Better fuel usage......

[Demon_Toy]

Something on the Discovery channel just had a test to see if you use more fuel with your windows down or the A/C on. They did laps of a race track oval in SUV's. The winner by 30mins was windows down.

[Emperor]

Yep, air con eats your fuel. Round town I have windows down, but open road/long trips I use air con, too noisy with windows down.

[DJ]

Like, wow.

[vhpacer]

Yeh that was on myth busters. But one thing is that they were only doing 40mph. Im sure the result would have different if they were doing 60mph/100kmh

[Adamal]

They should have also had one with the windows up I reckon, just with the temp slider set on cold with the A/C off.

[RomanV]

Since SUVs are to aerodynamics what irishmen are to sobriety, I think the windows down/up wouldnt make much of a difference to their already crappy coefficient of drag.
However if you were in a sports car with a low C.O.D., having the aircon on could possibly be more efficient than having the windows down at highish cruising speeds.

Then again, if you were so concerned about fuel economy, you wouldnt drive a gas guzzling SUV anyway, would you?

[luvnit]

Since SUVs are to aerodynamics what irishmen are to sobriety, I think the windows down/up wouldnt make much of a difference to their already crappy coefficient of drag.
However if you were in a sports car with a low C.O.D., having the aircon on could possibly be more efficient than having the windows down at highish cruising speeds.

Then again, if you were so concerned about fuel economy, you wouldnt drive a gas guzzling SUV anyway, would you?

or a high performance car

[GTCRSHR]

it doesnt exactly take a brain surgeon to figure that out tho does it ...

[Leon]

Um, every driver who has done any of the fuel economy competitions could have told them that. I recall reading that in an Australian "Wheels" magazine 20 years ago.

[CozmoNz]

Since SUVs are to aerodynamics what irishmen are to sobriety, I think the windows down/up wouldnt make much of a difference to their already crappy coefficient of drag.
However if you were in a sports car with a low C.O.D., having the aircon on could possibly be more efficient than having the windows down at highish cruising speeds.

Then again, if you were so concerned about fuel economy, you wouldnt drive a gas guzzling SUV anyway, would you?

or a high performance car

*ponders if a prius hybrid engine/s setup will fit in an aw11...*

[RomanV]

Since SUVs are to aerodynamics what irishmen are to sobriety, I think the windows down/up wouldnt make much of a difference to their already crappy coefficient of drag.
However if you were in a sports car with a low C.O.D., having the aircon on could possibly be more efficient than having the windows down at highish cruising speeds.

Then again, if you were so concerned about fuel economy, you wouldnt drive a gas guzzling SUV anyway, would you?

or a high performance car

Tell that to a lotus elise owner.

Or an Arial Atom owner.

Also alledgedly some modern v8 powered corvettes can acheive cruising MPGs superior to many 4 cyl engines, thanks to a 6 speed gearbox, and cruising speeds of >1000rpm.

[Santa'sBoostinSleigh]

i heard/saw something a few weeks ago about some new v8 *cough boat anchor cough* that 'switches off' 4 cylinders when they arent needed - quite a good theory IMO, but how it actually performs in real life would be interesting

[MrBeef]

yes that is the new chrysler

[barryogen]

Since SUVs are to aerodynamics what irishmen are to sobriety, I think the windows down/up wouldnt make much of a difference to their already crappy coefficient of drag.
However if you were in a sports car with a low C.O.D., having the aircon on could possibly be more efficient than having the windows down at highish cruising speeds.

Then again, if you were so concerned about fuel economy, you wouldnt drive a gas guzzling SUV anyway, would you?

or a high performance car

*ponders if a prius hybrid engine/s setup will fit in an aw11...*

probably gonna have a new one ripped for this comment... but here goes.
The Honda Civic Hybrid is heaps better(fuel economy and drivability wise) than the Prius... and looks better.

[barryogen]

yes that is the new chrysler

quite a few of the newer V8s do it, and some of the higher end engines have done it for a few years, however, there doesn't seem to be a hell of a lot of benefit to it as you still have to drag all that weight around with you, as well as the technical gear to disable to "spare" cylinders, I won't be surprised to see them get rid of it in the next few years in favour of something else.

[RomanV]

Fuel economy is just as much to do with the cars weight as anything....

eg. a big heavy car with a small engine, you're going to have to work it hard just to get anywhere.

Or a v8 in a tiny car, will only take a tiny blat on the throttle to get it up to speed.

[barryogen]

Fuel economy is just as much to do with the cars weight as anything....

eg. a big heavy car with a small engine, you're going to have to work it hard just to get anywhere.

Or a v8 in a tiny car, will only take a tiny blat on the throttle to get it up to speed.

Anyone old enough to have owned a 1980 Cortina?
I did...

The 1.6L model used more gas than the 2.0 litre model due to this fact. It(the 1.6) had bigger injectors, bigger fuel pump, there were heaps of hybrid models made(by enthusiests) with a combo of the engines to get the best from them, mine hit 134Mph at it's peak, a speed that in that was bloody frightening.

[Leon]

Real world fuel economy counts for a lot. For example, you'll find some Corvettes and suchlike that can pull down good fuel economy. With the disclaimer that they can only do that while lapping an empty flat section of road while sitting at 42mph in sixth gear. Then you get a geriatric old little engined car like my nasty old Mira that'd pull 20km per litre when driving to Wanganui and back with three people and a ton of gear in it.

Horses for courses

[sigma]

v8s that turn half the engine off at low revs and back on when u put yor foot down to say pass someone.... as barryogen said, still gotta lug round those extra 4 cylinders of dead weight, IMO why not just get a turbo? same principal