace it with a cheaper Festiva based on a Kia and later an even cheaper Aspire based on the Kia Avella. Both were massive piles of crap and the only reason Ford was selling them here was cost. It was cheaper to rebadge the Kias as a Festiva or an Aspire and sell them than to federalize Ford's B-plaform to U.S. collision standards. Therefore, since about 1986, the U.S. Market Fiesta was canceled and we had the Festiva, which was the Kia Pride.

The first Fiesta was a sturdy and reliable little car. It handily wiped the floor with all but the most frugal of Asian imports and it was built better. It was a Ford of Europe design and not an Asian rebadge. It was brought here during the oil embargo to satiate the American hunger for small, fuel efficient cars. When the embargo lifted and the crisis averted, Americans wanted big and powerful gas guzzling cars and trucks again. The Fiesta was not selling well enough to justify the extra development costs the U.S. market would incur. So it was canned. But there was still a market for sub-compacts so Ford replaced it. The Festiva which replaced it was a steaming pile of donkey doo and it had issues galore but it was already federalized and met the U.S. standards. The problem is that the Festiva very closely resembled the Fiesta and many people get them confused. The Aspire was the Festiva's replacement and that was equally as horrid with the running joke being "Aspire? What's it Aspire to? Being a car?"

The Fiesta being brought over here to the U.S. is a Ford of Europe design, based on Ford's Global B2E platform. It is an evolution of the original B platform from 1976. The Fiesta has won numerous awards over decades and is considered by many in Europe and, well, the rest of the world outside the U.S., as the micro/mini car standard to beat. The reason we are getting it now is two fold. One, cost. It's already developed and emissions controls are quite cheap, it already meets or exceeds crash standards. Two, regulations. The EU implemented many standards a few years ago that meet or exceed U.S. standards. Consequently, Ford has been able to easily and rather inexpensively transfer it's outstanding European market platforms to U.S. platforms. The bonus? We finally get the small Fords that are worth a damn here.



And the dual-clutch system? I don't really care who was first. The dual-clutch system is not new. It's quite old, developed before WW2 by some French dude. Porsche has been using them in race cars since like 1983 I think it was? The point was the Ford is putting it in small cars and getting crazy mileage out of them. The new Fiesta weighs in at around 2500 pounds plus or minus a few hundred depending on options installed and with a 1.6L gas engine, it will top 40 MPG easily. You know what the last gas car sold here that did that but that wasn't a hybrid was? The Geo Metro. It weighed in at a whopping 1,780 pounds fully equipped and even at that it was pretty spartan.

A new Fiesta comes equipped with all the bells, whistles and safety equipment, is comfortably large enough and still brings in mileage to rival that of the venerable Toyota Prius. That's quite impressive. Especially since it's been doing it in Europe since before the Prius ever came to market. That's why I posted the DCT article. Ford is utilizing the DCT to bring to market a very well equipped and appointed sub-compact and still retaining the best parts of a small car. Add to that the fact that it's a blast to drive and it's a home-run that is affordable for a first time car buyer. Since it's quite well built, it'll likely keep those first time car buyers coming back to Ford showrooms when they need a new vehicle.

DCT's are fancy but they've been around in all kinds of stuff for a long time, man. Not just race cars and Volkswagens either. Many large truck and heavy equipment transmissions are dual and multiple clutch systems as well.

bobman1235

Bah, I totally confused a Fiesta for a Festiva. Though, again, I would argue that having something so closely associated with a pile of garbage (the Festiva) is not good marketing. There's plenty of cars that have different names in different markets, I just think it would be smart if Ford gave the new Fiesta a new name to distance itself from any lingering bad juju.

dkg999

There are two of the previous US sold Ford Fiesta's in the scrap pile at the farm. Both went over 300,000 miles with few problems. Both had the bodies finally give out and we had to try hard to kill the engines/drive trains. I remember one winter when we had big drifts with a solid ice cover on top we were driving one of the Fiesta's over the drifts. Great fun until it broke through and we had to get a tractor to dig it out!

The Fiesta was 100x the car the Ford Pinto was!

heiney9

I owned a 1978 Ford Fiesta S (mark I version). It was really a direct competitor of the Rabbit here in the U.S. It was cheap transportation. A sardine can with a very reliable, well built "Kent OHV" engine. I swapped the original carb with a Weber and it was hell trying to find any decent 12" tires for it. It didn't even have a center counsole. Not one of my favorite cars, but more fun to drive than the 1975 Datsun B210 I had, but that's not saying much at all. The B210 was my first car, given to me by my parents in 1981.

My 2nd car was a 1977 VW Scirocco, also a blast to drive, but anemic with only 78hp & a 4sp, but it handled well, had decent mpg and was fuel injected. Bouhgt it with my high school graduation money in 1984

As far as the dual clutch DSG, my comment wasn't really trying to say who did it first, just that it's a great innovation, that is a blast to use even from a hard-core manual tranny guy. I'm glad more companies are not only adopting it, but keeping it performance oriented.

H9

P.s. and before anyone jumps my **** about the Fiesta being in comp with the Rabbit, the early Rabbits were horrible cars too, until the 1983 GTi, which I owned also. Still a stripped down econo-car, but the 1983 GTi was an absolute blast to drive and with a few inespensive mods, I could give the Camaro's and T/A's of the day fits.

Jstas

The Fiesta was intended as direct competition to the Rabbit. As well as the Fiat 127 and Renault 5. The Fiesta was released in Europe before it was released in the U.S. so it's widely regarded as being a response to competition and not a response to the oil crisis. It was released in Europe in 1976 and hit U.S. shores in 1978 when the oil crisis really picked up steam. The U.S. release was in response to the oil crisis which hit the U.S. harder than most other countries because of the inefficiency of the large cars.

The Fiesta actually stopped being sent to the U.S. in 1980 but leftover new stock was still selling as late as 1982. I remember my uncle complaining to my dad that he couldn't move the little POS'es at all. In 1985, the Festiva was brought over from Korea. It was well built but it was a boring little **** of a car and barely big enough for two adults let alone an entire family. They ran forever, they just weren't that great. A pig on rollerskates comes to mind. Reviews were "basic transportation" and "mundane appliance" or "fridge on wheels". It's only direct competition in the U.S. at the time was the Yugo and if that was the quality standard, well, hell the Festiva was a Rolls freakin Royce! Then the Geo Metro/Suzuki Swift came along and they were decidedly better vehicles. The Metro killed off the Festiva and forced Ford to go with a newer design. Hence the abysmal Aspire which didn't do well at all.

The Festiva did produce the SHOgun which was a Ford Festiva with a Taurus SHO engine and transaxle mounted amidships and driving the rear wheels. It was a tuner car and less than 10 in total were made but it was a spiffy idea!