50 mpg? Ford bringing three-cylinder engines to U.S.

[RamboLiberal]

Source: USA Today

A three-cylinder engine? It's been more than a decade since we've seen one, but now Ford is bringing a three-banger to America.

It's going to be a 1-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine that will launch worldwide, including the U.S., and conceivably go into Ford's smallest cars, like that Fiesta shown above.

The tiny 1-liter engine is being designed at a Ford technical center in the United Kingdom. The goal is to create an engine that gets the same or better miles-per-gallon as a 1.6-liter four cylinder engine. Ford isn't saying how many miles a gallon such a miserly powerplant could develop, but it already has some 40-mile-per-gallon models for the highway, and 50 mpg on the highway doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility.

The last time we remember three-cylinder engines being sold in the U.S. was on some Suzuki Swifts and a sister version from General Motors, the Chevrolet Metro, in the '90s. They got such astounding mileage ratings that even beaters were selling for top dollar when gas prices hit all-time highs in 2008.



Read more: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/06/50-mpg-ford-bringing-three-cylinder-engines-to-us/1

[sakabatou]

1. Yep, we've had a Metro for a while

Good in the city, sucks on the highway.

[Auggie]

2. This will be the perfect vehicle for some... hopefully, many

[Devil_Fish]

3. Nissan Leaf. Fully Electric. No gas needed. 100+ Miles per charge. under $30k.

http://www.nissanusa.com/leaf-electric-car

GM Killed the EV-1 and them selves in the process.

By the way: Volks Wagon Golf TDI (Turbo Diesel Injected) gets 40+ MPG on the free way. Priced at under $25K If you can find one used you can expect to pay $10k

[skepticscott]

6. VW Jetta TDI also

gets 40+ mpg highway. But Ford and other auto manufacturers already make lots of diesel models for the European market that get far better mileage than that. For some reason, they won't try to market 60 mpg cars in this country, though. Maddening.

[julian09]

7. less gallons used means less taxes collected

by state and federal govt.

[RamboLiberal]

9. Just wait - there are proposals to change to taxing by driven miles

instead of gallons.

[nichomachus]

11. All the more reason to make corporations and the ultra wealthy pay more

Long overdue

[7wo7rees]

10. My new library has charging stations for 30 EVs!

There isn't an EV within 100 miles but the library says "No problem! Get one! We'll charge you up! No charge! Ha!"
Seriously, it's a new, LEED certified Gold building that sells power back into the grid. So the refill is on us! No waiting!
They are built into the parking slots, which are covered with solar panels. No shit.
Where, you say? Why, Texas, thank you.

[SoapBox]

4. How long before the Saudi Royal Oil Family price gougers try to kill this off?

*snark*

[Bravo Zulu]

12. With the help of the bu$h cabal!

[Drew Richards]

5. FOrd Ecoboost engines rock

If you haven't looked at their torque and hp to liter compared to your clunker in your car it will make you cry.

Ford Ecoboost engines rock! They really have stepped up their game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_EcoBoost_engine#EcoBoost_I-4

[EOTE]

14. Almost any forced induction engine is going to have a far higher specific output than

a normally aspirated engine. So Ecoboost really isn't unique in that regard. And specific output really doesn't say a whole lot about overall engine performance. Take Honda/Acura, for instance. The S2000 makes around 120 bhp per liter, a higher specific output than most turbo engines. Yet Acura offers a turbo mill in their RDX which only makes a tad more than 100 bhp per liter. Horsepower ratings can be extremely deceptive.

[RoccoR5955]

8. My Prius already gets 55 mpg!

Though it's only rated at 50 mpg combined, I am doing a bit better, by using a few simple techniques to boost gas mileage, that can be used on any car.
I get over 500 miles on an 11 gallon tankful. I have had this car since March, and my best tank mileage is 56.2 mpg. My average is 50.8 mpg. I expect that go go up, as I relearn how to drive to save gas.

There are people getting much better mileage that I am as well. Toyota will have a Plug-in hybrid Prius in 2012. Ford is desperately trying to catch up!

The big battery is guaranteed for 100,000 miles. The cost of a new one is about 2k, a good used one, about 500. That's today. Toyota has sold over 2 million Prii, and is coming out with newer models in the coming years. Head on over to http://priuschat.com to find out more.

[Union Scribe]

16. And you get all the benefits of slave labor!

Take this over to pious chat: http://www.globallabourrights.org/reports?id=0503

[TwilightGardener]

13. Jesus, I hate passing in a four cylinder--not enough juice. A three cylinder must feel like

that scene from "Dumb and Dumber" when they were on the moped on the highway.

[DainBramaged]

15. Cruze Eco with 1.4L turbo gets 42 hwy now.

Plenty feasible in a 1.0 litter tiny car. Chevy is pretty sure the new Aveo replacement coming this fall will get 46. But there is so much standard equipment on the Cruze and so many airbags is a cheap Fiesta worth it for a few MPG?

[flvegan]

17. 3 cylinders, each one more dreadful than the previous.

And from what I've read, this will be mated to an 8 speed transmission. So no matter a stick or an auto, it'll be:

1st gear: rev the nuts out of it to 3 mph
2nd gear: nuts, revved again, to 11 mph
3rd gear: (still waiting for any torque) thrashed to 23 mph

And so on. Enjoy the drive. If you have any sort of commute in (God help you) proper traffic, please don't have anything sharp in the car as you'll want to stab yourself.

And calling the Chevy Metro a sister is vomit inducing. I believe it was finally put together in Canada in the end, but it was originally thrown together in Malaysia and other parts unknown, Pakistan and whatnot.

In the UK, Ford sells a Focus that gets at least 40 mpg. Problem is Americans, it's a diesel. As is the VW line of Bluemotion vehicles. Which, dare I say, make 40 mpg look just plain silly.

[Juche]

18. The metro wasn't too great

It got good mileage, but it had a lot of problems (at least the one I drove did). Plus it wasn't too comfortable.

I wish mitsubishi would bring back the mirage, that got 40mpg and since it was a mitsubishi the quality was fairly good.